Partakers Christian Podcasts

Church History - Part 18 Church in the Middle Ages 1 Today we look briefly at a monastic revival in the Middle Ages! As we saw last time, under the leadership of Hildebrande and Innocent III, there was a revival of monastic orders. Let us look briefly at some of the prime people from this period of our Church History. Cistercians This order of monks was founded in 1097 in France, the village we know now as Cîteaux, by a group of Benedictine Monks including Robert of Molesme, Alberic of Citeaux and Stephen Harding. The Cistericans are also known as the White Monks due to the colour of their clothing over which a black head-dress is worn. The Cistercians lifestyle emphasizes a manual labour rather than scholarship, an ascetic lifestyle and self-sufficiency. Many Cistercian abbeys supported themselves through brewing ales and from agriculture. One man who helped them spread rapidly throughout Europe was the next person we will learn about – Bernard of Clairvaux, who entered the monastery in the early 1100s wit