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 Helping San Diego, California and beyond since 1997.
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General Information
St. Benedict, 480-547, was an Italian monk who founded the Benedictines. The rule that he wrote for his monks became a model monastic rule. The only source for his life is the second book of The Dialogues written by Gregory I (the Great). After being a hermit for three years, Benedict gathered disciples around him, first at Subiaco and later at Monte Cassino. Recent scholarship has shown that many passages from the Rule of Benedict were copied from an older monastic rule known as the Rule of the Master, dating from the beginning of the 6th century. Benedict's rule, however, was more spiritual, more person-oriented, and less narrow in its approach. Feast day: July 11 (Western); March 14 (Eastern).
Bibliography:
Chadwick, Owen, Western Asceticism (1958);
De Waal, Esther, Seeking God: The Way of Saint Benedict
(1984); Saint Gregory I, Life and Miracles of Saint
Benedict, trans. by O. J. Zimmerman and B. R. Avery
(1969); Lindsay, T. F., Saint Benedict: His Life and Work
(1949); Maynard, Theodore, Saint Benedict and His Monks
(1964); Von Matt, L., and Hilpisch, S., Saint Benedict
(1961).
The Order of St. Benedict (O. S. B.) is the oldest order of monks in the West. There are both Roman Catholic and Anglican Benedictines, men and women who base their way of life on the rule written by St. Benedict.
Unlike other religious orders, the Benedictines are not a centralized organization. Each monastery is independent. A large monastery is an Abbey headed by an Abbot or an abbess. A small monastery is a priory headed by a Prior or a prioress. Individual Benedictine houses are joined with others to form a congregation. The various congregations together form a confederation at the head of which is the abbot primate, first among equals of the various abbots. A few houses belong to no congregation and are directly subject to the abbot primate.
The Benedictine life is led within a community in the context of personal recollection and work, interspersed with the public recitation or singing of the Divine Office. Public worship is performed with solemnity and beauty. Work is essential; it can be manual, intellectual, or service-oriented. Each monastery may vary in its stress on prayer and its type of work without changing the basic orientation. The Benedictine habit is generally black, composed of tunic, belt, scapular, and hood, and a large flowing garment called the cowl for public worship. During the Middle Ages, the Benedictines were called the Black Monks.
Until the end of the 11th century, the Benedictines were the only monastic order in the West. They played important roles in apostolic activity, in education, and in the arts. Peter Abelard, the Venerable Bede, and Pope Gregory VII were Benedictines.
Cyprian Davis, O. S. B.
Bibliography:
Butler, Cuthbert, Benedictine Monachism: Studies
in Benedictine Life and Rule, 2d ed. (1924; repr. 1961);
Daly, Lowrie J., Benedictine Monasticism (1965; repr. 1970);
Meisel, Anthony C., and Del Mastro, M. L., trans., The Rule of St.
Benedict (1975); Mork, Wulston, The Benedictine Way (1987).
Monasticism
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