BOUTHILLIER DE RANCÉ, ARMAND-JEAN LE. - Cistercian, founder of the Trappists. Born in Paris of a noble family on 9 January 1626, died at La Trappe (county of Perche) on 27 October 1700. At the age of nine, to succeed to the rich benefices left vacant by his brother’s death, he was given the commendatory abbacy of the Cistercian monastery of La Trappe. He nevertheless led a worldly life, though from his youth he distinguished himself by his love of letters, especially Greek (at the age of thirteen, in 1639, he published an edition of Anacreon with critical commentary), and by his eloquence, of which he gave an excellent proof at the Assembly of the Clergy in 1655.
His conversion began in 1657, on which much was said and written (D. de Larroque, *Véritables motifs de la conversion de l'abbé de La Trappe*, Cologne 1685; N. Barthe, *Lettre de l'abbé de Rancé à un ami*, Geneva 1765; and the poetic reply by J. F. de Laharpe, *Réponse*, Paris 1802). Having disposed of all his possessions, he retained only the abbacy of La Trappe, where, after two years of rigorous novitiate, he became regular abbot on 13 July 1664. He then began his constant and ardent struggle to reform the Cistercian Order. Notable in this regard is his controversy with the Maurist monks over monastic studies, which he deemed alien to the spirit of Benedictine monasticism, insisting instead on manual labor. Failing to obtain a favorable brief for the “strict observance” from the cardinal congregation that was to decide between the “strict” and the “common” observance in religious orders, he withdrew to La Trappe (1667) and dictated to his monks new regulations aimed at restoring the Benedictine Rule in all its primitive observance. On 23 May 1678 he obtained papal approval and praise, and his reform received official recognition from Clement XI (19 September 1705). At present the Order of the Trappists numbers more than eighty monasteries.
He wrote various works on monastic life, commentaries on the Rule of St Benedict and on the Gospels. As he did not fail to concern himself with all the religious and literary questions of his time, he corresponded with the most prominent men; his *Lettres*, collected and published by P. Gouod (Paris 1845), are therefore most interesting.