The Benedictine Rule

After the fall of the Roman Empire in 476, the Church found itself in disarray. amidst the chaos of the invasion of the barbarians, leaders clung to the state like structure that had developed since the declaration of Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire. Yet, in the years that followed the church struggled to stay together. Around 524 B.C.E. a monk, that would later become St. Benedict, became very concerned with the immorality that was plaguing the world and set out to write a set of guidelines to help people live better in the eyes of God. Benedict understood the importance of words, and how they could be used as a tool to promote vices or promote God, and his rule set out to refine how monks could achieve the later. This Rule is not offered as an ideal of perfection, but merely as a means towards godliness and is intended chiefly for beginners in the spiritual life.

St. Benedict (1)

In the very first chapter, Benedict makes a very clear claim to the importance of permanence and stability in one's life as he outlines the different kinds of monks. Benedict states there are four kinds of monks:

Cenobites: live in monasteries serve under rule of abbot (this is the Benedictine monk- the monks that followed the rule, and were said to have lived a good simple life.)

Anchorites or Hermites: who no longer have a excitement in their own reformation, but have spent a long period of “probation” in a monastery and have left to go out into the community by themselves.

Sarabaites: not been tested by any rule or lessons and experience, they are soft. They live in twos or threes, sometimes by themselves, in their own sheepfolds, not gods. Law of self gratification, whatever enters the mind appeals to them, they call holy; what they dislike they call unlawful

Gyrovagues: spend whole life moving from place to place, relying on monasteries for food and shelter. No stability, indulge themselves in their own wills and succumb to gluttony.

Benedict believed that the outside world brought corruption and distraction from the importance of God. Living a stable, permanent life in a monastery would allow you to achieve the best life in God's eyes.

A page from the Benedictine Rule (2)

The Rule goes on to describe good works, or things one should do to make their life good. it speaks to the importance of order, obedience, and humility. First outlining the most basic principal of monastic life, or that of any Christian: Love god above all else. The rule states that to obey is to hold Christ dear, and that one must be ready to drop everything in order to follow any orders given to them, without delay or complaint.

The very specific rule outlines all aspects of monastic life, everything from the process of accepting new monks, to when they eat, sleep, bathe, and pray. Benedict believed in the importance of living well, contrary to the trends of asceticism, where monks starved and beat themselves. Monks that followed this rule, ate well, got between 6 and 8 hours of sleep, and were given beds to sleep on. The monks were not to live a life of lavish luxury, or extreme poverty. Their lives were meant to be simple and but also good.

Essentially the Rule of St Benedict is an interpretation on what one must do in order to live a good and simple life. In the chaos of the aftermath of the fall of the Roman Empire monks were searching for order and stability, but also a way back to the good and simple life. often in times of confusion we look for guidelines to help us find our way back to safety. The Rule of St Benedict, or the Benedictine Rule shaped the course of monastic life for centuries to follow as people continued to follow the guidelines, allowing them to have the simple life they were searching for.

-Sam Eby

Image Sources:

"Italian Visits." http://www.italianvisits.com/people/saint_benedict/index.htm (accessed Jan 13, 2010).

"The Rule of St. Benedict." http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02436a.htm (accessed Jan 13, 2010).

Information Sources:

Braunfels, Wolfgang. Monasteries of Western Europe: The Architecture of the Orders. New York: Thames & Hudson, 1993.

"CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: Rule of St. Benedict." NEW ADVENT: Home

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02436a.htm (accessed January 19, 2010).

Price, Lorna. The Plan of St. Gall In Brief: an overview of the three volume work by Walter Horn

and Ernest Born. Ex-Library ed. Los Angeles: Univ Of California Press, 1982.

"St. Benedict - Saints & Angels - Catholic Online." Catholic Online - Breaking News, World, U.S.,

Catholic, Diocese & Video News. http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=26 (accessed

January 19, 2010).

"St. Gall Monastary Plan - Home." St. Gall Monastary Plan : St. Galler Klosterplan

http://www.stgallplan.org/en/index.html (accessed January 19, 2010).