Sometime near the year 480 A.D. a man was born in Nursia, Italy that history knows as St. Benedict. His chief biographer, the Patron of my Order, St. Gregory the Great doesn't really focus on the when of his life, but on his Rule, the greatest foundational document of western Monasticism.
Benedict's parents sent him from his village up in the mountains north and east of Rome to receive an education in the classics in the city. As he was following his studies, he found life in the eternal city to be simply too degenerate to tolerate and he left for Subiaco and lived as a hermit for about three years. During this time, he was in contact with some of the local Monks there, esp. one named Romanus.
During this time as a solitary, he was discovered by a group of Monks who prevailed upon him to become their spiritual leader. His regime was too strict for these lukewarm Monks, and under a cloud of attempted murder, Benedict left them behind and founded 12 other Monasteries, including the Mother House of the Benedictine Order, Monte Cassino. He destroyed a pagan temple to Apollo and built his Monastery on that site.
Benedict drew up a rule of life for Monks. This Rule, which he called "a school of the Lord's service, in which we hope to order nothing harsh or rigorous” was the most important thing he ever did. He wasn't known as a great scholar, but he was known as a man after the Lord's heart and a leader of Monks. His Rule gives instructions for how the monastic community is to be organized, and how the monks are to spend their time. Many Monks were very unbalanced in his day, some lax, and others so rigorous as to be unhealthy. Benedict's Rule seeks balance between work, prayer and rest. Under his direction, an average day includes about four hours to be spent in liturgical prayer (called the Divine Office), five hours in spiritual reading and study, six hours of labor, one hour for eating, and about eight hours for sleep. This model continues today in most western Monastic communities. The Book of Psalms is to be recited in its entirety every week as a part of the Office.
A Benedictine monk takes vows of "obedience, stability, and conversion of life." That is, he vows to live in accordance with the Benedictine Rule, not to leave his community without grave cause, and to seek to follow the teaching and example of Christ in all things. My Order, the Gregorians grew out of the Benedictines.
There is no way of knowing the total effect of the monastic movement. The Benedictine order and of similar orders that grew out of it, have changed the western world. We owe the preservation of the Holy Scriptures and other ancient writings in large measure to the patience and diligence of monastic scribes. In purely secular terms, their contribution was considerable. We have to recall that during this time, Italy and the entire Mediterranean world was falling back into barbarism. The Church was torn by conflict, city and country alike were made desolate by war and pillage, and violence was rampant among Christians as well as heathen.
St. Gregory presents Benedict as the model of a saint who flees temptation to pursue a life of attention to God. Through a balanced pattern of living and praying Benedict reached the point where he glimpsed the glory of God. His simple Rule has affected Christianity in the western world more than the writings of most Clerics.
Almighty and everlasting God, Whose precepts are the wisdom of a loving Father: Give us grace, following the teaching and example of Your servant Benedict, to walk with loving and willing hearts in the school of the Lord's service; let Your ears be open to our prayers; and prosper with Your blessing the work of our hands; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
"Benedict's Rule seeks balance between work, prayer and rest."
What a glorious contribution to the spiritual life of the Church that above statement is, but sadly, the concept of balance is so misunderstood and so cheaply misappropriated amongst the people who are the Church. We all would do well, no matter what denomination, non-denomination, or permutation of the Christian faith we each inhabit, to take the Rule into account in our daily lives.
And thanks for this post.
Posted by: Dryvetyme | July 11, 2006 at 10:12 AM
certainly he's one of the saints that inspires me today, and the rule is applicable to life outside the monastery today which illustrates its great brilliance
Posted by: gavin | July 11, 2006 at 09:03 AM