The front
Next to the lay brothers' building, the abbey church is the main witness of the former abbey, founded in 1114 by monks who had come from Cîteaux. [To go further]
The Cistercians' plan for life was to return to the original Rule of Saint Benedict, rejecting the additions and derogations added over the centuries, particularly by the Cluny congregation. Their reform emphasised prayer and work, living in community but in silence. To this end, they carefully chose the location of their monasteries.
The quotation
"You learn more
in the woods than in books.
Trees and rocks
will teach you things
you wouldn't hear anywhere else.
You'll see for yourselves
that honey can be obtained
from stones
and perfume
from the hardest rocks."
Bernard of Clairvaux (+ 1153)
Bernard of Clairvaux, Letter 106, 2: Sancti Bernardi Opera, vol. VII, ed. J. Leclercq and H.-M. Rochais, Rome, 1974, pp. 266-267 (Patrologia Latina, vol. 182, col. 242 B).
The picture
View of the abbey in 1805
Source: Archives départementales de l'Yonne, 3 O 1006
To go further
When it was founded, Pontigny was an uninhabited area, and the meeting point of the counties of Tonnerre, Auxerre and Champagne, and of the dioceses of Auxerre, Sens and Langres. This strategic position enabled the monks to receive a great deal of support and donations from all parts.
The Cistercian community lasted for almost seven centuries, until the French Revolution, when the monks were dispersed and the monastic buildings sold to the State. Yet, the abbey church was spared and then became the parish church of the village that had developed near the abbey.
Glossary
in the Middle Ages, a layman, usually illiterate, who is therefore unable to sing the offices prescribed by the Rule of Saint Benedict, and who vows obedience to the abbot in order to lead, alongside the monks, a religious life based on manual labour. Synonym of "converse brother".
Abbey :
monastery run by an abbot or abbess.
Monk, nun :
religious man or woman, usually cloistered, who has vowed to live according to a precise rule of life (in the Middle Ages, often the Rule of Saint Benedict).
Cîteaux :
Abbey founded in 1098 south of Dijon (Burgundy), the origin of the Cistercian order, strictly following the Rule of Saint Benedict. Cîteaux was the ‘mother’ of over 700 male abbeys and over 1,000 female abbeys throughout Latin Christendom.
Cistercian :
Pertaining to the abbey of Cîteaux (Latin: Cistercium), and all the abbeys that have sprung from it (Cistercian order); monk or nun of the Cîteaux order, often also called ‘white monks’ because of the colour of their clothing. Today, there are more than 330 Cistercian monasteries throughout the world.
Rule of saint Benedict :
this rule of life was written for monks by saint Benedict, and has been followed to a large extent throughout Latin Europe from the 9th century
Benedict of Nursia (Saint) :
6th-century abbot in Italy, author of a famous Rule of Life for religious.
Cluny :
Benedictine abbey founded in Burgundy in 910.
Monastery :
place where monks or nuns live in community.
Diocese :
territory placed under the religious authority of a bishop (today mostly coterminous with the French départements).
Bernard of Clairvaux (saint) :
monk of Cîteaux, then abbot of Clairvaux from 1115 until his death in 1153; undoubtedly the most famous of the Cistercians, author of numerous sermons, letters and spiritual treatises of high literary quality.
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