The history of the monastic life is long, its foundation going back the life and teaching of Jesus, and the New Testament. In the third and fourth centuries there were outstanding monastic women and men such as Saint Antony, Saint Pachomius, and Saint Basil. In sixth-century Italy, Saint Benedict (c. 480-c. 547) created a manual of discipline for living a cloistered, contemplative monastic life. This is known as the Rule of Saint Benedict. The Rule, became the norm for living the monastic life in Europe and was a model for the faithful.

The Cistercian order was established in 1098 when Saint Robert and his companions left a prosperous Benedictine community and retreated to the French forest at Citeaux so that they could follow Saint Benedict’s Rule more strictly. Through the influence of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090 - 1153), the Cistercian charism spread throughout the Middle Ages, and it played a central role in the spirituality and culture of the Church at that time.

In 1662 the abbot of La Trappe, Dom Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé, took leadershipof a reform movement within the Cistercian Order itself, rigorously renewing the Cistercian religious spirit. Thus the members of the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance became known as Trappists.

As of 2023, throughout the world there were 87 Trappist monasteries for men and 69 for women. Although each monastery is autonomous, all the Trappist monasteries comprise a single religious family by filiationwith the leadership of one monk who serves as abbot general. All Cistercian monasteries are dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God.

In the Catholic Church, the call tomonastic life is one of continual prayer and service to God. The word “monk” come from the Latin “mono,” meaning “single.” A person in the monastic life lives singly (or only) for God.

Saint Benedict gave his teaching to those who gathered together as a community to live a dedicated Christian life. The Rule of Saint Benedict offers a concrete way of following the gospel and leading to the experience of our Trinitarian God and the person of Jesus Christ. The fundamental spirit of the Rule is to follow the example of Christ by humility and obedience. Away from the world, and following the Rule, and the teaching and customs of our order, the vocation of the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance, is one of living out the values of communal life, silence, prayer, spiritual reading, labor, and the teachings of the Gospel. In other words, we daily desire to be more deeply Christian, following Christ more closely and truthfully. Through the monastic life, the grace received at baptism grows toward and blooms under the embrace of the spiritual heights of union with Christ. Because redemption and salvation are graces received through Christ, we desire to praise God and give witness to God’s kingdom.