All Christians animated by the spirit of Jesus are religious, just
as they are holy, and kings and priests (I Peter 2,9). Such is the
unity of the marvellous body of Christ, the Church, whose soul is
infinite love, that her every member shares, in some sense and
measure, all her sublime prerogatives. But as God willed that in His
family some goods should be common to all, so He likewise decreed
that other goods should be reserved to comparatively few, and through
these chosen and privileged ones benefit the rest. Hence, as besides
this elementary royalty and priesthood conferred by baptism, there
are, according to the express order of God superior and official
royalties and priesthoods, in like manner besides the fundamental
religion, which is the vital breath of every soul in a state of
grace, there is a religion more eminent, more definite, more perfect.
Thus as there is here below a sacerdotal and royal state, so likewise
is there a religious state which is confined to those only who bind
themselves by vows to a monastic life. It is evident, therefore, that
when Catholics use the expression "religious Order," or term a monk
or nun "a religious," they are perfectly justified in doing so, the
cavillings of Dr. Trench to the contrary notwithstanding.

Each religious order is characterized by the special purpose for
which it was founded, and by the constitution and rule which its
members are to follow. The observance of the Benedictine rule was
greatly relaxed in the monasteries of France towards the close of the
eleventh century, when St. Robert (1098) inaugurated a reform at
Citeaux, which resulted in the establishment of the Cistercian Order.
A monastery of this Order was subsequently (1140) founded in La
Perche, France, by the Count of Perche, and was called La Trappe. In
1662 the commendatory abbot of La Trappe, Armand Jean le Bouthilier
de Rance', a nobleman who abandoned wealth and a brilliant career,