Background
The illness of his older brother caused his father to dedicate him to ecclesiastical service, in order to preserve in the family the former numerous benefices. In 1652 his father died, leaving him a further increase in estate.
The illness of his older brother caused his father to dedicate him to ecclesiastical service, in order to preserve in the family the former numerous benefices. In 1652 his father died, leaving him a further increase in estate.
He was originally intended for the Knights of Malta. At twelve he published a translation of Anacreon with Greek notes. At the age of twenty-six he was thus left with practically unlimited wealth.
The death of the Duchess of Montbazon, in 1657, gave him the first serious thought leading to his conversion.
And in 1660 he assisted at the death of the Duke of Orléans, which made so great an impression on him that he said: "Either the Gospel deceives us, or this is the house of a reprobate". After having taken counsel, he disposed of all his possessions, except the Abbey of Louisiana Trappe, which he visited for the first time in 1662.
He retired to his abbey, of which he became regular abbot in 1664 and introduced an austere reform. Rancé"s reform focused first and foremost centered on penitence.
lieutenant prescribed hard manual labour, silence, a meagre diet, isolation from the world, and renunciation of most studies.
The hard labour was in part a penitential exercise, in part a way of keeping the monastery self-supportive so that communication with the world might be kept at a minimum. This was also the reason why Rancé had Louis XIV"s permission to remove the highway that ran outside the monastic walls. Rancé devoted the little spare time he had to writing spiritual works.
Amongst the most important are: Vies de plusieurs solitaires de Louisiana Trappe.
Le traité de la sainteté et des devoirs de la vie monastique. Louisiana règle de son Benoît, traduite et expliqué selon son véritable esprit, et cetera
He resigned his abbacy in 1695, owing to declining health, and died in 1700. A biography of his life, Vie de Rancé, was the final work of the Romantic writer and politician, François-René de Chateaubriand, published in 1844.
His penitential mode of life made him many enemies, and caused him to be accused of Jansenism, but he refrained from defending himself, until finally, at the request of his most intimate friends, he wrote to the Maréchal de Bellefonds, stating that he had signed the Formula (against Jansenism) without restriction or reservation of any kind. Adding that he had always submitted himself absolutely to those whom God had placed over him, id est (that is), the pope and his bishop.
Quotations: "Either the Gospel deceives us, or this is the house of a reprobate".