August 2026

Last month, prompted by the Feast of St Benedict on 11 July, I wrote about the origins of monasticism and how Benedict’s Rule of Life gradually came to be the monastic Rule in early medieval western Christendom. The complete dominance of this Rule, written in the sixth century, can be dated to the early ninth century and came about with the support of Charlemagne. Before that, the monasteries of the Western Church followed many different Rules: some used Benedict’s, some used often fairly similar Rules written by others, and many used individual Rules drawn up by the founding abbot of the particular monastery, which often brought together elements from these earlier sources and from mixed Rules that they were familiar with in the monasteries of their day.

By the end of the eleventh century, however, there were those who thought that Benedictine monasticism needed to be reformed, to go back to what they saw as its purer and more austere ideals, and so the Cistercian Order was founded. It still followed the Benedictine Rule, but more strictly, with a greater degree of geographical withdrawal; it laid more stress on manual labour; and, although it spread across Western Europe, it remained centralised in its governance, with Provinces owing allegiance to the Mother House. With the Cistercians we also see the development of a standardised layout of monastic buildings, familiar to us from the great Cistercian ruins of England such as Rievaulx and Fountains. This powerful centralisation and standardisation had not been characteristic of Benedictine monasteries up to this date. Of course, the Cistercians did not supplant the existing Benedictines, and were always quick to say that they were Benedictines themselves, but they rapidly became the most popular, prosperous and powerful Order, even absorbing some smaller Orders and individual monasteries that attempted similar reform around this time.

Bernard of Clairvaux, whose feast-day we keep on 20 August, was not the founder of the Cistercians, but he was by far the most influential of the Order’s early leaders. The actual founders were monks from the Benedictine Abbey of Molesme, led by Robert. In 1098  they established the first Cistercian monastery at Cîteaux (Latin Cisterium, hence Cistercian) near Dijon. This was a modest enterprise at first and it was not until the time of their third abbot, an Englishman named Stephen, who was abbot from 1109 to 1134, that the new monastic house really began to flourish and plan to establish new foundations. Bernard, born of noble parents nearby, entered Cîteaux in 1113, along with thirty other young Burgundian noblemen, including his own brothers. Only two years later, Abbot Stephen directed him to choose a place for a new monastery. Bernard chose Clairvaux which, under his remarkable leadership, became one of the most influential religious houses in Europe. It was largely because of him — ascetic, mystical, learned, outspoken, sometimes obstinate, prolific in his writing and preaching, and with the ability to build connections within secular and ecclesiastical society — that the Cistercian Order spread dramatically throughout western Europe. In 1145 a Cistercian monk and former pupil of Bernard was even elected Pope, and it was this Pope, Eugenius III, who announced the Second Crusade (1147-49). It turned out to be a failure, but its initial popularity was largely driven by Bernard’s powerful preaching, and its sorry outcome was a great disappointment to him. Bernard died in 1153 and was canonized in 1174. He was created a Doctor of the Church in 1830.

Joyce Hill