27S A BRIEF SURVEY OF HUMAN HISTORY

Aquinas, Roger Bacon, Fra Angelico, Luther, Erasmus—
all these, and many others who have been leaders in various
branches of human activity, were, or had been, members
of religious orders."1 Only a brief account of their way
of life may be here given.

Though the movement had begun much earlier, St. Bene-
dict was the first, about 526 A.D., to draw up a regular-
constitution for his order, which became the model for most
others that followed. He had his monastery at Monte
Cassino in South Italy :

He founded here his convent and his rule
Of prayer and work, and counted work as prayer ;
The pen became a clarion, and his school
Flamed like beacon in the midnight air.

According to the rules which he framed no-
one was allowed lightly to take the vows of the
Order. One had necessarily to pass through a rigorous
novitiate. The abbot or head of the monastery was to be
elected by the brethren who were its members. Besides read-
ing and writing—particularly copying old manuscripts—
and! constant prayers, the monks did all that was necessary
for a self-supporting life such as growing their own com
and vegetables, cooking and washing, etc. The three vows
which every monk had to take were obedience, poverty, and
chastity. But Benedict, like Buddha, recommended mode-
ration in all things. He asked his followers to avoid excessive
self-mortification which might destroy their health and come
in the way of a truly spiritual life. The importance of the
Benedictines may be gauged from the fact that they supplied
no less than twenty-four Popes, and forty-six hundred
bishops and archbishops. They also produced about six-

1. J. H. Robinson, op. cit.f pp. 62-3.