Original mother-house of the Cistercian Order, 12 miles south of Dijon, France. It was founded in 1098 by Saint Robert, a Benedictine Abbot of Molesme, for the purpose of restoring the most literal possible observance of the Rule of Saint Benedict. Saint Alberic and Saint Stephen Harding were his two immediate successors; twenty-three of the abbots are venerated in the order as saints or blessed. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux began his monastic life here. In the French Revolution the monks were expelled from Citeaux and the abbey was sold in 1791 as state property. Since 1898 it has been occupied by the Order of Reformed Cistercians (Trappists).