Stephen Harding
English-born monk and abbot
Feast: 28 March (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Stephen Harding of Sherborne, educated there and in Paris and Rome, joined St Robert at Molesme and was one of the twenty-one monks who went to found Cîteaux.
Elected abbot in 1110, he kept the strict observance even when the community dwindled and he had to beg from door to door. The Cistercians regard him as the true founder of their order. He died on 28 March 1134.
The miracles
There was never a formal cause: he has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.
Why that counted as sanctity
An Englishman who held fast to poverty and founded the Cistercians.
Connected on this site
- Peter of Juilly Saint“There he became acquainted with Saint Stephen Harding.” — Wikipedia
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - St. Stephen Harding
- Wikidata Q728668 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Stephen Harding (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.