St. Benedict

Founder of Western Monasticism

Even if this is expressed in very different ways, all of the major religions have been touched by the phenomenon of monasticism, or the need to establish a direct and exclusive relationship with a divinity, achieved by a retreat from a normal life in society to a situation in which every activity is carried out as an act of love towards God.

When St. Benedict founded his monasteries and wrote his Regula, the phenomenon of Christian monasticism, in either its eremitic or coenobitic form, had been established for at least two centuries. It was practised initially in Egypt and Palestine, by figures such as St. Anthony, St. Pachomius and St. Basil, before spreading into the West, thanks to the work of St. Martin of Tours, St. Jerome, St. Cassian and St. Patrick.

St. Benedict brought together all these different and fragmented experiences, forming the “guidelines” for western monasticism and defining its institutional and modern character, His Regula, or Rule, proved to be so full of elements of cultural and spiritual renewal, that is was adopted everywhere, as the principal rule for Catholic monasticism.

The “Benedictine” character of the monastic experience, achieved by common consent from the Middle Ages to the present day, is based on the equilibrium achieved between the three cardinal moments: common prayer, personal prayer and work. If one or other of these activities takes precedence over the others, then the monasticism is no longer considered Benedictine. If the choice of the measure or balance of the activities, or the allocation of time to each, requires order and rigour, on the other hand it also gives life in the community a structure that is more flexible, articulated and varied.