De Rancé, Armand-Jean le Bouthillier

(1626–1700)

   Order Founder.

   De Rancé was born into a noble French family and was the godson of Cardinal richelieu. When young he was presented with several benefices, but in 1663 he renounced his worldly life and joined a Cistercian Order. After serving his novitiate, he assumed the position of Abbot at La Trappe. He set himself to reform the monastery and in his Traité de la Sainteté et des Devoirs de la Vie Monastique, published in 1683, he argued that monastic life should be both austere and penitential. For the rest of his life he engaged in controversy, particularly with the Benedictine Jean Mabillon, who insisted that study was essential for the religious life. De Rancé is remembered as the founder of the Trappist Rule, which is one of the strictest in the Church. Trappist monks live in silence in a common dormitory. They eat no eggs, meat or fish and are dedicated to following the liturgical offices and to manual work.

   A.J. Krailsheimer, Armand-Jean de Rancé, Abbot of La Trappe (1974);

   T. Merton, Elected Silence (1949).