Early in the year
1098, Robert, Abbot of Molesme, age seventy, set out on a high
adventure. As a seeker for the roots of a contemplative life his
curiosity had led him to one monastery after another. He had
led the monks of Collan to Molesme and into the "hard and
rough" ways of St Benedict. There they began "to run in the
way with indescribable sweetness," and the fame of the abbey they
developed at Molesme rapidly spread. The monastery was then blessed
not only with an abundance of good candidates but also with many
rich benefactions. The new-found wealth, or rather the care of it,
soon softened the way the monks of Molesme lived the Rule of
Benedict.
Once again Robert
longed for something purer, poorer, more simple. He was not alone
in this. The better formed of his disciples, his prior Alberic, his
subprior the Englishman Stephen Harding, and about twenty other
devoted disciples were with him. Without counting the cost
led these monks into the wilderness of Citeaux.
Citeaux, even though
they called it an eremo, was not a desert in the sense we
would usually give that word. It was not a particularly attractive
place, and it was far enough from the ordinary byways of the world.
The pioneers knew poverty and hardship as they struggled to begin
the New Monastery, the name they gave their
foundation.
There was no
intention on Robert's part to start a new order or even a new
monastic observance as such. He and his followers only wanted to
live the Rule of Saint Benedict with a certain fullness. By
practicing a greater poverty they hoped to keep themselves from
many of the entanglements with the secular society that land
holding and benefices created.