Dom Alexis Presse arrives at Boquen Abbey

Dom Alexis Presse arrived at Boquen Abbey 90 years ago, according to the Diocese of Saint-Brieuc.

After entering the Trappe de Timadeuc at age 19, he made his solemn profession and was ordained a priest in 1908. He later obtained a doctorate in canon law in Rome, where he researched the history of the Cistercian order and the Observance de la Trappe.

Presse served as prior in 1925 and later as abbot at the abbey of Tamié in Savoie. His desire to return to the ideal of the first Cistercians caused difficulties with his superiors, resulting in his removal from the position of abbot. He looked to Boquen Abbey as a place to realize his reform project, which he described in his 1918 text, "La Paix Notre Dame."