CHAPTER XXIX: ST. BENEDICT, PART I (AD 480-529) Let us now look again at the monks. Their way of life was at first
devised as a means of either practicing repentance for sin, or rising to
such a height of holiness as was supposed to be beyond the reach of
persons busied in the affairs of this world. But in course of time a
change took place. As the life of monks grew more common, it grew less
strict; indeed, it would seem that whenever any way of life which
professes to be very strict becomes common, its strictness will pretty
surely be lessened, or given up altogether. People at first turned monks
because they felt that such means of holy living as they had been used
to did not make them so good as they ought to be, and because they hoped
to do better in this new kind of life. But when the monkish life was no
longer new, monks neglected its rules, just as those before them had
neglected the rules which holy Scripture and the Church had laid down
for all Christians.
In the unhappy days which had now come on, the monasteries of the West
had in great measure escaped the evils of war and conquest which laid
waste everything around them. The barbarians, who overwhelmed the
empire, generally respected them; and now the life of monks, instead of
being chosen for its hardships, as it had been at first, came to be
regarded as the easiest and the safest life of all. It was sought after
as one which would free people from the dangers to which they would be
liable if they remained in the world, and took the common share of the
world's risks and troubles.
Another important matter was this-that monkery had taken its rise in
Egypt and in Syria, where the climate and the habits of the people were
very different from those of the western countries And a great part of
the monkish rules were fitted only for the particular circumstances and
character of the eastern nations;-for instance, they could do with less
food than the people of the West, so that a writer of the fifth century
said, "A large appetite is gluttony in the Greeks, but in the Gauls it
is nature." Again, the Egyptians and the Syrians, in their hot climate,
did not need active employment in the same way as the western nations
do, in order to keep their minds and their bodies healthful. They could
spend their hours and their days in calmly thinking of spiritual things,
or of nothing at all, in a way which the more active mind of Europeans
cannot bear. And again, many rules as to dress, which are suitable for
one sort of climate, are quite unfit for a different sort.
Now the earlier rules for monks had been drawn up either in the East or
after eastern patterns. And although, when they were brought into the
West, people for a time obeyed them as well as they could, it was found
that they would not obey them any longer when the first heat of zeal for
monkery had passed away. Hence it followed, that, throughout the
monasteries of the West, there was a general neglect of the rules by
which they professed to be governed; and it was high time that there
should be some reformation.
A reformer arose in the sixth century. This was Benedict, who was born
near Nursia, in Italy, in the year 480. At the age of twelve he was sent
to school at Rome, under the care of a nurse, as seems to have been
usual in those days. He worked hard at his studies, but the bad
behaviour of the other boys and young men at Rome so shocked him, that,
when he had been there two years, he resolved to bear it no longer. He
therefore suddenly ran away from the city, and, after his nurse had gone
a considerable distance with him, he left her, and made his way into a
rough and lonely country near Subiaco, where he took up his abode in a
cave. Here he was found out by a monk of a neighbouring house, named
Romanus, who used daily to save part of his own allowance of food, and
to carry it to his young friend. The cave opened from the face of a
lofty rock, and the way that Romanus took of conveying the food to
Benedict was by letting it down at the end of a string from the top of
the rock.
Benedict had lived in this manner for three years when he was discovered
by some shepherds, who at first took him for some wild animal; but they
soon found that he was something very different. He taught them and
others to whom they made his abode known, and his character came to be
so much respected in the neighbourhood that he was chosen abbot of a
monastery. He warned the monks that they would probably not like him,
but they were resolved to have him nevertheless. Their habits, however,
were so bad, that Benedict felt himself obliged to check them rather
sharply; and the monks then attempted to get rid of him by mixing poison
in his drink. But he found out their wicked design, and the only reproof
which he gave them was by reminding them how he had warned them not to
make him their abbot. With this he left them to themselves, and went
quietly back to his cave.
His name now grew more and more famous. Great multitudes of people
flocked to see him, and even persons of high rank sent their sons to be
trained under him. He built twelve monasteries, each for an abbot and
twelve monks. But there was a spiteful monk, named Florentius, who would
not allow him any peace so long as they were near each other; so
Benedict thought it best to give way, and in 528 he left Subiaco, with
some companions, and, after some wanderings, arrived at Mount Cassino.
There he found that the country people still worshipped some of the old
heathen gods, and that there was a grove which was held sacred to these
gods. But he set boldly to work, and, notwithstanding all that could be
done to oppose him, he cut down the grove, destroyed the idols, and
built a little chapel, from which in time grew up a great and famous
monastery, which still exists. And at Mount Cassino he drew up his Rule
in the year 529; so that the beginning of the monks of St. Benedict was
in the very same year in which heathen philosophy came to its end by the
closing of the schools of Athens.
PART II (AD 529-543)
Benedict had seen the mischief which arose from too great strictness of
rules. He saw how it led to open disobedience and carelessness in some,
and to hypocritical pretence in others; and therefore he meant to guard
against these faults by making his rule milder than those of the East.
It was to be such that Europeans might keep it without danger to their
health, and he allowed it to be varied according to the circumstances of
the different countries in which it might be established.
Every Benedictine monastery was to be under an abbot, who was to be
chosen by the monks. The brethren were to obey the abbot in everything,
while the abbot was charged not to be haughty or tyrannical in using his
authority. Next to the abbot there might either be a "provost," or
(which Benedict liked better) there might be a number of "elders" or
"deans," who were to help and advise the abbot in the government of his
monasteries. Any one who wished to join the order was to undergo trial
for a year before admission. Those who were admitted into it were
required to give in a written vow that they would continue in it, that
they would amend their lives, and that they would obey those who were
set over them. Every monk was obliged to give up all his property to the
order; nobody was allowed to have anything of his own, but all things
were common to the brethren. The monks might not receive any presents or
letters, even from their nearest relations, without the abbot's
knowledge and leave, and if a present were sent for one of them, the
abbot had the power to keep it from him, and to give it to any other
monk.
It was one important part of the rule that the monks should have
sufficient employment provided for them. They were to get up at two
o'clock in the morning; they were to attend eight services a day, or, if
they happened to be at a distance from their monastery, they were to
observe the hours of the services by prayer; and they were to work seven
hours. Portions of time were allowed for learning psalms by heart, and
for reading the Scriptures, lives of holy men, and other edifying books.
At meals the monks were not to talk, but some book was to be read aloud
to them. Their food was to be plain and simple; no flesh was allowed,
except to the sick. But all such matters were to be settled by the
abbot, according to the climate and the season, to the age, the health,
and the employment of the monks. Their dress was to be coarse, but was
to be varied according to circumstances. They were to sleep by ten or
twenty in a room, each in a separate bed, and without taking off their
clothes. A dean was to have the care of each room, and a light was to be
kept burning in each. No talking was to be allowed after the last
service of the day.
The monks were never to go beyond the monastery without leave, and, in
order that there might be little occasion for their going out, it was to
contain within its walls the garden, the well, the mill, the bakehouse,
and other such necessary things. The abbot was to set every monk his
work; if it were found that any one was inclined to pride himself on his
skill in any art or trade, he was not to be allowed to practise it, but
was obliged to take up some other employment.
Benedict died in 543, and by that time his order had made its way into
France, Spain, and Sicily. It soon drew into itself all the monks of the
West, and was divided into a number of branches, which all looked up to
Benedict as their founder; and, although it would be a sad mistake to
wish for any revival of monkery in our own days, we ought, in justice,
to see and to acknowledge that through God's providence these monks
became the means of great benefits to mankind. Not only were their
services important for the maintenance of Gospel where it was already
planted, and for the spreading of it among the heathen, but they cleared
forests, brought waste lands into tillage, and did much to civilize the
rude nations among whom they laboured. After a time, learning began to
be cultivated among them, and during the troubled ages which followed,
it found a refuge in the monasteries. The monks taught the young; they
copied the Scriptures and other ancient books (for printing was as yet
unknown); they wrote histories of their times, and other books of their
own. To them, indeed, it is that we are mainly indebted for preserving
the knowledge of the past through many centuries.
