Feast Of The Sacred Heart Of Jesus. The Friday After The Octave Of Corpus Christi.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal or, where indicated,
Abbot Gueranger's "The Liturgical Year".

Feast of The Sacred Heart of Jesus.
Friday after The Octave of Corpus Christi.

Double of The First Class
      with Privileged Octave of The Third Order.

White Vestments.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus

with Saint Ignatius of Loyola and 

Saint Louis Gonzaga (circa 1770).

Artist: José de Páez, Mexico, 1727-1790.

Source: http://arttattler.com/archivelatinamerica.html.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Annum Sacrum.

Annum Sacrum (meaning Holy Year) is an Encyclical by Pope Leo XIII on The Consecration of The Entire World to The Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was delivered in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome on the 25th day of May, 1899, the twenty-second year of his Pontificate.

The Consecration in The Encyclical entered new Theological territory by consecrating non-Christians. The Encyclical, and The Consecration, were influenced by two Letters written to the Pope by Sister Mary of The Divine Heart, who stated that, in Visions of Jesus Christ, she had been told to request The Consecration.

The Encyclical includes The Prayer of Consecration to The Sacred Heart, composed by His Holiness Pope Leo XIII.

English: Coat-of-Arms of Pope Leo XIII.

Français: Armoiries du pape Léon XIII : D'azur au cyprès de sinople planté sur une plaine

de même accompagné au francs quartier d'une comête d'or et en pointe de deux flaurs de lys d'argent, à la fasce d'argent brochant sur le tout.

Date: 11 August 2008.

Source: Own work.

Author: Odejea.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Protestantism, in the 16th-Century, and Jansenism, in the 17th-Century, had attempted to spoil one of the essential Dogmas of Christianity, namely, The Love of God for all men.

It became necessary that The Spirit of Love, which directs The Church, should by some new means counteract the spreading Heresy, in order that The Spouse of Christ, far from seeing her love for Jesus diminish, should feel it always increasing.

This was made manifest in Catholic worship, which is the Sure Rule of Our Faith, by the institution of The Feast of The Sacred Heart.

Yet, in the Early-Middle-Ages, the Doctors and Saints used to see, in The Wound of Jesus' Side, the Source of All Graces. Saint Bonaventure invites us "to enter this Wound and to dwell in the quiet of this Heart" (Third Nocturn).

English: Saint John Eudes, 1673.

Nederlands: Portret Jean Eudes ca. 1673 -

publiek domein, ouderdom.

Source: Transferred from nl.wikipedia

Author: Original uploader was Besednjak at nl.wikipedia

(Wikimedia Commons)

Saint Jean Eudes (14 November 1601 - 19 August 1680) was a French Missionary, Founder of The Congregation of Jesus and Mary, and of The Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of The Refuge, and author of the Propers for Mass and The Divine Office of The Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary.

The two Benedictine Virgins, Saint Gertrude and Saint Mechtilde, in the 13th-Century, had a clear vision of the grandeur of The Devotion to The Sacred Heart. Saint John the Evangelist, appearing to Saint Gertrude, announced to her that "the meaning of The Blessed Beating of The Heart of Jesus, which he had heard whilst his head rested on His Breast, was reserved for The Latter Times, when the World, grown old and cold in Divine Love, would require to have its fervour renewed by means of this Mystery of Burning Love".

English: Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque

contemplating The Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Italiano: 

Santa Margherita Maria Alacoque

Contempla il Sacro Cuore di Gesù.

Polski: 

Św. Małgorzata Maria Alacoque adoruje Najświętsze Serce Jezusa.

Artist: Giaquito Corrado.

Date: 1765.

Source: Lib-Art.com

(Wikimedia Commons)

This Heart, say these two Saints, is an Altar on which Christ offers Himself to The Father as a perfect and most acceptable victim. It is a Golden Censer from which rise, towards The Father, as many Clouds of Incense as there are kinds of men for whom Christ suffered.

In this Heart, the Praise and Thanks we give to God, and all our good works, are ennobled and become acceptable to The Father.

But, in order to make this worship public and recognised, Providence first raised up Saint John Eudes, who, in 1670, composed an Office and a Mass of The Sacred Heart for the so-called Congregation of The Eudists.

Providence then chose one of The Spiritual Daughters of Saint Francis of Sales, Saint Margaret-Mary Alacoque, to whom Jesus showed His Heart at Paray-le-Monial, on 16 June 1675, the Sunday after Corpus Christi, and asked her to institute a Feast of The Sacred Heart on The Friday following The Octave of Corpus Christi.

The Sacred Heart of Jesus,

(Sacro cuore di Jesu),

painting on the Altar in the Northern Side Chapel

of Il Gesu, in Rome, circa 1767,

by Pompeo Batoni.

Source: http://www.enid.uib.no/texts/achen_l.htm

(Wikimedia Commons)

Lastly, God employed, for the propagation of this Devotion, Blessed Claude de la Colombiere. He belonged to The Company of Jesus, "the whole of which inherited his zeal in the propagation of The Devotion to The Sacred Heart" [the quoted portion is from Dom Gueranger's "The Liturgical Year, Volume 10, Book 1: The Feast of The Sacred Heart"].

[Dom Gueranger writes, in the above tome, on The Feast of The Sacred Heart of Jesus: "A new ray of light shines today in the heaven of Holy Church, and its light brings warmth. The Divine Master given to us by Our Redeemer, that is, The Paraclete Spirit, Who has come down into this

World, continues His teachings to us in The Sacred Liturgy. The earliest of these, His Divine Teachings, was The Mystery of The Trinity; and we have worshipped The Blessed Three: We have been taught Whom God is, we know Him in His Own Nature, we have been admitted, by Faith, into the Sanctuary of The Infinite Essence.

Image of Prosper Gueranger

by Claude-Ferdinand Gaillard (1874).

Date: 2007-05-07 (original upload date).

Source: Transfered from en.wikipedia

Author: Original uploader was Ikanreed at en.wikipedia

(Wikimedia Commons)

"Then, this Spirit, The Mighty Wind of Pentecost, opened to our Souls new aspects of The Truth, which it is His Mission to make the World remember; and His Revelation left us prostrate before The Sacred Host, The Memorial which God Himself has left us of all His Wonderful Works.

"Today, it is The Sacred Heart of The Word Made Flesh that this Holy Spirit puts before us,

that we may know and love and adore It."]

In 1765, Pope Clement XIII, gave his approbation to The Feast and The Office of The Sacred Heart, and, in 1856, Pope Pius IX, extended it to The Universal Church. In 1929, Pope Pius XI composed a new Mass and Office for this Feast and gave it a Privileged Octave of The Third Order.

The Solemnity of The Sacred Heart sums up all the phases of The Life of Jesus, recalled in The Liturgy from Advent to The Feast of Corpus Christi.

It constitutes an admirable Triptych, giving us, in abridgment, all The Mysteries (Joyous, Sorrowful, and Glorious) of The Saviour's Life devoted to The Love of God and men. This Feast is, indeed, placed on a height from which may be contemplated The Redeeming Labours of The Saviour on Earth and The Glorious Victories He will, by The Working of The Holy Ghost, achieve in Souls until the end of the world.

Pope Leo XIII

in 1880.

Source: 1880 book on Pope Leo XIII.

Author: Karl Benzinger.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Pope Leo XIII wrote the Encyclical, "Annum Sacrum", on The Consecration of The Entire World to The Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was delivered in Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome on 25 May 1899.

Coming after The Feasts of Christ (Ascension and Corpus Christi), this Feast completes them, concentrating them in one object, which is, materially, Jesus' Heart of Flesh, and, formally, the Unbounded Charity symbolised by this Heart. This Solemnity, therefore, does not relate to a particular Mystery of The Saviour's Life, but embraces them all; indeed, The Devotion to The Sacred Heart Celebrates all the Favours we have received from Divine Charity during the year (Collect), and all the marvellous things that Jesus has done for us (Introit, Tract, Alleluia).

It is The Feast of The Love of God for men, a Love which has made Jesus come down on Earth for all, by His Incarnation (Epistle), which has raised Him on The Cross for The Redemption of all and which brings Him down every day on our Altars by Transubstantiation, in order to make us benefit by The Merits of His Death on Calvary.

Deutsch: Schwester Maria Droste zu Vischering.

English: Blessed Sister Mary of The Divine Heart.

Español: Beata María del Divino Corazón.

Countess of Droste zu Vischering 

and

Mother Superior of the Good Shepherd Convent 

in Porto, Portugal.

Date: Circa 1890.

Source: KIRCHENSITE.DE

Author: Unknown.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Blessed Mary of The Divine Heart (1863 - 1899).

Born Maria Droste zu Vischering, she was a German Roman Catholic Nun, who was best known for influencing Pope Leo XIII's Consecration of The World to The Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Pope Leo XII called this Consecration "the greatest act of my Pontificate".

These three Mysteries, which manifest to us The Divine Charity in a more special way, sum up the spirit of The Feast of The Sacred Heart. It is "His Love which forced Him to put on a mortal body" (Hymn at Matins). It is His Love which willed that The Sacred Heart should be pierced on The Cross (Gospel and Communion), in order that, from the Wound, should flow a Spring (Preface) we might draw from, joyfully (Versicle at Second Vespers), whose Water cleanses us from our sins in Baptism and whose Blood nourishes our Souls in The Eucharist.

And, as The Eucharist is the continuation of The Incarnation and The Sacrifice of Calvary, Jesus asked that The Feast should be placed immediately after The Octave of Corpus Christi.

As these manifestations of Christ's Love only show the more the ingratitude of men, who only answer by coldness and indifference (Offertory), this Solemnity has a character of Reparation (Collect) demanded of us by The Wounded Heart of Jesus and by His Immolation in The Crib, on The Cross and on The Altar.

Let us learn from The Heart of Jesus, Whose Gentle and Humble Love turns no-one away, and in it we shall find rest for our Souls (Alleluia).

Saint Barnabas. Apostle. Feast Day 11 June.

Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.

Saint Barnabas.
Apostle.
Feast Day 11 June.

Greater-Double.

Red Vestments.

Saint Barnabas healing the sick.

Artist: Paolo Veronese (1528–1588).

Date: Circa 1566.

Current location: Musée des beaux-arts de Rouen, France.

Source/Photographer: Oeuvre du Musée des Beaux-Arts de Rouen.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Church, Founded by Jesus and filled with The Holy Ghost at Pentecost, was to spread throughout the World. When Saint Paul, after his long Retreat in Arabia, came to Jerusalem for the first time after his Conversion, and wished to submit to the approval of Saint Peter the Mission to The Gentiles, committed to him by The Master Himself, it was Saint Barnabas who presented him to The Apostles.

"A good man and full of zeal of The Holy Ghost" (Epistle), Saint Barnabas evangelised, during twelve years, with Saint Paul, the pagans in the island of Cyprus and in a great number of Towns and Countries (Gradual).

Wherefore, The Church honours him as an Apostle and The Liturgy applies to him The Words of Jesus announcing to The Twelve that, having been established as Princes over the whole Earth (Offertory), they would be seated on thrones to judge The Twelve Tribes of Israel (Communion).

Having separated from Saint Paul, he returned to Cyprus, where the Jews of Salamis plotted against him. Remembering then The Words of The Master, Who sent His Apostles like sheep in the midst of wolves (Gospel), he said to The Faithful: "The wolf only attacks the shepherd first, to throw himself next upon the flock. Be firm in The Faith." The Holy Ghost dictated to him the words he had to say to the Jews (Gospel): But they stoned him as a blasphemer.

He was buried with The Gospel of Saint Matthew, which he had copied with his own hand. His name is mentioned in The Canon of The Mass, immediately after that of Saint Matthias (Second List).

[In the "Communicantes", there figures eleven of The Apostles chosen by Our Lord Himself, and Saint Paul, whom The Church does not separate from Saint Peter. Saint Matthias and Saint Barnabas are mentioned at the "Nobis quoque peccatoribus", because they were called to The Apostleship after The Death of The Saviour. There are then, altogether, fourteen Apostles mentioned in the two places (Editor: Communicantes and Nobis quoque peccatoribus), just as, during the Liturgical Year, there are Feasts of fourteen Apostles.]

Let us imitate the Apostolic Spirit of Saint Barnabas, whose Soul was all inflamed with The Holy Ghost.

Mass:  Mihi autem. In Paschaltide, the Mass: Protexísti is said.

SUB UMBRA ALARUM SUARUM
has a worthy tribute to Saint Barnabas. It is highly recommended to Readers to pop over and see.

The Cistercians. Part Eight.

Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

Garden entrance at The Cistercian Abbey of Gethsemani,

Kentucky, United States of America.

[Editor: Note the wording above the entrance: "God Alone".]

Photo: 14 January 2008.

Source: Own work.

Author: Bryan Sherwood.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani is a Monastery near Bardstown, Kentucky, in Nelson County, United States of America, a part of The Order of Cistercians of The Strict Observance (Ordo Cisterciensis Strictioris Observantiae), better known as The Trappists.

Founded on 21 December 1848 and raised to an Abbey in 1851, Gethsemani Abbey is considered to be The Mother House of all Trappist and Trappistine Monasteries in the United States of America. Gethsemani is the oldest Monastery in the United States that is still operating.

Following The Rule of Saint Benedict, the Trappist Monks live a Contemplative Life of Faithful Prayer and Work. The Monastery is situated on a working farm of 2,000 acres (810 ha). The Monks support themselves and the Abbey through its Store, "Gethsemani Farms", offering hand-made Trappist cheeses, fruitcake, and bourbon fudge (both on-site and by mail order).

Gethsemani Abbey was the home of Trappist Monk, social activist and author, Thomas Merton, from 1941 until his death in 1968.

English: Heilegenkreuz Abbey (Holy Cross Abbey), Austria.

It is the oldest continuously occupied Cistercian Monastery in the World.

Deutsch: Stift Heiligenkreuz Stiftshof.

Photo: 14 September 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: Se90.

(Wikimedia Commons)

By far the most influential of the Early-Cistercians was Bernard of Clairvaux. According to the historian Piers Paul Read, his Vocation to The Order, by deciding "to choose the narrowest gate and steepest path to The Kingdom of Heaven, at Citeaux, demonstrates the purity of his Vocation". His piety and asceticism "qualified him to act as the conscience of Christendom, constantly chastising the rich and powerful and championing the pure and weak."

He rebuked the moderate and conciliatory Abbot, Peter the Venerable, for the pleasant life of The Benedictine Monks of Cluny. Besides his piety, Saint Bernard was an outstanding intellectual, which he demonstrated in his Sermons on Grace, Free Will and The Song of Songs. He perceived the attraction of evil not simply as lying in the obvious lure of wealth and worldly power, but in the "subtler and ultimately more pernicious attraction of false ideas". He was quick to recognise Heretical ideas, and, in 1141 and 1145, respectively, he accused the celebrated Scholastic Theologian, Peter Abelard, and the popular Preacher, Henry of Lausanne, of Heresy. He was also charged with the task of promulgating Pope Eugene's Bull, Quantum praedecessores, and his eloquence in Preaching The Second Crusade had the desired effect. When he finished his Sermon, so many men were ready to take The Cross, that Saint Bernard had to cut his Habit into strips of cloth.

Although Saint Bernard's "De laude novae militiae" was in favour of The Knights Templar, a Cistercian was also one of the few Scholars of The Middle Ages to question the existence of The Military Orders during The Crusades. The English Cistercian Abbot, Isaac of l'Etoile, near Poitiers, France, preached against the "new monstrosity" of the nova militia in the Mid-12th-Century and denounced the use of force to convert members of Islam.

English: The Cistercian Abbey Church at Bebenhausen, Germany.

Deutsch: Klosterkirche Bebenhausen.

Date: 1 June 2013 (original upload date).

Source: Own work.

Author: Thomas Hentrich, www.MomentsInRGB.com

(Wikimedia Commons)

He also rejected the notion that Crusaders could be regarded as Martyrs if they died while despoiling non-Christians. Nevertheless, the Bernardine concept of "Catholic Warrior Asceticism" predominated in Christendom and exerted multiple influences, culturally and otherwise, notably forming the metaphysical background of the other-worldly, pure-hearted, Arthurian Knight, Sir Galahad, Cistercian Spirituality permeating and underlying the Mediaeval "anti-romance" and climactic sublimation of The Grail Quest, the Queste del Saint Graal — indeed, direct Cistercian authorship of the work, is academically considered highly probable. Cistercian-Bernardine chivalrous mysticism is especially exhibited in how the Celibate, Sacred Warrior, Galahad, due to Interior Purity of the Heart ("cardiognosis" in Desert Father terminology), is alone in being granted The Beatific Vision of The Eucharistic Holy Grail (Pauline Matarasso, The Redemption of Chivalry, Geneva, 1979).

One of the most-well-known Cistercian Theologians was Thomas Merton, a prominent author in the mystic tradition and a noted poet and social and literary critic. He entered the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, United States of America, in 1941, where his writings and letters to World Leaders became some of the most widely-read Spiritual and Social Works of the 20th-Century. Merton's most widely-read work remains his autobiography, "The Seven Storey Mountain", followed by "New Seeds of Contemplation" and "No Man is an Island".

Cistercian Monasteries have continued to spread, with many Founded outside Europe in the 20th-Century. In particular, the number of Trappist Monasteries throughout the World has more than doubled over the past sixty years; from eighty-two Monasteries in 1940, to 127 Monasteries in 1970, and 169 Monasteries at the beginning of the 21st-Century.

Westvleteren Abbey (Saint Sixtus Abbey), Belgium.

Date: 1 May 2008 (original upload date).

Source: Originally uploaded on en.wikipedia.

Author: Westvleteren Abbey.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Saint-Sixtus Abbey. of Westvleteren, which belongs to The Cistercians of Strict Observance, or Trappists, is a Roman Catholic Abbey located in Westvleteren, in the Belgian Province of West-Flanders. The Abbey is famous for its Spiritual Life, characterised by Prayer, Reading, and Manual Work, the three basic elements of Trappist Life. It has also a reputation for its brewery, one of the several breweries of Trappist beer in Belgium.

In 1940, there were six Trappist Monasteries in Asia and the Pacific, only one Trappist Monastery in Africa, and none in Latin America. Now there are thirteen Monasteries in Central and South America, seventeen Monasteries in Africa, and twenty-three Monasteries in Asia and the Pacific. In general, these Communities are growing faster than those in other parts of the World.

Over the same period, the total number of Monks and Nuns in The Order decreased by about fifteen per cent. There are, approximately, 2,500 Trappist Monks and 1,800 Trappist Nuns in the World, today. There are, on average, twenty-five Members per Community – less than half those in former times. As of 2005, there are 101 Monasteries of Monks and seventy Monasteries of Nuns. Of these, there are twelve Monasteries of Monks and five Monasteries of Nuns in the United States.

The Abbots and Abbesses of each Branch meet every three years at the Mixed General Meeting, Chaired by The Abbot General, to make decisions concerning the welfare of The Order. Between these Meetings, the Abbot General and his Council, who reside in Rome, are in charge of The Order's affairs. The present Abbot General is Dom Eamonn Fitzgerald of Mount Melleray, Waterford, Ireland.

The Cloisters of Celas Monastery, Portugal.

Photo: 1954.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/biblarte/3212572196/.

Author: Novais, Mário

(Wikimedia Commons)

Since 2010, there is also a Branch of Anglican Cistercians in England. This is a dispersed and un-Cloistered Order of single, celibate, and married men, that is officially recognised within The Church of England. The Order enjoys an ecumenical link with The Order of Cistercians of The Strict Observance.

At the time of Monastic Profession, five or six years after entering the Monastery, Candidates promise "conversion" – fidelity to Monastic Life, which includes an atmosphere of silence. Cistercian Monks and Nuns, in particular Trappists, have a reputation of being silent, which has led to the public idea that they take a Vow of Silence. This has actually never been the case, although silence is an implicit part of an outlook shared by Cistercian and Benedictine Monasteries. In a Cistercian Monastery, there are three reasons for speaking:

Functional communication at work or in Community dialogues; 

Spiritual exchange with one’s Superiors or with a particular Member of the Community on different aspects of one’s personal life; 

and spontaneous conversation on special occasions.

These forms of communication are integrated into the discipline of maintaining a general atmosphere of silence, which is an important help to continual Prayer.


PART NINE FOLLOWS.

Thursday, The Octave Day Of Corpus Christi.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.

Thursday, the Octave Day of Corpus Christi.

Greater-Double.
      Privileged Octave Day.

Same Indulgence as on
      The Feast of Corpus Christi.

White Vestments.

THE MOST HOLY SACRAMENT.

Illustration: UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY

To resist the attacks of renewed Heresies against The Holy Eucharist, and to revive in The Church a zeal which had somewhat grown cold,, The Holy Ghost inspired, at the beginning of the 13th-Century, The Solemnity of Corpus Christi.

In 1208, The Blesses Juliana of Mount Cornillon, near Liége, Belgium, saw in a Vision the Full Moon with an indentation, indicating that a Feast was missing in The Liturgical Cycle. The Eucharist, instituted on Maundy Thursday, had not, in effect, been Celebrated with all the desired pomp, The Church's thoughts being absorbed by The Passion of The Saviour.

It was thought that immediately after Paschaltide, a Feast, with an Octave, should be established. As The Last Supper took place on a Thursday, the Bishop of Liége instituted, in 1246, this Solemnity in his Diocese on the Thursday which follows the Octave of Pentecost. In 1264, Pope Urban IV extended this Feast to the whole World. Let us Venerate the Eucharist, the greatest of the Miracles performed by The Holy Ghost.

["The Eucharistic prodigy, a prolongation of The Incarnation, is justly attributed to the Power of Him, through Whose Mysterious Operation The Virgin Mary became Mother of God. Hence, particularly in The Greek Liturgy, the Invocation to The Holy Ghost among the Prayers of The Canon, hence the gesture of the Deacon waving above The Sacred Elements a light disc, symbolical of The Divine Dove covering the Mystery under its wings." (Dom Laurence Janssens, O.S.B.) The Mystery of The Eucharist, alone, says Saint Thomas Aquinas, supposes twelve Miracles.]

Mass: As on The Day of The Feast.

How To Maintain A Healthy Level Of Insanity In Retirement . . .

English: ATMs at the Poznań Główny Railway Station, Poland.

Polski: Bankomaty na dworcu Poznań Główny.

Photo: 16 February 2014.

Source: Own work.

Author: Adrian Grycuk.

(Wikimedia Commons)

When the money comes out of the ATM,

scream:

" I Won !  I Won ! ".

The Cistercians. Part Seven.

Text is taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

Orval Abbey (Trappist), Belgium.

Photo: 7 August 2006.

Source: Own work.

Author: User:Etychon.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The fortified Maulbronn Abbey in Germany is considered "the most complete and best-preserved Mediaeval Monastic complex North of The Alps". The Transitional Gothic Style of its Church had a major influence in the spread of Gothic architecture over much of Northern and Central Europe, and the Abbey's elaborate network of drains, irrigation canals and reservoirs has since been recognised as having "exceptional" cultural interest.

In Poland, the former Cistercian Monastery of Pelplin Cathedral is an important example of Brick Gothic. Wąchock Abbey is one of the most valuable examples of Polish Romanesque architecture. The largest Cistercian complex, the Abbatia Lubensis (Lubiąż, Poland), is a masterpiece of Baroque architecture and the second-largest Christian architectural complex in the world.

English: Maulbronn Monastery, Germany.

Deutsch: Kloster Maulbronn, Blick auf die Klosterkirche

mit Vorhalle („Paradies“).

Photo: 28 September 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: Elke Wetzig (Elya).

(Wikimedia Commons)

Maulbronn Monastery (German: Kloster Maulbronn) is the best-preserved Mediaeval Cistercian Monastery complex in Europe. It is situated on the outskirts of Maulbronn, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, and is separated from the Town by fortifications. In 1993, the Monastery was made a UNESCO World Heritage site.

The Mother House of The Order, Cîteaux, in France, had developed the most advanced style of painting in France, at least in Illuminated Manuscripts, during the first decades of the 12th-Century, playing an important part in the development of the image of The Tree of Jesse. However, as Bernard of Clairvaux, who had a personal violent hostility to imagery, increased in influence in The Order, painting and decoration gradually diminished in Cistercian Manuscripts, and they were finally banned altogether in The Order, probably from the Revised Rules approved in 1154. Any Wall Paintings that may have existed were presumably destroyed. Crucifixes were allowed, and, later, some painting and decoration crept back in. Bernard's outburst in a Letter, against the fantastical decorative motifs in Romanesque art, is famous:

. . . But these are small things; I will pass on to matters greater in themselves, yet seeming smaller because they are more usual. I say naught of the vast height of your Churches, their immoderate length, their superfluous breadth, the costly polishings, the curious carvings and paintings which attract the worshipper's gaze and hinder his attention . . . But, in the Cloister, under the eyes of the Brethren who read there, what profit is there in those ridiculous monsters, in the marvellous and deformed comeliness, that comely deformity ? To what purpose are those unclean apes, those fierce lions, those monstrous centaurs, those half-men, those striped tigers, those fighting knights, those hunters winding their horns ? Many bodies are there seen under one head, or, again, many heads to a single body. Here, is a four-footed beast with a serpent's tail; there, a fish with a beast's head. Here, again, the forepart of a horse trails half a goat behind it, or a horned beast bears the hinder quarters of a horse. In short, so many and so marvellous are the varieties of divers shapes on every hand, that we are more tempted to read in the marble than in our books, and to spend the whole day in wondering at these things rather than in meditating The Law of God. For God's sake, if men are not ashamed of these follies, why at least do they not shrink from the expense ?

The ruins of Tintern Abbey, Co. Wexford, Ireland.

This Abbey contained Later-Mediaeval Wall Paintings.

Photo: 14 July 2006.

Source: From geograph.org.uk

Author: Humphrey Bolton

(Wikimedia Commons)

Some Cistercian Abbeys did in fact contain Later-Mediaeval Wall Paintings, such as Tintern Abbey (known from archaeology) and Abbeyknockmoy (traces of which still survive in the Presbytery). The latter murals depict Saint Sebastian, The Crucifixion, The Trinity and The Three Living And Three Dead. The Abbey contains a fine example of a sculptured Royal Head, on a Capital in the Nave, with carefully defined eyes, an elaborate Crown and long curly hair. The East End of Corcomroe Abbey, in County Clare, Ireland, is similarly distinguished by high-quality carvings, several of which "demonstrate precociously naturalistic renderings of plants". By the Baroque Period, decoration could be very elaborate, as at Alcobaça in Portugal, which has carved and gilded Retables and Walls of Azulejo Tiles.

Furthermore, many Cistercian Abbey Churches housed the tombs of Royal or Noble Patrons, and these were often as elaborately carved and painted as in other Churches. Notable dynastic burial places were Alcobaça, for the Kings of Portugal, Cîteaux, for the Dukes of Burgundy, and Poblet, for the Kings of Aragon. Corcomroe, in Ireland, contains one of only two surviving examples of Gaelic Royal Effigies from 13th- and 14th-Century Ireland; the Sarcophagal tomb of Conchobar na Siudaine Ua Briain († 1268).

English: The Cloisters of the 12th-Century Cistercian Monastery of Veruela Abbey, Spain.

Español: Monestir de Santa Maria de Veruela.

Photo: 30 April 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: Emvallmitjana.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Veruela Abbey (Spanish: Real Monasterio de Santa María de Veruela, or "The Royal Monastery of Santa María de Veruela") is a Cistercian Abbey dating from the 12th-Century. It is situated near Vera de Moncayo, in Zaragoza Province, Spain. It was Founded in 1146 by Pedro de Atarés.

According to one modern Cistercian, "enterprise and entrepreneurial spirit" have always been a part of The Order's identity, and The Cistercians "were catalysts for development of a market economy" in 12th-Century Europe. It was as agriculturists and horse and cattle breeders that The Cistercians exercised their chief influence on the progress of Civilisation in The Middle Ages. As the great farmers of those days, many of the improvements in the various farming operations were introduced and propagated by them, and this is where the importance of their extension in Northern Europe is to be estimated.

They developed an organised system for selling their farm produce, cattle and horses, and notably contributed to the commercial progress of the Countries of Western Europe. To the wool and cloth trade, which was especially fostered by The Cistercians, England was largely indebted for the beginnings of her commercial prosperity.

Farming operations on so extensive a scale could not be carried out by the Monks alone, whose Choir and Religious duties took up a considerable portion of their time. And so, from the beginning, the system of Lay Brothers was introduced on a large scale. The duties of the Lay Brothers, recruited from the peasantry, consisted in carrying out the various field works and plying all sorts of useful trades. They formed a body of men who lived alongside the Choir Monks, but separate from them, not taking part in The Canonical Office, but having their own fixed round of Prayer and Religious Exercises. They were never Ordained, and never held any Office of Superiority. It was by this system of Lay Brothers that The Cistercians were able to play their distinctive part in the progress of European Civilisation.

Until The Industrial Revolution, most of the technological advances in Europe were made in the Monasteries. According to the Mediaevalist, Jean Gimpel, their high level of industrial technology facilitated the diffusion of new techniques: "Every Monastery had a model factory, often as large as the Church and only several feet away, and water power drove the machinery of the various industries located on its floor."

English: The Nave

of the 12th-Century Cistercian Monastery of Veruela Abbey, Spain.

Español: Nave central de la iglesia abacial de Santa María de Veruela.

Photo: 19 May 2010.

Source: http://www.fotopedia.com/items/flickr-4668988984.

Author: Miguel Ángel García.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Water power was used for crushing wheat, sieving flour, fulling cloth and tanning – a "level of technological achievement [that] could have been observed in practically all" of The Cistercian Monasteries. The English Science Historian James Burke examines the impact of Cistercian water power, derived from Roman water-mill technology such as that of Barbegal aqueduct and mill, near Arles, France, in the fourth of his ten-part series Connections (TV series), called "Faith in Numbers."

The Cistercian Order was innovative in developing techniques of hydraulic engineering for Monasteries established in remote valleys. In Spain, one of the earliest surviving Cistercian Houses, Real Monasterio de Nuestra Senora de Rueda, in Aragon, is a good example of such early hydraulic engineering, using a large Water-Wheel for power and an elaborate water circulation system for central heating.

The Cistercians are known to have been skilled metallurgists, and knowledge of their technological advances was transmitted by The Order. Iron ore deposits were often donated to the Monks, along with Forges to extract the iron, and, within time, surpluses were being offered for sale. The Cistercians became the leading iron producers in Champagne, France, from the Mid-13th-Century to the 17th-Century, also using the phosphate-rich slag from their Furnaces as an agricultural fertiliser. As the historian Alain Erlande-Brandenburg writes:

The quality of Cistercian architecture from the 1120s onwards is related directly to The Order's technological inventiveness. They placed importance on metal, both the extraction of the ore and its subsequent processing. At the Abbey of Fontenay, the Forge is not outside, as one might expect, but inside the Monastic enclosure. Metalworking was thus part of the activity of the Monks and not of the Lay Brothers. This spirit accounted for the progress that appeared in spheres other than building, and particularly in agriculture. It is probable that this experiment spread rapidly. Gothic architecture cannot be understood otherwise.

PART EIGHT FOLLOWS.

In Paradisum Deducant Te Angeli. The Gregorian Chant For A Traditional Roman Catholic Requiem Mass.

Image: Google Images.

"In Paradisum Deducant Te Angeli".

Gregorian Chant For

Traditional Roman Catholic

Requiem Mass.

Available on YouTube at

http://youtu.be/gu7mM_zqapA.

In paradisum deducant te Angeli;

in tuo adventu suscipiant te martyres,

et perducant te in civitatem sanctam Ierusalem.

Chorus angelorum te suscipiat,

et cum Lazaro 

quondam paupere

æternam habeas requiem.

May angels lead you into paradise;

upon your arrival, may the martyrs receive you

and lead you to the holy city of Jerusalem.

May the ranks of angels receive you,

and with Lazarus, the poor man,

may you have eternal rest.

The Cistercians. Part Six.

Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

English: Ruins of the Abbey of Savigny, France.

The Houses affiliated with the Abbey of Savigny merged with The Cistercian Order.

Français: Porche d'accès entre le cloitre et l'extérieur entre le dortoir et le réfectoire.

Vue des ruines de l'abbaye de Savigny le vieux, manche, France.

Photo: 11 February 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: Crochet.david.

(Wikimedia Commons)

In 1892, The Trappist Observance left The Cistercians and founded a new Order. Today, there are two Cistercian Orders:

The Common Observance, with about thirty Monasteries and 800 Choir Monks, the large majority being in Austria, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Vietnam and Eritrea. They represent the main body of The Order and follow a mitigated Rule of Life. In Asia, they run farms, in other parts of the World they work in Schools and Parishes;

The Strict Observance, or Trappists, with nearly 100 Monasteries, about 1,566 Solemnly Professed Choir Monks and 150 Solemnly Professed Non-Choir Monks (Lay Brothers). Including those in Monastic Formation, and Oblates, there are 2,132.

There has also always been a large number of Cistercian Nuns. The first Community was founded in the Diocese of Langres, France, in 1125. At the period of their widest extension, there are said to have been 900 Monasteries, and the Communities were very large. The Nuns were Devoted to Contemplation and also did field-work.

English: Basilica of Saint Mary, 

Lubiaz Abbey (Leubus Abbey), Poland.

The Abbey, established in 1175, is one of the largest

Christian architectural complexes in the World

and is considered a masterpiece of Baroque Silesian architecture.

Polski: Fasada bazyliki wniebowzięcia w Lubiążu.

Photo: 10 August 2009.

Source: Own work.

Author: Tobiii.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Lubiąż Abbey (German: Kloster Leubus. Polish: Opactwo cystersów w Lubiążu), also commonly known in English as Leubus Abbey, is a former Cistercian Monastery in Lubiąż, in the Lower Silesian Voivodeship of South-Western Poland, located about fifty-four km (34 miles) North-West of Wrocław. The Abbey, established in 1175, is one of the largest Christian architectural complexes in the World and is considered a masterpiece of Baroque Silesian architecture.

In Spain and France, certain Cistercian Abbesses had Extraordinary Privileges. Numerous Reforms took place among the Nuns. The best known of all Cistercian Women's Communities was probably the Abbey of Port-Royal, Reformed by Mother Marie Angélique Arnauld, and associated with the story of The Jansenist Controversy.

Lubiaz Abbey (Leubus Abbey), Poland.

The Abbey, established in 1175, is one of the largest

Christian architectural complexes in the World

and is considered a masterpiece of Baroque Silesian architecture.

Photo: 2012-09-05.

Source: Own work.

Author: Copyright: Ryszard Michalik (rychem).

Illustration: TREKEARTH

Lubiaz Abbey (Leubus Abbey), Poland.

The Abbey, established in 1175, is one of the largest

Christian architectural complexes in the World

and is considered a masterpiece of Baroque Silesian architecture.

Photo: 23 August 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: DocentX.

Illustration: SKYSCRAPERCITY.COM

The Nuns have also followed the split in Observances followed by the Monks. Those who follow the Reform of De Rancé are called Trappistines. As with the men, the Houses of this Branch outnumber those of The Original Observance.

Cistercian architecture has made an important contribution to European civilisation. Architecturally speaking, the Cistercian Monasteries and Churches, owing to their pure style, may be counted among the most beautiful relics of The Middle Ages. Cistercian Foundations were primarily constructed in Romanesque and Gothic architecture during The Middle Ages, although later Abbeys were also constructed in Renaissance and Baroque Styles.

Lubiaz Abbey (Leubus Abbey), Poland.

The Abbey, established in 1175, is one of the largest

Christian architectural complexes in the World

and is considered a masterpiece of Baroque Silesian architecture.

Photo: 23 August 2011.

Source: Own work.

Author: DocentX.

Illustration: SKYSCRAPERCITY.COM

In the Mid-12th-Century, one of the leading Churchmen of his day, the Benedictine Abbot Suger of Saint-Denis, France, united elements of Norman architecture with elements of Burgundian architecture (Rib Vaults and Pointed Arches, respectively), creating the new Style of Gothic architecture. This new "Architecture of Light" was intended to raise the observer "from the material to the immaterial" – it was, according to the 20th-Century French historian Georges Duby, a "monument of applied theology". Although Saint Bernard saw much of Church decoration as a distraction from Piety, and the builders of the Cistercian Monasteries had to adopt a Style that observed the numerous rules inspired by his austere aesthetics, The Order itself was receptive to the technical improvements of Gothic principles of construction and played an important role in its spread across Europe.

English: The Cistercians helped facilitate the spread of Water-Wheel technology.

Braine-le-Château, Belgium. 12th-Century.

Français: Moulin banal, Braine-le-Château, Belgium.

Walon: Molén banåve do 12inme sieke, a Brinne-Tchestea.

Photo: 14 November 2004.

Source: Own work.

Author: Pierre79.

(Wikimedia Commons)

This new Cistercian architecture embodied the ideals of The Order, and was, in theory at least, utilitarian and without superfluous ornament. The same "rational, integrated scheme" was used across Europe to meet the largely homogeneous needs of The Order. Various buildings, including The Chapter-House, to the East, and the Dormitories, above, were grouped around a Cloister, and were sometimes linked to The Transept of the Church by Night Stairs. Usually, Cistercian Churches were Cruciform, with a short Presbytery to meet the Liturgical needs of the Brethren, small Chapels in the Transepts for Private Prayer, and an Aisled Nave that was divided, roughly in the middle, by a Screen to separate the Monks from the Lay Brothers.

The building projects of the Church, in The High Middle Ages, showed an ambition for the colossal, with vast amounts of stone being quarried, and the same was true of the Cistercian projects. Foigny Abbey was ninety-eight metres (322 ft) long, and Vaucelles Abbey was 132 metres (433 ft) long. Monastic buildings came to be constructed entirely of stone, right down to the most humble of buildings. In the 12th- and 13th-Centuries, Cistercian barns consisted of a stone exterior, divided into Nave and Aisles, either by Wooden Posts or by Stone Piers.

The Cistercians acquired a reputation in the difficult task of administering the building sites for Abbeys and Cathedrals. Saint Bernard's own brother, Achard, is known to have supervised the construction of many Abbeys, such as Himmerod Abbey in the Rhineland. Others were: Raoul at Saint-Jouin-de-Marnes, who later became Abbot there; Geoffrey d'Aignay, sent to Fountains Abbey in 1133; and Robert, sent to Mellifont Abbey, in 1142. On one occasion, the Abbot of La Trinité, at Vendôme, France, loaned a Monk, named John, to the Bishop of Le Mans, Hildebert de Lavardin, for the building of a Cathedral. After the project was completed, John refused to return to his Monastery.

Liturgical Celebration 

in the Cistercian Abbey of Acey, Jura, France.

[Editor: Note the "starkness" and lack of architectural decoration,

which is a Cistercian hallmark.]

Photo: 17 March 2008.

Source: Own work.

Author: Arnaud 25.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Cistercians "made it a point of honour to recruit the best stone-cutters", and, as early as 1133, Saint Bernard was hiring workers to help the Monks erect new buildings at Clairvaux. It is from the 12th-Century Byland Abbey, in Yorkshire, England, that the oldest recorded example of architectural Tracing is found. Tracings were architectural drawings incised and painted in stone, to a depth of two to three mm, showing architectural detail to scale. The first Tracing in Byland Abbey illustrates a West Rose Window, while the second Tracing depicts the Central Part of that same Rose Window. Later, an illustration from the latter half of the 16th-Century would show Monks working alongside other craftsmen in the construction of Schönau Abbey.

Byland Abbey, in North Yorkshire, England,

was one of the great Mediaeval Abbeys of England

and was dissolved in 1539. The ruins are now in the care of English Heritage.

Photo: 14 August 2013.

Source: Own work.

Author: Grant Shaw.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Cistercian Abbeys of Fontenay in France, Fountains in England, Alcobaça in Portugal, Poblet in Spain, and Maulbronn in Germany, are today recognised as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

The Abbeys of France and England are fine examples of Romanesque and Gothic architecture. The architecture of Fontenay Abbey has been described as "an excellent illustration of the ideal of self-sufficiency" practised by the earliest Cistercian Communities. The Abbeys of 12th-Century England were stark and undecorated – a dramatic contrast with the elaborate Churches of the wealthier Benedictine Houses – yet, to quote Warren Hollister, "even now, the simple beauty of Cistercian ruins, such as Fountains and Rievaulx, set in the wilderness of Yorkshire, is deeply moving".

In the purity of architectural style, the beauty of materials, and the care with which the Alcobaça Monastery was built, Portugal possesses one of the most outstanding and best preserved examples of the Early Gothic-Style. Poblet Monastery, one of the largest in Spain, is considered similarly impressive for its austerity, majesty, and the fortified Royal Residence within.


PART SEVEN FOLLOWS.

Convent Of Christ Castle. Tomar, Portugal.

The Convent of Christ Castle and Church,

Tomar, Portugal.

Built in 1160 as a stronghold for The Knights Templar,

it became the headquarters of the renamed Order of Christ.

In 1983, it was named a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Photo: 22 October 2004.

Source: Own work, via en.wikipedia.org.

Author: Cristian Chirita (w:User:CristianChirita).

(Wikimedia Commons)

"March of The Templars".

Available on YouTube at

https://youtu.be/b11-37Me_a4.