Memoir | Page 2

purpose for which it
was founded, and by the constitution and rule which its members are to
follow. The observance of the Benedictine rule was greatly relaxed in
the monasteries of France towards the close of the eleventh century,

when St. Robert (1098) inaugurated a reform at Citeaux, which resulted
in the establishment of the Cistercian Order. A monastery of this Order
was subsequently (1140) founded in La Perche, France, by the Count of
Perche, and was called La Trappe. In 1662 the commendatory abbot of
La Trappe, Armand Jean le Bouthilier de Rance', a nobleman who
abandoned wealth and a brilliant career, visited La Trappe, undertook a
new reform of the Cistercian rule, and thus became the founder of that
branch of this Order which became known as the congregation of La
Trappe. In consequence of the Revolution of 1789, one of the Trappist
Fathers, Dom Augustin conducted twenty-four of his brethren from
France to Valsainte, in Switzerland. Here they decided to adopt a rule
still more strict than that which they had hitherto observed. This step
occasioned a division in the Trappist Order: some monasteries
following the rule of Valsainte, others that of de Rance'. An appeal to
Rome resulted in a decree dated October 3rd, 1834, by which all
Trappist monasteries were placed under one government. The decree
not having however had the desired effect, the Holy See decided in
1847 to sanction two distinct congregations, one to follow the
constitution of de Rance', and the other to observe the rule of St.
Benedict, with the primitive constitution of the Cistercian Order. To the
latter congregation belong the Trappist monasteries of Canada and the
United States, whose time-table on week days during winter is as
follows:--
At two o'clock, a. m., the Trappists rise and proceed to their chapel,
where they devote their time to the recitation of the Office, meditation,
&c., till 7.45, when they have High Mass, followed by manual labor,
which, with the interruption of only half an hour given to the recitation
of Office and examen of conscience, continues till 2 p. m.; ten minutes
more and they break their long fast of twenty-four hours with the lean
and only repast of the day. At 6 p. m. begins spiritual reading,
immediately followed by compline and other devotional exercises till 7,
when they retire to their much needed rest on their hard straw
mattresses. Perpetual silence is prescribed, unless in case of necessity,
so that the Trappist's whole life is one of extraordinary austerity and of
incessant recollection, reminding him at every turn of the shortness of
life and the tremendous rigor of judgment. The time-table for summer
varies in some minor practices and observances, while, according to

that of Sundays and holidays, those religious in the latter case rise at
midnight, and in the former at 1 a. m., and busy themselves till 7
o'clock, p. m. during winter, and 8 o'clock during summer in the praises
of the Lord.
James Merle was born at Lyons, France, the 29th October, 1768. His
father was a much respected physician in that city. On the 7th of April,
1798, while the godless Revolution was carrying resistless devastation
over the country, he privately received the holy order of priesthood at
the hands of Mgr. C. F. D. Dubois de Sanzay, Archbishop of Vienne,
and seven years afterwards he entered the Trappist Order, taking the
name of Father Vincent de Paul, by which he has always since been
known.
In his memoir Father Vincent speaks of having bought a large tract of
land near the sea in Nova Scotia, and of having built a house thereon.
This was in Tracadie, where he resided for some years previous to his
return to France in 1823. In 1824 he came again to Tracadie with
another worthy priest of his Order, Father Francis, a native of Freiburg,
together with three lay brothers, and the house above referred to
became thenceforth the monastery of Petit Clairvaux. A few years later
three other lay brothers were admitted, two of them from Halifax, and
one from the United States.
Until the Rev. John Quinn was appointed parish priest of Tracadie,
(1837) Father Vincent had pastoral charge of the three missions of
Tracadie, Havre au Boucher, and Pomquet, and the old people of the
place still recount his innumerable acts of extraordinary zeal and
devotion. "He scarcely ever had the stole off his neck during Lent," is
the remark of one of them. He also made frequent excursions to
Cheticamp, Arichat, and other parts of Cape Breton, to preach missions
there, and to assist the dying. In his memoir he speaks of that sublime
pilgrimage of the heart, the admirable devotion of the Way of the Cross,
as one especially acceptable to God; and no