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There are nine hundred years, a great spiritual revival movement born of the Abbey of Citeaux, the New Monastery, in Burgundy, is causing the foundation of over seven hundred Cistercian monasteries during the Middle Ages in Europe . Saint Bernard is the figurehead of the new monastic order. Cistercian monks, united in the simplicity and observation of the Rule of Saint Benedict (sixth century) found in all its force, lead a life of prayer and work in their abbeys. These monasteries are always located in places very withdrawn, as is Sénanque. Their community life is punctuated with seven offices a day since the middle of the night to night. Their work is manual, mainly agricultural. There are assisted by lay brothers.