Trappists are Roman Catholic monks who belong to the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance. This branch of the Cistercians dates from a reform begun in 1664 at La Trappe Abbey in Normandy, France, by the abbot Armand-Jean le Bouthillier de Rance. He restored rules of the original Cistercian abbey that no longer were followed, including almost complete silence, four to six hours of manual labor a day, and seclusion. He added other rules, such as abstaining from meat, except for the infirm. Orders of Cistercian Nuns of the Strict Observance, called Trappistines, were founded in 1794 by the monk Dom Augustin de Lestrange. Their first convent was La Sainte Volonte de Dieu, near Fribourg, in Switzerland. See Cistercians .
