WYART, THÉOPHILE-LOUIS-HENRI. — In religion Sébastien, abbot general of the Trappists, b. at Bouchain (France) on 12 Oct. 1839, d. at Rome on 18 Aug. 1904.
From his earliest youth—so he himself has recounted—W. was torn between a monastic vocation and a passion for a military career. Both of these inclinations were ultimately fulfilled: from 1860 to 20 Sept. 1870 he served in the Papal army, rising by his battlefield valor to the rank of major in the Papal zouaves; thereafter he embraced the religious life, though not without first having fought heroically for his country in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, during which he performed deeds of conspicuous bravery at Patay and Le Mans, always within the ranks of the former Papal zouaves.
Having become a Trappist, he completed his studies and novitiate in Rome, where he took his vows and was ordained priest in 1877. Sent first to found a community at Tilburg in Holland, in 1883 he was named abbot of the monastery of Ste-Marie du Mont near Cambrai. It was at this time that the need was felt to federate the various Trappist communities, and Fr. W. succeeded in translating this necessity into reality by giving life to the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe (v. (TRAPPISTI)), whose Constitutions, drawn up in 1894, were approved and confirmed by Leo XIII on 30 July 1902. On 30 July 1902 he became the first abbot general of the newly revitalized Order, while at the same time directly governing, one after another, the abbeys of Sainte-Marie du Mont, Septfonds, and finally that of Cîteaux, the cradle of the Order itself. The energy with which he had carried through the arduous task of unifying the Trappist houses soon gave way to the gentle severity with which he guided the Order in its early days: the valiant soldier had been completely transformed into a wise legislator and loving father, deeply versed in divine science and admirable for his ascetic piety. Pius IX—who held him in particular affection for the services rendered in such diverse fields to the Apostolic See—and Leo XIII warmly supported him in his abbatial labors and entrusted him with several important missions of varied nature, all of which he discharged to the full satisfaction of both Pontiffs.