| Cistercian monk | A Cistercian monk is a member of the Order of Citeaux.
The 'New Monastery' of Citeaux was founded in 1098 by the holy abbots Robertus of Molesmes, Albericus and Stephanus Harding. They introduced a new specific form of the Benedictine tradition. Citeaux became the cradle of the Cistercian Order. |
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| Trappist |
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| Monk |
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| Searching for God | Saint Benedict asks to inquire whether those who enter really search for God. | ||||||||
| RB | Regula Benedicti: The Rule of Saint Benedict.
Saint Benedict (appr. 480-550) is considered as the founder and 'the father of western monastic life'. He wrote his Rule for monks in the first half of the sixth century: the pursuit of the gospel for male and female monks who are called to follow Christ in their every day lives. |
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| Constitution | 'The constitutions are a supplement, an elaboration, an application in practice of prescriptions and principles which are given in the Rule, but they are also an adaptation and replacement.'
(Cf.: www.ocso.org, the site of the Cistercian Order) |
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| Lectio divina | 'In spiritual reading you read very slowly a text in which you hope to find something fundamental. You read as far as you find something touching. Then you stop. You read again what has touched you, and you associate quietly, you consider why it has touched you and what your answer might be. You taste an chew the fragment until you feel you squeezed out the feeding substances. The old monks call it ruminatio, i.e. what cows do with the grass.'
(Translated from: Een levensregel voor beginners, Wil Derkse, Lannoo Tielt, 2000) |
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