Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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TRAPPISTS

Cistercian monks who follow the rule of the abbey at La Trappe, France, as reformed in 1664. They were absorbed into the Cistercians of the Strict Observance in 1892, but the name is now commonly applied to the latter. The reformation of the Trappists, under the Abbé de Rancé in the seventeenth century, was continued by Abbé Lestrange into the early nineteenth century, emphasizing the need for a more penitential life. Separated monasteries were united into an international order in 1892 under an abbot general. Their official name is Cistercians of Strict Observance, or Reformed Cistercians. Monasteries of the order are in many countries.