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49-506: 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,

98-523: A 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. In 1664, in reaction to the relaxation of practices in many Cistercian monasteries , de Rancé introduced an austere reform. De Rancé's reform

147-476: A boys' boarding secondary school in Ireland, is the only Trappist school left in the world, and one of only two remaining monastic secondary schools in Ireland. Cistercian monasteries have continued to spread, with many founded outside Europe in the 20th century. In particular, the number of Trappist monasteries throughout the world has more than doubled over the past 60 years: from 82 in 1940 to 127 in 1970, and 169 at

196-435: A friend of Merton, suggests a different story behind the censorship issues. Rice believes the censor's comments did have an effect on the book. The censors were not primarily concerned with Merton's prose style, but rather the content of his thoughts in the autobiography. It was "too frank" for the public to handle. What was published was a "castrated" version of the original manuscript. At the time Rice published his opinion, he

245-404: A human nature comes into being as an individual, concrete, subsisting thing, a life, a person, then God's image is minted into the world. A free, vital, self-moving entity, a spirit informing flesh, a complex of energies ready to be set into fruitful motion begins to flame with love, without which no spirit can exist..." The published autobiography begins with "On the last day of January 1915, under

294-751: A pencil so as to make it one's own." Evelyn Waugh also greatly (although not uncritically) admired the book and its author. He admired the book so much, he edited the autobiography for a British audience and published it as Elected Silence . The Seven Storey Mountain has been credited as being the first major Catholic book to achieve widespread popularity in America, breaking the liberal Protestant monopoly on middlebrow spirituality. Later in life, Merton's perspectives on his work in The Seven Storey Mountain had changed. In The Sign of Jonas , published in 1953, Merton says that " The Seven Storey Mountain

343-517: A refugee in France. The distinguished Benedictine scholar, Dom Jean Mabillon , after his long quarrels with de Rancé, visited him here to make peace. The abbey did not escape the general fate of religious houses under the French Revolution . Pursuant to the decree of 13 February 1790 against the religious orders of France, the abbey was suppressed. Some of the monks were martyred . Others, under

392-470: A religious conversion which led him to take his responsibilities seriously. He became abbot in fact as well as in name. From 1664 La Trappe was the centre of a thorough reform of the Cistercian Order, led by de Rancé. The reform movement took the name of the abbey and became renowned as an order. Bossuet , a friend of de Rancé, was a frequent visitor at La Trappe. James II of England came here while

441-583: 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, and was beatified in 1992 by Pope John Paul II and canonized in 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI . Trappists, like the Benedictines and Cistercians from whom they originate, follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. "Strict Observance" refers to the Trappists' goal of following

490-672: A separate monastic community. 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 . A well-known Trappist theologian was Thomas Merton , a prominent author in the 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

539-510: A unique category within the beer world, and are lauded for their high quality and flavor. These monasteries brew beer both for the monks themselves and for sale to the general public. Trappist beers contain residual sugars and living yeast, and they improve with age, unlike conventional beers. The Trappist monks of the Tre Fontane Abbey raise the lambs whose wool is used to make the pallia of new metropolitan archbishops . The pope blesses

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588-583: Is a monastery in Soligny-la-Trappe , Orne , France . It is known for being the house of origin of the Trappists , to whom it gave its name. The site of the famous La Trappe Abbey was for centuries isolated in a valley surrounded by forests, streams and lakes, 9 miles from Mortagne and 84 miles from Paris , in the Diocese of Séez and the former province of Normandy . It began as a small oratory chapel to

637-665: Is assisted by a Council that is composed of five members, four of them are elected by the General Chapter and the fifth is chosen by the elected Council members. The Abbot General and his Council reside in Rome and are generally in charge of the order's affairs. The present Abbot General is Dom Bernardus Peeters of Koningshoeven Abbey in the Netherlands. As of 2018, there were 168 Trappist monasteries and convents. La Trappe Abbey La Trappe Abbey , also known as La Grande Trappe ,

686-399: Is said to have resonated within a society longing for renewed personal meaning and direction in the aftermath of a long and bloody war ( World War II ), at a time when global annihilation was increasingly imaginable due to the development of atomic bombs and even more powerful thermonuclear weapons. The book has served as a powerful recruitment tool for the priestly life in general, and for

735-403: Is the 1948 autobiography of Thomas Merton , an American Trappist monk and priest who was a noted author in the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s. Merton finished the book in 1946 at the age of 31, five years after entering Gethsemani Abbey near Bardstown, Kentucky . The title refers to the mountain of purgatory from Dante 's Purgatorio . The Seven Storey Mountain was published in 1948 and

784-547: Is the work of a man I have never even heard of." Merton also penned an introduction to a 1966 Japanese edition of The Seven Storey Mountain , saying "Perhaps if I were to attempt this book today, it would be written differently. Who knows? But it was written when I was still quite young, and that is the way it remains. The story no longer belongs to me..." Merton died in 1968 in Samut Prakan Province , Thailand while attending an international monasticism conference. It

833-624: The Virgin Mary , built in 1122 by Rotrou III, Count of Perche , as a memorial to his wife Matilda FitzRoy, Countess of Perche . (An illegitimate daughter of Henry I , she drowned in the White Ship disaster of 1120.) A few years later Rotrou built a monastery adjoining, which he offered to the monks of Le Breuil-Benoît Abbey near Dreux , a house of the Order of Savigny . The order was highly respected at that time for its fervour and holiness. In 1140

882-571: The Abbey community. Soon a trouble arose, though, when an elderly censor from another abbey objected to Merton's colloquial prose style, which he found inappropriate for a monk. Merton appealed (in French) to the Abbot General in France, who concluded that an author's style was a personal matter, and subsequently the local censor also reversed his opinion, paving the way for the book's publication. Edward Rice,

931-408: The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani in rural Kentucky. Describing his entry, Merton writes, "Brother Matthew locked the gate behind me, and I was enclosed in the four walls of my new freedom." Later, Dom Frederic Dunne, the abbot at the abbey, who had received him as a novice, suggested that Merton write out his life story, which he reluctantly began, but once he did, it started "pouring out". Soon he

980-511: The Hours is the foundation of every Trappist's life. However, the details of daily life can vary from community to community and based on the liturgical calendar . The following schedule is a representative summary of a Trappist's daily life. Though each monastery is autonomous and may have different rules, generally the stages to enter the Trappist life can be described as follows: The 48th chapter of

1029-468: The Order decreased by about 15%. There are on average 25 members per community – less than half those in former times. As of 1 January 2018, there were 1,796 Trappist monks and 1,592 Trappistine nuns across the world. Cistercian communities are autonomous but united in a communion implemented by key institutions: The Abbot General is elected for an unrestricted amount of time by the General Chapter. He

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1078-478: The Rule closely. They take the three vows described in the Rule (c. 58): stability, fidelity to monastic life, and obedience. Benedict's precept to minimize conversation means that Trappists generally speak only when necessary; thus idle talk is strongly discouraged. However, contrary to popular belief, they do not take a vow of silence . According to Benedict, speech disturbs a disciple's quietude and receptivity, and may tempt one to exercise one's own will instead of

1127-458: 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. 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

1176-578: The Rule of St. Benedict states "for then are they monks in truth, if they live by the work of their hands". Thus, the life of a Trappist monk is centered on manual labor in addition to their spiritual activities. In addition to the tangible results of manual labor, which goes to support the economy of the community and the poor, the monk's work also contributes and reinforces the monk's and community's spiritual growth. The goods produced range from cheeses , bread and other foodstuffs to clothing and coffins. Their most famous products are Trappist beers . These are

1225-666: The beginning of the 21st century. In 1940, there were six Trappist monasteries in Asia and the Pacific, only one Trappist monastery in Africa, and none in Latin America. Now there are 13 in Central and South America, 17 in Africa, and 23 in Asia and the Pacific. In general, these communities are growing faster than those in other parts of the world. Over the same period, the total number of monks and nuns in

1274-604: The century, it was also mentioned in 100 Christian Books That Changed the Century (2000) by William J. Petersen. In The Seven Storey Mountain , Merton reflects on his early life and on the quest for faith in God that led to his conversion to Roman Catholicism at age 23. Upon his conversion, Merton left a promising literary career, resigned his position as a teacher of English literature at St. Bonaventure's College in Olean, New York , and entered

1323-509: 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

1372-611: The monastery of La Trappe was raised to the status of abbey. In 1147 Savigny Abbey , with all its affiliated monasteries, was united to the Cistercian Order . From that time onwards, La Trappe was a Cistercian abbey, immediately subordinate to the abbot of Clairvaux . After years of prosperity, La Trappe suffered during the Hundred Years' War . It was in the path of both the English and French armies. The monks were forced to abandon

1421-460: The monastery, which was burnt and pillaged in 1376 and again in 1465. In the 16th century, after the reconstruction, the abbey, in common with many other monasteries, was given to a series of absentee abbots in commendam . The lack of leadership depressed its fortunes. The 14th commendatory abbot, installed in 1662, Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé , godson of Cardinal Richelieu , proved to be La Trappe's greatest leader. De Rancé experienced

1470-400: The monastic orders in particular. In the 1950s, Gethsemani Abbey and the other Trappist monasteries experienced a surge in young men presenting themselves for the cenobitic life. One printing bears this accolade on the cover, from Graham Greene : "It is a rare pleasure to read an autobiography with a pattern and meaning valid for us all. The Seven Storey Mountain is a book one reads with

1519-416: 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,

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1568-629: 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. 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

1617-468: 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 saint was Rafael Arnáiz Barón , who was a conventual oblate of the Abbey of San Isidro de Dueñas in Dueñas, Palencia . His defining characteristic was his intense devotion to

1666-470: The new church was consecrated on 30 August 1832. The abbey's reputation as a place of retreat continued. It attracted both the Count of Artois, afterwards Charles X and Louis Philippe in 1847. In 1880 the Trappists were expelled under French laws against religious institutions, but after a couple of years, they were able to return. The monastery was entirely rebuilt under the 45th abbot, Dom Etienne Salasc;

1715-940: The new church was consecrated on 30 August 1895. In 1975 the abbey was registered as a Monument historique . The buildings, in Neo-Gothic style, are still occupied by the Trappist community, under the leadership of abbot Dom Guerric Reitz-Séjotte, appointed in 2004. La Trappe Abbey directly supervises four other Trappist houses, at Bellefontaine in Anjou , Timadeuc in Brittany , Échourgnac in Dordogne , and Tre Fontane in Italy . 48°38′14″N 0°34′24″E  /  48.63722°N 0.57333°E  / 48.63722; 0.57333 The Seven Storey Mountain The Seven Storey Mountain

1764-587: The newspaper's decision. The following week, The Seven Storey Mountain appeared on the bestsellers list, where it remained for almost a year. In The Seven Storey Mountain , Merton seems to be struggling to answer a spiritual call; the worldly influences of his earlier years have been compared with the story of Augustine of Hippo 's conversion as described in his Confessions . Many of Merton's early reviewers made explicit comparisons. For example, Fulton J. Sheen called it "a twentieth-century form of The Confessions of St. Augustine ". The Seven Storey Mountain

1813-521: The novice master, Dom Augustin de Lestrange , went into exile, initially at La Valsainte Charterhouse in Switzerland. The French government sold the abbey as national property. After the Bourbon Restoration , de Lestrange purchased the property back in 1815. When the religious community returned, the brothers found the premises in a ruinous state. They rebuilt the monastery in its entirety and

1862-457: The pallia on the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul ; the metropolitan archbishops receive those pallia in a separate ceremony within their home dioceses from the hands of the apostolic nuncio, who personally represents the pope in their respective countries. The monks of New Melleray Abbey in rural Peosta, Iowa produce caskets for both themselves and sale to the public. Cistercian College, Roscrea ,

1911-413: The partly approved text of The Seven Storey Mountain was sent to Naomi Burton, his agent at Curtis Brown literary agency, who then forwarded it to the renowned book editor Robert Giroux at Harcourt Brace publishers. Giroux read it overnight, and the next day phoned Naomi with an offer, who accepted it on the monastery's behalf. With Merton having taken a vow of poverty, all the royalties were to go to

1960-523: The sign of the Water Bearer, in a year of a great war, and down in the shadow of some French Mountains on the borders of Spain, I came into the world." In the middle of 1948, advance proofs were sent to Evelyn Waugh , Clare Boothe Luce , Graham Greene and Bishop Fulton J. Sheen , who responded with compliments and quotations which were used on the book jacket and in some advertisements. The first printing run

2009-492: 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 of Val-Sainte in the Canton of Fribourg , Switzerland , where

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2058-777: The will of God. Speech that leads to unkind amusement or laughter is considered evil and is forbidden. A Trappist sign language, one of several monastic sign languages , was developed to render speaking unnecessary. Meals are usually taken in contemplative silence as Trappists listen to a reading. Unlike the Benedictines and Cistercians, Trappists fully abstain from "flesh meats" (pig, cattle, sheep, venison, etc), described by Saint Benedict as "four-footed animals". However, they generally do not live as strict vegetarians , as they consume poultry, fish and seafood, though their diet mostly consists of vegetables, beans, and grain products. Some monasteries also raise broiler chickens . The Liturgy of

2107-481: Was filling up his journals with the work that led to the book which Time magazine later described as having "redefined the image of monasticism and made the concept of saintliness accessible to moderns". In Merton's journals, the first entry mentioning the project is dated March 1, 1946, but many scholars think he started writing it earlier than that, because the draft (more than 600 pages) reached his agent Naomi Burton Stone by October 21, 1946. In late 1946,

2156-583: 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,

2205-523: Was increased from 5,000 to 12,500. Thus, the book was out in October 1948, and by December it had sold 31,028 copies and was declared a bestseller by Time magazine. The New York Times , however, initially refused to put it on the weekly Best Sellers list , on the grounds that it was "a religious book". In response, Harcourt Brace placed a large advertisement in The New York Times calling attention to

2254-606: Was reported he was accidentally electrocuted by a fan, but commentators posited he was assassinated by the CIA for his anti- war rhetoric. Various writers have noted the irony of his life's tragic conclusion, given that The Seven Storey Mountain closes by admonishing the reader to "learn to know the Christ of the burnt men" (see, e.g., The Man in the Sycamore Tree , 1979). The Seven Storey Mountain has been extensively praised in lists of

2303-487: Was titled Elected Silence . The book has remained continuously in print, and has been translated into more than 15 languages. The 50th-anniversary edition, published in 1998 by Harvest Books, included an introduction by Merton's editor, Robert Giroux , and a note by biographer and Thomas Merton Society founder William Shannon. Apart from being on the National Review 's list of the 100 best non-fiction books of

2352-400: Was unable to provide any proof; however, since then early drafts of the autobiography have surfaced and prove that parts of the manuscript were either deleted or changed. In the introduction to the 50th-anniversary edition of the autobiography, Giroux acknowledges these changes and provides the original first paragraph of Merton's autobiography. Originally, it began "When a man is conceived, when

2401-450: Was unexpectedly successful. The first printing was planned for 7,500 copies, but pre-publication sales exceeded 20,000. By May 1949, 100,000 copies were in print and, according to Time magazine, it was among the best-selling non-fiction books in the country for the year 1949. The original hardcover edition eventually sold over 600,000 copies, and paperback sales exceeded three million by 1984. A British edition, edited by Evelyn Waugh ,

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