Cistercians

And he restored the monastery at Bangor in 1142.

He founded the great monastery at Mellifont, which was the first Cistercian house in Ireland.

He had visited St. Bernard of Clairvaux on a journey to and from Rome in 1139 when he was appointed papal legate.

He died in 1148 on his way to Rome at Clairvaux, where he caught fever and died in the arms of St. Bernard and is buried in the Abbey Church there, which is, I think, an interesting one.

Now, stick with me here while I give you a little bit of history about the island.

Caldy is one of 145 Cistercian monasteries around the world.

A Celtic monastery was first established on the island in the 6th century.

It's always been a holy site, considered one of the most sacred in the UK.

The Cistercian monks arrived from Belgium in 1929 and they take vows.

They say they live by the constitution of the Cistercian order of strict observance.

They take a vow of celibacy and wear monastic clothes, a white robe, black scapula and a leather belt.

They have a duty of care towards children and vulnerable adults.

entirety, and then the sort of decorative details, many of which will echo of Middle Eastern design.

So we have Greco-Roman architectural influence, we have Islamic architectural influence, but as I've already mentioned, we also have what we might define as Cistercian Gothic, and Again, let's make our lives a little bit easier and just say the influence of French Gothic architecture, particularly in the rib vaulted ceilings that I mentioned in the rooms on the ground floor.

And then, of course, the window tracery that was inspired and one might even say imported from French and German Gothic building techniques.

The fine tracery that we find in the windows of the upper floors.

And Saint Bernard of Clairvaux is this really interesting fish.

So he starts kind of the Cistercian Order.

He starts this particular reform movement within varying monasteries because he decides that People are insufficiently pious and like, look, that's normal.

And like when the Franciscans do it, I think it's cute.

Yeah, I mean, basically you do labor to support the monastery, so it can be any kind of physical labor.

I think the Trappists, if I remember correctly, are a type of Cistercian, and they're famous for their brewing.

So they have famous beer brands, actually.

Yeah, I do feel like I've

whatnot.

So actually, I misspoke.

The Leibowitzians are not necessarily Cistercians.

The Cistercians were there when Leibowitz was around.

Today, the surviving ruins form part of Rufford Abbey County Park.

But almost 900 years ago, this was home to a community of Cistercian monks.

The Abbey was founded in 1146 by Gilbert de Gaunt, Herald of Lincoln and dedicated to St Mary the Virgin.

Its first monks came from Revo Abbey in Yorkshire.

The Cistercians were sometimes known as the White Monks, after the undied rule of their habits.

They followed an austere way of life centred upon prayer and work, and by around 1170 the monastery was largely established.

For the next three and a half centuries, generations of monks lived here.

According to the account, somebody at Rufford saw the figure of a monk reflected in a mirror.