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.
The Catholic Church in Morocco is part of the worldwide Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. Catholics account less than 1% of the overall population of over 31 million. The country is divided into two archdioceses; Rabat and Tangier.
Aiguebelle Abbey is a Trappist monastery situated in the communes of Montjoyer and Réauville in the département of Drôme, on the borders of the Dauphiné and of Provence, France.
Midelt is a town in Morocco, in the high plains between the Middle Atlas and High Atlas mountain ranges. With a population of 55,304 recorded in the 2014 Moroccan census, Midelt serves as the commercial center of a large agricultural hinterland. It is also one of Morocco's principal cities for the mining of several minerals.
Cistercian nuns are female members of the Cistercian Order, a religious order belonging to the Roman Catholic branch of the Catholic Church.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Rabat is an ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Roman Catholic Church in Morocco. It was erected as the Apostolic Vicariate of Rabat on July 2, 1923, by Pope Pius XI, and promoted to the rank of an archdiocese by Pope Pius XII on September 14, 1955.
On the night of 26–27 March 1996, seven monks of the Trappist order from the Our Lady of the Atlas Abbey of Tibhirine near Médéa, Algeria, were kidnapped during the Algerian Civil War. They were held for two months, and found dead in late May 1996. The circumstances of their kidnapping and death remain controversial; the Armed Islamic Group claimed responsibility for both, but in 2009, retired General François Buchwalter reported that the monks were killed by the Algerian army.
Tamié Abbey is a Cistercian monastery, located in the Bauges mountain range in the Savoie region of France.
The Trappist Abbey of Rochefort or Abbey of Notre-Dame de Saint-Rémy, which belongs to the Cistercians of Strict Observance, is located in Rochefort in the province of Namur. The abbey is famous for its spiritual life and its brewery, which is one of few Trappist beer breweries in the world. Life in the abbey is characterised by prayer, reading and manual work, the three basic elements of Trappist life. The motto of the abbey is Curvata Resurgo.
Of Gods and Men is a 2010 French drama film directed by Xavier Beauvois, starring Lambert Wilson and Michael Lonsdale. Its original French language title is Des hommes et des dieux, which means "Of Men and of Gods" and refers to a verse from the Bible shown at the beginning of the film. It centers on a true story that happened in the monastery of Tibhirine, where nine Cistercian monks lived in harmony with the largely Muslim population of Algeria, until seven of them were kidnapped and assassinated in 1996 during the Algerian Civil War.
Igny Abbey or Val d'Igny Abbey is a Cistercian abbey located in Arcis-le-Ponsart, Marne, France. It was founded in 1128 for Cistercian monks, dissolved in 1791 during the French Revolution, re-established in 1876 for Trappist monks, destroyed in 1918, reopened in 1929 for Trappist nuns and modernised in 2008–12 to accommodate three or four pre-existing communities.
The Abbey of Our Lady of Atlas is a Catholic monastery of Trappists, inaugurated on March 7, 1938, in Tibhirine, close to Médéa, in Algeria.
Charles-Marie Christian de Chergé, O.C.S.O, was a French Roman Catholic Cistercian monk. He was one of the seven monks from the Abbey of Our Lady of Atlas in Tibhirine, Algeria, kidnapped and believed to have been later killed by Islamists. He was beatified with eighteen others, the Martyrs of Algeria, on December 9, 2018.
The 19 martyrs of Algeria were a group of nineteen individuals slain in Algeria between 1994 and 1996 during the Algerian Civil War. They all were priests or professed religious belonging to religious congregations, including seven Trappist Cistercian monks; one was a bishop. Their nations of origin were France (15), French protectorate of Tunisia (1), Spain (2), and Belgium (1).
Christophe Lebreton OCSO was a French Trappist monk. He was one of seven Trappist monks from the Our Lady of the Atlas Abbey of Tibhirine near Médéa, Algeria who were kidnapped and killed during the Algerian Civil War. He was recognized as a martyr by Pope Francis in January 2018, and proclaimed Blessed on December 8, 2018 in Oran, Algeria, along with the other martyrs of Algeria. His writings, published after his death, reveal his poetry and spiritual depth. The murder of the monks of Tibhirine gained widespread attention in the prize-winning film Of Gods and Men.
The Abbaye de la Fille-Dieu is a Cistercian monastery located near the town of Romont in the Swiss Canton of Fribourg. Founded as a Benedictine priory in 1268, and continuously occupied by a community of nuns since its establishment, the alpine abbey is a Swiss heritage site of national significance. Heavily altered through its history, Fille-Dieu was restructured by economic turmoil, fire, additions and unsympathetic alterations. In 1906 the abbey became affiliated with the Trappists, and between 1990 and 1996 an internationally notable restoration was undertaken, modernising the monastic buildings, restoring the abbey church to its original volume, and preserving its rediscovered medieval murals, with the only contemporary element a suite of stained glass windows commissioned from the British artist Brian Clarke. Further restoration of the abbey continues today.
Jean-Pierre Schumacher was a French Trappist monk and prior. He was one of the two survivors of the Trappist community of Tibhirine.
