WYART, THÉOPHILE-LOUIS-HENRI. – In religion Sébastien, abbot general of the Trappists, born at Bouchain (France) on 12 October 1839, died in Rome on 18 August 1904.
Torn from his earliest youth—as he himself recounted—between the monastic vocation and his inclination toward a military career, W. saw both his predilections crowned: in fact, he served from 1866 to 20 September 1870 in the Papal army, attaining there, through his valor in the field, the rank of major of the Zouaves; he subsequently embraced the religious life, though not before having heroically fought for his country in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, during which he performed genuine feats of valor at Patay and Le Mans, always in the ranks of the former Papal Zouaves.
Having become a Trappist, he completed his studies and novitiate in Rome, where he professed his vows and was ordained a priest in 1877. Sent first to found a community at Tilburg in Holland, in 1883 he was appointed abbot of the monastery of Ste-Marie du Mont, near Cambrai. This was the period when the desirability of federating the various Trappist communities was being felt; Fr. W. succeeded in translating this need into reality, giving life to the Order of the Reformed Cistercians of N. S. of La Trappe (v. CISTERCENSI RIFORMATI), whose Constitutions, drawn up in 1894, were approved and confirmed by Leo XIII on 30 July 1902. Of the Order thus recalled to new splendor, he was the first abbot general, while at the same time directly governing, one after another, the abbeys of S. Maria del Monte, Septfonds, and finally Cîteaux, the cradle of the Order itself. The energy with which he had succeeded in completing the arduous task of unifying La Trappe soon gave way to the gentle severity with which he guided the Order in its beginnings: the valiant soldier had been completely transformed into a wise legislator and a loving father, deeply versed in divine science and admirable for his ascetic piety. Pius IX—who held him especially dear for the services he had rendered to the Apostolic See in fields so diverse—and Leo XIII affectionately supported him in his abbey ministry and entrusted him with several important missions of various kinds, which Fr. W. fulfilled to the complete satisfaction of both Pontiffs.