History of the Trappist Abbey of New Melleray, in Dubuque County, Iowa,1892 pdf

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STATE UNIVERSITY OF IOWA PUBLICATIONS.
HISTORICAL MONOGRAPH.
No. 2.
HISTORY
9
4
OF
9'
THE ~ A P P I S ATB BEY
em
-r
OF
I
NEW MELLERAY,)
.Lap I '
IN D U B U Q U E COUNTY, IOWP-.
BY
WILLIAM RUFUS PEWINS, A.M.,
I
PROFESSOR OF HISTORY
IOWA CITY.
PUBLISHBEYD T HE UNIVERSITY
J 2
1
1
PREFACE.
The history of Mt. Melleray in Ireland, and of New Mel-
leray in Dubuque County, Iowa, is founded 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
COPYRIGHT, 1892.
respectively those of 1715-21, and 16'71.
BY
STATEU NI-VERSI TOFY IOWA. The letter of Felibien to the Duchesse c?e Liancourt, and
which constitutes the volume usually known as (~Descrip-
All .RLwfits Resrvved.
tion de la Trappe," was first printed in 1671. The edition
used by the author is that of 1671, and the volume wrs
originally in the library of the Carmelites at Rennes. This
library was probably despoiled at the time of the French
Revolution, and the little book, in its origical binding, h ~ s
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 fcr I1;e adequately to es-
press my sense of their kindness and thoughtfulness and
o~
hospitality. Ii.:l.Cc"d
iv PREFACE.
I desire especially to thank the Rev. Father Placid tor
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.
W. R. P.
mzva city, 7269, 1892.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
.
History of New Melleray
Appendix I.-Bull of Gregory XVI. concerning the
. . . .
Trappist Order
Appendix 11.-Extract from 'cLe Grand et le Petit
.
Exorde de Citeaux"
Appendix 111.-As to the Comparative Asceticism of
Citeaux and La Grande Trappe
Appendix 1V.-Extracts from the Works of Abbd De
Rand
Appendix V.-Financial Statement of the Abbey of
.
New Melleray
Appendix V1.-Biographical Note as to Sources .
.
Appendix VI1.-Bibliography
HISTORY
OF THE
The ancient Abbey of N6tre 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,w ill 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 iE arther vv ithout :I vast e:" I yet the
the Holy Rule.1 The splendid monastery upon Monte Cas-
Abbot turned it another way, in order to render the place
sino is the successor of the simple one, founded upon the
around the Monastery more solitary. And indeed nothing is
ruins of a pagan temple, into which St. Benedict gathered his
more so than this desert. For though there are several towns
disciples,2 the earliest western monks, and from which he
and large villages at three leagues distance round it, yet to
sent out that religious code which is more or less strictly
people who are there it seems to be a lonely and foreign
observed to-day in all Benedictine monasteries.
country. Silence reigns throughout; and if any noise is
Monastic establishments are subject to fluctuation in spirit-
heard, it is only the rustling of trees shaken by the wind, or
ual life, and the same law of deterioration which obtains in
the brooks running through the pebbles. This Abbey dis-
temporal kingdoms and states seems to reign in those more
covers itself at going out of the forest of Perche, when one is
strictly spiritual. Hence it is not to be wondered at that the
coming from the south; and though the traveler thinks him-
Benedictine abbeys and monasteries had departed widely
self very near, he finds it almost a mile before hi reaches it.
from the ideal of their founder by the end of the tenth cen-
But having at last descended the hill, crossed the heath, and
tury. Though reforms3 were attempted earlier than that
gone on a little way amongst hedges and through shady
which is known as the "Reform of Cluny," this was the most
paths, he comes to the first court, where the receiver's apart-
pronounced of the early movements to recover and practice
ment is. It is separated from those of the monks by a strong
again the Rule of St. Benedict. In the year 9104 was built
nalisade of pales and thorns which the Abbot caused to be
s in the Territory of Macon, in France, the monastery to which
made after he retired thither." 1
was given the name of Cluny. The Duke of Aquitaine, its
Such was the lonely and secluded position of the Abbey of
founder, called the pious Bernon, formerly of the monastery
La Trappe in 1671, just before the Peace of Nimeguen made
of Gignon, to be its first Abbot.5 At his death he was suc-
Louis XIV. the arbiter of Europe.
ceeded by Odon, who is commonl~t~h,o ugh incorrectly, called
To understand the history of the Trappist Abbey of New
the founder of Cluny. The order was recognized by Pope
Melleray, in Dubuque County, Iowa, we must first become
somewhat familiar with the movement which engendered the Agapet II., in 946. Cluny now became the mother house of .
many monasteries which followed the more rigid rule estab-
severe and rigid rule which the Trappists observe, and with
lished there, and in the twelfth century is said to have had
the origin both of L3 Grande Trappe (the mother house),
over two thousand affiliated houses in France, Germany, Italy,
and of Melleray, from which the Abbey of New Melleray is
England, in Spain and in the Orient.6 Abbot Odon must
directly descended.
1 An excellent editiot~o f the Holy Rule, has been edited by a monk of St.
BRIEF SKETCH OF EARLY REFORM. Benedict's Abbey, Fort Augustus.
It is said that one of the two earliest followers of St. Benedict was named
,m the
In about the year 535 of our era, St. Benedict, fr( Placidus, a name which has always been a favo~itme onastic one, and is to-day
le co- de borne by a monk of New Melleray.
solitude of Monte Cassino gave to the western world tk-
3 Notably that of St. Benoit d'Aniane in the eighth and ninth centuries.
-igious life which has stamped monasticism for tahme el aosft See Helyot, Histoire des Ordres Monastiqtde8, Tom. V.,p . 139. (Paris, 1715-21.)
en hundred years, and which to-day bears the n' Helyot, Ibid, p. rS6.
6 Relyoil Ibid, p. 186. See also, 162, p. 184.
ielyot, Ibid, p. 187.
1 Felibien, Description de la Abbaye de la Trajfe, pp. 6, seq. (Pari!
however be regarded, if not as the absolute founder of Cluny, been dedicated in the year 1075.' This monastery under the
guidance of Robert carried out to the letter the rule of St.
yet as the great reformer who made Cluny for a hundred
years the head and front of monastic establishments upon the , Benedict. The monastery soon became rich and with riches
continent. The relaxation of morals in the monasteries which came a natural relaxation and degeneracy. This led directly
to the founding of Citeaux, for Abbot Robert finding a large
made reform desirable may be judged from the following
number of the monks opposed to his strictness, and being un-
quotation: "Apres que ce vdnerd Pere (Odon) eut senti la
willing to coerce them, determined to lead out to a new foun-
ndcessitd d'astreindre les communautCs b l'exacte observation
dation those who were more spiritually minded and who, with
de la Rkgle, et qu'il eut commence sa reforme, certains moi'nes,
him, wished ts folIow closely the original constitution of St.
outrds de voir leur FrCres laver et graisser eux-mCmes leurs
Benedict.
chaussures, s'employer B de vils ouvrages et, soigneux de
Early then in the year 109s' a little band of Benedictine
garder le silence, remplacer au besoin la parole par des signes,
monks, twenty-one in number, including the Abbot, Prior
firent dclater scandaleusement et ma1 b propos leur mauvaise
humeur et leur colhre. GMisCrables s'ecriaient-ils, que faites- and Sub-prior, mere seen winding from the abbey gateway
. vous la? Quelle est la loi, quel est I'ordre qui vous oblige b of Molesme.2 Such was the beginning of that reform which
I
Oh donc, s'il vous 'plait, resulted in the establishment of the great order of the Cister-
des travaux si bas et si serviles?
1'Ecriture vous prescrit-elle de substituer les mains a P cians. This was one of those sporadic movements towards
langue ? N'est-il pas manifeste que vous faites injure au ,r efol'm of which I have spoken, but one which was to result
in great and organized action, the others being merely tenta-
Createur lui-mCme, lorsque, abandonnant l'usage nature1 de
tive. It is a general principle that efforts to a great end may
la voix et de la parole, vous remuez vos doigts comme des
insenses?' " 1 manifest themselves in many \trays, but that in the supreme
struggle even the slightest effort may become of world-wide
The Cluniacs themselves became less spiritual, and there
importance. The struggle for a return to the primeval rule
succeeded a variety of reforms which made the twelfth cen-
had manifested itself in the establishment of the other orders,
tury illustrious in the annals of the monastic orders. These
it was to conquer in the seemingly insignificant progress of
reforms, in various parts of France, and at first sporadic,
twenty-one monks from the gateway of Molesme, in the year
finally crystallized in the great order of Citeaux, which during
1098.
the century became, under the leadership of St. Bernard, the
They journeyed on until they arrived at the forest of
most illustrious in Europe, and o£ which the Trappists are
Citeaus in the diocese of Chalons.
one of the most remarkable and vigorous branches.
This lonely and desolate place seemed well fitted for mo-
CITEAUX. nastic seclusion, and here the new abbey was inaugurated and
Jluny Robert received the pastoral staff from the hands of the
Among the abbeys probably affiliated to the order of (
was that of Molesme, which lay only a little distance fro]m. the Bishop of Chalons. It is important to observe that from the
.I . beginning Cistercian monasteries were exempted from episco-
mother house, in the forest from which it took its name, m me
diocese of Langres and Duchy of Burgundy. This house h-ad
A Concise History of the Cistercina Order, p. 54. By a Cistercian Monk.
(London, 1852.)
1 Le Petit et Ze Grnnd Exorde de CiZenrx, p. 56. (Imprimiere de la C ~bz%, p. 43.
Trappe, 1884.)