Benedictines

Benedictines, monks and nuns following the rule of St Benedict of Nursia. The first 12 Benedictine monasteries were founded early in the 6th century at Subiaco, near Rome, by Benedict, who later founded the famous abbey at Monte Cassino and there established the rule that organized and revitalized Western monasticism and gave it its particular characteristics. Judged by the standards of the time, the Benedictine rule imposed no great amount of austerity or asceticism. It required the provision of adequate food, clothing, and shelter. Depending on the season of the year and the festival celebrated, the Benedictines each day devoted a period of four to eight hours to celebrating the divine office and one period of seven or eight hours to sleep; the remainder of the day was divided about equally between work (usually agricultural) and religious reading and study. The abbot was given full patriarchal authority over the community, but was himself subject to the rule and was required to consult the members of the community on important questions. During the lifetime of Benedict, his disciples spread the order through the countries of central and western Europe; it soon became the only important order in those lands, remaining so until the founding of the Augustinian Canons in the 11th century and of the mendicant orders in the 13th century.

Gregory I was the first of 50 Benedictines who have occupied the papal throne; some others were Leo IV, Gregory VII, Pius VII, and Gregory XVI. St Augustine of Canterbury, the disciple of Gregory the Great who took the Benedictine rule to England late in the 6th century, became the first of a long list of Benedictine archbishops of Canterbury. As early as 1354 the order had provided 24 popes, 200 cardinals, 7,000 archbishops, 15,000 bishops, 1,560 canonized saints, and 5,000 holy people worthy of canonization, a number since increased to 40,000, and it had included 20 emperors, 10 empresses, 47 kings, 50 queens, and many other royal and noble people. The order had 37,000 Benedictines in the 14th century; in the 15th century it had 15,107. The Reformation left not more than 5,000, but this number has since increased to about 11,000 men and 25,000 women.

The Benedictine habit consists of a tunic and scapular, over which is worn a long full gown, or cowl, with a hood to cover the head. The colour of the habit is not specified in the rule, and it is conjectured that the early Benedictines wore white, the natural colour of undyed wool. For many centuries, however, black has been the prevailing colour, and thus Benedictines have been called “black monks”.