Tironensian monks, of the Order of Tiron, also spelled Thiron - apparently from Latin "thironium", a high hill (Guillemin, 1999)- so called after the location of the mother abbey (established in 1109) in the woods of Tiron, Perche (some 35 miles west of Chartres, France). Nicknamed "Grey Monks" because of their grey robes, which their spiritual cousins, the monks of Savigny, also wore.
The Order, or congregation, of Tiron was founded about 1106 by Benedictine Bernard de Ponthieu, also known as Bernard d'Abbeville (1046-1117); he was born in a small village near Abbeville, the chief town of the province of Ponthieu. As a pre-Cistercian reformer, Bernard's intention was to restore the asceticism and strict observance of the Rule of St. Benedict, insisting on manual labour, in monastic life.
Tonsured at the Benedictine Abbey of Saint-Cyprien in Poitiers around the year 1070, Bernard left the order in 1101 when his nomination as new abbot was disapproved by Cluny and Pope Pascal II. From then on Bernard lived first as a hermit on the island of Chaussey, between Jersey and Saint-Malo, then in the woods of Craon, near Chartres, with two other rigorist monks: Robert d'Arbrissel, future founder of the controversial Abbey of Fontevraud, and Vitalis de Mortain, would found the trappist congregation of Savigny in 1113 (a small Benedictine order of strict observance that would be forced to join the Cistercian Order in 1147). In the example of the Desert Fathers, all three men and their followers (men and women) lived detached from the world, in great poverty and strict penance. However, there is strong evidence suggesting that following their retreat into the forest, Bernard, Robert and Vitalis were following the Celtic Rite, independently of and in opposition to the Roman Catholic Church, and under the protection of the Duchy of Bretagne.
Within less than 5 years of its creation, the Order of Tiron owned 117 priories and abbeys in France, England, Scotland and Ireland. In Scotland, the Tironensians were the monks and master craftsmen who built and occupied (until the Reformation) the abbeys of Selkirk (1113), Kelso (1128), Arbroath (1178), and Kilwinning (1140+), the legendary birthplace of Freemasonry. In France, the Order was integrated into the new Benedictine congregation of St. Maur in 1627.
Sources:
- Denis Guillemin, "Thiron, Abbaye médiévale", Amis du Perche, Montrouge 1999
- Bulletin de la Société archéologique d'Eure-et-Loir, "Spécial Inventaire Monumental, Édifices religieux du Canton de Thiron-Gardais", No 30, 3e trimestre 1991
- Dom Jacques de Bascher, "La Vita de Saint Brnard d'Abbeville, abbé de Saint-Cyprien de Poitiers et de Tiron", Revue Mabillon No 278, 1979
- Official site of Thiron-Gardais (France), section Histoire, http://www.mairie-thiron-gardais.fr
- Site of the Abbaye Cistercienne du Mont des Cats (France, section Histoire bénédictine, http://www.abbayes.net/histoire/benedictins/tiron.htm
