Rancé, Armand Jean Le Bouthillier De
Related Category: Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches: General Biographies
(ärmäN´ zhäN lə b
tēyā´ də räNsā´), 1626–1700, French religious reformer, founder of the
Trappists. He was of a noble family, was well educated, and lived at court as a worldly priest. In 1664 he retired to the Cistercian abbey at LaTrappe, where he was already abbot
in commendam (i.e., he received its revenues, but performed no duties). There, as regular abbot, he established a discipline stricter than the primitive Benedictine rule. In a few years LaTrappe was famous, and its reform spread; out of the movement came the Trappists.
