Our History
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Trappist Abbey
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Our History |
Our Lady of Guadalupe |
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Our Lady of Guadalupe Abbey is a monastery of Cistercian (Trappist) monks who are devoted to a life of contemplation in a cloistered atmosphere. Our day is balanced by prayer, work, spiritual study, and reflection. The Abbey began in April 1948 at Pecos, New Mexico, as a foundation established by the Community at Valley Falls, Rhode Island. In March 1955 the monks, not finding farming sufficiently yielding at that high altitude, sold the property to the Benedictine monks and moved the site to Oregon. The title "Our Lady of Guadalupe" commemorating Mary's apparitions at Tepeyac, near Mexico City in 1531, was originally chosen because of the Mexican influence in the Southwest, and was gladly brought along to the Northwest. |
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In recent years the Community has numbered between 35 and 40 members, who range in age from the 20s to the 90s. The Cistercian Order dates back to the Abbey of Citeaux, near Dijon France, which was founded in 1098 AD by monks who willed to live the Rule of St. Benedict in more poverty, seclusion, and strictness than was customary where they were. The vocation of St. Bernard, and the foundation of his Abbey of Clairvaux in 1115 AD started an enormous expansion of the Cistercian Order throughout Europe. |
photo credit> Fr Charles Lienert. |
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The name "Trappist" comes from the Cistercian Abbey of LaTrappe in Normandy, France, reformed in the late 17th century. When the French Revolution suppressed all the religious houses in the year 1790, the monks of LaTrappe took refuge as a Community in Switzerland. After many hardships and wanderings they eventually returned to France in 1815 to reestablish the Abbey and the Congregation of LaTrappe. This Congregation flourished and houses of the Trappists were founded in Europe, the United States and elsewhere, so that at present there are some 100 houses of men and 60 of women throughout the world. |