The monastic Congregation of Savigny (Savigniac Order) started in the abbey of Savigny, situated in northern France, on the confines of Normandy and Brittany, in the Diocese of Coutances. It originated in 1105 when Vitalis of Mortain established a hermitage in the forest at Savigny in France.
Vitalis was a canon of the Collegiate Church of St. Evroul in Mortain. He resigned his prebend to embrace an eremitical life under Robert of Arbrissel in the forest of Craon, located in Anjou. Leaving the latter, he retired to the forest of Savigny, where he built his own hermitage. [1]
The number of disciples who then gathered around him necessitated the construction of adequate buildings, in which was instituted the monastic life, following the Rule of St. Benedict, interpreted in a manner similar to the Cistercians. The community wore grey habits. In 1112, the local lord, Rudolph of Fougeres, confirmed to the monastery the grants he had formerly made to Abbot Vitalis, and from then dates the foundation of the monastery. Once firmly established, its growth was rapid, and it soon became one of the most celebrated in France. Aimo of Landecob was a noted member. [2]
The Congregation founded daughter-houses such as that at Furness Abbey [3] and Calder Abbey, both in Cumbria, England. In 1119, Pope Celestine II, then in Angers, took it under his immediate protection, and strongly commended it to the neighbouring nobles.
Under Geoffroy, successor to Vitalis, Henry I of England, established and generously endowed twenty-nine monasteries of this Congregation in his dominions. [4] Early in the 12th century, Buckfast Abbey was incorporated into the Benedictine Congregation of Savigny. [5] The monasteries of Basingwerk (Flintshire) and Neath (Glamorgan) in Wales were founded as Savigniac houses, as was Combermere Abbey. St. Mary's Abbey, Dublin was founded as a Benedictine house in 862, and given to the Congregation of Savigny in 1139. [6] From the number of its foundations Savigny became the head of a Congregation, numbering thirty-three subordinate houses, within thirty years of its own inception.
Saint Bernard of Cîteaux also held them in high esteem, and it was at his request that their monks, in the troubled times of the Antipope Anacletus II, declared in favour of Pope Innocent II.
By 1147, the Order was experiencing financial and administrative difficulties. Abbot Serlo, third successor of the founder, found it difficult to retain his jurisdiction over the English monasteries, who wished to make themselves independent. He determined to affiliate the entire Congregation to Cîteaux, which was effected at the General Chapter of 1147. Several English monasteries objecting to this, were finally obliged to submit by Pope Eugene III (1148). [4] Each of the newly affiliated houses was surveyed, and brought within conformity of the strictures and standards of the Cistercian order.
The Savigny Abbey continued to exist until the Revolution reduced it to a heap of ruins, and scattered its then existing members. Of all its former dependencies only La Grande Trappe, a daughter of Le Breuil-Benoît Abbey, which was a direct foundation of Savigny, remains.
An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns.
The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict, are a mainly contemplative monastic religious order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. The male religious are also sometimes called the Black Monks, in reference to the colour of their religious habits, in contrast to other Benedictine orders such as the Olivetans, who wear white. They were founded in 529 by Benedict of Nursia, a 6th-century Italian monk who laid the foundations of Benedictine monasticism through the formulation of his Rule. Benedict's sister, Scholastica, possibly his twin, also became a religious from an early age, but chose to live as a hermit. They retained a close relationship until her death.
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The Cistercians, officially the Order of Cistercians, are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contributions of the highly-influential Bernard of Clairvaux, known as the Latin Rule. They are also known as Bernardines, after Saint Bernard himself, or as White Monks, in reference to the colour of the "cuculla" or cowl worn by the Cistercians over their habits, as opposed to the black cowl worn by Benedictines.
Buckfast Abbey forms part of an active Benedictine monastery at Buckfast, near Buckfastleigh, Devon, England. Buckfast first became home to an abbey in 1018. The first Benedictine abbey was followed by a Savignac, later Cistercian, abbey constructed on the site of the current abbey in 1134. The monastery was surrendered for dissolution in 1539, with the monastic buildings stripped and left as ruins, before being demolished. The former abbey site was used as a quarry, and later became home to a Gothic mansion house.
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The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a Catholic religious order of cloistered monastics that branched off from the Cistercians. They follow the Rule of Saint Benedict and have communities of both monks and nuns that are known as Trappists and Trappistines, respectively. They are named after La Trappe Abbey, the monastery from which the movement and religious order originated. The movement first began with the reforms that Abbot Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé introduced in 1664, later leading to the creation of Trappist congregations, and eventually the formal constitution as a separate religious order in 1892.
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The Tironensian Order or the Order of Tiron was a medieval monastic order named after the location of the mother abbey in the woods of Thiron-Gardais in Perche, some 35 miles west of Chartres in France). They were popularly called "Grey Monks" because of their grey robes, which their spiritual cousins, the monks of Savigny, also wore.
Stephen Harding was an English-born monk and abbot, who was one of the founders of the Cistercian Order. He is honored as a saint in the Catholic Church.
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Alberic of Cîteaux, sometimes known as Aubrey of Cîteaux, was a French monk and abbot, one of the founders of the Cistercian Order. He is now honored as a saint.
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Vitalis of Savigny was the canonized founder of Savigny Abbey and of the Congregation of Savigny (1112).
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Savigny Abbey was a monastery near the village of Savigny-le-Vieux (Manche), in northern France. It was founded early in the 12th century. Initially it was the central house of the Congregation of Savigny, who were Benedictines; by 1150 it was Cistercian.
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