The Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University

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Author QuotedCasimir Gaillardin
Title QuotedLes Trappistes, ou, L'ordre de Citeaux au XIX siècle: l'histoire de la Trappe depuis sa fondatione jusque'à nos jours
Date (Year/Month/Day)1947/08/04
ImprintParis : [s.n.]. 1844
QuotationAnselme Dimier's La Sombre Trappe [Paris, 1946] creates the impression it proposes to want to dispel: that the old school Trappists were very macabre. Perhaps that is the idea of the book: they were gloomy. We Cistercians are joyful. But it can be carried too far. There was plenty of the Cistercian spirit at La Trappe: you can get it from the introduction to [Casimir] Gaillardin's history [Les Trappistes. Paris, 1844]. They were not different from us except in accidentals, but some of the accidentals are important for their repercussions on the interior life.
Quotation SourceEntering the Silence: Becoming a Monk and Writer. The Journals of Thomas Merton, Volume 2, 1941-1952.; Edited by Jonathan Montaldo. / San Francisco : Harper Collins. 1996, p. 98
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