Sites present: Germany: Anrode, Heisterbach, Maulbronn, Bronnbach, Neukloster, Pforta; Belgium: Aulne, Clairefontaine, Clairefontaine Cordenoy, Grandpré, Herkenrode, Villers, Italy: Chiaravalle della Colomba, Sweden Skokloster, Vreta; Spain: Oia, Piedra; Portugal: Alcobaça São Cristóvão de Lafões, France: Aumône or Petit Cîteaux, Beauvais (barn), Bouchet, Breuil-Benoît (Le), Cherlieu, Cîteaux, Clairmont, Collège des Bernardins, Crête (La), Etoile (L’), Fontaine-Guérard, Fontaine-Jean, Noirlac, Pontigny, Prée (La), Preuilly, Royaumont, Signy, Val (Le), Valmagne, Vaucelles, Vauluisant
Sites represented: Germany : Altenberg, Altzella, Arnsburg, Bebenhausen, Bredelar, Buch, Ebrach, Eberbach, Hardehausen, Herrenalb, Kamp, Marienstatt, Marienthal, Salem, Schöntall St Marienthal ; Belgium : La Paix-Dieu ; Sweden: Askeby ; France : Aulps, Barbery, Bonnefont, Bonport, Escaladieu, Koad Malouen, Langonnet, Relecq (Le), Timadeuc
Welcome
The Chairman particularly welcomed:
– The heads of political, historical and archaeological organisations, and cultural and tourist units of the Aube department.
– Dom Vladimir Gaudrat, Father Abbot of Lérins, invited as the Chairman of ARCCIS (Association for Promoting Cistercian Culture) ;
– New Charter members,
– Members of the Clairvaux Revival Association who, working with Jean François Leroux, had magnificently organised this AGM;
– Speakers following the formal part of the AGM, notably Dom Vladimir Gaudrat, Father Abbot of Lérins, Régis Martin owner of Breuil Benoit Abbey, and one of the key architects of Historical Monuments, Bernard Peugniez friend of Vaucelles Abbey and author of the guide to Cistercian Europe, Mme Ana Pagarà, recently nominated as director General of Alcobaça Abbey and Jean-François Leroux, our honorary President.
He thanked them all for having contributed to the success of this AGM, and for all those who formed the core of the members, and who were again present: Maulbronn, Heisterbach, Preuilly, Clairefontaine, Fontfroide Valmagne, etc.
About seventy abbeys were present or represented. The Chairman stressed the importance to the Charter of the diversity of operating models. These included:
– Diversity of Owners (national, publicly owned, local regional, lay and religious organisations and private owners),
– Diversity of Languages and Countries,
– Diversity of Focus of Interest (historical, tourist, religious architecture and others).
All this gave an extraordinary uniqueness and richness. Being united within the same association and sharing experiences (in terms of animation, management, communication, and others) enabled each one to feel involved and be custodian of a vast European network of Cistercian tangible and intangible heritage.
Who could have imagined 25 years ago that such an event – a national commemoration – on such a subject as the ninth centenary of the founding of the Abbey of Clairvaux – could take place in France, which was often focused on the concept of secularism?
From a French viewpoint, the last 25 years had not been deficient in this area. One thought of the Cistercian exhibition in 1990 in the Conciergerie in Paris, and the Fontfroide symposium in 1992, which provided an outstanding opportunity for a meeting between historians, religious, owners and abbey organisers.
One thought also of Cîteaux ‘98 which, in addition to tourism, brought together the efforts of an entire region, Burgundy, for a few months to focus on the importance of Cistercians in its history.
Today “Clairvaux 2015” with meetings, seminars, exhibitions, tours offered and other events, went far beyond anything so far encountered.
The Chairman believed that the “Clairvaux 2015” project, which was initiated by the joint actions of the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Justice and the General Council of Aube Department deserved our approbation and even more so that these institutions had been able to cooperate with all relevant people involved (including religious, scientists, historians, owners and organisers of abbeys and Cistercian sites). By placing it in a European perspective, it offered in each country a different context and a different story, and if it was one of the objectives of the Charter to understand and share, we appreciate that we are still very far from the idea of a European focus. What was certain was that the Charter of which we were members, tirelessly continued to work to ensure that the heritage of which we were custodians was a living heritage and respected throughout Europe.
Progress since the AGM for 2014 / 2015
3 years ago, we set ourselves the objective of initiating a process to strengthen our association and to activate and unite around two notions:
- The Charter of Shared Values. The Charter of Values was agreed at the AGM in Clairefontaine. It had the great merit of defining several principles, which united us, and encouraged us to preserve and value the exceptional Cistercian heritage for which we were responsible. The Chairman reminded the meeting of the key points. The Charter had given rise to a 4 page document produced by François Launay (Petit Cîteaux), and translated into 11 languages, thanks to financial support from de Jacques Mortelmans (La Ramée), which was greatly appreciated, and available at all our sites. One could also find the Charter of Values in all languages in pdf format on www.cister.net . The general view was that this was an effective and remarkable reference document.
- The ninth Centenary of the founding of Clairvaux had been an important moment for us both individually and collectively to enable us to focus on the historical significance of our abbeys and sites, notably their contribution to European culture today. The Chairman felt that given the Seminar on “The Long History of Clairvaux”, which some of those present had participated in during the three days prior to the AGM, after the Seminar, the visit to the large Clairvaux exhibition, and the various seminars planned for after the AGM, without forgetting the seminar planned for the beginning of September on Cistercian Industry, we would have and would always have all the elements necessary to pass on to subsequent generations and to our visitors (estimated at around 3 million a year) the European significance of our achievements.
Review of Activities and Achievements
During the past year there had been three Board meetings of Directors, and meetings of three different committees (International Relations, Cistercians Heritage, and Intranet / Internet).
The Chairman warmly thanked all those who had participated in these meetings and all their hosts (La Prée, Villers) who had provided services (Villers, Clairvaux) without which the organization could not function.
In addition to the preparation of this exceptional AGM and “Clairvaux 2015” which largely occupied us throughout the year, our other achievements were as follows:
- Two training courses were held, one in France from 26 to 29 November 2014 at Cîteaux, organised by Jean-François Leroux (60 participants), the other in Germany (first training given in German) at Marienstatt Abbey in late October 2014 Organised by Georg Kalckert (28 participants, including Neukloster, Buch, Bebenhausen, Bronnbach, Maulbronn, Eberbach and Heisterbach). This was extremely informative and motivating in the view of all the participants.
Since the formation of our association, more than 700 people had benefited from this training, which allowed imparting useful knowledge (in history, architecture, Cistercian economics), comments by the Holy Rule by the Abbot, welcoming procedures and other) and promoting the spirit of the Charter. Our next courses would take place in 2016 at a date and place not yet decided.
- Encounters with live abbeys, had multiplied in recent years, notably with the abbeys who had welcomed us for training courses (Cîteaux, Aiguebelle, Scourmont, and Marienstatt) thanks to direct contacts with their Abbots, notably Dom Quenardel, and Dom Vladimir Gaudrat, who had invited us to participate in the AGMs of ARCCIS.
Thanks to them, meetings had been arranged with Abbot Benedict of Timadeuc Abbey, which could lead to a conference of Breton Cistercian abbeys. One hoped to follow up on this working together, by proposing that the abbeys interested should follow the work of ARCCIS (see www.arccis.org).
- Other topics are in the pipeline, but have not yet come to fruition. These include activities by our International Relations Committee (links with Erasmus for courses for students, contacts with cultural itineraries of the Council of Europe, and cooperation with interpreting agencies), and by the Commission which scrutinises the preservation of Cistercian heritage.
- Regarding developments in the area of New Technology:
- Statistics newsletter
- Bulletin 18 (June 2014): 21 abbeys contributing 44 news items
- Bulletin 19 (October 2014): 23 abbeys contributing 47 news items
- Bulletin 20 (March 2015): 28 abbeys contributing 60 news items
- Statistics of traffic on cister.net:
- 2012: 28,539
- 2013: 27,976
- 2014: 30 518 (+9%)
- Development of an intranet: design of an internal intranet database for the use of the Standing Committee containing:
- The Year book and directory of the Charter
- Data from the card file of information (classification based on thematic activities organised on the basis of the classifications in the Bulletin)
- People involved (administrators and others)
- Status of subscriptions
- Participation in the AGMs
- Reminders
- Statistics newsletter
Perspectives
After three years devoted to the Project Charter in 2015, the Chairman gave some comments on how the Standing Committee and the officers envisaged the future of the Charter:
- It was hoped that all member sites of the Charter would take home the achievements of “Clairvaux 2015”, notably a resurgence of broad interest (architectural historical, spiritual and other) for Cistercian heritage both material and abstract. Whatever form and the time it took, one must take the time necessary to ensure it was done well.
- We wished to continue our work in the form of projects and thought that after the consensus reached into extending the scope of the Charter, a good way forward was through consultation with our members, to define the themes for our future projects. It was felt that this method of proceeding during the five recent years, of not only the history and Cistercian spirituality, but also the economic models of our sites in the context of political cultures to reduce costs and public subsidies.
- We wanted also to reflect on out organisation and internal communications. It was an important question which was being addressed both by administration and the Standing Committee. We continued to value the support of volunteers, but we were aware also of its limitations. How could we support the increasing number of new members without failing them? Should one meet more often with abbeys in one’s locality, or less frequently with all members? Without doubt, it will be necessary to adapt our methods, communications and decision making to this new reality. We are not a commercial organisation, but a philanthropic association, and this process is necessarily complex, and it requires a reappraisal of fundamental values. This was an immense challenge, which we would to take from here to the AGM at Bronnbach.
Treasurer’s Report
The Treasurer’s Report had been approved by the Standing Committee, published in the Bulletin, and was distributed at the meeting. Further details on www.cister.net/comptes2014
Votes
– The Management Report was approved unanimously.
– The Treasurer’s Report was approved unanimously.
– Renewal of Administrators:
- No new candidate applications received.
- Renewal of administrator membership of the following six abbeys was proposed: Villers, Clairvaux, Herkenrode, Collège des Bernardins, Valmagne, La Prée
- These renewals were approved unanimously.
New Members
Since the last AGM, 15 new members were enrolled, and were presented at the end of the AGM: Franqueira, Meira, Montederramo Rioseco, Huerta Valldigna, Altzella, St Marienthal, Herkenrode (farm), the Farm attached to Aulne Abbey, Salette Priory, Herrevadskloster, Mount Saint Bernard Abbey, Hauterive and Jervaulx.