In Poličany, the foundation stone will be laid for the Trappist monastery

Poličany (Benešovsko)/Prague - The foundation stone of the newly emerging Trappist monastery named Our Lady over the Vltava will be laid on Tuesday, August 5, in Poličany in the Benešov region. It will be blessed by Apostolic Nuncio Diego Causero along with General Vicar Michael Slavík. Aleš Pištora, the press spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Prague, stated this today to ČTK.
    "This day will symbolically initiate the construction of the monastery near the Slapy Dam in a peaceful place suitable for the spirituality of the order of Trappist nuns, which should be completed within two years," he said. The ceremonial laying will take place from 10:00 a.m.
    On August 15, Cardinal Miloslav Vlk will also bless the construction, having invited the community composed of Czech women, Italians, and one Hungarian from the mother monastery of Trappist nuns in Vitorchiano, Italy. The new monastery in Bohemia will become the seventh foundation of Trappist nuns, noted Pištora. According to him, the order of Trappists operates in many countries; it has 85 male monasteries and 50 female ones with a total of 3,500 monks and 2,000 sisters. Last autumn, the community in Poličany opened a guest house, which will be part of the monastery. According to the sisters, it serves for people to experience moments of solitude, silence, and prayer.
    In the country, the male order of Trappists is already active. They have built their monastery in Nový Dvůr near Toužim from a nearly demolished estate. The monastic community of about 15 religious has been operating here since 1999.
    Trappist nuns and monks live according to the Rule of St. Benedict and according to his motto Pray and work. They live together, in obedience to the superior, in daily effort for conversion, in separation from the world, in silence and solitude. The monasteries are built far from cities, in the midst of fields and forests. They have a simple lifestyle - plain food, abstinence from meat, necessary clothing, and the like.
    Seven times a day, the nuns gather in the chapel for sung liturgical prayer, in between, they meditate and perform designated tasks. Their life has strict rules; they rise very early in the morning, and the rhythm of life is dictated, for example, by spiritual reading, personal prayers, and also manual work. Each Trappist monastery manages certain lands, raises animals, and grows fruits and vegetables.
    They belong to the Cistercian Order of Strict Observance, which emerged as a result of reforms that began in France in the 17th century. However, they are better known by the name Trappists, derived from the French La Trappe - the name of one of the most famous monasteries of the mentioned reform. This reform withstood even the onslaught of the French Revolution, when the monks and nuns traveled across Europe to Russia to escape persecution. They returned to France only after the fall of the Napoleonic regime.