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.
Torn from his earliest youth - as he himself recounted - between the monastic vocation and his attraction to a military career, W. saw both of his predilections crowned: indeed he served from 1866 to 20 Sept. 1870 in the pontifical army, attaining there through his valor on the field the rank of major of the Zouaves, and then embraced the religious life, not without, however, having heroically fought for his country in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, during which he performed true prodigies of valor at Patay and at Le Mans, always in the ranks of the former pontifical Zouaves.
Having become a Trappist, he completed his studies and his novitiate at Rome, where he took 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 era in which the opportunity was felt to federate the various Trappist communities: and this need Fr. W. succeeded in translating into reality, giving life to the Order of the Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady 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 restored to new splendor he was the first abbot general, at the same time as he directly governed, one after another, the abbeys of S. Maria del Monte, of Septfonds and finally that of Cîteaux, cradle of the Order itself. The energy with which he had known how to carry to completion the arduous task of unifying the Trappes soon gave way to the gentle severity with which he knew how to guide 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 ascetic piety. Pius IX - who held him particularly dear for the services rendered in fields so diverse to the Apostolic See - and Leo XIII affectionately supported him in his abbatial activity and entrusted him with several important missions, of various kinds, which Fr. W. carried out with the full satisfaction of the two Pontiffs.
Bibliography3 works
Renzo U. Montini