How to live in a monastery: The Rule of St. Benedict

So you want to join a monastery? Better know how life works there. What you might not expect is that Christian monasteries follow broadly a rule of code from the sixth century to this day: the Rule of Saint Benedict. Today, I want to cover this document, highlight some aspects of it and what we can learn from it.

In the beginning…

The Rule of Saint Benedict has held great precedence among other monastic codes for centuries. It was probably written around 530 in Monte Cassino by Benedict of Nursia as a way to digest what he had learned from the well-managed monastic life. This document would lay dormant for some time until it came to the attention of Pope Zachary in the eighth century. Why? Simply because, when Charlemagne came knocking to learn about how to manage his Christian population, this is what Pope Zachary presented to him. Charlemagne would roll with it and give a copy of it to every single monastery under his empire.

Now, Saint Benedict did not write the first monastic code. So, how was different? Before Saint Benedict, most monastic rules highlighted extreme austerity. Self-inflicted pain, starvation and labour were not enforced but all used because the monastic life game was often seen as a sort of “austerity competition“. Who was most ready to sacrifice himself to God. Adding to that, those monastic codes came from outside Europe (Egypt for example). Saint Benedict found a way to consolidate the spirit of the monastic code with the reality of the medieval European context. What is most striking is just how much the code is reasonable, flexible, moderate and coherent. I truly find Saint Benedict's work amazing considering his context. This is best presented by Saint Benedict's so-called “golden rule“.

The Golden rule: The monastery should manage itself and adapt everything “so that soul may be saved“.

Let us make man

Saint Benedict describes five types of monks of which two are concerned by monastery life. Those two are the Cenobites (the monks) and the Abbot (who is responsible for the monastery). For Saint Benedict, the Abbot should feel responsible for his Cenobite‘s education and give account to God of both the teaching he gives and the obedience of his disciples. Saint Benedict also advised Abbots to teach using a “reproach, entreat and rebuke“ approach, thus mixing severity and gentleness. For the rest, Saint Benedict underlines that every Abbot should feel at liberty to manage his monastery as he sees fit… as long as it is according to God.

The other monk types were: the Anchorites (solitary hermits), the Sarabites (living in groups of 2 or 3) and Gyrovagi (wandering from one monastery to another). I am sure the Gyrovagi lifestyle would suit me.

In God‘s likeness

The most important part of a Cenobite‘s life was to live according to God and thus, respect the values and duties of Christianity. Saint Benedict lists 73 “duties of Christian life“. Let me present those I find most fascinating:

Duty 1: Love the Lord God with the whole heart, the whole soul, the whole strength.
Duty 2: Love one‘s neighbour as one‘s self.
Duty 9: What one would not have done to himself, not to do to another.
Duty 16: To visit the sick.
Duty 25: Not to make a false peace.
Duty 42: To refer to what good one sees in himself, not to self, but to God.
Duty 47: To keep death before one‘s eyes daily.
Duty 73: Never to despair of God‘s mercy.

Those duties seem quite sensible to me, even to non-Christians. Saint Benedict has a focus on community that I can only admire. I find duty 9 intriguingly close to Kant‘s view on the matter. In any case, these are precepts I expect to strive for and maybe you should too.

In addition, Saint Benedict considers that the monastery life - the Christian life we could say even - is an exercise in humility. As such, he gives many details on how Cenobites should strive for complete humility. Saint Benedict broadly dictates that path in twelve steps. These go around the lines of:

The fear of God.
The repression of will.
The submission to God and other superiors (read here the Abbot).
Keeping obedience in hard times.
To confess your faults.
To understand your “worthlessness“. How significant we really are.
To prefer others to the self.
To avoid individual tendencies.
To speak only when required.
To limit laughter.
To repress your pride.
You reached humility.

While I definitely do not agree with every step (to repress laughter?), I see the value in it and, most of all, the impact it had on Western thought. I see its footprint in existentialism to fascism. That very broad influence just right there. I need to make one last note: while the Rule of Saint Benedict was ubiquitous, we have stories from all over the place on how monasteries tried to respect to the word its content while bending it significantly. Take point 9 above for example. Saint Benedict gave much weight to silence. Monasteries respected that… in that no word was spoken. Yet, we have multiple traditions of medieval monastery sign languages used by monks to “talk“ between each other while still not uttering a word, and thus, respecting the Rule. Another example can be made about the frugality pushed by Saint Benedict. Yes, monasteries respected the rations and proportions stated by Saint Benedict (discussed below) but Saint Benedict stated that food given by the Abbot could exceed that limit. As such, we have stories of monastery feasts made in accord with Saint Benedict since every food was passed by the Abbot to his disciples before reaching the table. But that is only a side note on human ingenuity and should not be read as a critic of Saint Benedict rulings (which I find excellent).

All the days of man

Now, for the daily life itself. First, you need to join. You start as a postulant and spend some time as a guest. Then, you are admitted as a novitiate under a novice-master to test your vocation. After twelve months, you take your vows (stability, conversion of life and obedience) and officially join.

The day starts with the rising sun and it comprises mostly of study and prayer. Prayers had to be quick, personal and truthful. The rest of the day was occupied by communal tasks. Those include working in the kitchen (each in turn), washing clothes and towels and working the fields. Saturday was reserved for the more laborious parts of a spring cleaning. Clothes were given to Cenobites “to be sufficient in both quantity and quality and to be suited to the climate and locality, according to the discretion of the abbot“. Still, it had to be as cheap and plain as possible to not tempt envy. The same could be said for the food. Saint Benedict planned two meals: one at the “sixth hour“ and another at the “ninth hour“. All meals should be made of “two kinds of cooked food“ - a pound each. What those foods were is not that clear in the Rule, but was usually a pound of bread and a pound of meat. Fruits could be added if available. Surprisingly, wine was accepted in moderation.

Finally, the day ended with the night office where specific psalms were recited in groups. Those included “Deus, in adjutorium meum intende“, “Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina“, “Domine, labia mea aperies“, “Os meum annuntiabit laudem“ and the Gloria. The time of the night office changed with the season, but try and better acclimate to seasonal shifts in daylight (although it wasn‘t adapted to the location).

I will make my covenant between you and me

What you should most remember from the rules and what Saint Benedict found the most important was the importance of building and maintaining a sense of community. For example, yes the Abbot managed the monastery himself, but he had to call the community together to discuss the most important matters before reaching a conclusion. These should even include the children as “the Lord often revealeth to the younger what is best“. Penalties were also more mild than what I expected. For a repeated fault, the first penalty was a private admonition, the second a public scolding and the third a separation from others at mealtime. Similar to what parents do today until that point. After that thought, penalties escalate to scourging and then expulsion. While these are harsher, even the expulsion was not necessarily permanent as the disciple can be welcomed again two other times. Such a system was A LOT milder than previous codes (and that includes the scourging part).

Let me end with Saint Benedict's own words summarizing what kind of community should be built:

“Let them bear their infirmities, whether of body or mind, with the utmost patience; let them vie with one another in obedience. Let no one follow what he thinketh useful to himself, but rather to another. Let them practice fraternal charity with a chaste love.“

And his last words:

“Thou, therefore, who hastenest to the heavenly home, with the help of Christ fulfils this least rule written for a beginning; and then thou shalt with God‘s help attain at last to the greater heights of knowledge and virtue which we have mentioned above.“

Even Saint Benedict recognized and admitted the limits of what he preached. What a reasonable and unique mind.

Amen

That is plenty for one day. Let us recite our psalm and rest. I will see you in the monastery… next time. Go in peace.

References

The Holy Rule of St. Benedict, Benedict of Nursia, translated by Boniface Verheyen.
The Rule of Saint Benedict, Catholic Encyclopedia, WIkisource, 1913.