Scourmont Abbey (''Abbaye Notre-Dame de Scourmont'') is a

Trappist The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance ( la, Ordo Cisterciensis Strictioris Observantiae, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

on the Scourmont plateau, in the village of Forges which is part of

Chimay Chimay (, wa, Chimai) is a city and Municipalities of Belgium, municipality of Wallonia located in the Hainaut Province, province of Hainaut, Belgium. In 2006, Chimay had a population of 9,774. The area is 197.10 km2 which gives a populatio ...

in the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

of Hainaut,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. The abbey is famous for its spiritual life and for running the

Chimay Brewery Chimay Brewery (''Brasserie de Chimay'') is a brewery at Scourmont Abbey, a Trappist monastery in Chimay, Hainaut (province), Hainaut, Belgium, one of the thirteen breweries worldwide that produce Trappist beer. They make four ales: Chimay Rouge, ...

, one of the few producers of

Trappist beer Trappist beer is brewed by Trappist monks. Thirteen Trappist monasteries—six in Belgium, two in the Netherlands, and one each in Austria, Italy, England, France, and Spain—currently produce beer, but the ''Authentic Trappist Product'' labe ...

. Life in the abbey is characterised by prayer, reading and manual work, the three basic elements of Trappist life.

History

In 1844, Jean-Baptiste Jourdain, the priest of Virelles, suggested that the wild plateau of Scourmont was a suitable place for a monastery. However, all previous attempts to cultivate the barren plateau had failed. Fr. Jourdain obtained support for the proposed foundation from Prince Joseph II de Chimay, the abbot of

Westmalle Abbey Westmalle Abbey, otherwise the Trappist Abbey of Westmalle ( nl, Abdij van Onze-Lieve-Vrouw van het Heilig Hart or the "Abbey of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart"), is a monastery of the Cistercians of Strict Observance in Westmalle in the Belgian p ...

and Westvleteren Abbey. Six years later, on 25 July 1850, a small group of monks from Westvleteren settled on Scourmont and founded a priory. The monks founded a school and model farm to train orphans and abandoned children, and to rehabilitate delinquents. In 1859 the first prior of Scourmont, Modeste Decroix (Fr François in religion) was removed from office and sentenced to twenty years hard labour on multiple counts of sexual assault. A second member of the community received a ten-year sentence on similar charges. Two other members of the community had already received short prison sentences for physically abusing students in the school. On 7 October 1860 François Robyn (Br Hugo in religion) set fire to the church, library, and a new dormitory after being reprimanded for breaking his vow of silence. He was sentenced to death at the

Court of assizes A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordanc ...

in Mons the following February. A lot of hard work was required to transform the barren soil of Scourmont into fertile farmland. A farm was created around the monastery, as well as a cheese dairy and a brewery. On 24 February 1871,

Pope Pius IX Pope Pius IX ( it, Pio IX, ''Pio Nono''; born Giovanni Maria Mastai Ferretti; 13 May 1792 – 7 February 1878) was head of the Catholic Church from 1846 to 1878, the longest verified papal reign. He was notable for convoking the First Vatican ...

granted the priory the status of abbey and it was inaugurated on 7 July 1871. Since then other monasteries have been founded by Scourmont, such as

Caldey Abbey Caldey Abbey is an abbey of the Trappists situated on Caldey Island off the coast of Pembrokeshire, Wales, south of Tenby. Caldey Island has been known as one of the centres of Cistercian activity since Celts, Celtic times and thrived during medi ...

Caldey Island Caldey Island ( Welsh:''Ynys Bŷr'') is a small island near Tenby, Pembrokeshire, Wales, less than off the coast. With a recorded history going back over 1,500 years, it is one of the holy islands of Britain. A number of traditions inherited ...

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, which was taken over from the

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

s who moved to

Prinknash Abbey Prinknash Abbey (pronounced locally variously as "Prinidge/Prinnish") (IPA: ) is a Roman Catholic monastery in the Vale of Gloucester in the Diocese of Clifton, near the village of Cranham. It belongs to the English Province of the Subiaco Cas ...

(December 1928) and ''Notre Dame de Mokotoin'' near

Goma Goma is the capital of North Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located on the northern shore of Lake Kivu, next to the Rwandan city of Gisenyi. The lake and the two cities are in the Albertine Rift, the weste ...

(

Kivu Kivu was the name for a large "region" in the Democratic Republic of the Congo under the rule of Mobutu Sese Seko that bordered Lake Kivu. It included three "Sub-Regions" ("Sous-Régions" in French): Nord-Kivu, Sud-Kivu and Maniema, correspondin ...

, former

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

) (February 1954). The present church of the abbey dates from 1950.

Chimay products

The famous beers and cheeses of Scourmont Abbey are marketed under the trade name of Chimay, after the village where the abbey is located.

Notable members

* Joseph-Marie Canivez, who joined the community in 1899 and made his final vows in 1905, would go on to become a noted monastic historian. * Bernard de Give, a Jesuit philologist and philosopher, joined the community in 1977.

Sources

* Van Remoortere, J., 1990: ''Ippa's Abdijengids voor Belgie'', pp. 188–191. Lannoo

References

External links