Antoher link in the development which emerged from Rathmore.
Mount St Bernards was founded by the Monks of Melery in Leicestershire in 1835.
Monastic life in the West looks to St Benedict, a monk of the sixth century, as its father. Since this time, there have been various interpretations based on the rule he wrote. The Cistercian reform, characterised by a desire for greater simplicity, was one of the most important of these and originated at Citeaux in France in 1098. One of its founders, Stephen Harding, was an Englishman, and the new Order, spreading rapidly, soon reached England. Familiar names like Fountains and Kirkstall, Rievaulx and Tintern, are among the 76 Cistercian monasteries that were eventually founded in these Isles. All were suppressed during the reign of Henry VIII.
Cistercian writings on prayer
Dom Godefroid Belorgey, in his book, The Practice of Mental Prayer, discusses the stages of prayer, from the ordinary degrees of prayer, including meditation and affective prayer, to the mystical degrees, leading to spiritual marriage, while drawing on the tradition of the Church. Dom Belorgey was auxiliary superior of Citeaux between 1932 and 1952.
Dom Vitalis Lehodey’s The Ways of Mental Prayer guides the reader through the traditional stages of prayer, from meditation to contemplative prayer, from a Cistercian perspective. Dom Lehodey draws on the teachings of St. Bernard of Clairvaux, St. Teresa of Avila, St. John of the Cross, St. Francis de Sales and St. Alphonsus. He was Abbot of Notre Dame de Grace in Bricquebec, France, from 1895.
Dom Jean-Baptiste Chautard’s The Soul of the Apostolate discusses the necessity of the inner life of prayer in maintaining a successful active apostolate. Pope St. Pius X is quoted as saying that he chose this as his bedside book. Dom Chautard was Abbot of Notre Dame de Sept-Fons, in France, from 1899 until his death in 1935.
