Benedict Writes His Rule

Almost all that is known of Benedict of Nursia comes from the second book of the Dialogues of Pope Gregory the Great, written about 593 from the reports of four of Benedict’s disciples. Gregory says that he was born in the district of Nursia, was sent to Rome to study, and left his books to live alone in a cave at Subiaco (Gregory the Great, Dialogues 2, prologue and 1). Disciples gathered, and he set up twelve small monasteries there, each with twelve monks (Gregory the Great, Dialogues 2.3).

Driven out by the envy of a local priest, Benedict moved with a few monks to the hill above Cassino. There he broke the idol of Apollo, to whom the country people still sacrificed, and built oratories of Saint Martin and Saint John in its place (Gregory the Great, Dialogues 2.8). This became the monastery of Monte Cassino. The Gothic king Totila came to see him there (Gregory the Great, Dialogues 2.14–15). His sister Scholastica, dedicated to God from childhood, visited him once a year; Gregory tells how at their last meeting her prayer brought a storm that kept him talking with her through the night, and how three days later he saw her soul rise to heaven like a dove (Gregory the Great, Dialogues 2.33–34). Benedict died in the oratory, held upright by his monks at prayer, and was buried beside her (Gregory the Great, Dialogues 2.33–34) (Gregory the Great, Dialogues 2.37).

Gregory adds that Benedict wrote a rule for monks, “excellent for discretion” (Gregory the Great, Dialogues 2.36). The Rule calls the monastery “a school of the Lord’s service” in which the author hopes to lay down “nothing harsh or burdensome” (Rule of Benedict prologue). It is written for cenobites, monks who live together under a rule and an abbot (Rule of Benedict 1). The abbot holds the place of Christ and will answer to God for his monks, and he is to call the whole community to counsel on weighty matters (Rule of Benedict 2–3). A newcomer promises stability, conversion of morals and obedience (Rule of Benedict 58), and no monk may own anything (Rule of Benedict 33). The day turns on the “Work of God”, seven offices by day and one at night (Rule of Benedict 16), with fixed hours for manual labour and for reading, because “idleness is the enemy of the soul” (Rule of Benedict 48). A long chapter sets out twelve degrees of humility (Rule of Benedict 7), and guests are to be received as Christ (Rule of Benedict 53).

The Rule ends by calling itself a beginning and sends the monk on to the teachers before it, among them “our holy Father, Basil” (Rule of Benedict 73) (The Cappadocians and the Doctrine of the Trinity). Its later spread through the West is told under Charlemagne’s Reform of Church and Learning and the Founding of Cluny.