Water Planning In Alcobaça Cistercian Lands / O Ordenamento Hidráulico no Território Cisterciense de Alcobaça

This paper concerns the main domain (coutos) of the Cistercian Abbey of Alcobaça (central Portugal), founded in 1153. It shows the involvement of the monks in shaping hydraulic landscapes along time. This monastic territory is limited westwards by the Atlantic ocean with a cliff coast indented by two large gulfs, the former Pederneira and Alfeizerão lagoons, sanded up presently. These landscapes have been consolidated along with the monks’ intervention in the hydrographic plan, particularly through a network of canals, the types of which can be summarized as follows: canals for water conveyance and evacuation, to and from the abbey buildings; canals related with water-powered engines as grain-, oil-, saw- and fulling-mills, forges and other industrial devices; canals consequent to the diversion of rivers and streams with two main purposes: to drain the fields in order to improve the marshes for agricultural use, and to irrigate cultures

Grateful Cooperation: Cistercian Inspiration for Ecological Ethics

As scholars of world religions search for promising ways of responding to the ecological crisis, the Christian tradition can look for inspiration to Descriptio Positionis Seu Situationis Monasterii Claraevallensis, a twelfth-century description of the site and surroundings of Clairvaux abbey. The text exudes the unnamed author\u27s deep appreciation and gratitude for the cooperative interactivity of human beings, other species, the land, water, and air that assured their mutual sustainability and maintained the site\u27s integrity. This view predates by centuries the efforts of contemporary philosophers to reflect on the human relation to other biota and abiota that constitute ecological systems, to develop ethical principles that can guide human functioning as integral parts of these systems, and to facilitate systematic thinking about sustainable development strategies encouraged by the United Nation\u27s World Commission on Environment and Development

The Sounds of Vatican II: Musical Change and Experimentation in Two U.S. Trappist Monasteries, 1965−1984

The Second Vatican Council impacted the use of liturgical music within religious communities. Two U.S. Trappist monasteries, New Melleray Abbey in Dubuque, Iowa, and Gethsemani Abbey in Bardstown, Kentucky, evidenced distinctive approaches to the musical freedom resulting from the Vatican II reforms. New Melleray incorporated contemporary folk music and instruments. At Gethsemani, Father Chrysogonus Waddell pioneered the use of Gregorian notation and English psalmody. The musical changes had a profound effect on the Trappists’ celebration of the Mass and the praying of the Liturgy of the Hours

Pre-reformation roots of the protestant ethic

We hypothesize that cultural appreciation of hard work and thrift, the Protestant ethic according to Max Weber, had a pre-Reformation origin. The proximate source of these values was, according to the proposed theory, the Catholic Order of Cistercians. In support, we first document an impact from the Order on growth within the epicenter of the industrial revolution; English counties that were more exposed to Cistercian monasteries experienced faster productivity growth from the 13th century onwards. Consistent with a cultural influence, this impact is also found after the monasteries were dissolved in the 1530s. Second, we find that the values emphasized by Weber are relatively more pervasive in European regions where Cistercian monasteries were located historically, and that the legacy of the Cistercians can be detected in present-day employment rates across European sub-regions

Religious Orders and Growth through Cultural Change in Pre-Industrial England

We advance the hypothesis that cultural values such as high work ethic and thrift, “the Protestant ethic” according to Max Weber, may have been diffused long before the Reformation, thereby importantly affecting the pre-industrial growth record. The source of pre-Reformation Protestant ethic, according to the proposed theory, was the Catholic Order of Cistercians. Using county-level data for England we find empirically that the frequency of Cistercian monasteries influenced county-level comparative development until 1801; that is, long after the Dissolution of the Monasteries. The pre-industrial development of England may thus have been propelled by a process of growth through cultural change.Protestant ethic; Malthusian population dynamics; economic development

Artistic manifestations as a mean of connection to the world outside the cloister: mural paintings in the Monastery of São Bento de Cástris

S. Bento de Cástris Monastery was the first extramural monastic community in the town of Évora and the first Cistercian female community in southern Portugal. In the 16th century, as in other monasteries, its regular life underwent an intense reformation, because one of the main goals of the Ecumenical Council of Trent – held between 1545 and 1563 – was the regularization of monastic communities. Together with a spiritual renovation, influences of the Counter-reformation and of the Baroque culture were felt in the monastery artistic production (e.g. gilded woodwork, tiles, liturgical furniture, vestments, and frescoes). Mural paintings were particularly present in the cloistered spaces that were only accessible to the nuns (Refectory, High Choir, and Infirmary). Even today these spaces are not easely accessible for security reasons. The aim of this paper is to provide an insight view of the paintings and of the religious and cultural context on which they were produce

Garin of Sion

This biographical article about a Cistercian saint is part of the Dictionary of Cistercian Saints (DCS). Currently in preparation, this reference work contains articles about all the saints and beati belonging to the Cistercian, Trappist, and Feuillant movements, among others. The DCS will cover the entire time-range of Cistercian history to the present day

Was Benedictine monasticism conservative? Evidence from the sermon collection of Jacques de Furnes, abbot of Saint-Berlin (1230-1237)

The failure of papal attempts to impose the governmental structures of the religious orders on Benedictine monasticism in the early thirteenth century has long been considered a consequence of a typically Benedictine independent attitude. More precisely, traditional scholarship adhered to the notion that the Benedictines resisted these initiatives because of their reluctance to give up judicial autonomy in favour of a supra-monastic form of organisation. By looking at a collection of sermons drafted by Jacques de Furnes, abbot of the Flemish abbey of Saint-Bertin, I aim to reconsider the above views. In so doing, I look at, respectively : Jacques’s profile as a preacher ; the response of the community of Saint-Bertin to the papal reforms ; Jacques’s involvement in papal monastic policy ; and finally, his role in the coordination of regional monasticism. As such, this study contributes to revising the current narrative on Benedictine institutional development in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries.Le monachisme bénédictine était-il conservateur ? Le témoignage de la collection des sermons de Jacques de Furnes, abbé de Saint-Bertin (1230-1237). L’échec des tentatives pontificales d’imposer aux ordres religieux des structures gouvernementales basées sur le monachisme bénédictin au début du XIIIe siècle a longtemps été considéré comme la conséquence d’une attitude d’indépendance typiquement bénédictine. Plus précisément, la recherche traditionnelle a adhéré à l’idée que les bénédictins ont résisté à ces initiatives en raison de leur crainte de devoir renoncer à l’autonomie judiciaire en faveur d’une forme d’organisation supramonastique. Sur la base d’un recueil de sermons rédigés par Jacques de Furnes, abbé de l’abbaye flamande de Saint-Bertin, je cherche à reconsidérer les vues précédentes. Pour ce faire, j’examine successivement le profil de Jacques comme prédicateur, la réponse de la communauté de Saint-Bertin aux réformes pontificales, l’implication de Jacques dans la politique monastique des papes et son rôle dans la coordination du monachisme régional. Cette étude contribue ainsi à la révision du discours actuel sur le développement institutionnel bénédictin au XIIe et au début du XIIIe siècle.Was het benedictijnse kloosterwezen conservatief ? De getuigenis van de prekencollectie van Jacques de Furnes, abt van Sint-Bertijns (1230-1237). Het falen van vroeg dertiende-eeuwse pauselijke pogingen om de bestuurlijke structuren van de religieuze orden aan de Benedictijnen op te leggen, werd lange tijd beschouwd als een gevolg van een typisch benedictijnse particularistische houding. Meer bepaald hielden historici vast aan het idee dat de benedictijnen zich tegen deze initiatieven hadden verzet omdat ze hun juridische autonomie niet wilden opgeven ten gunste van enige vorm van supra-monastieke organisatie. Via de studie van een prekencollectie opgesteld door Jacques de Furnes, abt van de Vlaamse Sint-Bertijnsabdij, tracht ik de bovenstaande opvattingen te herzien. Ik behandel achtereenvolgens respectievelijk : het profiel van Jacques als predikant ; de reactie van de gemeenschap van Sint-Bertijns op de pauselijke maatregelen ; de deelname van Jacques in het pauselijk monastiek beleid en zijn rol in de coördinatie van het regionale religieuze leven. Zodoende draagt deze studie bij tot de herziening van het huidige narratief omtrent de institutionele ontwikkelingen in het twaalfde-eeuwse en vroeg dertiende-eeuwse benedictijnse kloosterwezen.Belaen Johan. Was Benedictine Monasticism Conservative? Evidence from the Sermon Collection of Jacques de Furnes, Abbot of Saint-Bertin (1230-1237). In: Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire, tome 95, fasc. 2, 2017. Histoire Médiévale, Moderne et Contemporaine – Middleleeuwse, Moderne en Hedendaagse Geschiedenis. pp. 219-248

Konrad of Brundelsheim

This biographical article about a Cistercian saint is part of the Dictionary of Cistercian Saints (DCS). Currently in preparation, this reference work contains articles about all the saints and beati belonging to the Cistercian, Trappist, and Feuillant movements, among others. The DCS will cover the entire time-range of Cistercian history to the present day

Godfrey of Clairvaux

This biographical article about a Cistercian saint is part of the Dictionary of Cistercian Saints (DCS). Currently in preparation, this reference work contains articles about all the saints and beati belonging to the Cistercian, Trappist, and Feuillant movements, among others. The DCS will cover the entire time-range of Cistercian history to the present day