Oka, Québec, Canada (Mission du Lac-des-Deux-Montagnes)
1881 - HAMLET LA TRAPPE

About 5 km northeast of Oka and a little less than 2 km northwest of Grande Baie du Lac des Deux Montagnes, this toponym identifies a Cistercian abbey whose origins date back to 1881, i.e. the construction of a modest monastery by the French monks of Bellefontaine Abbey.

In exchange for the 405 ha of land ceded by the Sulpicians, former lords of Lac-des-Deux-Montagnes, the monks promised to organize a model farm and contribute to the development of agriculture. They kept their word: the School of Agriculture founded in 1893, which became a faculty (Institut agricole d'Oka) in 1908, was affiliated with the University of Montreal before the merger of all the French-speaking faculties of agriculture and the choice of the Laval University, as a single site, in 1962. The Institute even housed the School of Veterinary Medicine from 1928 to 1947. This toponym was borrowed from La Trappe, mother abbey of the order of Cîteaux founded in 1140 in Soligny and reformed by the abbot of Rancé in 1664. In Quebec, the monks wish that we speak of the abbey of Notre-Dame-du-Lac rather than La Trappe d'Oka. They are recognized for producing excellent cheese for years.

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