 Cistercians

The Cistercians () officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict.They are also known as Bernardines, after the highly influential Bernard of Clairvaux (though that term is also used of one of the Franciscan Orders in Poland and Lithuania); or as White Monks, in reference to the colour of the "cuccula" or white choir robe worn by the Cistercians over their habits, as opposed to the black cuccula worn by Benedictine monks.