Le Reclus Abbey (french: Abbaye Notre-Dame du Reclus; ) was a

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, 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 ...

monastery in the present

Talus-Saint-Prix Talus-Saint-Prix is a commune in the Marne department in north-eastern France. See also *Communes of the Marne department The following is a list of the 613 communes in the French department of Marne. The communes cooperate in the following ...

near

Sézanne Sézanne () is a commune in the Marne department and Grand Est region in north-eastern France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions an ...

in the

arrondissement of Épernay The arrondissement of Épernay is an arrondissement of France in the Marne department in the Grand Est region. It has 208 communes. Its population is 120,269 (2016), and its area is . Composition The communes of the arrondissement of Épernay, an ...

Marne Marne can refer to: Places France *Marne (river), a tributary of the Seine *Marne (department), a département in northeastern France named after the river * La Marne, a commune in western France *Marne, a legislative constituency (France) Nethe ...

, France. It was in the

diocese of Troyes The Diocese of Troyes (Latin: ''Dioecesis Trecensis''; French: ''Diocèse de Troyes'') is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Troyes, France. The diocese now comprises the ''département'' of Aube. Erected ...

. It was founded by

Bernard of Clairvaux Bernard of Clairvaux, O. Cist. ( la, Bernardus Claraevallensis; 109020 August 1153), venerated as Saint Bernard, was an abbot, mystic, co-founder of the Knights Templars, and a major leader in the reformation of the Benedictine Order through ...

in around the hermitage of Blessed Hugh the Hermit (Hugues le Reclus, Hugo reclusus), from whom the abbey took its name. Hugh had at first retired from the world to an arid place in the parish of Saint-Prix known as Fons Balimi around 1128–1130, before being joined by a few companions. He was mentioned in 1176 in the cartulary of the Abbey of Saint-Pierre-d'Oyes (canton of Sézanne) in connection with the sale of a pond and of land to Le Reclus Abbey by Hugh, Count of Baye, who also confirmed his uncle Simon's gift of the rights of the forest of Talu to the abbey because of its extreme poverty. Hugo possibly died that same year; after his death the villagers kept his memory alive by burning a lamp on his grave. Probably also in that year Le Reclus became a daughter house of

Vauclair Abbey Vauclair Abbey otherwise Vauclerc Abbey (french: Abbaye de Vauclair, ''Abbaye Notre-Dame de Vauclair'') was a Cistercian monastery founded in 1134 by Saint Bernard of Clairvaux at the request of Barthélemy de Jur, bishop of Laon. It was located ...

. Le Reclus was always a poor monastery, but nevertheless survived up to the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, when it was suppressed.

Sources

*Bernard Peugniez, 2001: ''Routier cistercien. Abbayes et sites. France, Belgique, Luxembourg, Suisse'', p. 132. Nouvelle édition augmentée. Éditions Gaud: Moisenay Cistercian monasteries in France Christian monasteries in Marne (department) {{France-Christian-monastery-stub