Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rance

Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé , 1626-1700, French religious reformer, founder of the Trappists . He was of a noble family, was well educated, and lived at court as a worldly priest. In 1664 he retired to the Cistercian abbey at LaTrappe, where he was already abbot in commendam (i.e., he received its revenues, but performed no duties). There, as regular abbot, he established a discipline stricter than the primitive Benedictine rule. In a few years LaTrappe was famous, and its reform spread; out of the movement came the Trappists.

Rancé, Armand-Jean le Bouthillier de (1626–1700), reformer of la Trappe. A godson of A. J. P. du Richelieu, by 1636 he held five benefices in commendam, including the Cistercian abbey of la Trappe. He led a worldly life until a sudden death in 1657 caused a dramatic conversion. Divesting himself of all his benefices except la Trappe, he invited monks of the Strict Observance to take over in 1662; after a year's novitiate at Perseigne he was blessed as regular abbot in 1664. To the existing rules of the Strict Observance he added more stringent regulations, based, he insisted, on the original uses of Cîteaux. He remained within the obedience of the Cistercian Order and Strict Observance, and it was only the unique survival of la Trappe in the time of the French Revolution that led to the widespread adoption of his reform in the Order. See also TRAPPISTS.