TheBenedictines, officially theOrder of Saint Benedict (Latin:Ordo Sancti Benedicti, abbreviated asO.S.B. orOSB), are a mainlycontemplativemonasticorder of theCatholic Church for men and for women who follow theRule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, they are the oldest of all the religious orders in theLatin Church.[1] The male religious are also sometimes called theBlack Monks, especially in English speaking countries, after the colour of theirhabits, although some, like theOlivetans, wear white.[2] They were founded byBenedict of Nursia, a 6th-century Italian monk who laid the foundations of Benedictine monasticism through the formulation of his Rule. Benedict's sister,Scholastica, possibly his twin, also became a religious from an early age, but chose to live as ahermit. They retained a close relationship until her death.[3]
Despite being called an order, the Benedictines do not operate under a single hierarchy. They are instead organized as a collection of autonomous monasteries and convents, some known asabbeys. The order is represented internationally by theBenedictine Confederation, an organization set up in 1893 to represent the order's shared interests. They do not have asuperior general ormotherhouse with universal jurisdiction but elect anAbbot Primate to represent themselves to theVatican and to the world.
In some regions, Benedictinenuns are given the titleDame in preference toSister.[4]
Copies of Benedict's Rule survived; around 594Pope Gregory I spoke favorably of it. The rule is subsequently found in some monasteries in southern Gaul along with other rules used by abbots.[6]Gregory of Tours says that atAinay Abbey, in the sixth century, the monks "followed the rules of Basil, Cassian, Caesarius, and other fathers, taking and using whatever seemed proper to the conditions of time and place", and doubtless the same liberty was taken with the Benedictine Rule when it reached them. In Gaul and Switzerland, it gradually supplemented the much stricter Irish or Celtic Rule introduced byColumbanus and others. In many monasteries it eventually entirely displaced the earlier codes.[5]
By the ninth century, however, the Benedictine had become the standard form of monastic life throughout the whole of Western Europe, excepting Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, where the Celtic observance still prevailed for another century or two.[5] Largely through the work ofBenedict of Aniane, it became the rule of choice for monasteries throughout the Carolingian empire.[7]
Monastic scriptoria flourished from the ninth through the twelfth centuries. Sacred Scripture was always at the heart of every monastic scriptorium. As a general rule those of the monks who possessed skill as writers made this their chief, if not their sole, active work. An anonymous writer of the ninth or tenth century speaks of six hours a day as the usual task of a scribe, which would absorb almost all the time available for active work in the day of a medieval monk.[8]
In the Middle Ages monasteries were often founded by the nobility.Cluny Abbey was founded byWilliam I, Duke of Aquitaine, in 910. The abbey was noted for its strict adherence to the Rule of Saint Benedict. The abbot of Cluny was the superior of all the daughter houses, through appointed priors.[7]
One of the earliest reforms of Benedictine practice was that initiated in 980 byRomuald, who founded theCamaldolese community.[9] TheCistercians branched off from the Benedictines in 1098; they are often called the "White monks".[10]
The dominance of the Benedictine monastic way of life began to decline towards the end of the twelfth century, which saw the rise of themendicantFranciscans and nomadicDominicans.[7] Benedictines by contrast, took a vow of "stability", which professed loyalty to a particular foundation in a particular location. Not being bound by location, the mendicants were better able to respond to an increasingly "urban" environment. This decline was further exacerbated by the practice of appointing a commendatory abbot, a lay person, appointed by a noble to oversee and to protect the assets of the monastery. Often, however, this resulted in the appropriation of the assets of monasteries at the expense of the community which they were intended to support.[11]
Fleury Abbey inSaint-Benoît-sur-Loire,Loiret was founded in about 640.[13] It is one of the most celebrated Benedictine monasteries of Western Europe, and possesses the relics of St. Benedict. Like many Benedictine abbeys it was located on the banks of a river, here theLoire.[14] Ainey Abbey is a ninth century foundation on theLyon peninsula. In the twelfth century on the current site there was aromanesque monastery, subsequently rebuilt.
Abbeys were among the institutions of the Catholic Church swept away during theFrench Revolution. Monasteries and convents were again allowed to form in the 19th century under theBourbon Restoration. Later that century, under theThird French Republic, laws were enacted preventing religious teaching. The original intent was to allow secular schools. Thus in 1880 and 1882, Benedictine teaching monks were effectively exiled; this was not completed until 1901.[17][18][19][20]
In 1898 Marie-Adèle Garnier, in religion, Mother Marie de Saint-Pierre, founded inMontmartre (Mount of the Martyr),Paris a Benedictine house.[21] However, theWaldeck-Rousseau'sLaw of Associations, passed in 1901, placed severe restrictions on religious bodies which were obliged to leave France. Garnier and her community relocated to another place associated with executions, this time it was inLondon, near the site ofTyburn tree where 105 Catholic martyrs—includingSaint Oliver Plunkett andSaint Edmund Campion had been executed during theEnglish Reformation. A stone's throw fromMarble Arch, theTyburn Convent is now the Mother House of the Congregation.[22]
Benedictine church inWarsaw's New Town, depicted byBellotto
Benedictines are thought to have arrived in theKingdom of Poland in the 11th-century. One of the earliest foundations isTyniec Abbey on a promontory by theVistula river. The Tyniec monks led the translation of the Bible into Polish vernacular. Other surviving Benedictine houses can be found inStary Kraków Village,Biskupów,Lubiń. Older foundations are inMogilno,Trzemeszno,Łęczyca,Łysa Góra and inOpactwo, among others. In theMiddle Ages the city ofPłock, also on the Vistula, had a successful monastery, which played a significant role in the local economy. In the 18th-century benedictine convents were opened for women, notably in Warsaw's New Town.[citation needed]
A 15th-century Benedictine foundation can be found inSenieji Trakai, a village in EasternLithuania.
TheEnglish Benedictine Congregation is the oldest of the nineteen Benedictine congregations. Through the influence ofWilfrid,Benedict Biscop, andDunstan,[25] the Benedictine Rule spread rapidly, and in the North it was adopted in most of the monasteries that had been founded by the Celtic missionaries from Iona. Many of the episcopal sees of England were founded and governed by the Benedictines, and no fewer than nine of the old cathedrals were served by the black monks of the priories attached to them.[5] Monasteries served as hospitals and places of refuge for the weak and homeless. The monks studied the healing properties of plants and minerals to alleviate the sufferings of the sick.[26]
During theEnglish Reformation, allmonasteries were dissolved and their lands confiscated by the Crown, forcing those who wished to continue in the monastic life to flee into exile on the Continent. During the 19th century English members of these communities were able to return to England.[citation needed]
The two sides of a Saint Benedict medal
St. Mildred's Priory, on theIsle of Thanet,Kent, was built in 1027 on the site of an abbey founded in 670 by the daughter of the first ChristianKing of Kent. Currently the priory is home to a community of Benedictine nuns. Five of the most notable English abbeys are the Basilica of St Gregory the Great at Downside, commonly known asDownside Abbey, The Abbey of St Edmund, King and Martyr commonly known asDouai Abbey in Upper Woolhampton, Reading, Berkshire,Ealing Abbey in Ealing, West London, andWorth Abbey.[27][28]Prinknash Abbey, used by Henry VIII as a hunting lodge, was officially returned to the Benedictines four hundred years later, in 1928. During the next few years, so-called Prinknash Park was used as a home until it was returned to the order.[29]
St. Lawrence's Abbey in Ampleforth, Yorkshire was founded in 1802. In 1955, Ampleforth set up a daughter house, a priory at St. Louis, Missouri which became independent in 1973 and becameSaint Louis Abbey in its own right in 1989.[30]
As of 2015, the English Congregation consists of three abbeys of nuns and ten abbeys of monks. Members of the congregation are found in England, Wales, the United States of America, Peru and Zimbabwe.[31]
In England there are also houses of theSubiaco Cassinese Congregation: Farnborough, Prinknash, and Chilworth: theSolesmes Congregation, Quarr and St Cecilia's on the Isle of Wight, as well as a diocesan monastery following the Rule of Saint Benedict: The Community of Our Lady of Glastonbury.[32]
Since theOxford Movement, there has also been a modest flourishing of Benedictine monasticism in theAnglican Church and Protestant Churches. Anglican Benedictine Abbots are invited guests of the Benedictine Abbot Primate in Rome at Abbatial gatherings at Sant'Anselmo.[33]
In 1168 local Benedictine monks instigated the anti-semiticblood libel ofHarold of Gloucester as a template for explaining child deaths. According to historian Joe Hillaby, the blood libel of Harold was crucially important because for the first time an unexplained child death occurring near the Easter festival was arbitrarily linked to Jews in the vicinity by local Christian churchmen: "they established a pattern quickly taken up elsewhere. Within three years the first ritual murder charge was made in France."[34]
The forty-eighth Rule of Saint Benedict prescribes extensive and habitual "holy reading" for the brethren.[35] Three primary types of reading were done by the monks in medieval times. Monks would read privately during their personal time, as well as publicly during services and at mealtimes. In addition to these three mentioned in the Rule, monks would also read in the infirmary. Monasteries were thriving centers of education, with monks and nuns actively encouraged to learn and pray according to theBenedictine Rule. Rule 38 states that 'these brothers' meals should usually be accompanied by reading, and that they were to eat and drink in silence while one read out loud.
Benedictine monks were not allowed worldly possessions, thus necessitating the preservation and collection of sacred texts in monastic libraries for communal use.[36] For the sake of convenience, the books in the monastery were housed in a few different places, namely thesacristy, which contained books for the choir and other liturgical books, therectory, which housed books for public reading such as sermons and lives of the saints, and thelibrary, which contained the largest collection of books and was typically in the cloister.
The first record of a monastic library in England is inCanterbury. To assist withAugustine of Canterbury'sEnglish mission, PopeGregory the Great gave him nine books which included the Gregorian Bible in two volumes, the Psalter of Augustine, two copies of theGospels, twomartyrologies, an Exposition of the Gospels and Epistles, and aPsalter.[37]: 23–25 Theodore of Tarsus brought Greek books to Canterbury more than seventy years later, when he founded a school for the study of Greek.[37]: 26
The first Benedictine to live in the United States was Pierre-Joseph Didier. He came to the United States in 1790 fromParis and served in the Ohio and St. Louis areas until his death. The first actual Benedictine monastery founded wasSaint Vincent Archabbey, located inLatrobe, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1832 byBoniface Wimmer, a German monk, who sought to serve German immigrants in America. In 1856, Wimmer started to lay the foundations forSt. John's Abbey in Minnesota. In 1876, Herman Wolfe, of Saint Vincent Archabbey establishedBelmont Abbey in North Carolina.[38] By the time of his death in 1887, Wimmer had sent Benedictine monks to Kansas, New Jersey, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Illinois, and Colorado.[39]
Wimmer also asked for Benedictinesisters to be sent to America by St. Walburg Convent inEichstätt, Bavaria. In 1852,Sister Benedicta Riepp and two other sisters foundedSt. Marys, Pennsylvania. Soon they would send sisters to Michigan, New Jersey, and Minnesota.[39]
By 1854, Swiss monks began to arrive and foundedSt. Meinrad Abbey in Indiana, and they soon spread to Arkansas and Louisiana. They were soon followed by Swiss sisters.[39]
There are now over 100 Benedictine houses across America. Most Benedictine houses are part of one of four large Congregations: American-Cassinese, Swiss-American, St. Scholastica, and St. Benedict. The congregations mostly are made up of monasteries that share the same lineage. For instance the American-Cassinese congregation included the 22 monasteries descended from Boniface Wimmer.[40]
A sense of community has been the defining characteristic of the order since the beginning.[41] To that end, section 17 in chapter 58 of theRule of Saint Benedict specifies the solemn vows candidates joining a Benedictine community are required to make: a vow of stability, to remain in the same community), and to adopt a "conversion of habits", in Latin,conversatio morum and obedience to the community's superior.[42] The "Benedictine vows" are equivalent to theevangelical counsels accepted by all candidates entering areligious order. The interpretation ofconversatio morum understood as "conversion of the habits of life" has generally been replaced by notions such as adoption of a monastic manner of life, drawing on theVulgate's use ofconversatio as indicating "citizenship" or "local customs", seePhilippians 3:20. The Rule enjoins monks and nuns "to live in this place as a religious, in obedience to its rule and to the abbot or abbess."
Benedictine abbots and abbesses have jurisdiction over theirabbey and thus canonical authority over the monks or nuns who are resident. This authority includes the power to assign duties, to decide which books may or may not be read, to regulate comings and goings, and to punish and toexcommunicate, in the sense of an enforced isolation from the monastic community.
A tight communal timetable – thehorarium – is meant to ensure that the time given by God is not wasted but used in God's service, whether for prayer, work, meals, spiritual reading or sleep. The order's motto isOra et Labora "pray and work".
Although Benedictines do not take a vow of silence, hours of strict silence are set, and at other times silence is maintained as much as is practically possible. Social conversations tend to be limited to communal recreation times. Such details, like other aspects of the daily routine of a Benedictine house are left to the discretion of the superior, and are set out in itscustomary, the code adopted by a particular Benedictine house by adapting the Rule to local conditions.[43]
According to the norms of the1983 Code of Canon Law, a Benedictine abbey is a "religious institute" and its members therefore participate inconsecrated life which Canon 588 §1 explains is intrinsically "neither clerical nor lay." Males in consecrated life, however, may be ordained.
Benedictines' rules contain a reference toritual purification, which is inspired by Benedict's encouragement ofbathing.[44] Benedictine monks have played a role in the development and promotion ofspas.[45]
Benedictine monasticism differs from other Christian religious orders in that as congregations sometimes with several houses, some of them in other countries, they are not bound into a unified religious order headed by a "Superior General". Each Benedictine congregation is autonomous and governed by an abbot or abbess.[46]
The autonomous houses are characterised by their chosencharism or specific dedication to a particular devotion. For example, In 1313Bernardo Tolomei established theOrder of Our Lady of Mount Olivet. The community adopted the Rule of Saint Benedict and received canonical approval in 1344. The Olivetans are part of the Benedictine Confederation.[47] Other specialisms, such asGregorian chant as atSolesmes in France, orPerpetual Adoration of theHoly Sacrament have been adopted by different houses, as at the Warsaw Convent, or theAdorers of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre at Tyburn Convent in London. Other houses have dedicated themselves to books, reading, writing and printing them as atStanbrook Abbey in England. Others still are associated with the places where they were founded or their founders centuries ago, henceCassinese,Subiaco,Camaldolese orSylvestrines.
The Rule of Saint Benedict is also used by a number of religious orders that began as reforms of the Benedictine tradition such as theCistercians andTrappists.[citation needed] These groups are separate congregations and not members of theBenedictine Confederation.
Although Benedictines are traditionally Catholic, there are also other communities that follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. For example, of an estimated 2,400 celibate Anglican religious (1,080 men and 1,320 women) in theAnglican Communion as a whole, some have adopted the Rule of Benedict. Likewise, such communities can be found in theEastern Orthodox Church,[50][51] and theLutheran Church.[52]
Rosalie du Verdier de la Sorniere [fr] (12 August 1745 - 27 January 1794), martyr of the French Revolution from the Benedictine Nuns of Our Lady of Calvary
Jean-Baptiste Delaveyne (11 September 1653 - 5 June 1719), founder of the Sisters of Charity and Christian Instruction
Josef Gebhard (Meinrad) Eugster (23 August 1848 - 14 June 1925), Swiss priest[58]
Bernardo Vaz Lobo Teixeira de Vasconcelos (of the Annunciation) (7 July 1902 - 4 July 1932), Spanish priest[59]
Isabella Tomasi (Maria Crocifissa of the Conception) (29 May 1645 - 16 October 1699), professed religious[60]
Giustina Schiapparoli (19 July 1819 - 30 November 1877), founder of the Benedictine Sisters of Divine Providence[61]
Maria Antonia Schiapparoli (19 April 1815 - 2 May 1882), founder of the Benedictine Sisters of Divine Providence[62]
Luigia Lavizzari (Maria Caterina of the Child Jesus) (6 October 1867 - 25 December 1931), professed religious of the Benedictine Nuns of the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament[63]
Jadwiga Jaroszewska (Wincenta of the Passion of the Lord) (7 March 1900 - 10 November 1937), founder of the Benedictine Samaritan Sisters of the Cross of Christ[64]
^Stanford, P. (2003)."Dame Felicitas Corrigan". UK Guardian. Retrieved5 October 2023.Dame Felicitas - the title Dame is given to English Benedictine nuns in preference to Sister ...
^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Ott, Michael (1908). "Commendatory Abbot". In Herbermann, Charles (ed.).Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 4. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
^Colin Battell, OSB (2 December 2006). "Spirituality on the beach".The Tablet. pp. 18–19. The late CardinalBasil Hume was Abbot of Ampleforth Abbey before being appointed Archbishop of Westminster.
^Martin, Christopher (2007).A Glimpse of Heaven: Catholic Churches in England and Wales. London: English Heritage. Examines the abbeys rebuilt after 1850 (by benefactors among the Catholic aristocracy and recusant squirearchy), mainly Benedictine but including a Cistercian Abbey at Mount St. Bernard (by Pugin) and a Carthusian Charterhouse in Sussex. There is a review of book by Richard Lethbridge "Monuments to Catholic confidence,"The Tablet 10 February 2007, 27.
^Mian Ridge (12 November 2005). "Prinknash monks downsize".The Tablet. p. 34.
^Rees, Daniel (2000). "Anglican Monasticism". In Johnston, William (ed.).Encyclopedia of Monasticism. New York: Fitzroy Dearborn Publisher. p. 29.ISBN1-57958-090-4.
^Hillaby, Joe (1994–1996). "The ritual-child-murder accusation: its dissemination and Harold of Gloucester".Jewish Historical Studies.34:69–109.JSTOR29779954.
^abcSt Benedict (1981).RB 1980: the rule of St. Benedict in Latin and English with notes. Translated by Fry, Timothy. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press. pp. 136–141.ISBN0-8146-1211-3.OL4255653M.
^Simpson, Fr. Benedict (2016)."Directory of Parishes".The Western Rite Communities of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. Retrieved26 August 2019.
DomColumba Marmion,Christ the Ideal of the Monk – Spiritual Conferences on the Monastic and Religious Life (Engl. edition London 1926, trsl. from the French by a nun of Tyburn Convent).
Mariano Dell'Omo,Storia del monachesimo occidentale dal medioevo all'età contemporanea. Il carisma di san Benedetto tra VI e XX secolo. Jaca Book, Milano 2011.ISBN978-88-16-30493-2
.svg)
.JPG)
.jpg)
