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 CISTERCIANS

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CISTERCIANS

that adapted to their own point of view, certain points of the Charter of Charity. The solicitude of the Roman pontiffs themselves who tried to re- establish harmony among the superiors, was not always successful.

And yet at that time there were found some cour- agi OUS and determined monks who became reformers, and even founded new congregations which were de- tached from the old trunk of Citeaux. Those con- gregations which then severed their union with Citeaux, but which no longer exist at the present time, are: 1 1 1 The Congregation of the Observance of St. Bernard of Spain, founded by Dom Martin de Vargas, in 1425, at .Montr Sion near Toledo; (2) The Congregation of St. Bernard of Tuscany and of Lombardy, approved by Alexander VI (1497); (3) the < Congregation of Portugal, or of Alcobaca, founded in 1507; (4) the Congregation of the Feuillants, founded by John de la Barriere in 1563, which spread into France and Italy, the monasteries of Italy, how- ever, eventually detaching themselves from of France to form the Congregation of the Rijormali

Bernardo; (5) the Congregation of Ara

approved by a Bull of Paul V i 1616); (6) the Con-

ion ol Home, or oi Central Italy, created by a

Decree of Gregory XV in 1623; '7) the Congregation

of Calabria and Lucania, established by Urban \ 111

and to which was united the old Congregation of Flore, which had for its founder Blessed Joachim surnamed "the Prophet". — Together with the con- gregations which separated from Citeaux there were five or six others which, while remaining subject to the jurisdiction of the parent house, were legislated for by provincial or national chapters. Chief among these congregations were those of Northern Germany, the Strict Observance, and La Trappe. The Congre- gation of Northern Germany was erected in 1595 by Nicholas II (Boucherat), Abbot of Citeaux, at the

>f Pope Clement VIII, in the monastery of Furstenfeld. It comprised four provinces ruled by the abbots, vicars of the general. It counted twenty- two abbeys, only three of which survived the revo- lutionary tempest, and now form pan nf the Common ( ibservance of Citeaux, as the- Cistercian province of Austria-Hungary. The Congregati E Strict Ob- servance, resulting from the efforts for reform of the Abbots of Charmoye and Chatillon, was established at Clairvaux by Denis Largentier, abbot of this mon- aster] (1615). The \l>bot of Citeaux. Nicholas Boucherat. approved the reform and permitted n to hold special assemblies and to choose a vicar- general with four assistant generals. The general chapter of ( 'in aux in 1623 praised it highly, < Cardinal Richelieu became its protector, and the popes gave it 1 an important member in the person of Abbot de li mee. who intro- duced the Strict Observance into the Abbey of La Trappe in the Diocese of Seez, adding to it other very severe practices.

The abbeys which did not respond to the appeal of Martin de Vargas, of Denis Largentier, or of Abbot de Ranee, formed an observance which Pope Alex- ander VII, in his Bull of 19 April. 1666, named Common, to distinguish it from the Sinrt ( Ibservance, from which in reality it differed only in the use of tie at and similar articles of food three times a week,

a use certainly contrary to the rule of perpetual

abstinence which obtained in the early days, but which the religious wars and other evils of the times in a measure rendered necessary, Mention should be made of two other reforms: thai of Orval in Luxemburg, by Bernard de Montgail ird 160 that of Septfons, in the Diocese of Moulins, by Eus-

tache de Beaufort, in 1663. The former numbered six monasteries, the latter did not extend beyond Septfons.

The Strict Observance developed rapidly. In a

very short time it counted fifty-eight monasteries. At the death of Denis Largentier (1626), Etienne Maugier. who succeeded him, inspired it afresh. From that time it aimed at a certain superiority to which it believed it had some claims, and was re- solved, in case of meeting with any opposition, to withdraw from the jurisdiction of the General of Citeaux. Hence arose quarrels and litigations which lasted forty years or more. In 16.52, at the request of the king (Louis XIII), F/rban VIII continued the powers which Gregory XV had given ten years before tn Cardinal De La Rochefoucauld for the reform of Masteries of the kingdom. The cardinal heard only the Fathers of the Strict Observance, who per- suaded him that no reform was possible without a return to the abstinence from meat. He therefore passed a sentence in 1634 which derogated in many points from the anCienl constitutions and the Charter of Charity, particularly in what concerned the juris- diction of the Abbot of Citeaux and of the four first fathers. The College of St. Bernard at Paris passed into the hands of the Strict Observance. The Abbot of Citeaux. Peter de Nivelle, appealed to the sov- ereign pontiff. The latter annulled the sentence of tin cardinal in every point in which it was contrary to legitimate authority. In the meanwhile Peter de Nivelle having resigned, the non-reformed, in the hope of escaping from the authority of Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld, elected Cardinal d'e Richelieu Abbot oi I iteaux. The cardinal applied the reform in his tin mastery. Sustained by him, the reformed took possession of Citeaux after having dispersed into other monasteries the professed religious of this monastery. At the death of Richelieu the expelled monks assembled at Dijon, 2 January, 1643, and elected to his place Dom Claude Vaussin, but the king vetoed the election; they voted again. 10 May, 1645, and gave all their votes to Claude Vaussin, while the reformed, to tin- number of only fifteen, voted for Dom .lean Jouaud, Abbot of Prieres in Britanny. On the 27th of November following, Innocent X sent his Bulls to I Join Claude Vaussin, ami imposed silence on the reformed. February 1st, 1647, a Brief of the same pope re-established all matters in the condition in which they had been before the sentence of Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld.

The Strict ( Ibservance then tried to form an inde- pendent order under the authority of the Abbot of Prieres, and with this object in view raised new dif- ficulties in relation to the question of abstinence. A Brief of Alexander VII, dated November, 1657, con- firming the decision of Sixtus IV, in 1475, that ab- stinence from flesh incut was not essential to the rule, did not quiet their scruples. Finally. 26 January, 1662. tic same pope interfered in a decisive manner by inviting the twoparties to appear at the Court of Home.

Ilic Common Observance sent Claude Vaussin; the

Strict ( Ibservance, Dom ( leorge, Abbot of Val-Richer;

La Trappe, Abbot de Ranee. On the 19th of April,

appeared the Bull " In Suprema ", which put an

end to the divisions. It recommended that the

visits In' regularly and strictly made, that monks should live in the monasteries, and that the general Chapters should be held every three years. It re-

the night silence, poverty in apparel, and the

tic tonsure. It maintained tin- use of meat

where that already obtained, and recommended the

religious who had made the vow of abstinence to be

faithful to it. The Strict I '!'-> rvance remained under tic juri diction oi the Abbot of Citeaux. This con titution was accepted by the general chapter of

1667, which was held at Citeaux, in spite of protests from the opponents, and in particular of Abbot de Bailee, and the new n t. n in was put into force in all

the monasteries of France, where the number of

monk-- was sufficient.

During the eighteenth century, however, there was