The Cistercians (), or the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contributions of the highly influential Bernard of Clairvaux, known as the Latin Rule. They are also known as Bernardines, after Saint Bernard, or as White Monks, in reference to the colour of their cowl, as opposed to the black cowl worn by Benedictines.
The term Cistercian derives from Cistercium, the Latin name for the locale of Cîteaux, near Dijon in eastern France. It was here that a group of Benedictine monks from the monastery of Molesme founded Cîteaux Abbey in 1098. The first three abbots were Robert of Molesme, Alberic of Cîteaux and Stephen Harding. Bernard helped launch a new era when he entered the monastery in the early 1110s with 30 companions. By the end of the 12th century, the order had spread throughout most of Europe.
The keynote of Cistercian life was a return to literal observance of the Benedictine Rule. The reform-minded monks tried to live monastic life as they thought it had been in Benedict's time; at various points they went beyond it in austerity. They returned to manual labour, especially agricultural work in the fields. The Cistercians made major contributions to culture and technology: Cistercian architecture has been recognized as a notable form of medieval architecture, and the Cistercians were the main force of technological diffusion in fields such as agriculture and hydraulic engineering.
Over the centuries, education and scholarship came to dominate the life of many monasteries. A reform movement seeking a simpler lifestyle began in 17th-century France at La Trappe Abbey, and became known as the Trappists. They were eventually consolidated in 1892 into a new order called the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance, abbreviated as OCSO. The Cistercians who remained within the Order of Cistercians are called the Cistercians of the Common Observance (OCist).
Apart from Catholicism, Cistercian spirituality is present in certain monastic houses of Evangelical Lutheranism and Anglicanism.
Cistercian practices The abbot general is the leader of the "administrative machinery" of a Cistercian order.
The burial practices for Cistercian monks involve complex rituals, and monks may be buried with or without shrouds.
Cistercian monks and nuns cultivate solitude and silence. However, contrary to some popular perceptions, Cistercians do not take a vow of silence. Silence assumes a variety of expressions in Cistercian life and practice.
Origins and early expansion
Foundation
In 1098, a Benedictine abbot, Robert of Molesme, left Molesme Abbey in Burgundy with around 20 supporters, who felt that the Cluniac communities had abandoned the rigours and simplicity of the Rule of St. Benedict. Chief among Robert's followers included Alberic, a former hermit from the nearby forest of Colan, and Stephen Harding, a young monk from England.Read, p 94 Stephen had experienced the monastic traditions of the Camaldolese and Vallombrosians before joining Molesme Abbey.
On 21 March 1098, Robert's small group acquired a plot of marshland just south of Dijon called Cîteaux (Latin: "Cistercium". Cisteaux means reeds in Old French), given to them expressly for the purpose of founding their Novum Monasterium.Tobin, pp 29, 33, 36. During the first year, the monks set about constructing lodging areas and farming the lands of Cîteaux, making use of a nearby chapel for Mass. In Robert's absence from Molesme, however, the abbey had gone into decline, and Pope Urban II, a former Cluniac monk, ordered him to return.Read, pp 94–95
The remaining monks of Cîteaux elected Alberic as their abbot, under whose leadership the abbey would find its grounding. Robert had been the idealist of the order, and Alberic was their builder. Upon assuming the role of abbot, Alberic moved the site of the fledgling community near a brook a short distance away from the original site. Alberic discontinued the use of Benedictine black garments in the abbey and clothed the monks in white habits of undyed wool.Gildas, Marie. "Cistercians." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 3. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1908. 21 January 2020 Alberic forged an alliance with the Dukes of Burgundy, working out a deal with Duke Odo I of Burgundy concerning the donation of a vineyard (Meursault) as well as materials for building the abbey church, which was consecrated on 16 November 1106 by the Bishop of Chalon sur Saône.Tobin, pp 37–38.
On 26 January 1108, Alberic died and was succeeded by Stephen Harding.
Cistercian reform
Harding framed the original version of the Cistercian constitution, soon to be called the Carta Caritatis (Charter of Charity). Although it was revised on several occasions to meet contemporary needs, from the outset it emphasised a simple life of work, love, prayer and self-denial. The Cistercians soon came to distinguish themselves from Benedictines by wearing white or grey tunics instead of black; white habits are common for reform movements.Hollister, p 209 Much of Cistercian reform took place against the rivalry with the famous Benedictine abbey of Cluny, where wealth and excess were said to have set in.Lekai, Ideals and Reality, p. 25.
Harding acquired land for the abbey to develop to ensure its survival and ethic. As to grants of land, the order would normally accept only undeveloped land, which the monks then developed by their own labour. For this they developed over time a very large component of uneducated lay brothers known as conversi.Hollister, p 209–10 In some cases, the order accepted developed land and relocated the serfs elsewhere.
Charter of Charity The outlines of the Cistercian reform were adumbrated by Alberic, but it received its final form in the Carta caritatis (Charter of Charity), which was the defining guide on how the reform was to be lived.Migne, Patrol. Lat. clxvi. 1377 This document governed the relations between the various houses of the Cistercian order, and exercised a great influence also upon the future course of western monachism. From one point of view, it may be regarded as a compromise between the primitive Benedictine system, in which each abbey was autonomous and isolated, and the centralization of Cluny.
The Cistercians maintained the independence of individual houses: each abbey had its own abbot, elected by its own monks, and its own property and finances administered without outside interference. On the other hand, all the abbeys were subjected to the General Chapter, the constitutional body which exercised vigilance over the order. Made up of all the abbots, the General Chapter met annually in mid-September at Cîteaux. Attendance was compulsory, with the abbot of Cîteaux presiding.Watt, p 52 He was to enforce conformity to Cîteaux in all details of monastic observance, liturgy, and customs. Cîteaux was always to be the model to which all the other houses had to conform.See F. A. Gasquet, Sketch of Monastic Constitutional History, pp. xxxv–xxxviii, prefixed to English trans. Of Montalembert's Monks of the West, ed. 1895
Cistercian nuns
The first community of Cistercian nuns, Tart, was founded 1125 in the Diocese of Langres. Their number rose so quickly in the course of the next century that the historian and cardinal Jacques de Vitry wrote: "Cistercian nunneries multiplied like stars in the sky."Quoted in Lekai, Ideals and Reality, p. 349. At their most populous point, there may have been over 900 women's monasteries, but not all were officially integrated into the order. One of the best-known Cistercian women's communities was the Abbey of Port-Royal, associated with the Jansenist controversy. In Spain and France, a number of Cistercian abbesses had extraordinary privileges and authority over priests.Ghislain Baury, "Emules puis sujettes de l'ordre cistercien. Les cisterciennes de Castille et d'ailleurs face au Chapitre Général aux XIIe et XIIIe siècles", Cîteaux: Commentarii cistercienses, t. 52, fasc. 1–2, 2001, p. 27–60. Ghislain Baury, Les religieuses de Castille. Patronage aristocratique et ordre cistercien, XIIe-XIIIe siècles, Rennes, Presses Universitaires de Rennes, 2012.
International expansion In the 1130s and 1140s, the Cistercians expanded into "an order of immense size" by incorporating independent religious communities.
France In 1113, Bernard joined the Cîteaux monastery along with 35 relatives and friends.Lekai, Ideals and Reality, p. 19. Bernard's charisma greatly expanded the size of the order. In 1115, Count Hugh of Champagne gifted the order a tract of forested land located forty miles east of Troyes. At the age of 25, Bernard founded the Abbey of Clairvaux with twelve other monks.Read, p 93, 95 At this time, Cîteaux had four daughter houses: Pontigny, Morimond, La Ferté and Clairvaux.
The most foundations made by any Cistercian monastery came from Clairvaux.
Austria Rein Abbey was founded in 1129 from Ebrach Abbey in Bavaria, which had been founded from Morimond Abbey in France. In 1129 Margrave Leopold the Strong of Styria granted the Bavarian monks an area of land just north of what is today the provincial capital Graz, where they founded Rein Abbey. At the time, it was the 38th Cistercian monastery founded; as of 2024, it is the oldest surviving Cistercian house in the world. In 1133, Heiligenkreuz Abbey was founded near Vienna by Morimond monks;Lutter, M-C. (2012). Locus horroris et vastae solitudinis? Zisterzienser und Zisterzienserinnen in und um Wien. Historisches Jahrbuch, 132, pp. 141-176. it is (as of 2024) the largest men's abbey in Europe.
Hungary
The Cistercian Order reached the Kingdom of Hungary exceptionally early, during the lifetime of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, as part of the initial wave of international expansion. The first Hungarian house, Cikádor Abbey (near modern-day Bátaszék), was founded in 1142 as a daughter house of Heiligenkreuz Abbey in Austria. Monastic expansion accelerated significantly during the late 12th century under the direct patronage of King Béla III (r. 1172–1196). Seeking to modernize his administration and align Hungary with Western European models, Béla III granted the Cistercians extensive judicial and fiscal privileges equivalent to those enjoyed by houses in France. He invited monks directly from the primary French mother houses—particularly Clairvaux, Acey, and Pontigny—leading to the foundation of major royal abbeys, including Zirc Abbey (1182), Pilis Abbey (1184), Pásztó Abbey (1191), and Szentgotthárd Abbey (1183). By the early 13th century, the network had grown to include between 22 and 25 monasteries across the medieval kingdom. The Cistercians played a foundational role in introducing Western European cultural and technological developments to medieval Hungary. Architecturally, their construction projects marked the arrival of early Gothic and late Romanesque styles in East-Central Europe. The stonemasonry techniques and structural plans developed at places like Pilis Abbey heavily influenced the construction of royal palaces and cathedrals, such as the royal castle complex at Esztergom. Economically, the Hungarian abbeys operated complex manorial estates. While traditional historiography emphasized their role in agricultural internal colonization, modern research by scholars such as Beatrix Romhányi indicates they primarily utilized existing regional infrastructure to establish trade and market networks, frequently positioning their monasteries along major international transport routes. They also played a central role in diplomacy and royal representation; Egres Abbey (founded in 1179 as a daughter house of Pontigny) serves as a prime example, housing a significant royal library and becoming the burial site of King Andrew II and his queen, Yolanda of Courtenay.