Cistercian Order, order of Premontre

Cistercian monks
Bélapátfalva - Church 1
Vértesszentkereszt - Head 1
Türje - Church
Zsámbék - Church
Csorna - Charter of the convent
The Cistercian Order

It was founded in France, in 1098 by St Robert with the purpose of returning to the original ideas of the Benedictine order. The most outstanding figure of the order was St Bernard of Clairvaux (( 1153). The monasteries were united by a centralised organisation. The monks themselves - at least at first - worked to provide for the community. The order settled down in Hungary in the middle of the 12th century, in the best-known monasteries at Zirc, Pilis (Pilisszentkereszt), Kerc, Borsmonostor and Vértesszentkereszt.

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The order of Premontre

It was founded in France by St Norbert in the 1120s. The members of the order carried out pastoral duties besides monastic life. According to the traditions of the order they were invited by Stephen II to settle down in Hungary, though the reliability of this is quite doubtful. In 1235 there were 20 monasteries for men and 2 for women in Hungary. Some of these were founded by the king, but a greater number of them were founded by private people. Their best-known monasteries are at Zsámbék, Csorna, Jászó, Lelesz, Bozók, Turóc. In Hungary their monasteries are called preposteries, and the abbots of these are called preposts. The bigger monasteries of the order in Hungary also functioned as credible places (loca credibilia).

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