Roman Catholic Trappist monks are expected to refrain from unnecessary speech, commit to hard labour and devote their lives to piety.
So how on earth did one of the Order’s most prestigious Abbeys, on Caldey Island off the Pembrokeshire coast, become a haven for paedophiles who for three decades abused over 50 children with impunity?
As a new report published yesterday reveals, Caldey Island – owned by the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance – was no sober religious mission, but a sordid den of sexual deviance and moral iniquity.
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No wonder then that this seemingly tranquil outpost has been nicknamed ‘Paedophile Island’.
More than 60,000 tourists each year take the half-mile ferry from Tenby to Caldey over the summer months. Among the main attractions are a medieval church, legendary chocolate factory, sprawling bluebell woods and mesmerising beaches.
It is no exaggeration to call Caldey one of the most picturesque spots in Wales.
But the 540-acre island – home to just 40 full-time residents including eight monks – is most famous for a monastic tradition dating back to the 6th Century.
The Abbey standing today was built by Benedictine monks in 1906 but sold, along with the island and its buildings, to the Order of Cistercians in 1925 under whose watch the recent horrific transgressions occurred.
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