Jump to content
An Old School Catholic Message Board

Cistercian Customs


John Paul

Recommended Posts

since we had carmelites why not the cistercians.What were some of the rules they had before Vatican II ?

Edited by John Paul
Link to comment
Share on other sites

They wear a tunic  called the house robe ,a belt know as the cincture,and a scapular witch is attached to the hood .They may have a rosary in their pocket too.Does anyone know what rules they have in the Divine  Office.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

JP have you read Seven Storey Mountain? I read it in the monastery and enjoyed it. Probably Trappists are sick of Thomas Merton being the only one people ever mention, but as far as learning about customs and the daily life, it's quite good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They wear a tunic  called the house robe ,a belt know as the cincture,and a scapular witch is attached to the hood .They may have a rosary in their pocket too.Does anyone know what rules they have in the Divine  Office.

​Sorry, sorry, sorry, but in my mind's eye I see a little doll like the Wicked Witch of the West hanging from the peak of the hood...delayed reaction to matzah overdose, I suppose:getaclue:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

JP have you read Seven Storey Mountain? I read it in the monastery and enjoyed it. Probably Trappists are sick of Thomas Merton being the only one people ever mention, but as far as learning about customs and the daily life, it's quite good.

​No I have not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

They pray the complete 7 offices of the divine office,go to daily mass,and practice letcio.They pray for about 8 or more hours a day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

truthfinder

Cistercians had their own way of doing prostrations (which although generally disappeared, I saw a picture of from a somewhat recent profession at Our Lady of the Valley monastery) - prostration on the knuckles - which is to kneel down and put your knuckles on the floor in front of you which induces a bit of a bow into your kneeling state.  I thought to myself that it couldn't be that hard, and while it's not really, if you're doing it during the whole length of the Litany of Saints it's certainly harder than the normal prostration lying flat on the floor.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I never knew that!

Besides 7 story mountain is there any other books on the cistercians?

How devoted to Mary are they ?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

truthfinder

While there are a lot of books on the Cistercians, a lot of them tend to be academic in nature.  I'm sure there are a few popular books, but most of them seem to be after Merton.  I don't think there really was the popularity of them as there was for the books which popped up for the Carmelites (there were several books between the 20s-50s written by Carmelites).  

Hopefully someone will be able to find such a similar book.  Although, I'm assuming it would have to do with their overall charism as well that they wouldn't have been big into publishing books about their lives.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

There are many more books on cistercians!  

I do have a question though, are you interested in the customs of the Cistercian family, including Trappists (OSCO) and Cistercians (O. Cist.), or just the Cistercians?

If you mean the whole family including Trappists, then here are two of my favorite books:

-Strangers to the City by Michael Casey, OSCO

-Monastic Practices by Charles Cummings, OSCO

They are generally very devoted to Mary.  Each Abbey is usually named "Our Lady of __________", and each hour of the divine office ends with an antiphon to Mary including the Salve Regina at Compline.  Our Lady of the Mississippi (the Abbey I have most experience with) prays the Angelus three times daily, I'm not sure if others do or not. 

Edited by hep_rsb
Link to comment
Share on other sites

​Sorry, sorry, sorry, but in my mind's eye I see a little doll like the Wicked Witch of the West hanging from the peak of the hood...delayed reaction to matzah overdose, I suppose:getaclue:

​Oh dear... I was trying not to make a joke about that too!

​No I have not.

​I recommend it if you're interested in a basic intro to their customs etc. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...