St. Sixtus' Abbey

St. Sixtus' Abbey is a Roman Catholic Trappist monastery of the Cistercians of Strict Observance in Westvleteren, West Flanders, Belgium, on a site with monastic roots reaching back to 1260. The modern community began in 1831 when the hermit Jan-Baptist Victoor settled there and was joined by a prior and monks, and Pope Pius IX raised the house to full abbey status in 1871. Its life is organized around prayer, reading, and manual work, the three basic elements of Trappist practice, and the monks have supported themselves since 1838 through the Westvleteren Brewery operating within the abbey precinct, whose Trappist beer became internationally known even though production was deliberately kept small. The abbey built a model farm in the 1870s, added a guesthouse in 1964 and a new abbey church in 1968, and served humanitarian purposes for the surrounding community during both World Wars.