Vigils Reading – SS Robert, Alberic, & Stephen

THE BEGINNINGS OF THE

CISTERCIAN ORDER

A reading from the “Exordium Parvum”

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We Cistercians, the first founders of this Church, in this document hereby

relate to our successors how this Monastery and its way of life took its beginning

according to the Laws of Holy Mother the Church; by what authority it began,

and also by what persons and at what times; so that by the telling of the plain

and unadulterated truth, they may be moved to a deep love for this Monastery

and for the observance of the Holy Rule of St Benedict which was begun in it by

us through the Grace of God; and that they might pray for us who have borne the

heat and the burden of the day without losing courage; that they might labor

with great fervor in the straight and narrow way which the Rule describes, even

unto complete union with God, when, having shed the garments of this flesh,

they might happily rest in eternal peace.

In the year 1098, Robert of blessed memory, the first Abbot of the Church

of Molesme founded in the Diocese of Langre, together with some of the

brethren from the same Monastery, came to the venerable Hugh, who was at

that time the Legate of the Holy See and the Archbishop of the Church of Lyons,

stating that they desired to live their life under the guidance of the Holy Rule of

Father Benedict, and that in order that they might follow out these designs with

greater freedom and security, they earnestly entreated him that he would bless

and endorse their project with his Apostolic Authority. The Legate was happily

pleased with their desire, and he laid the foundation of their beginnings by his

Letter.

After these affairs, Robert and those who sided with him returned to

Molesme and chose from that community of brethren those who wished to

associate with themselves, brothers who had made their vows according to the

Rule; so that between those who had spoken to the Legate at Lyons and those

who had been chosen from the Monastery, there were twenty-one monks.

Accompanied by such a troop, they made their way in all haste to the desert

which was called Citeaux… Because of the thickness of the woods and

undergrowth, it was very rarely visited by people and it was inhabited by

nothing but wild animals.

When they arrived there, the men of God immediately conceived a great

and holy reverence for the place, for the more contemptible and inaccessible it

was to the people of the world, the more they considered it fit for their life. This

was the very reason for which they had come there. Far away and hidden by the

density of trees and undergrowth, they began to construct a monastery there

with the help of the Bishop of Chalons-sur-Saone and the consent of the one

who owned the property. For these men, while they were still at Molesme,

inspired by the grace of God, had frequently spoken among themselves about

the transgressions of the Rule of Blessed Benedict, Father of Monks. They had

lamented and grown sad in spirit, seeing that both they and the rest of the

monks who had promised by their Solemn Profession that they would observe

this Rule, kept that promise to a very small degree. On account of this, by the

authority of the Holy See, they came to this solitude in order that they might

fulfill their profession by the observance of the Holy Rule.