Augustin de Lestrange
Dom Augustin de Lestrange | |
|---|---|
| Born | Louis-Henri de Lestrange 1754 Trappist abbot |
| Parent(s) | Louis-César de Lestrange (father), Jeanne-Perrette de Lalor (mother) |
| Church | Catholic Church |
| Ordained | 1778 |
Augustin de Lestrange (
Life
He was the fourteenth child of Louis-César de Lestrange, officer in the household of Louis XV, and Jeanne-Perrette de Lalor, daughter of an Irish gentleman who had followed James II of England to France in 1688. The younger de Lestrange was ordained priest in 1778, and was attached to the parish of Saint-Sulpice.
In 1780,
De Lestrange was master of the novices in that monastery, when a decree of the
In the following year de Lestrange sent a colony to America under Urbain Guillet. In 1804, de Lestrange founded the monastery of Cervara in the Republic of Genoa. Napoleon not only authorized the establishment, but granted it a revenue of 10,000 francs. Moreover, he desired that a similar institution be founded on the Alps, at Mont-Genèvre, to serve as a refuge for the soldiers who were to pass to and fro between Italy and France. To secure the success of this establishment he granted it an allowance of 24,000 francs. This protection was not, however, of long duration. The Republic of Genoa was united to the empire, and there, as in all the other states under the sway of Napoleon, an oath of fidelity to the empire was exacted from ecclesiastics and religious. The religious of Cervara, acting on the advice of some eminent personages, and of some influential members of the clergy who assured them that the pope had allowed the oath, took the oath of fidelity.
Pope Pius VII, then prisoner at Savona, informed de Lestrange of the Bull of excommunication issued against the spoliator of the Papal States. Accordingly, de Lestrange commanded the prior of Cervara to make immediate retraction. The emperor became furious. He caused de Lestrange to be arrested at Bordeaux and thrown into prison. At the same time, by a sweeping decree of 28 July, he suppressed all the Trappist monasteries throughout the empire. The prefect of Bordeaux, upon the entreaties of several of de Lestrange's friends, gave him the limits of the city for his prison. The abbot availed himself of the liberty thus accorded him to hasten the departure of his religious for America; he himself obtained from the police permission to go to La Valsainte and Mont-Genèvre, where his presence was required. Pursued again by the emperor, he crossed Germany and arrived at Riga, whence he left for England and America.
On the Caribbean island of
At this time, de Lestrange was accused of imposing extraordinary hardships on his religious; he was reproached with his frequent voyages and long absences. The
His remains repose in the monastery of La Trappe in the Diocese of Séez alongside those of Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé.
See also
References
- ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
- ^ "Jeremiah Francis O'Flynn" (PDF). australiancatholichistoricalsociety.com.au. p. 8. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
- JSTOR 44207420.
- ^ Oliver, George (1857). Collections, illustrating the history of the Catholic religion in the counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Wilts, and Gloucester. Harvard University. London, C. Dolman.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Louis-Henri de Lestrange". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. The entry cites:
- Règlements de La Trappe et Usages de la Val-Sainte (2 vols., Fribourg, 1794);
- Odyssée Monastigue, Dom Augustin de Lestrange et les Trappistes pendant la Révolution (La Grande-Trappe, 1898);
- Hippolyte Vérité, Cîteaux, La Trappe et Bellefontaine (Paris, 1883);
- Casimir Gaillardin, Les Trappistes et l'Ordre de Cîteaux au XIXe siècle (2 vols., Paris, 1844);
- Vie du R. P. Dom Urbain Guillet (Chapelle-Montligeon, 1899)
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