USA > Iowa > Dubuque County > History of the Trappist abbey of New Melleray in Dubuque County, Iowa > Part 1
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org.
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6
.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01077 3742
Gc 977.701 D85PE
7133058
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center
http://www.archive.org/details/historyoftrappis00perk
STATE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA PUBLICATIONS. HISTORICAL MONOGRAPH. No. 2.
HISTORY
OF
THE TRAPPIST ABBEY
OF
NEW MELLERAY,
IN DUBUQUE COUNTY, IOWA.
BY WILLIAM RUFUS PERKINS, A.M., PROFESSOR OF HISTORY
IOWA CITY : PUBLISHED BY THE UNIVERSITY. 1892.
Allen County Public Library Ft. Wayne, Indiana
COPYRIGHT, IS92. By STATE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA.
All Rights Reserved.
-
7133058
PREFACE.
The history of Mt. Melleray in Ireland, and of New Mel- leray in Dubuque County, Iowa, is fcunded upon original sources, viz: the records and manuscripts of the Abbeys and oral communications of the monks.
The editions of Helyot and of Felibien which have been used for the earlier history of the monastic houses are respectively those of 1715-21, and 1671.
The letter of Felibien to the Duchesse de Liancourt, and which constitutes the volume usually known as "Descrip- tion de la Trappe," was first printed in 1671. The edition used by the author is that of 1671, and the volume was originally in the library of the Carmelites at Rennes. This library was probably despoiled at the time of the French Revolution, and the little bock, in its original binding, has wandered at last to the prairies of Iowa.
The author desires to express his deep obligation to the authorities of New Melleray Abbey, and in particular to the Rev. Father Superior and to Rev. Father Placid, for courtesy and assistance. Few men engaged in historical researches have met with so cordial and hearty appreciation as has been vouchsafed by the monks of New Melleray to the author. It is impossible for me adequately to ex- press my sense of their kindness and thoughtfulness and hospitality.
-
iv
PREFACE.
I desire especially to thank the Rev. Father Placid for unnumbered kindnesses, and to express here my warm affection for him, an affection which rests not only upon his indefatigable efforts in my behalf as a historian, but which rests also upon my appreciation of him as a high- minded and excellent man.
Iowa City, July, 1892.
W. R. P.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
History of New Melleray I
Appendix I .- Bull of Gregory XVI. concerning the Trappist Order 58
Appendix II. - Extract from "Le Grand et le Petit Exorde de Citeaux" 62
Appendix III .- As to the Comparative Asceticism of Citeaux and La Grande Trappe 66
Appendix IV .- Extracts from the Works of Abbé De Rancé ·
67
Appendix V .- Financial Statement of the Abbey of New Melleray .
78
Appendix VI .- Biographical Note as to Sources · Appendix VII .- Bibliography .
79
.
79
1
HISTORY
OF THE
TRAPPIST BBEY OF NEW MELLERAY IN
DUBUQUE COUNTY, IOWA.
The ancient Abbey of Notre Dame de la Maison-Dieu de la Trappe lies in a secluded valley near the frontiers of Perche in the present department of the Orne. The name is derived from the physical nature of the country which, diversified with hills, discloses at least one valley whose entrance is through a narrow and rocky gorge. This entrance, which to some vivid imagination seemed like a trap-door, gave a name to the village and the adjacent monastery. The following description of the Abbey and its surroundings, published in 1671, will give some idea of the impression which its situation produced in the last part of the seventeenth century.
"This Abbey is situated in a large valley. The woods and the hills which surround it are disposed as if designed to hide it from the rest of the world They enclose arable lands, planta- tions of fruit trees, pasture grounds, and nine ponds which encompass the Abbey, and render it so difficult of access that it is very hard to come at it without a guide. There was hitherto a road from Montagne to Paris behind the walls of the garden; but though it was in the wood, and above five hundred paces from the enclosure, and though it was not possible to remove it farther without a vast expense, yet the
2
THE TRAPPIST ABBEY OF NEW MELLERAY.
Abbot turned it another way, in order to render the place around the Monastery more solitary. And indeed nothing is more so than this desert. For though there are several towns and large villages at three leagues distance round it, yet to people who are there it seems to be a lonely and foreign country. Silence reigns throughout; and if any noise is heard, it is only the rustling of trees shaken by the wind, or the brooks running through the pebbles. This Abbey dis- covers itself at going out of the forest of Perche, when one is coming from the south; and though the traveler thinks him- self very near, he finds it almost a mile before he reaches it. But having at last descended the hill, crossed the heath, and gone on a little way amongst hedges and through shady paths, he comes to the first court, where the receiver's apart- ment is. It is separated from those of the monks by a strong palisade of pales and thorns which the Abbot caused to be made after he retired thither." 1
Such was the lonely and secluded position of the Abbey of La Trappe in 1671, just before the Peace of Nimeguen made Louis XIV. the arbiter of Europe.
To understand the history of the Trappist Abbey of New Melleray, in Dubuque County, Iowa, we must first become somewhat familiar with the movement which engendered the severe and rigid rule which the Trappists observe, and with the origin both of La Grande Trappe (the mother house), and of Melleray, from which the Abbey of New Melleray is directly descended.
BRIEF SKETCH OF EARLY REFORM.
In about the year 535 of our era, St. Benedict, from the solitude of Monte Cassino gave to the western world the code of religious life which has stamped monasticism for the last thirteen hundred years, and which to-day bears the name of
1 Felibien, Description de la Abbaye de la Trappe, pp. 6, seq. (Paris, 1671.)
3
THE TRAPPIST ABBEY OF NEW MELLERAY.
the Holy Rule.1 The splendid monastery upon Monte Cas- sino is the successor of the simple one, founded upon the ruins of a pagan temple, into which St. Benedict gathered his disciples,? the earliest western monks, and from which he sent out that religious code which is more or less strictly observed to-day in all Benedictine monasteries.
Monastic establishments are subject to fluctuation in spirit- ual life, and the same law of deterioration which obtains in temporal kingdoms and states seems to reign in those more strictly spiritual. Hence it is not to be wondered at that the Benedictine abbeys and monasteries had departed widely from the ideal of their founder by the end of the tenth cen- tury. Though reforms 3 were attempted earlier than that which is known as the "Reform of Cluny," this was the most pronounced of the early movements to recover and practice again the Rule of St. Benedict. In the year 9104 was built in the Territory of Macon, in France, the monastery to which was given the name of Cluny. The Duke of Aquitaine, its founder, called the pious Bernon, formerly of the monastery of Gignon, to be its first Abbot.5 At his death he was suc- ceeded by Odon, who is commonly, though incorrectly, called the founder of Cluny. The order was recognized by Pope Agapet II., in 946. Cluny now became the mother house of many monasteries which followed the more rigid rule estab- lished there, and in the twelfth century is said to have had over two thousand affiliated houses in France, Germany, Italy, England, in Spain and in the Orient.6 Abbot Odon must
1 An excellent edition of the Holy Rule, has been edited by a monk of St. Benedict's Abbey, Fort Augustus.
" It is said that one of the two earliest followers of St. Benedict was named Placidus, a name which has always been a favorite monastic one, and is to-day borne by a monk of New Melleray.
" Notably that of St. Benoit d'Aniane in the eighth and ninth centuries. See Helyot, Histoire des Ordres Monastiques, Tom. V., p. 139. (Paris, 1715-21.)
4 Helyot, Ibid, p. 186.
5 Helyot, Ibid, p. 186. See also, Ibid, p. 184.
6 Helyot, Ibid, p. IS7.
THE TRAPPIST ABBEY OF NEW MELLERAY.
4 however be regarded, if not as the absolute founder of Cluny, yet as the great reformer who made Cluny for a hundred years the head and front of monastic establishments upon the continent. The relaxation ot morals in the monasteries which made reform desirable may be judged from the following quotation: "Apres que ce vénéré Père (Odon) eut senti la nécessité d'astreindre les communautés à l'exacte observation de la Règle, et qu'il eut commencé sa réforme, certains moines, outrés de voir leur Fréres laver et graisser eux-mêmes leurs chaussures, s'employer à de vils ouvrages et, soigneux de garder le silence, remplacer au besoin la parole par des signes, firent éclater scandaleusement et mal à propos leur mauvaise humeur et leur colère. «Misérables s'écriaient-ils, que faites- vous la ? Quelle est la loi, quel est l'ordre qui vous oblige à des travaux si bas et si serviles ? Où donc, s'il vous plaît, l'Ecriture vous prescrit-elle de substituer les mains à là langue ? N'est-il pas manifeste que vous faites injure au Créateur lui-même, lorsque, abandonnant l'usage naturel de la voix et de la parole, vous remuez vos doigts comme des insenses?' " 1
The Cluniacs themselves became less spiritual, and there succeeded a variety of reforms which made the twelfth cen- tury illustrious in the annals of the monastic orders. These reforms, in various parts of France, and at first sporadic, finally crystallized in the great order of Citeaux, which during the century became, under the leadership of St. Bernard, the most illustrious in Europe, and of which the Trappists are one of the most remarkable and vigorous branches.
CITEAUX.
Among the abbeys probably affiliated to the order of Cluny was that of Molesme, which lay only a little distance from the mother house, in the forest from which it took its name, in the diocese of Langres and Duchy of Burgundy. This house had
1 Le Petit et le Grand Exorde de Citeaux, p. 56. (Imprimiere de la Grande- Trappe, 1884.)
1
5
THE TRAPPIST ABBEY OF NEW MELLERAY.
been dedicated in the year 1075.1 This monastery under the guidance of Robert carried out to the letter the rule of St. Benedict. The monastery soon became rich and with riches came a natural relaxation and degeneracy. This led directly to the founding of Citeaux, for Abbot Robert finding a large number of the monks opposed to his strictness, and being un- willing to coerce them, determined to lead out to a new foun- dation those who were more spiritually minded and who, with him, wished to follow closely the original constitution of St. Benedict.
Early then in the year 1098, a little band of Benedictine monks, twenty-one in number, including the Abbot, Prior and Sub-Prior, were seen winding from the abbey gateway of Molesme .? Such was the beginning of that reform which resulted in the establishment of the great order of the Cister- cians. This was one of those sporadic movements towards reform of which I have spoken, but one which was to result in great and organized action, the others being merely tenta- tive. It is a general principle that efforts to a great end may manifest themselves in many ways, but that in the supreme struggle even the slightest effort may become of world-wide importance. The struggle for a return to the primeval rule had manifested itself in the establishment of the other orders, it was to conquer in the seemingly insignificant progress of twenty-one monks from the gateway of Molesme, in the year 1098.
They journeyed on until they arrived at the forest of Citeaux in the diocese of Chalons.
This lonely and desolate place seemed well fitted for mo- nastic seclusion, and here the new abbey was inaugurated and Robert received the pastoral staff from the hands of the Bishop of Chalons. It is important to observe that from the beginning Cistercian monasteries were exempted from episco-
1 A Concise History of the Cistercian Order, P. 54. By a Cistercian Monk. (London, IS52.)
¿ Ibid, p. 43.
.
6
THE TRAPPIST ABBEY OF NEW MELLERAY.
pal jurisdiction,1 and this independence was confirmed by suc- cessive bulls of the Pontiffs .? The first bull is dated the 27th of April, 1100, and was issued by Paschal II.3
Several important changes mark the establishment of this Order-changes which greatly affected the monastic disci- pline.
First. The regulation of the diet. All dishes which op- posed the purity of the rule as the early monks had inter- preted it were banished from the refectory. From the four- teenth of September until Easter they partook of a single meal-that which St. Benedict permitted-and it consisted of a pound of the convent bread and two sorts of vegetables. This meal was taken in the afternoon, after rising at two in the morning and spending the most of the day in agricultural labors. During the rest of the year a similar meal was per- mitted in the evening, consisting of one-third of a pound of bread and of vegetables.
Second. They interpreted the following extract from the sixty-sixth chapter of St. Benedict's Rule much more rigidly than had been the custom :
" The monastery ought, if possible, to be so constituted that all things necessary, such as water, a mill, a garden, and the various workshops may be contained within it; so that there may be no need for the monks to go abroad."4
The interpretation given to this at Citeaux precluded the possession of large estates which they did not cultivate them- selves, but let out to tenants. It involved hard manual labor upon the part of the monks, but, as the community was fre- quently too small to permit the cultivation of their property by their own hands, how was the observance of the rule to be assured? The answer to this serious question was found in the institution of lay brethren. This, though it existed in
1 Privilèges de l'Ordre de Citeaux. (Paris 1713).
2 Ibid.
$ A Concise History of the Cistercian Order, p. 66.
4 The Rule of St. Benedict, pp. 194-5. (Burns & Oates. London, ISS6.)
7
THE TRAPPIST ABBEY OF NEW MELLERAY.
the Benedictine Order, took a definite and systematic shape at the beginning of the Cistercian Order. The monks labored in the close neighborhood of the monastery, the lay brethren were permitted to dwell on the lonely farms around it, and. became the tailors, shoemakers and blacksmiths of the com- munity. But although the lay brethren were usually, though not always, of the more ignorant class they were treated with the greatest consideration, and by a special law of the Order, partook of all spiritual advantages. Indeed they made their vows in the presence of the Abbot and were monks in all but name. It is evident that in a rude age when distinctions in rank were so great and almost impassable, this institution of lay-brethren ennobled the cultivator of the soil and placed the nobleman and the peasant on the same level. Manual labor, therefore, and the institution of lay-brethren constituted an important part of the reforms of Citeaux.
Third. As regards the dress. The color of the dress or the greater part of it was changed. For dark brown was sub- stituted white in all the garments except the scapular, which remained dark as before. It is difficult to discover the true reasons for the change, but the following one is often given, i. c., that as all Cistercian monasteries are specially dedicated to the Virgin, so the white garments are symbolical of her purity. A second reason sometimes given is that the dress of the peasants of the country was made of a coarse gray cloth, and so they supposed this to be marked out for them by the rule. The former of the two reasons seems the more likely, but, however that may be, the Order has adopted the white dress with the exception of the scapular. It is supposed that this was left dark to remind the wearers and the world that they were not only monks of Citeaux, but children of St. Benedict.
Fourth. The rule of silence. The Rule of St. Benedict speaks as follows: "On account of the importance of silence let leave to speak be seldom granted even to perfect disciples, although their conversation be good and holy and tending to
8
THE TRAPPIST ABBEY OF NEW MELLERAY.
edification."1 "The greatest silence must be kept at table so that no whispering may be heard there, or any voice except that of him who readeth, and whatever is necessary for food and drink let the brethren so minister to each other that no one need to ask for anything, but should anything be wanted, let it be asked for by a sign rather than by the voice."2 "Every- one, then, being assembled, let them say Compline, and when that is finished, let none be allowed to speak to any one, and if any one be found to evade this rule of silence, let him be subjected to severe punishment; unless the presence of guests should make it necessary, or the Abbot should chance to give any command." 3
These, which are but three of the seven directions concern- ing silence, are sufficient to indicate the purpose of St. Bene- dict. Abbot Alberic, and notably Abbot Stephen, the second and third Superiors of Citeaux, impressed upon their Religious the necessity of conforming in this respect to the manifest intentions of St. Benedict, and silence became a distinctive mark of the Order. "The practice of silence sanctifies the whole Cistercian Order." 4
A change in the color of the dress, the custom of menial and manual labor and the consequent development of the system of lay brethren, the rule of silence, and the restriction of the diet are the principal characteristics of the reform of Citeaux, and as these are all special marks of the develop- ment of the Cistercian Trappists it has been thought best to emphasize them as distinctive early marks of reform. The observances of the monks of Citeaux were ascetic in the extreme. Early rising, silence, fasting-all these were carried by Abbot Alberic, the second Abbot, to an extreme which
1 The Rule of St. Benedict, pp. 43-5.
" Ibid, pp. 117-8.
3 Ibid, pp. 127-18.
4 De Rance. A Treatise on the Sanctity and the Duties of the Monastic State. Translated into English by a Religious of the Abbey of Melleray-La Trappe. Vol. II., p. 115. (Richard Grace, Dublin, 1830.) The copy consulted is from library of Mt. Melleray, Ireland.
9
THE TRAPPIST ABBEY OF NEW MELLERAY.
overshadows the rigidity and austerity of the Trappists of to-day, and the changes which have been noted above were formulated by him into ordinances, with the approbation of Rome, the Order having been, as has been mentioned, author- ized in IIO0.1
The establishment of Clairvaux by St. Bernard,2 who led out a contingent from Citeaux, and the swift and brilliant development of the Order are too well known to require any special notice, and we pass to a brief notice of the other Orders with which La Trappe was at first affiliated.
FONTREVAULT. SAVIGNI.
Before St. Bernard's time there were "other Prophets in Israel." The earliest of these reformers was Robert d'Abis- sel, who first led the life of an Anchorite in Anjou. He had many followers, but was obliged to leave them to preach the Crusade by the order of Pope Urban II. Later, in the year 1099, he retired to a place upon the confines of Anjou and Poitou called Fontrevault, and began the building of those cells or cabins which finally became the monastery of Fontre- vault, and the Order was recognized by Pope Paschal II., in the year 1106. The founder of Fontrevault found it neces- sary to detach from his original following a number of his disciples, and they were sent forth under the control of three of his most trusted monks to different places in France. The one which concerns the Trappist Order was the colony led out by Vital de Mortain into Normandy, where was founded in the year 1112 the Abbey of Savigni. This abbey took its name from a forest into which Vital had led some of his fol- lowers as early as 1105. The first monastic home of the Order of Savigni was simply the ruins of an old chateau be- longing to Raoul de Fougeres, who kindly granted it to the homeless monks. This act of donation was confirmed by Henry I. of England, and later in the same year by Pope Paschal II. Vital gave to the monks of his monastery the
1 Supra, p 6.
2 Ratisbonne, Life of St. Bernard. (1886.)
IO
THE TRAPPIST ABBEY OF NEW MELLERAY.
Rule of St. Benedict, and added some particular constitutions. The number of monks increased greatly and Savigni became one of the most celebrated monasteries of France.1 Not only was Savigni itself illustrious, but many abbeys and mon- asteries followed its rule and became dependent upon it. Amongst others was the Abbey of La Trappe.
Thus upon both sides of France, in Burgundy and in Nor- mandy, Anjou and Perche, was displayed the same spirit of reform. But while Fontrevault and Savigni never became so illustrious as Citeaux, there was affiliated to them, and later to Citeaux, the monastery of La Grande Trappe, the ancestress of New Melleray and to-day the mother house of the Trap- pists.
THE ABBEY OF LA GRANDE TRAPPE.
It must not be supposed that the abbey which has become famous as the mother house of the Trappists was synchronous in foundation with that strict branch of the Cistercians to which it has given a name, in this case the monastery christ- ened the Order; not the Order the monastery.
In the year 11222 Rotrou, Count of Perche, founded an abbey which he called "L'Abbaye de Notre-Dame de la Maison-Dieu de la Trappe." The church was consecrated by Robert the Archbishop of Rouen, assisted by Raoul the Bishop of Evreux and Silvestre the Bishop of Seez,3 in the time of the fifth abbot, William, in the year 1280. The abbey at its foundation in 1122 was affiliated with the order of Fontrevault, + which was recognized by Pope Paschal II. in 1106, and received a still further recognition in a bull of the same Pope seven years later. In the abbey of Fontre-
1 Helyot, Histoire des Ordres Monastiques. Tom. VI., p. 110.
2 Felibien, Description de l'Abbaye de la Trappe, pp. 10 et seq. (Paris, 1671.) The date given by Felibien is 1140, which is incorrect, although it is repeated in Helyot, who relied on Felibien. The accepted date among the Trappists is 1122.
3 Helyot, Ibid, p. 1.
4 Edouard, Fontrevault et ses Monuments, etc. (1S75.)
II
THE TRAPPIST ABBEY OF NEW MELLERAY.
vault, though now fallen to ruin, may still be seen the effigies of Henry II. and Richard I. of England, and until the time of the French Revolution the French princesses were accustomed to be sent thither for their education. To this Order, illus- trious even then, the new Abbey of La Trappe was first affiliated, but in the year 1148, under the guidance of the fourth abbot, it had become Cistercian, and through the efforts of St. Bernard himself became one of the many mon- asteries closely connected with Citeaux.
At this time the Cistercian Order, which originated in the reform of Citeaux (Cistercium), had risen to great splendor under the guidance of St. Bernard, and attracted to itself and to St. Bernard's Abbey of Clairvaux, rendered so illus- trious by its founder, the greater part of those monasteries which with the decadence of the Benedictines felt the need of a newer spiritual life. The affiliation then of the Abbey of La Trappe, and its reduction beneath the rule of Citeaux, was only a single instance of a movement which became almost universal through France and through Europe, and which in turn manifested the same decadence which had led to its inception.
The surrounding country is rich in historical association. Close at hand is Bellême from whose ancient castle the family of Robert so famous in the annals of England and of Nor- mandy derived its name. This uneasy baron was engaged in a serious controversy with Rotrou, Count of Perche, presum- ably the same who founded the abbey, in 1122. The fact that there was war between Robert and Rotrou is not strange, for the former, surnamed Le Diable, was usually at war with his neighbors, but it is rather curious that his antagonist in this instance, Rotrou, should have immortalized his name by the foundation of La Trappe, while Robert remains a type of the worst features of feudalism. At the present day the "site of the true castle of Bellême may easily be distinguished from the present fortress."1 It "stands quite apart from the
1 Freeman, The Reign of William Rufus, Vol. I., p. 218, note.
I2
THE TRAPPIST ABBEY OF NEW MELLERAY.
hill on which the town and the later castle stand, being cut off from it by art. The chapel is but little altered, and has a crypt, the way down to which reminds one of Saint Zeno and other Italian churches."1
Close at hand is Fontrevault, already referred to, and, just across the frontier in Maine and in Normandy, every rood of ground brings up recollections of the days when Robert of Bellême defied the power of the Norman Dukes, or when Helias, the "blameless Knight" of Maine fought bravely, though vainly, against the mighty masters of England and of Normandy. In their old age and calmer days the barons of that time were wont to lull their consciences by the founda- tion and endowment of some religious house, and it is proba- ble that Rotrou in his declining years thought to make the establishment of La Trappe the condoning good deed of his life.2 In the midst then of a country which bears even to-day upon its face the scars of the contests engendered by feudal- ism in the eleventh and twelfth centuries and at an era when private war was the key-note of the age, arose the walls and gardens which afterwards beheld the inception and the devel- opment of the strictest order of western monasticism, and which have handed on a name which is synonymous with the most profoundly self-denying of all monastic names, that of La Trappe.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.