The Congregation of Solesmes is a direct descendant of the celebrated Maurist Congregation (1618-1818) of ascetics and scholars at St-Germain-des-Prés, Paris, where the Benedictine historian and inventor of paleography, Dom Jean Mabillon OSB (1632-1707) lies buried. “Mabillon” is the nearby Parisian Metro station that bears his name.
John Paul McDonald translated and published the influential Treatise on Monastic Studies written by Mabillon in 1691 in response to De la sainté et des devoirs de la vie monastique, a provocative essay by Dom Armand-Jean de Rancé (1626-1700), the stern, reforming Cistercian Abbot of La Trappe.