Publisher's Synopsis
The Abbè de Rancè was the saintly founder of the Trappists ( reformed Cistercians) in late 17th c. France. His strict interpretation of the Rule of St. Benedict re-invigorated the Cistercian order of his day, an order which in its time had been salt and light for all of Christendom. Founded in 1098, within decades the Cistercians had populated all of Europe with hundreds of fervent monasteries, but by Rance's time had fallen into mediocrity and disorder. While his reforms restored his abbey and attracted ardent candidates from all over France, his interpretation of the Rule of St. Benedict was very controversial in his time and in ours as well. By now practically all that the Cistercians keep of the Trappist charism is the name, and both de Rancè and his writings are hardly known among them.
Surely this is due in part to the odium that Henri Bremond, S.J. poured on him in his book Tempetè ( published as The Thundering Abbot by Sheed and Ward in 1930). In the Real de Rancè Fr. Ailbe Luddy, a Trappist of Mount Melleray Abbey in Cappoquin, Ireland, responds to Bremond's diatribe and thoroughly rehabilitates the reputation of this saintly abbot. He supplies abundant motives for both religious and lay to once again hearken to the wisdom of this saintly penitent priest/abbot.
Rancè might well ask his Cistercian descendants, "If I am a father, where is the honor due to me?" He has been neglected and unknown for far too long by the inhabitants of monasteries that would never have existed in the first place were it not for him. All, all, Cistercians monasteries of the Strict Observance throughout the world, so eager now to throw off the Trappist name and charism, trace their origins to La Trappe. Perhaps they can recover from their present death spiral by returning to the wisdom and spirit of their founder as the fathers of Vatican II requested more than fifty years ago.
Unlike the original print version of 1931, our edition of The Real de Rancè is filled with sixty-nine images of the many personalities whose lives impinged upon the life of Armand-Jean de Rancè. A short biographical account of each person is given in the image index.
