Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé (9 January 1626,

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

27 October 1700, Soligny-la-Trappe) was a French

abbot Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the head of an independent monastery for men in various Western Christian traditions. The name is derived from ''abba'', the Aramaic form of the Hebrew ''ab'', and means "father". The female equivale ...

La Trappe Abbey La Trappe Abbey, also known as La Grande Trappe, is a monastery in Soligny-la-Trappe, Orne, France. It is known for being the house of origin of the Trappists, to whom it gave its name. History The site of the famous La Trappe Abbey was for cen ...

, a controversialist author, and a founding father of the

Trappists The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a Religious order (Catholic), Catholic religious o ...

Early life

Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé was born 9 January 1626 in

, the second son of Denis Bouthillier, Lord of Rancé, and Councillor of State. His godfather was the Cardinal Duke of Richelieu; his uncle Victor Le Bouthillier,

Archbishop of Tours The Archdiocese of Tours (; ) is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in France. The archdiocese has roots that go back to the 3rd century, while the formal erection of the diocese dates from the 5th century. The ecclesiastical pro ...

. Armand dedicated himself to ecclesiastical service, in order to preserve in the family the former numerous

benefices A benefice () or living is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The Roman Empire used the Latin term as a benefit to an individual from the Empire for services rendered. Its use was adopted by ...

. At ten, he became the

commendatory abbot A commendatory abbot () is an ecclesiastic, or sometimes a layman, who holds an abbey ''in commendam'', drawing its revenues but not exercising any authority over its inner monastic discipline. If a commendatory abbot is an ecclesiastic, however, ...

of the

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially 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 contri ...

abbey of La Trappe and two other

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

s, prior of two priories, and

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

Notre-Dame de Paris Notre-Dame de Paris ( ; meaning "Cathedral of Our Lady of Paris"), often referred to simply as Notre-Dame, is a Medieval architecture, medieval Catholic cathedral on the Île de la Cité (an island in the River Seine), in the 4th arrondissemen ...

, which gave him a revenue of about 15,000 ''

livres Livre may refer to: Currency * French livre, one of a number of obsolete units of currency of France * Livre tournois, one particular obsolete unit of currency of France * Livre parisis, another particular obsolete unit of currency of France * F ...

''. At twelve he published a translation of

Anacreon Anacreon ( BC) was an Ancient Greek lyric poet, notable for his drinking songs and erotic poems. Later Greeks included him in the canonical list of Nine Lyric Poets. Anacreon wrote all of his poetry in the ancient Ionic dialect. Like all early ...

with

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notes. He attended the

College d'Harcourt A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary education, tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding academic degree, degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further educatio ...

in Paris and went through his course of theological studies with great distinction. In 1651, he was ordained

priest A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...

by his uncle Victor Le Bouthillier and embarked on a career as a court abbot. The manner of his life was worldly in the extreme. He declined an appointment as bishop of the Diocese of St. Pol de Leon because he considered the income too small.Butler, Charles. ''The Lives of Dom Armand-Jean Le Bouthillier de Rancé'', London. Luke Hansard & Sons. 1814, p. 10
/ref> In 1652 his father died, leaving him a further increase in estate. At the age of twenty-six he was thus left with practically unlimited wealth. He divided his time between preaching and other priestly obligations, and feasting and the pleasures of

fox hunting Fox hunting is an activity involving the tracking, chase and, if caught, the killing of a fox, normally a red fox, by trained foxhounds or other scent hounds. A group of unarmed followers, led by a "master of foxhounds" (or "master of hounds" ...

. He obtained his doctorate in theology in 1654. His uncle, who wanted him as

coadjutor The term "coadjutor" (literally "co-assister" in Latin) is a title qualifier indicating that the holder shares the office with another person, with powers equal to the other in all but formal order of precedence. These include: * Coadjutor bishop ...

bishop, made him

archdeacon An archdeacon is a senior clergy position in the Church of the East, Chaldean Catholic Church, Syriac Orthodox Church, Anglican Communion, St Thomas Christians, Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox churches and some other Christian denomina ...

, and caused him to be elected deputy of the second order to the

General Assembly of the French Clergy The assembly of the French clergy (''assemblée du clergé de France'') was in its origins a representative meeting of the Catholic clergy of France, held every five years, for the purpose of apportioning the financial burdens laid upon the clergy ...

in 1655. He was also appointed First Almoner to

Gaston, Duke of Orléans ''Monsieur'' Gaston, Duke of Orléans (Gaston Jean Baptiste; 24 April 1608 – 2 February 1660), was the third son of King Henry IV of France and his second wife, Marie de' Medici. As a son of the king, he was born a . He later acquired the title ...

, in 1656.

Monastic life and reform

The death of his mistress, the in 1657 gave him the first serious thought leading to his conversion. Later in 1660 he assisted at the death of

Duke of Orléans Duke of Orléans () was a French royal title usually granted by the King of France to one of his close relatives (usually a younger brother or son), or otherwise inherited through the male line. First created in 1344 by King Philip VI for his yo ...

, which made so great an impression on him that he said: "Either the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

deceives us, or this is the house of a reprobate". After having taken counsel, he disposed of all his possessions, except the Abbey of La Trappe, which he visited for the first time in 1662. He retired to his abbey, of which he became regular abbot in 1664 and introduced an austere reform. Rancé's reform focused first and foremost centered on penitence; his severity "went beyond the Cistercian tradition," and was modelled in many ways on early Eastern monasticism, with

John Climacus John Climacus (; ; ), also known as John of the Ladder, John Scholasticus and John Sinaites, was a 6th–7th century Christian monk at the monastery on Mount Sinai. He is revered as a saint by the Eastern Orthodox Church and Catholic Church. ...

playing a leading role. Rancé prescribed hard manual labour, silence, a meagre diet, isolation from the world, and renunciation of most studies. He wrote spiritual works and polemtical pamphlets. An important controversy ensued when he engaged in a polemic with

Jean Mabillon Dom Jean Mabillon , (; 23 November 1632 – 27 December 1707) was a French Benedictine monk and scholar of the Congregation of Saint Maur. He is considered the founder of the disciplines of palaeography and diplomatics. Early life Mabillon w ...

about how much monks were to study, which according to de Rancé was very little. His

penitential A penitential is a book or set of church rules concerning the Christianity, Christian sacrament of penance, used for regular private confession with a confessor-priest, a "new manner of reconciliation with God in Christianity, God" that was prom ...

mode of life made him many enemies, and caused him to be accused of

Jansenism Jansenism was a 17th- and 18th-century Christian theology, theological movement within Roman Catholicism, primarily active in Kingdom of France, France, which arose as an attempt to reconcile the theological concepts of Free will in theology, f ...

. Indeed, he had ties to Port-Royal, a leading center of Jansenism. He did, however, sign the ''Formula'' (against Jansenism). He remained "always a figure of controversy." He resigned his abbacy in 1695, owing to declining health, and died in 1700.

Legacy

De Rancé did not succeed in winning many other Cistercian abbots to his causes. In the Cistercian War of Observances, arbitration from the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

consistently forced the Abstinents to compromise with the Common Observance. The practices that de Rancé instituted in La Trappe did, however, spread to some Cistercian monasteries, mainly in France. His influence remained minor until the nineteenth century, when the French monasteries devoted to his ideals grew and created new foundations abroad. They called themselves "Trappist" in reference to La Trappe, the source and origin of their reforms. In 1892, with the approval of

Pope Leo XIII Pope Leo XIII (; born Gioacchino Vincenzo Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2March 181020July 1903) was head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 until his death in July 1903. He had the fourth-longest reign of any pope, behind those of Peter the Ap ...

, the various Trappist congregations left the Cistercian Order and formed the

Trappist Order The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance (, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a Catholic religious order of cloistered monastic ...

, then named the 'Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe'. A biography of his life, ', was the final work of the Romantic writer and politician,

François-René de Chateaubriand François-René, vicomte de Chateaubriand (4 September 1768 – 4 July 1848) was a French writer, politician, diplomat and historian who influenced French literature of the nineteenth century. Descended from an old aristocratic family from Bri ...

, published in 1844.

Bibliography

Works by de Rancé

* ''Vies de plusieurs solitaires de La Trappe'' * ''Le traité de la sainteté et des devoirs de la vie monastique'' * ''La règle de s. Benoît, traduite et expliqué selon son véritable esprit'' * ''Les instructions de Saint Dorothée'' (Paris, 1686)

Works about de Rancé

* Alban Krailsheimer: ''Armand-Jean de Rancé: abbot of La Trappe; his influence in the cloister and the world''. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1974. * David N. Bell: ''Understanding Rance: The Spirituality of the Abbot of La Trappe in Context.'' Kalamazoo, Michigan: Cistercian Publications, 2005.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rance, Jean-Armand Le Bouthillier De 1626 births 1700 deaths Clergy from Paris Founders of Catholic religious communities 17th-century French Roman Catholic priests Knights of Malta French Cistercians Trappists French abbots Burials at La Trappe Abbey