Chautard, Jean-Baptiste-Gustave

CHAUTARD, JEAN-BAPTISTE-GUSTAVE. - Cistercian abbot of the strict observance (Trappist), b. at Briançon on 12 March 1858, d. at Sept-Fonds (diocese of Moulins) on 29 Sept. 1935. At the age of 19 he entered the monastery of Aiguebelle, which he later saved from ruin. A practical man and a great organizer, he reacquired the archabbey of Cîteaux, mother-house and cradle of the Cistercian reform. He energetically defended his Order against the machinations of the anti-religious politics of his time, and with his oratory he convinced Clemenceau in favor of the contemplative Orders. In 1897 he was elected abbot of Chambard and in 1899 abbot of Sept-Fonds. From 1914 to 1917 he opened the doors of his monastery to the refugees of the war and visited the front to console all his sons in the trenches, or wounded in the hospitals. From the general chapter of his Order he received the task of visiting the Cistercian abbeys in the Holy Land, China, Japan and the United States.

He was a great champion of devotion to Our Lady. A profound connoisseur of the human heart, his word and his spiritual direction were sought by a great number of souls, especially priestly ones, for whom he wrote Prêtre et apôtre and L'âme de tout apostolat, a book that had wide repercussions. His book L'esprit de simplicité is a vibrant appeal to follow the example of the first fathers. His motto was: « Vivamus et moriamur in simplicitate nostra ».