Trappists and their history

Trappists live according to the Rule of Saint Benedict of Nursia (who was born around 480 AD). This Rule offers practical guidelines for organising the simple daily life of the abbey, even today. A thousand years ago the Rule of Saint Benedict had already been adopted throughout Europe, thanks to the Cistercian Order, founded in 1098 in France, as well as other Roman Catholic groups.

La Trappe Abbey

In the following centuries a yearning for greater simplicity led to reform. As a result, the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance  was established in the seventeenth century in the French abbey of La Trappe in Normandy. The monks who were part of it then took the name of trappists.The Trappist abbeys that are members of the ITA belong to this Order.

“Saint Benedict of Nursia laid down that the monks in his religious communities should combine prayer and study with manual labor. (…)  This way of life procures greater attention and respect for our environment.  It penetrates our relationship with the world with a wholesome simplicity.

Pope Francis, June 2015