Cistercians facts for kids
|
(Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis
|
|
Coat of arms of the Cistercians
|
|
| Abbreviation | OCist or SOCist |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1098 |
| Founder | Bernard of Clairvaux; Robert of Molesme, Stephen Harding, and Alberic of Cîteaux |
| Founded at | Cîteaux Abbey |
| Type | Catholic religious order |
| Headquarters | Piazza del Tempio di Diana, 14 Rome, Italy |
|
Abbot General
|
Mauro-Giuseppe Lepori |
|
Parent organization
|
Catholic Church |
The term Cistercian is used to refer to an order of Roman Catholic monks. Officially the order is called Ordo Cisterciensis (OCist), or Sacer Ordo Cisterciensis (SOC). These people follow the same rules as the Benedictines, that is to say those of St Benedict. Over time, the Benedictines made some changes to the rules and the way of life.
The Cistercians reject these. They went back to what St Benedict had taught. Sometimes their rules were more strict than those St Benedict had given. They also went back to manual labour, especially work in the fields. Because of this, the Cistercians helped spread technologies around Medieval Europe. In 1882 certain monasteries formed a new order, called the Trappists. With time, they split completely from the Cistercians.
Cistercian architecture has made an important contribution to European civilisation. Architecturally speaking, the Cistercian monasteries and churches, owing to their pure style, may be counted among the most beautiful relics of the Middle Ages.
City growth
A 2016 study suggested that "English counties that were more exposed to Cistercian monasteries experienced faster productivity growth from the 13th century onwards" and that this influence lasts beyond the dissolution of the monasteries in the 1530s. It has been maintained that this was because the Order’s lifestyle and supposed pursuit of wealth were early manifestations of the Protestant ethic, which has also been associated with city growth.
Images for kids
-
St. Bernard of Clairvaux, one of the most influential early Cistercians, seen here depicted in a historiated initial.
-
Vietnamese Cistercian monks standing in a cloister and wearing their religious habits
-
An illumination of Stephen Harding (right) presenting a model of his church to the Blessed Virgin Mary (Municipal Library, Dijon). Cîteaux, c. 1125. At this period Cistercian illumination was the most advanced in France, but within 25 years it was abandoned altogether under the influence of Bernard of Clairvaux.
-
Saint Benedict and Saint Bernard (1542), by Diogo de Contreiras. Saint Bernard is depicted in the white cowl of the Cistercians.
-
Tintern Abbey, founded in 1131
-
The ruins of Melrose Abbey, mother house of the Cistercians in Scotland
-
The houses affiliated with the Abbey of Savigny merged with the Cistercian Order.
-
Cistercian abbey in Bélapátfalva, Hungary
-
The royal Alcobaça Monastery, founded in Portugal in 1153
-
The now-ruined Mellifont Abbey, the centre of medieval Irish Cistercian monasticism and of the "Mellifont rebellion"
-
Rievaulx Abbey, confiscated by Henry VIII along with its blast furnace at Laskill
-
View of the Lilienfeld Cistercian Abbey, 1747
-
The "pure", unadorned style of Cistercian architecture at the 12th century Royal Monastery of Santa María de Veruela
-
Cistercian architecture was applied based on rational principles.
-
Vaux-de-Cernay Abbey in Yvelines, France
-
The highly elaborate 14th-century tomb of Peter I of Portugal in Alcobaça
-
Cistercians at work in a detail from the Life of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, illustrated by Jörg Breu the Elder (1500)
-
The Cistercians helped facilitate the spread of waterwheel technology.
-
Liturgical celebration in the Cistercian Abbey of Acey in France
-
Cistercian monks in Lourdes.
-
Cistercian Abbot General Leopold Wackarž, a monk of Hohenfurth Abbey
-
Amadeus de Bie, Abbot General 1900-1920
-
Mauro-Giuseppe Lepori, Abbot General since 2010
-
Prioress of the Cistercian abbey of Saint Mary of Rieunette near Carcassonne, France.
.jpg)
_-_Diogo_de_Contreiras.png)
_2.jpg)
See also
In Spanish: Orden del Císter para niños
