Jars of honey from Sept-Fons Abbey and elsewhere, chocolates from Bonneval, fruit jelly from Landévennec, liqueurs from Chartreuse, jams from just about everywhere, as well as pâté from La Trappe, pastries from Saint-Wandrille, cheese and even plant-based cosmetics. During the holiday season, the Artisanat Monastique store on Boulevard Denfert-Rochereau, in the 14^th arrondissement of Paris, tends to be especially busy. Some 4,500 items with the "Made by the Abbey" label have been selling like hotcakes under the vaulted ceilings of this boutique that is attached to a convent housing eight nuns of the Visitandine order.

The first floor features cosmetics, gourmet foods and beer and spirits, while the basement has cribs, greeting cards, hand-knit goods, hand-painted icons, candles and more. Quantities of gifts "that make sense," said a customer who "prefers to buy here than in the traditional shops on Avenue du Général-Leclerc," a 10-minute walk away. Customers come here "looking for quality and transparency," said store manager Véronique Riou. Manufactured according to principles handed down through generations of monks and nuns, abbey products tick all the boxes of today's zeitgeist: They are made from local sources and are often grown on a religious community's own land, using unique, proven methods and with no unnecessary additives or chemicals. And they are sold in small batches.

This small-scale industry, which has thrived for centuries in the hands of monasteries, has stood out for another reason. Rather than aiming to make a profit, it has simply sought to help offset the everyday expenses of running a religious community: food, heating, insurance, health costs and these days, the necessary vehicle or two.

Seated inside their austere meeting room at the Cistercian Abbey of La Coudre in Laval (western France), known for the packets of dessert creams they've been making for half a century in the adjacent workshop, Sister Marie-Pierre, Sister Priscille and Sister Marie-Madeleine put it bluntly: "We're not in it for profit. The financial resources of our community, which currently numbers 38 nuns, are supplied half by our retirement pensions [nuns contribute to the church system and receive a pension when they have worked in civilian life] and half by the fruits of our labor." And work, they pointed out, is an integral part of monastic life, as laid down in the rule of Saint Benedict, founder of the order that bears his name. In this monastery, as in many others, the day has been divided into three parts: prayer, work and community life, which comprises mealtime, visiting hours and training.

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