There is a Cistercian monks’ community on the main island of Mahe in Seychelles where the monastery was established eight years ago.
The monastery is located in an area isolated from the main road and other residences at L’Harmonie in the hills of La Misere. It takes about 10 minutes to walk from the main road and approximately 10-15 minutes to drive from Victoria, Seychelles’ capital.
The monks’ community want to offer more support to those in need and in order to do that they need to expand its monastery. They cannot work outside the monastery, so those in need must go to them and at the moment the place is too small to accommodate others.
Father Chrysostome says that they need more infrastructures as they are looking at building dormitories so that people can stay a few days as for now they can only offer an outside camp.
The number of people attending mass on Sundays is growing and the chapel is getting too small to accommodate everyone.
Monks and nuns belonging to the Cistercian Order are also called the Benedictines or the Bernardines as the follow the rules of St. Benedict and St. Bernard. The two differ by the colour of their “cuccula”, a choir robe worn over their habits, which is white for the Bernardines and black for the Benedictines.
There are six monks from the Cistercian order. The monks in Seychelles all come from Morombe, a coastal city in the Atsimo-Andrefana region of Madagascar. They live a simple life. The pray, meditate and farm the land. The Cistercian monks support themselves with agriculture, their way of life.
The community provides spiritual support to vulnerable members of society and now are themselves in need of support for a larger monastery to better serve the Seychellois in need.
