History and roots
At the origin of the Abbey of Nový Dvůr lies the Abbey of Sept-Fons in France, where the first Czechs became monks after the Velvet Revolution. Its roots also go further back into the past: the monastic life born in the Middle East at the time of the first Christians; the Rule for Monks written by Saint Benedict; the first Cistercian fathers that founded the “New monastery” in Cîteaux in 1098; and the monasteries following on from La Grande Trappe Abbey after the French Revolution.
“And so from this one man, Abraham, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore… All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth”.
(Epistle to the Hebrews, 11:12-13)