The Hermit Monks of Grandmont

Sadly neglected in most histories of monasticism and medieval Europe is the Order of Grandmont, founded in the late eleventh century and suppressed in 1772. Although few persons today have ever heard of these hermit monks, their austerity and reputation for holiness were well know during the Middle Ages and mated that of another contemporary monastic reform movement, the Cistercians. Founded on similar principles of monastic renewal, their rapid diffusion was equally remarkable. While Cistercians separated choir monks and lay brothers, the two ranks worked, and prayed together at Grandmontine ‘cells’ and shared one choir, chapter house, refectory, and dormitory. Anyone wishing to join the brethren at prayer was welcome in their chapels, but the Grandmontines went to great lengths to ensure solitude, evangelical poverty, and a lifestyle founded on the Gospel which is, in the words of their founder, Stephen of Muret, ‘The one primary and fundamental Rule of Rules for our salvation…given by the Saviour to his apostles to be by them faithfully proclaimed to the whole world.’