Benedictine Rule

The start of the Benedictine Rule - St. Benedict
The monastic system looked to St. Benedict as its organizer. As a young man, St. Benedict had sought to escape from the vice about him by retiring to a cave in the Sabine hills near Rome. where he lived as a hermit for three years. St Benedict shut himself off from all human intercourse, wearing a hair shirt, and rolling in beds of thistles to subdue "the flesh." St. Benedict's experience of the hermit's life convinced him that there was a better way to gain religious peace of mind.

The fame of St. Benedict as a holy man attracted many disciples, and he began to group them in monastic communities under his own supervision. The most important monastery of St. Benedict was at Monte Cassino, between Rome and Naples. It became the capital of monasticism in the West.

   
  

Benedictine Rule

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Medieval period of the Middle Ages

Benedictine Rule

  • Interesting Facts and information about Benedictine Rule in the Middle Ages
  • The start of the Benedictine Rule - The life of St. Benedict
  • Benedictine Rule - The Rule of St. Benedict
  • The Three Vows of the Benedictine Rule
  • Spread of the Benedictine Rule
  • The Benedictine Monks

Benedictine Rule - The Rule of St. Benedict 528AD
To control the monks of Monte Cassino St. Benedict framed a Rule, or constitution, which was modelled in some respects upon the earlier Rule of St. Basil. The monks formed a sort of corporation, presided over by an abbot, who held office for life. To the abbot every candidate for admission took the vow of obedience. Any man, rich or poor, noble or peasant, might enter the monastery, after a year's probation; having once joined, however, he must remain a monk for the rest of his days. The monks were to live under strict discipline. They could not own any property; they could not go beyond the monastery walls without the abbot's consent; they could not even receive letters from home; and they were sent to bed early. A violation of the regulations brought punishment in the shape of private admonitions, exclusion from common prayer, and, in extreme cases, expulsion.

The Three Vows of the Benedictine Rule
The vows of the Benedictine monks were:

  • Obedience
  • Stability
  • Conversion in the way of life

The Spread of the Benedictine Rule
The Rule of St. Benedict came to have the same wide influence in the West which that of St. Basil exerted in the East. Gregory the Great established the Benedictine rule in many places in Italy, Sicily, and England. During Charlemagne's reign it was made the only form of monasticism throughout his dominions. By the tenth century the Benedictine Rule prevailed everywhere in western Europe.

The Benedictine Monks
St. Benedict sought to draw a sharp line between the monastic life and that of the outside world. Hence he required that, as far as possible, each monastery should form an independent, self-supporting community whose members had no need of going beyond its limits for anything. In course of time, as a monastery increased in wealth and number of inmates, it might come to form an enormous establishment, covering many acres and presenting within its massive walls the appearance of a fortified town.

Benedictine Rule
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Benedictine Rule

  • Middle Ages era, period, life, age and times
  • The start of the Benedictine Rule - The life of St. Benedict
  • Benedictine Rule - The Rule of St. Benedict
  • The Three Vows of the Benedictine Rule
  • Spread of the Benedictine Rule
  • The Benedictine Monks

Benedictine Rule

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