Aulne Abbey was originally founded as a
Benedictine monastery in 656, on the banks of the
Sambre in the
Vallée de la Paix ("Valley of Peace") in the
Bishopric of Liège (modern-day Belgium), by
Landelinus, abbot of
Crespin Abbey. Sometime before 974 the Benedictines were replaced by secular clerics leading a common life, who, in 1144 adopted the
Rule of St. Augustine. At the instance of
Henry of Leyen,
Bishop of Liège, it came into the hands of Cistercian monks from
Clairvaux in 1147, under Franco de Morvaux as its first Cistercian abbot. From that time onwards it flourished as a Cistercian monastery.
Simon of Aulne The son of a Belgian nobleman descended from the counts of Guelders, at the age of sixteen, Simon joined the Cistercians at Aulne as a lay-brother. He was assigned to work in the monastery granaries and tend the sheep. Simon was a mystic who experienced visions and was believed to have the gift of reading hearts. His reputation spread and in 1215 he was summoned to Rome by
Pope Innocent III to advise the Pope during the
Fourth Lateran Council. After the council, the pope wished to ordain Simon to the priesthood, but he declined and returned to Aulne. He died at the age of eighty-four on November 6, 1228. Never formally canonized he has been venerated for centuries and is commemorated on November 6. ==Present day==