CONTENTS
CHAPTER
INTRODUCTION ...
PROLOGUE -
I. OF THE VARIOUS KINDS OF MONKS
II. WHAT KIND OF MAN THE ABBOT OU<
III. OF CALLING THE BRETHREN TO COU1
IV. WHAT ARE THE INSTRUMENTS OF GOl
V. OF OBEDIENCE -
VI. THE SPIRIT OF SILENCE -
VII. OF HUMILITY -
VIII. OF THE DIVINE OFFICE AT NIGHT
IX. HOW MANY PSALMS ARE TO BE SAID J
X. HOW THE NIGHT OFFICE IS TO BE S/
XI. HOW THE NIGHT OFFICE IS TO BE S/
XII. HOW THE OFFICE OF LAUDS IS TO Bl
XIII. HOW LAUDS ARE TO BE SAID ON WEI
XIV. HOW THE NIGHT OFFICE IS TO BE Sf
XV. AT WHAT TIMES OF THE YEAR " ALL!
XVI. HOW THE WORK OF GOD IS TO BE DO
XVII. HOW MANY PSALMS ARE TO BE SAID
XVIII. IN WHAT ORDER THE PSAL'MS ARE T(
XIX. HOW TO SAY THE DIVINE OFFICE
XX. OF REVERENCE AT PRAYER
XXI. OF THE DEANS OF THE MONASTERY
XXII. HOW THE MONKS ARE TO SLEEP -
XXIII. OF EXCOMMUNICATION FOR FAULTS
XXIV. WHAT
XL. OF THE MEASURE OF DRINK - - . - - 275-*
XLI. AT WHAT HOURS THE BRETHREN ARE TO TAKE THEIR MEALS 278"*
XLII. THAT NO ONE MAY SPEAK AFTER COMPLINE - - 28 1
XLIII. OF THOSE WHO COME LATE TO THE WORK OF GOD OR TO TABLE 286*
XLIV. OF THOSE WHO ARE EXCOMMUNICATED, HOW THEY ARE TO
MAKE SATISFACTION - - . - - - 294
XLV. OF THOSE WHO MAKE MISTAKES IN THE ORATORY - 297
XLVI. OF THOSE WHO OFFEND IN ANY OTHER MATTERS - 299
XLVII. OF SIGNIFYING THE HOUR FOR THE WORK OF GOD - 302
XL VIII. OF THE DAILY MANUAL LABOUR - - - 304-*
XLIX. OF THE OBSERVANCE OF LENT - - - - 317
L. OF BRETHREN WHO ARE WORKING AT A DISTANCE FROM THE
ORATORY OR ARE ON A JOURNEY - - - 322"
LI. OF BRETHREN WHO DO NOT GO FAR AWAY - - 325-*
LII. OF THE ORATORY OF THE MONASTERY - - - 327
LIII. OF THE RECEPTION OF GUESTS - - - - 330
LIV. WHETHER A MONK OUGHT TO RECEIVE LETTERS OR TOKENS 343
LV. OF THE CLOTHES AND SHOES OF THE BRETHREN - - - 346
LVI. OF THE ABBOT'S TABLE - - - - - 358
LVII. OF THE ARTIFICERS OF THE MONASTERY - - - 361
LVIII. OF THE DISCIPLINE OF RECEIVING BRETHREN INTO RELIGION 367
- LIX. OF THE SONS OF NOBLES OR THE POOR THAT ARE OFFERED 406
LX. OF PRIESTS WHO MAY WISH TO DWELL IN THE MONASTERY 413"-
LXI. OF PILGRIM MONKS, HOW THEY ARE TO BE RECEIVED - 418
LXII. OF THE PRIESTS OF THE MONASTERY - - - 42/jTV
LXIII. OF THE ORDER OF THE COMMUNITY - - - 431 t
LXIV. OF THE APPOINTMENT OF THE ABBOT - - - 44!*^
LXV. OF THE PRIOR OF THE MONASTERY -" - - 456
LXVI. OF THE PORTER OF THE MONASTERY - - - 463
LXVII. OF BRETHREN WHO ARE SENT ON A JOURNEY - - 460
LXVIII. IF A BROTHER BE COMMANDED TO DO IMPOSSIBILITIES - 472.1
LXIX. THAT MONKS PRESUME NOT TO DEFEND^ ONE ANOTHER - 476
LXX. THAT NO ONE PRESUME RASHLY TO STRIKE OR EXCOMMUNI-
CATE ANOTHER - - - - 479
LXXI. THAT THE BRETHREN BE OBEDIENT ONE TO THE OTHER - 482"*
LXXII. OF THE GOOD ZEAL WHICH MONKS OUGHT TO HAVE - 486
LXXIII. THAT THE WHOLE OBSERVANCE OF JUSTICE IS NOT SET DOWN
IN THIS RULE - - - - - 49!
INDEX - - - - ..._ 497
COMMENTARY ON THE RULE
OF ST. BENEDICT
PROLOGUE
Ausculta, o fill, precepta magistri, Hearken, O my son, to the precept
et inclina aurem cordis tui, et admoni- of your master, and incline the ear of
tionem pii patris libenter excipe, et your heart: willingly receive and
efficaciter comple; ut ad eum per faithfully fulfil the admonition of your
obedientiae laborem redeas, a quo per loving father, that you may 'return
inobedientiae desidiam recesseras. by the labour of obedience to Him
from whom you had departed through
the sloth of disobedience.
S\ THER Rules have a more impersonal character, a more concise
I and formal legislative air: St. Benedict in his first words puts
1 I himself in intimate contact with his followers, commencing
^^ the code of our monastic life with a loving address.
He who speaks is a master; for we cannot dispense with a master
in the supernatural life, which is at once a science and an art. He
gives precepts that is to say, doctrinal and practical instruction.
St. Benedict here speaks of himself, though many commentators have
thought differently. It is no folly to call himself master, since he teaches
not in his own name, nor things of his own devising. He wrote near
the end of his life and in the fulness of his experience. Why should
he not be a loving father pius pater, as he expresses it ?
" O my son ": a title of endearment; softening whatever austerity
there may be in the "precepts of the master," suggesting also that
the highest form of fatherhood is that which transmits doctrine and
enlightenment, having its ideal and source in God the " father of light "
(Jas .1.17). St. Thomas tells us that there is a true fatherhood among the
angels; 1 and in the Old Testament, among the patriarchs for instance,
if a man was a father he had to be a teacher as well, and while he gave
life had to enlighten the soul and hand on the teachings of God and His
promises; so is Noah called a "herald of justice" (2 Pet. ii. 5). Ex-
perience shows that no earthly fatherhood has ever so closely resembled
the fatherhood of God as did St. Benedict's. The Church venerates
hum as the patriarch of the monks of the West; and God has so disposed
*Jae course of history that every religious Order is in some way indebted
to him and has learnt from his fatherly wisdom.
Truly these first words of the prologue are attractive and reassuring.
-The master who addresses you, my child, is a father, a good and loving
fatbler. The precepts which he brings you are counsels dictated by
i l ST. THOMAS AQUINAS, Sumnta Tbeol., P. I., q. xlv., a. 5, ad. i. .
2 Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict
his experience and his love " the admonition of your loving father."
He does not dream of imposing them on you, but appeals to your good
will, to your delicacy of perception; there is no question of constraint,
but of a loving and glad acceptance, of supernatural docility.
This docility St. Benedict requires of every beginner; this same
docility, under the forms of humility and obedience, gives our monastic
life its authentic character; and, finally, by it is sanctity won: " Whoso
are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God " (Rom. viii. 14)
The sovereign importance of this simple, unaffected disposition comes
from the fact that it comprises in itself all virtue. To begin with,
docility means prudence, and in prudence are united all the moral
virtues. We cannot in our own persons have all experiences; but
others have had them, and we reap the benefit of these by our docility.
We make our own the wisdom of humanity supernaturalized, the
wisdom of St. Benedict, and faith makes us share the very wisdom of
God. Docility, and docility alone, establishes us in that state whence
all self-seeking has been driven, a state which is the condition and the
prelude- of a living union with Our Lord. Its name then is charity.
We should note how St. Benedict analyzes and details the successive
stages of supernatural docility. "Hearken": for we must listen; if
there be too much noise in the soul and the attention be scattered over
a multitude of objects, the voice of God which is generally quiet as
" the whistling of a gentle air " (3 Kings xix.. 12) is not heard. That
silence which of itself is perfect praise, "To thee silence is praise," 1
is rare among beings so fickle and impressionable as we are.
But' to hearken is not enough, and St. Benedict invites us in the
pretty phrase of the Book of Proverbs 2 and Psalm xliv. to " incline
the ear of our heart." We must have a receptive understanding, a
trustful attitude towards the truth that is proposed to us.. If we begin
by putting obstacles, by establishing at the entry of -our souls a strict
barrier, or still more, if we be filled with bur own views to the point of
saying, " He cannot teach me anything new; I know all that and better
than he does ! . . ." then we are in the worst possible mental state,
not only for supernatural teaching, but even for purely human instruc-
tion. Claude Bernard 8 tells us that the scientist, while striving to
formulate and verify his hypothesis, must be careful not to be led captive
1 Ps. Ixiv. 2, according to .the Hebrew.
2 C. iv. Audi, Jilt mi, et suscipe verba. mea. . . . Fili mi ausculta sermones meos
el ad eloquid mea inclina aurem. tuatii. Ne recedant ab oculis tuis t custodi ea in media
cordis tut. .
St. Jerome begins one of his letters ad Eustocbium with the words of Ps. xliv/.
(Ep. XXII. i. P.L., XXII., 394). i /
It would be inaccurate to set down as source of this beginning of the Prologpe trie' '
beginning of the Admonitio ad filium spiritualem which figures among the spuria of
St. Basil, and was inserted by HOLSTENIUS into the appendix of his Codex. regular urn.
This treatise is probably the work of ST. PAULINUS OF AQUILEIA; but the beginning and _
other passages have been added later by some monk; cf. P.L., XCIX., 212 sq. (See
also P.L., XL., 1054 50.) I
3 Introduction a I* etude de la medecine experimentale. i
Prologue 3
by it, but must always remain accessible to any other better explanation.
Our Holy Father asks us, then, to listen willingly, with free souls :
"willingly receive." Let us ever accept at once the teaching which is
given to us; if there be in it any elements which we cannot assimilate,
these will be eliminated later of themselves.
"Et efficaciter comple." And faithfully fulfil. It is the property
of truth to move us to action. We cannot " hold it captive in injustice "
(Rom. i. 1 8). We shall have to answer to God for all the good we have
seen and have not done. But therein too lies the difficulty; for sin has
upset the balance of our being: seeing, willing, loving, performing,
these are far from being one single operation.
So lest the work should frighten us, and to make clear at once its
character and plan, our Holy Father, with the insight of genius, yet in
the quiet classical style, sets down that which is the prize of our life,
that which should be its single object, that which gives it its dignity,
charm, and power, its merit and simplicity, that in which is contained
the whole Rule: " that you may return to Him by the labour of obedi-
ence." For our business is not to live many years, and to become
learned, or to make a name in the world, but to walk to God, to get near
to Him, to unite ourselves to Him. This manner of conceiving the
spiritual life as a fearless walking to God is a favourite one with St.
Benedict; we shall meet it many times in the Rule. Our life is on an
inclined plane: we may ascend or descend, and the latter is very easy.
Since the Fall, man has only one way in which to separate himself from
God, and that is the way of the old Adam, disobedience; and he has,
too, but one way to return and that is by obedience, with the new Adam.
" For as by the disobedience of one man, many were made sinners :
so also by the obedience of one, many shall be made just " (Rom. v. 19).
We pride ourselves on pur disobedience, as giving proof of energy and
vigorous personality; but St. Benedict declares that it is merely cowardice
and sloth; and if he speaks of the contrary attitude of mind as " labour J>1
he will presently tell us of its solid fruitfulness and incomparable dignity.
Ad te ergo nunc meus 2 sermo dirigi- To you, therefore, my words are
tur, quisquis abrenuntians propriis now addressed, whoever you are, that,
voluntatibus, Domino Christo vero renouncing yjiur own -will, you do take
regi militaturus, obedientiae fortissima up the strong and bright weapons
atque praeclara anna assumis. of obedience, in order to fight for the
Lord Christ, our true King.
In these words St. Benedict indicates to whom his invitation is
addressed, for whom is the scheme of life just sketched in rough outline.
To you my words and my fatherly exhortation are now addressed,
whoever you may be, provided you be docile and resolute. So that
1 Dicebant settes : quid nibil sic qiusrit Deus ab bis qui primitias babent conversa-
tioitis, quomodo obedienties laborem (Ferba Seniorum : Vita Patrum, V., xiv. 15.
ROSWEYD, p. 619).
2 The best reading is mibi. ST. JEROME likewise says, in Letter XXII. ad Ensto-
cbium (15): Nunc ad te mibi ontnis dirigatur oratio (P-L., XXII., 403).
4 Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict
if we except the incapable and those who are bound by the ties of
other duty, no one is excluded. All that is required in the candidate
is_the intention to accept the conditions of the monastic life, which are
reducible to three: renunciation of one's own will, the taking up of the
weapons of obedience, and service of the Lord.
, To renounce one's own will is a necessary preliminary. St. Benedict
I speaks of " wills " in the plural, 1 because self-will or egoism has many
I forms. Without pretending to classify them we may observe that
/ states of will may be spontaneous, or systematic, or temperamental.
/ The first of these are the least dangerous, because implying only the
/ mistake of a moment, a temporary distraction or interruption of con-
/ tinuity. The systematic will is continually springing up in the course
of the religious life. On the day of our profession we renounced all
things, but we build up the old again later on. It may be a question
\ of a person one likes or dislikes, or a question of doctrine, some detail
\ perhaps on which we cannot yield. Still more difficult is it to rid
I ourselves of temperament, of that disagreeable, obstinate, wrangling
jtemper which sets us everlastingly in opposition.
In proportion as we strip ourselves of the old secular vesture of egoism
and cast off all its trappings, so shall we be ready to take and use the
weapons of obedience. St. Paul regards the principal virtues as different
pieces of the supernatural armour ; but our Holy Father gives one general
name to the arms which he gives to his monks, 2 and speaks of the
" weapons of obedience." A soldier has to obey, to obey always and
no matter what happens; and a soldier of Jesus Christ has to obey
universally and without asking for reasons; it is the least he can do.
We have heard a great deal on the immorality of the vow of obedience,
and what are called the passive virtues have received plenty of abuse.
But St. Benedict had other notions of human dignity; in his view the
weapons of obedience were the strongest, the best tempered, the most
splendid, the most glorious. We obey God, we obey a Rule which we
have studied and chosen; we obey a man, but within the limits of our
vow. And while we obey we are free, since it is of our own act that
we unite our will to the will of God, which can hardly entail any loss
of dignity. Moreover, we are bound to make the real motive of the act
our own, and so we unite our thoughts with the Divine thought.
Once we are enrolled and armed we have but to fight under the
standard of the true King, the Lord Christ : " to fight for the Lord
Christ our true King." 3 We serve Him and His purpose, and we
1 The same expression occurs in the Vcrba Seniorum (yitte Patrum, V., i. 9.
ROSWEYD, p. 562) and in the Historia monacborum of RUFJNUS (XXXI. ROSWXYD,
p. 484). St. Benedict cites in Chapter VII. the verse of Ecclesiasticus, xviii. 30: Et a
voluntatibus tuts avertere.
3 Cf. Exbortatio de panoplia ad monacbos (inter S. EPHREM. opp. grace, lat., t. III.,
p. 219).
3 Sum enim laboriosus, etiam nunc sub magno of ere feccator ; veteranus in numero
peeeatorum, sed teterno Regi novus incorporeee tiro militia (S. PAULINI NOLANI, Ep. IV.
ad S. Augustinum. P.L., LXL, 165).
Prologue 5
serve according to the example He has given. " In the head of the book
it is written of me that I should do thy will. O my God, I have
desired it, and thy law in the midst of my heart " (Ps. xxxix. 8, 9).
"Being made obedient even unto death" (Philr ii. 8). Let us have
a full realization of the drama which is being enacted, and in which we
have to play our part. This drama fills all time and all space. It
began, with the very beginning of things, in the angelic world, by an
act of disobedience. This brought another in its train here below,
one which has been repaired by the obedience of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
All intelligent beings are ranged in two camps, those who obey and those
who obey not; and the struggle of the two forces knows no truce.
Each has its king, and he who claims to withdraw himself from obedience
passes by this very fact under the domination of the other King. God
for god, I prefer my own. In the army of those .who obey the Lord,
religious form a picked body. Our Holy Father recognizes elsewhere
that the monastic life is also a school, a workshop, and above all a family.
In primis, 1 ut quidquid agendum In the first place, whatever good
inchoas bonum, ab eo perfici instantissi- work you begin to do, beg of Him with
ma oratione deposcas; ut, qui nos jam most earnest prayer to perfect it; that
in filiorum dignatus est numero compu- He who has now vouchsafed to count
tare, non debeat aHquando de malis us in the number of His children may
actibus nostris contristari. not at any time be grieved by our 'evil
deeds.
Our Holy Father's first piece of advice and his first care is that we
should rest on God in order to go to Him. We need grace .and we
need the prayer which wins grace; for these two things are connected
and go necessarily together. This clear statement, at the very begin-
ning of the Rule, makes short work of any Pelagian or Semi-Pelagian
corruption of the truth. Pelagius, a wandering monk, held that man
was essentially good, that his good will was sufficient for right action.
Besides this he needed, but only as external helps, the law, and the
teaching and example of Our Lord. Cassian himself, in his thirteenth
Conference, considers that our reason and will are sufficient for the first
act by which we accept the faith and enter upon the life of grace. The
words of St. Benedict are profoundly wise and are in agreement with the
teaching of the Council of Orange : 2 " The assistance of God must ever
be asked even by the baptized and the saints, that they may be able to
reach a good end or to persevere in good."
We cannot do without God. God has part in each one of our acts,
and influences their very origin. This is especially true of supernatural
acts, because the created agent -is there setting forces to work which
are not his own. The first movement towards the faith and to baptism
1 With recent editors (SCHMIDT, WtftFFUN), we might join dirigitur and in primis,
treating quisquis abrenuntians ... as a parenthetical clause. D. BUTLER rejects this
punctuation as contrary to that of the best manuscripts and to the interpretation of the
oldest commentators.
2 Cap. x., MANSI, Sacrorum Condliorum nova et amplissima Collcctio, t. VIII., col. 714.
6 Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict
is due to an impulsion of His grace; so too a true religious vocation comes
from Him and not from any course of reasoning or philosophic deduction.
But the co-operation of God is as indispensable for the continuance
of this supernatural work as for its commencement; for it is a long work,
as long as life. And though our vocation be angelic, our natures are
not so. The angel is steadfast in the one act of his will; we with our
weaker natures, more open to attack and assailed by lower impulses,
must ever be renewing our purpose,, so ready are we to fail before
difficulty.. Therefore we must go to God and ask Him in fervent prayer,
prayer instant and untiring, instantissima oratione, for the grace to
" perfect," the grace of perseverance.
There can be no doubt that God yields to our prayer; He has
already engaged to do so, He has tied His hands. The best answer
to the natural question, Shall I have strength to persevere ? is that '
God has anticipated us : " For he hath first loved us. . . . With
an everlasting love have I loved thee, therefore I drew thee, having
pity on thee." His love is eternal. He has drawn close to each one of
us. As a mark of it He has in baptism given us unasked the supernatural
and divine life. Now we are of the number of His children. Let us
then be what He has made us. Let us not by misdeeds belie that dignity
to which His mere love has raised us. Let us strive not to cheat His
goodness, nor to give Him cause to repent of it. In words full of
insight and filial love, St. 'Benedict regards the development of our
perfection as a personal success of God, and its miscarriage as a
disappointment of the Almighty.
Ita enim ei omni temppre de bonis For we must always so serve Him
suis in nobis parendum est: ut non so- with the good things. He has given us,
him, ut iratus pater, non aliquando that not only may He never, as an
filiossuosexhaeredet;sednecutmetuen- angry father, disinherit His children,
dus Dominus, irritatus mails nostris, ut but may never, as a dread Lord, in-
nequissimos servos perpetuam tradat censed by our sins, deliver us to ever-
ad poenam, qui cum sequi noluerint ad lasting punishment, as most wicked
gloriam. ; servants who would not follow Him
to glory.
These words develop what has just teen said. Prayer and grace
are necessary for us that we may obey God all our lives and at every
moment of our lives, for that is really the task which has been set .us
and accepted by us. Nothing will be wanting to us that we may fulfil
it well, if our prayers win us grace and our fidelity makes it fructify.
The source and the measure of our supernatural riches are also the source
and measure of our obligations and responsibilities, and we are become
before Godsons and servants. :
We are children of God, not by any legal fiction, but by a deep and
real assimilation to His only Son; because of that divine life which grace
implants within us, we hold an unassailable title to the inheritance
of that Son: "And if sons, heirs also, heirs indeed of God and joint
heirs with Christ " (Rom. viii. 17). This supernatural life is endowed
Prologue 7
with faculties suitable to it : faith, hope, and charity. There are
sanctifying grace,, the theological virtues, the moral virtues, the gifts
of the Holy Spirit, and all sorts of helps. These are the " good things
He has given us " of which St. Benedict speaks. This is the treasure
which He has entrusted to our charge and to which we have to add as
much as possible. " Trade till I come " (Luke xix. 13).
Fidelity and success are asked of us not only because we love Our
Lord and are anxious not to sadden Him, but also*on grounds of honour
and justice; and St. Benedict urges self-interest as well. Fundamentally
God is nothing but goodness; it is we who make Him severe, when we
provoke Him by pur faults: " In Himself most good, in relation to us
He is just," says Tertullian. If we betray God, as our Father He wjll
disinherit us, as our master He will punish us ; and this in exact propor-
tjpn to the degree in which His love has been despised and His confidence
abused. We must understand the words. properly and not make St.
Benedict say that God in His punishment makes two distinct grades,
separable and capable of being Superimposed One on the other, as though
He sometimes merely disinherits, and at others, if infidelity be great,
chastises with positive punishments; for there is no case in which a soul,
which has been really disinherited by its own fault, does not suffer.
Our Holy Father's purpose is to describe the two inseparable pains of
eternity: not only the pain of loss, which deprives rebellious children
of their heavenly heritage, that is of God; but also the pain of sense,
whereby the fire torments those utterly evil servants "who have
refused to follow Him to glory."
So man must either reign for ever with Christ or suffer for ever with
the devils. St. Benedict puts this dread alternative before us several
times in the course of the Prologue; and he sets forth the monastic life
as the most direct and sure road to attain to God. In his eyes, to
advance valiantly towards the full realization of one's baptism and the
perfection of the supernatural life (he deals with nothing else in the
Prologue) is both the most efficacious procedure for the escaping of
everlasting death, and the most logical procedure, and that most glorious
for God and for us. He makes no mistake; he knows that a man is free
to enter or not to enter the monastic state, and that, for many of those
whom -his invitation will reach, the monastic life is not indispensable
either 'for amendment of life or for perseverance in good; he does not
confuse the precepts and the counsels; and yet we may say that he
simplifies the problem. We can never sufficiently study the precise
and clear terms in which the matter is stated.
Exsurgamus ergo tandem aliquandp, Let us then at length arise, since the
excitante nos Scriptura, ac dicente': Scripture stirs us up, saying: "It is
Horaestjam nos de somno surg/ert. Et time now for us to rise from sleep."
apertis oculis nostris ad deificum lumen, And our eyes being open to the deifying
attonitis auribus audiamus divina quoti- light, let us hear with wondering ears
die damans quid nos admoneat vox, what the Divine Voice admonishes us,
dicens: fjodie si vocem ejus audieritis, daily crying out: "To-day if ye shall
8 Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict
nolite obdurate corda vestra. Et iterum : hear his voice, harden not your heartt."
Qui babet aures audiendi, aitdiat quid And again, " He that hath ears to hear,
Spiritus dicat Ecclesiis. ' Et quid dicit ? let him hear what the Spirit saith to
Fenite, filii, audite me: timorem Domini the Churches." And what says He ?
docebo vos. Currite, dum lumen vitee " Come, my children, hearken to me,
babetis, ne tenebra mortis vos compre- I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
hendant. Run while ye have the light of life,
lest the darkness of death seize hold
of you."
The preliminaries being settled, we must now begin, says St. Benedict,
and put our hands resolutely to the work. Whatever may be our age,
above all if we are past the prime of life and moving downwards towards
the end, it is time, the appointed time, God's hour and the hour of
grace. Too long have we been plunged in sleep, 1 in deep sleep, perhaps
in a sleep troubled and crossed by painful dreams. Sleep is not death*
but neither is it life; it is life in abeyance, latent and inactive. Want of
consideration, or familiarity, have dulled the outlines of supernatural
realities. We sleep, yet we are not happy. Let us rise then now, at the
summons of the voice which wakens us, the voice of God Himself and
not merely of our Holy Father St. Benedict. God invites us by His
Scriptures; for there we have indeed the words of God, addressed
individually to each of us ; it is hard to see how the baptized soul can
resist such teaching made especially for it. We shall find in the Rule
that the sacred Scripture has always a decisive force. " It is now the
hour to rise from sleep ": the liturgy of Advent uses this sentence of
the Apostle (Rom. xiii. 1 1), nor is it ever unseasonable throughout the
continual advent of our lives.
We must open our eyes;. for it is thus that one begins to shake off
sleep and recover consciousness. We must open them to " the deifying
light," which phrase may be understood of the Scriptures, " Thy word is
a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths " (Ps. cxviii. 105), or of faith,
or better of Our Lord Himself, the true Light who walks before us
and guides us : " He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness but
shall have the light of life" (John viii. 12). We must also hearken
and give ear to a voice powerful at once and sweet " with wondering
ears." 2 For inattention is the devil's strongest ally; and though we are
ever enveloped by the divine light, and though God speaks to us every
moment, we remain blind and deaf, sluggish and careless of the truth.
Let us break through the shackles of habit, let us rouse our interest,
stimulate our curiosity, for we are told by the wise men of old, and it is
very true, that wonder or surprise is the origin of philosophical enquiry.
Every morning, at the beginning of the Office, the voice of Our
Lord cries 3 appealingly to us : " To-day, if you should hear my call,
1 Cf. CASS., Conlat., III., iv. .
2 D. BUTLER compares QUINTUS CURTIOS, History of Alexander ^ bk. VIII., 4.
3 In Chapter VII. also St. Benedict says, "the Scripture cries to us." The tame
expression is found in ST. CKSMUUS, Sermon CCLXIH., 4, in the appendix to the
Sermons of St. Augustine (P.L. t XXXIX., 2233).
Prologue 9
harden not your hearts " (Ps. xciv. 8). We are essentially laggard^ and
loiterers. " To-day?" we say. " What you ask me to abandon is so
attractive. Suppose I wait till to-morrow. Of course I shall be wise
and mortified to-morrow. . . ." And so our evil habit grows stronger,
for every act leaves its trace on our character, and we lose power every
day that we delay. Will not conversion be harder to-morrow ?
" He that hath ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to
the Churches " (Matt. xi. 15; Apoc. ii. 7). The call is more emphatic:
it is addressed to our understanding, to our self-esteem, to a certain
legitimate pride. The Spirit of God bids the soul that He visits to come
simply and learn in His school, for He is both Teacher and Father. He
will teach the soul to fear God that is to say, to live in God's sight
with filial respect and love (Ps. xxxiii. 12). St. Benedict adds to this
the solemn warning of Our Lord in St. John's gospel (xii. 35) : " Hasten
to come to God, while you have the light of life, lest the darkness of
death seize hold of you." 1 The " to-day " of which he speaks does not
extend beyond the present life, and who can tell whether to-morrow
is yours ? So while God speaks to you and gives you light, while He
consents to walk before you, follow Him and accept His lead: otherwise
the star that guides you will disappear. 2
Et quaerens Dominus in multitu- And the Lord, seeking His own
dine populi, cui haec clamat, operarium workman in the multitude of the people
suum, iterum dicit: Quis est homo, qui to whom He thus cries out, says again:
wilt vitam, et cupit videre dies bonos? "Who is the man that yn\\ fiavq )jfe.
Quod si tu audiens respondeas: Ego, anddesires to see goodjlays ?" And
dicit tibi Deus: Si vis habere veram et if-you, hearing Himfanswer, " I am
' perpetuam'vitam, probibe linguam tuam he," God says to you: " If thou wilt
a malo, et labia tua ne loquantur dolum. have true and everlasting life, keep thy
Divette a malo, et fac bonum; inquire tongue from evil and thy lips that they
pacem et -sequere earn. Et cum haec speak no guile. Turn from evil, and
feceritis, oculi mei super vos, et aures do good: seek peace and pursue it. And
I meae ad preces vestras. Et antequam when you have done these things, my
f me invocetis, dicam : Ecce adsum. eyes will be upon you, and my ears will
| be open to your prayers; and before
. you call upon me, I will say unto you,
Behold, I am here."
So far our souls have come into touch with our Holy Father; they
i have prayed with him, they have been moved by fear and roused by the
1 St. Benedict .does not always cite Scripture word for word, whether purposely
or because he quotes from memory. Also he often uses a version other than our Vulgate.
ST. GKSARIUS read the beginning of this text in much the same way as St. Benedict:
Curramus dum lucent vita babemus (P.L., XXXIX., 2230).
a Our Holy Father returns presently to Ps. xxxiii., from which he selects and com-
ments on verses 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. He has in mind also ST. AUGUSTINE'S second Enarratio
on this psalm; and from audiamus divina ... to quid dulcius ... he scarcely does
more- than quote it almost textually (nos. 16-20, 9. P.L., XXXVL, 317-319, 313).
Seealso.thearra*ioonPs. cxliii. (no. 9. JP.L., XXXVII., 1862); the combination
of the two passages of Isaias, Ixv. 24 and Iviii. 9, that we meet presently in St. Benedict,
is certainly inspired by St. Augustine.
We must abandon as a source of this passage the PSKUDO-CHRYSOSTOM brought forward
in the Revue Benedictine, 1894, pp. 385^.
io Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict
divine words of the Scripture, but his call yet lacks something more
personal, more decisive, and more dramatic. The householder, the
owner of the vineyard (Matt. xx. 1-16), went down himself to the
market-place to hire labourers, and the appeal which He makes to the
whole Christian people is really addressed to each one, for He wishes to
make a compact with each individual soul. In this we have a true
picture of the relation of the soul to- God: every soul is a labourer and
God is one top. God, who has need of nothing, has yet willed the
manifestation of His attributes by means of the natural order, but
especially by means of the supernatural order. The Incarnation, and
Redemption represent God's great effort. To this He devoted Himself,
but He did not consent to work alone. He willed to associate with
Himself fellow-workers, and He deliberately left His work unfinished,
knowing that it would be a joy to us to work after Him and with
Him, and to spend our efforts there where He spent His blood
(l Cor. iii. o; Col. i. 24).
Moreover, the invitation promises a reward: " Who, is the man that
will have life, and desires to .see good days ?" (Ps. xxxiii. 13). God
does not disdain to engage our self-interest, nor to use bur primary and
fundamental love of happiness. .Of course His glory and our happiness
are intimately connected. Now when a man is offered happiness and
life, he never refuses: " Does not each one of you answer, ' I J ?" says
St. Augustine. " I am the ' man, O Lord, I wish it fervently."
"But we must not have any misunderstanding," adds Our Lord, and
for Him St. Benedict proceeds to state accurately the meaning and
scope of His promise. Our ideal _is.jaot the Jewish one. JD! temporal,
prosperity and length of days; we are concerned with the true and full
life, the life of eternity. This life of eternity begins here below in the
life of grace, and according to St. Benedict we shall know " good days."
So if there were no life but-the-grcscnt, shoukhwe not-be-th^-happiest
of men ? But without enlarging on the reward reserved for his labourer,
St. Benedict, first briefly and then at greater, length, indicates the
conditions which he .must accept.
Certain things have to be eliminated. " Keep thy tongue from
evil . . ." (Ps. xxxiii. 14-15). Does this mean that we must avoid
lying and deceit properly so called ? Certainly it does. But we
may give the words of the Old Testament a value relative to the new
dispensation and consequently a wider scope. There is sometimes a
lie of act implied in our whole life, a practical negation of our faith,
a secret duality: charity summons us, but egoism prevails; we are
divided and drawn in opposite directions, and too often the lower
attraction prevails. We receive Holy Communion every morning, but
we remain ourselves. If we really wish for life, we must aim at unity
of purpose and true loyalty.
" Turn from evil," Let us take our souls in our hands and reso-
lutely separate ourselves from all that is evil. To avoid or turn aside
from it is not enough; we must create between ourselves and evil a
Prologue 1 1
wide zone which neither we nor evil can cross; we must pronounce
a sentence of eternal banishment against it. Let us not be like 'those
men whom St. Francis de Sales compares to s,ick folk whose doctor
has forbidden them melon under pain jof death; they abstain indeed
from the forbidden fruit, but they " brood on their deprivation and
talk about melons and bargain for a little indulgence; they insist on
smelling them at least and count those fortunate who may eat them." 1
" Aid do good." This is the positive side of our programme. This
is a simple thought, so simple that it seems childish, yet it is one which
is frequently overlooked. Too many people spend all their intelligence
and strength in avoiding the snares with which the path of life is strewn;
some souls are always stuck, always worried by the difficulties they meet,
always anxious about little flecks of dust; their energy is devoted to
lamentation or exhausted in continual self-consideration. Undoubt-
edly a delicate conscience is a good thing, but it is dangerous to think
too much of oneself, to magnify one's importance; of course we must
know ourselves, but it is above all necessary to know God. At bottom,
the purpose of our life is not merely to avoid sin and negation, but
rather positively to exist, to do good, to reach God.
"Seek peace." The quotation of Psalm xxxiii. was not made
by accident and is not continued mechanically. When unity, harmony,
and order have, been re-established in us, thanks to that loyalty of which
we spoke above: when .the disagreement with God, with our brethren,
and with ourselves has ceased, and this much is finally won and settled,
then we have peace, " the tranquillity of order." Peace is not sloth nor
a false lack of interest; it is the attitude which is spontaneously assumed
by the soul when it is united to God by charity. Peace, like joy, is
not exactly a virtue, but is the fruit of the highest of virtues, for it is
the daughter of charity.* .Search for it in your house, says Our Lord,
as for a hidden treasure; pursue it, if there be need. Sometimes it will
appear to flee from us, but we must not be discouraged; we must not
be irritated by its delay, for it may be that this itself is only our own
delay with ourselves. And there is never any reason to leave this peace ;
no events, no sufferings, no faults even should cause us to do so; for
anxiety does not correct mistakes and repentance does not imply
trouble. St. Paul regards peace as a sort of cloister of the spirit, which
keeps our soul near to God: "And may the peace of God which passeth
all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus " (Phil. iv.
7). Let us remember that it is at once the recompense, fruit, measure,
and cause of our virtue; and everyone knows that it has become the
motto of the Benedictine Order.
The psalm is continued, but verse 16 is alluded to without being
formally quoted. After our soul has been turned in this way towards
God, and has attained peace, then the benevolent regard of Our Lord
rests on it and His ear is always open to our prayers; He takes pleasure
i n this beauty which the light of His eyes has created. TJjen there is
1 Introduction to the Devout Life, Part I,, chap. vii.
2 Cf. S. Tb., II.-IL, y. aodx., De Pace.
12 Commentary on the Rule oj St. Benedict
the closest union: " He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit " (i Cor.
vi. 17). Our prayer will be still in the heart, we shall not have opened
our lips, before the Lord will say: " Lo, I am here."
Quid dulcius nobis hac voce Domini What can be sweeter to us, dearest
invitantisnos,fratrescharissimi ? Ecce brethren, than this voice of the Lord
pietate sua demonstrat nobis Dominus inviting us ? Behold in His loving-
viam vitae. Succinctis ergo fide vel kindness the Lord shows unto us the
observantia bonorum actuum lumbis way of life. Having our loins, there-
nostris, per ducatum Evangelii perga- fore, girded with faith and the per-
mus itinera ejus, ut mereamur eum qui formance of good works, let us walk
nos vocavit, in regno suo videre. in His paths by the guidance of the
Gospel, that we may deserve to see
Him who has called us in His kingdom.
Our Holy Father allows an exclamation of joy to escape him. See,
my beloved brethren, he cries, is there anything in the world could
be more tender, more sweet, than this invitation of Our Lord, or
couched in such terms ? It is God Himself, who in His loving-kindness
calls to life and shows us the road. Up then, let us start our pilgrimage
to God, let us walk quickly, with garment tucked up so that its folds
may not beat round our legs and hinder us, but that we may have all
our vigour: " Let your loins be girt and lamps burning in your hands "
(Luke xxii. 35). Our girdle is faith, a practical faith which means the
doing of good works and the habit .of them. " And justice shall be
the girdle of his loins, and faith the girdle of his reins " (Isa. xi. 5). Led
and directed by the precepts of the Gospel, 1 let us pass every stage
of the journey to God unto the end, so that we may deserve to see Him
who has called us in His kingdom. 2
In cujus regni tabernaculo si volu- And if we wish to dwell in the taber-
mus habitare, nisi illuc bonis actibus nacle of His kingdom, we shall by no
currendo, minime pervenitur. Sed means reach it unless we run thither
5 nterrogemus cum Propheta Dominum, by our good deeds. But let us ask the
dicentes ei: Domine, quis habitabit in Lord with the prophet, saying to Him:
tabernaculo tuo, out quis requiescet in "Lord, who shall dwell in thy taber-
monte sancto tuo ? Post hanc interroga- nacle, or who shall rest upon thy holy
tionem, fratres, audiamus Dominum hill ?" After this question, brethren,
respondentem, et ostendentem nobis let us hear the Lord answering, and
viam ipsius tabernaculi, ac dicentem : showing to us the way to His taber-
Qui ingreditur sine macula, et operator nacle, and saying: " He that walks
justitiam; qui loquitur veritatem in without stain and. works justice: he
cordf suo; qui non egit dolum in lingua that speaks truth in his heart, that
sua; qui non fecit proximo suo malum, et has not done guile with his tongue:
opprobrium non accepit adversus proxi- he that has done no evil to Ms neigh-
mum suum. bour, and has not taken up a reproach
against his neighbour."
1 Instead of the expression per ducatum Evangelii, the meaning of which seemed
rather vague, the most ancient manuscripts (we do not say the best, cf. Introduction)
read: et calceatis in preparation* Evattgelti pads pedibas, pergamus , . ., a reminiscence
of chap. vi. of Ephesians (verse 15; observe that in verse 14 the Apostle bids us have our
loins girt: it has been thought that St. Benedict was quoting these two verses loosely).
3 Perhaps the best reading is: eum qui not vocavit in regnum suum yidere, a quotation
of i Thess. ii. 12.
Prologue 1 3
So you wish sincerely to walk to the sanctuary of God, our King,
and to abide there with Him for all eternity ? The society of God,
of Our Lord Jesus Christ, of Our Lady, of the angels and saints, attracts
you ? Since then you know the end and have willed it, you must now
learn the means which lead to it. " We shall by no means reach it
unless we run thither by our good deeds." St. Benedict -has said this
before, but he insists on it and strives to put this point in the clearest
possible light. A privileged state does not sanctify us, nor will grace
secure our salvation of itself. It would be exceedingly rash to say to
oneself: " I have made my profession, I am in healthy surroundings,
I understand the supernatural life, I can speak of it on occasion with
fluency and precision, I experience in my relations with God certain
favours which tell me that I am in the higher ways. My toils there-
fore are over." No, there must be action, we must move unceasingly,
we must run. Acts are the offspring of our life, they continue it, they
develop it, and our life exists- only for them: for an act is the ultimate
term of all living energy. Let us recall the history of the fig-tree in
the Gospel, which did not lack leaves, but was cursed and withered on
the spot, because the fruit that is to say, acts was wanting. It may be
objected that we are often told that our sanctification does not come
from ourselves and that we have to let God work. Let us understand
the matter: there is the preliminary work of clearing the ground, there
is the constructive work, and there is the completion and perfection of
the work, and in all of these is God's action exercised, especially in the
last; but we are never dispensed from acting, and the two first stages
are especially ours.
If we want further information, we should rather go to Our Lord
and with the prophet put to Him the question with which the fourteenth
psalm opens. For us Christians its subject is the New Jerusalem and the
true temple of God: " Behold the tabernacle of God with men, and
he will dwell with them" (Apoc. xxi. 3). God answers us in the
same psalm and traces for us the way to His holy place. St. Benedict
confines himself to quoting verses 2 and 3, of which the meaning is quite
clear. All is embraced in this rapid summary: intention, word, fulfil-
ment, interior and exterior work; so that we have a threefold preparation
of soul in purity, uprightness, and justice.
Qui malignum diabolum aliqua He that has brought the malignant
suadentem sibi, cum ipsa suasione sua evil one to naught, casting him out
a conspectibus cordis sui respuens, of his heart with all his suggestions,
deduiit ad nihilum, et parvulos cogi- and has taken his bad thoughts, while
tatus ejus tenuit, et allisit ad Christum, they were yet young, and dashed them
down upon Christ.
Our Holy Father, from this on, paraphrases broadly the rest of the
psalm, and first the first part of the fourth verse: " In his sight the
malignant is brought to nothing." The literal sense refers to the
attitude which the man who wishes to go to God must adopt in
dealing with the. good and the wicked: he disdains the wicked and
14 Commentary on the Rule of St. Benedict
reserves all his esteem for the good: " He glorifies those who fear God."
But St. Benedict has understood the passage of the attitu.de which he
who seeks God must take up in the face of the malignant one, the devil, 1
and all his teaching is full of a deep wisdom.
It is natural and prudent to examine rigorously and to look well in
the face the dispositions, emotions, and affections which follow one
another in us, and to question them: "What are you ? Whence do
you come ? What have you come to do with me ? What are the
ultimate consequences to which you will lead me F" A wise man does
not open his door to every visitor, nor do we let the first comer into the
bosom of the family. If we can recognize the real source of certain
treacherous and misleading tendencies, the true author of certain secret
impulses, then we are safe.
Once the diabolical suggestion has been recognized and the suggestor
unmasked, St. Benedict wants, u's, at once and resolutely, to " drive
both one and the other from bur hearts and to give them no considera-
tion." Temptation takes various forms'. We should always fight it
with humility and reliance on the help of God; but often the best way
to get rid of it is to neglect and despise it. There are temptations which
are merely silly, surprises or mere physiological effects : let us pass them
by. It is a case for the application of the precept: " Salute no one by
the way." For not only must one not worry about them, one must
not even resist or cramp oneself in a useless struggle, nor fight, nor protest
spasmodically, nor make any alteration in one's life.
However, there are cases when our Holy Father asks us to employ
different tactics; when, for example, the temptation is violent or pro-
longed, and above all. when it is a question of our besetting temptation,
some peculiar habitual temptation which has a special affinity with our
character, a temptation which has assailed us in childhood, has followed
us like an ever-present menace or evil spirit, which has grown up with
us and grown old with us, and which we find still full of life. If we
do not wish to succumb inevitably, we must collect all the energy and
insight that we have, and vigorously grasping these hellish suggestions,
these children of Babylon, as though spontaneously and without-
reflection, dash them at once on the rock, which is Christ (i Cor. x. 4).
We must arm ourselves with faith, charity, and prayer, make an appeal
to Our Lord and so raise our souls into the region of peace. St. Benedict
quotes, in its allegorical sense like many of the Fathers, 2 the last verse
1 CASSIODORUS, in bis Exposition of this psalm (P-L., LXX., no), gives exactly the
same sense to verse 8 as St. Benedict. Farther on, after having spoken of the courageous
man qui mundi vitia cum suo auctore prostravit, he adds these words, which again recall
another passage of the end of the Prologue; Sed precemur jugiter omnipotentiam ejus,
ut qui talia per nosmetipsos implere nonpossumus quajussa svnt, ejus ditati munerefacia-
itius (ibid., in). We notice the connection for the sake of those interested in the
question of the relation of Cassiodorus to St. Benedict.
2 ORIGEN, Contra Celsum, 1. VII., 22. P.
