Editing Trappists (section)

== History ==
The order takes its name from [[La Trappe Abbey]] or ''La Grande Trappe'', located in the French province of [[Normandy]], where the reform movement began. [[Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé]], originally the [[commendatory abbot]] of La Trappe, led the reform. As commendatory abbot, de Rancé was a secular individual who obtained income from the monastery but was not a professed monk and otherwise had no monastic obligations. The second son of Denis Bouthillier, a [[Conseiller d'État (France)|Councillor of State]], he possessed considerable wealth and was earmarked for an ecclesiastical career as [[coadjutor bishop]] to the [[Archbishop of Tours]]. However, after undergoing a conversion of life between 1660 and 1662, de Rancé renounced his possessions, formally joined the abbey, and became its regular abbot in 1663.<ref>{{Cite CE1913|id=12639a|title=Jean-Armand le Bouthillier de Rancé|access-date=2 June 2019|first=Edmond|last=Obrecht}}</ref>[[Image:Orval church etychon 200611.jpg|thumb|[[Orval Abbey]] in Belgium|alt=|left]]In 1664, in reaction to the relaxation of practices in many Cistercian [[monasteries]], de Rancé introduced an austere reform.<ref name="pennington">{{cite web |url=http://www.osb.org/cist/intro.html |author=M. Basil Pennington, OCSO |title=The Cistercians: An Introductory History |publisher=The Order of Saint Benedict |access-date=2008-01-01 |archive-date=2010-04-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100407002750/http://www.osb.org/cist/intro.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} De Rancé's reform was first and foremost centered on penitence; it prescribed hard manual labour, silence, a meagre diet, isolation from the world, and renunciation of most studies. The hard labour was in part a penitential exercise, in part a way of keeping the monastery self-supportive so that communication with the world might be kept at a minimum. This movement spread to many other Cistercian monasteries, which took up de Rancé's reforms. In time, these monasteries also spread and created new foundations of their own. These monasteries called themselves "Trappist" in reference to La Trappe, the source and origin of their reforms.

In 1792, during the [[French Revolution]], La Trappe Abbey, like all other monasteries at the time, was confiscated by the French government and the Trappists expelled. [[Augustin de Lestrange]], a monk of La Trappe at that time, led a number of monks to establish a new monastery in the ruined and unroofed former Carthusian [[Charterhouse (monastery)|charterhouse]] of [[La Valsainte Charterhouse|Val-Sainte]] in the [[Canton of Fribourg]], [[Switzerland]], where the monks subsequently carried out an even more austere reform practising the ancient observances of [[Benedict of Nursia]] and the first usages of [[Cîteaux]]. In 1794, [[Pope Pius VI]] raised Val-Sainte to the status of an abbey and motherhouse of the Trappists, and Dom Augustin was elected the first abbot of the abbey and the leader of the Trappist congregation. However, in 1798, when the French invaded Switzerland, the monks were again exiled and had to roam different countries seeking to establish a new home, until Dom Augustin and his monks of Val-Sainte were finally able to re-establish a community in La Trappe.<ref name=":0">{{Cite CE1913|id=15024a|title=Trappists|access-date=2 June 2019|first=Edmond|last=Obrecht}}</ref>

In 1834, the [[Holy See]] formed all French monasteries into the Congregation of the Cistercian Monks of Notre-Dame de la Trappe, with the abbot of La Trappe being the [[vicar general]] of the congregation. However, there were differences in observances between the dependencies of Val-Sainte and those of Notre-Dame de l'Eternité, an abbey itself founded by Val-Sainte in 1795. This led to two different Trappist congregations being formed by decree of the [[Holy See]] in 1847. These were named the 'Ancient Reform of Our Lady of La Trappe' and the 'New Reform of Our Lady of La Trappe', the former following the Constitutions of de Rancé, with the latter following the Rule of Saint Benedict combined with the ancient constitution of Cîteaux, except in a few areas prescribed by the Holy See in the same decree.<ref name=":0" />

In 1892, seeking unity among the different Trappist observances, the Trappist congregations left the Cistercian Order entirely and merged to form a new order with the approval of [[Pope Leo XIII]] named the 'Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe', formalising their identity and spirituality as a separate monastic community.<ref>{{cite web |author=OCist.Hu - A Ciszterci Rend Zirci Apátsága |url=http://www.ocist.hu/index.php?lid=2&cid=4 |title=History |publisher=OCist.Hu |date=2002-12-31 |access-date=2011-03-09 |archive-date=2020-06-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200624204307/https://www.ocist.hu/index.php?lid=2&cid=4 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1909, the Trappists of [[Mariannhill]] were separated from the rest of the Trappist Order by decree of the Holy See to form the [[Congregation of Mariannhill Missionaries]].<ref name="OSV">{{cite web|url=https://www.osv.com/OSVNewsweekly/ByIssue/Article/TabId/735/ArtMID/13636/ArticleID/4036/How-one-monk-changed-the-South-African-landscape.aspx|title=How one monk changed the South African landscape|author=Denny-Dimitriou, Julia|date=Nov 23, 2010|work=[[OSV Newsweekly]]|access-date=June 26, 2016|archive-date=February 20, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190220063331/https://www.osv.com/OSVNewsweekly/ByIssue/Article/TabId/735/ArtMID/13636/ArticleID/4036/How-one-monk-changed-the-South-African-landscape.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>

A well-known Trappist theologian was [[Thomas Merton]], a prominent author in the [[mysticism|mystic]] tradition and a noted poet and social and literary critic. He entered the [[Abbey of Gethsemani]] in 1941 where his writings and letters to world leaders became some of the most widely read spiritual and social works of the 20th century. Merton's widely read works include his autobiography, ''[[The Seven Storey Mountain]]'', as well as ''New Seeds of Contemplation'' and ''No Man is an Island''.

The first Trappist to be canonized was [[Rafael Arnáiz Barón]], who was a [[Oblate#Conventual oblates|conventual oblate]] of the Abbey of San Isidro de Dueñas in [[Dueñas, Palencia]]. His defining characteristic was his intense devotion to a religious life and personal piety despite the setbacks of his affliction with [[diabetes mellitus]]. He died in 1938, aged 27 from complications of diabetes, was beatified in 1992 by [[Pope John Paul II]] and canonized in 2009 by [[Pope Benedict XVI]].