Medieval Christianity: The Benedictines

The present book is not intended to be a learned treatise.Hence it dispenses with the usual paraphernalia of scholarship such as footnotes and references.Nevertheless the author trusts that he relates or asserts nothing that could not be justified and proved.The purpose which he has kept in mind is to make more widely known the historical development and the specific nature of the monastic life established and regulated by the Rule of St. Benedict.-From Foreword.

The approach to the question in this book will be more literary than historical. This is so mostly because the author is an exegete and not an historian. Five of the eight chapters will be devoted to The Rule of Benedict, the basic document of all Benedictine life. The Rule will be surveyed; searched for basic spiritual values; examined so as to derive a psychological portrait of its author; studied for its teaching on the abbot and the community. The remaining three chapters will be devoted to Gregory the Great's Life of Benedict in Chapter II of "The Dialogue"; an overview of Benedictine historical themes; and finally, a discussion of some current issues in American Benedictine life. -Introduction.

In typical Carolingian style,Smaragdus draws on Scripture,the Rule itself,several Fathers of both Church and Desert,as well as on earlier monastic rules which had been collected by Benedict of Aniane in the "Concordia Regularum".But Smaragdus did not simply reproduce others' ideas.He evinces a deep devotion to Christ and great reverence for Saint Benedict and his Rule; he emphasizes the need to update the Rule's observances to meet the needs of a different society,period of history,and breed of monk.His ninth-century work,largely the fruit of lectio divina,is essential,in the opinion of the late Jean Leclercq,to understanding the monastic and spiritual life of the Middle Ages;and his insights may yet be found enlightening to scholars and monks of the twenty-first century.-Back cover.

The objection will be made that our situation is too far distant from that of the sixth century to allow us to ask anything but inspiration from a document of that epoch. The institutions and observances of the Rule must be renounced for good. We must therefore take the spirit and abandon the letter. The line to follow would be determined by answering the question:"What would Benedict do today?' As will be seen, our commentary scarcely enters into this problematic. To us it makes no sense to ask what Benedict would do today. That this man lived in the Italy of the sixth century is not an accident from which we may abstract, and his reincarnation in the twentieth century can be the object of merely chimerical speculations. The only reality we possess is the Rule such as we know it, together with the related documents which allow us to grasp it. This text is a given, which we can take or leave according to whether or not we feel ourselves concerned about its message. If we choose to expose ourselves to its influence, this influence will operate in the exact measure that we can conform ourselves to what it prescribes. Since it is a matter of a rule of life, fidelity to the spirit does not go without a certain observance of the letter. The way of true renewal can only be, we think, that of a literalism that is intelligent, prudent and enlightened by spiritual discernment. Our hope in offering this modest work to our brothers is to serve such a renewal. -Introduction.

It may seem extravagant today to suggest that not only monks and nuns but also ordinary laymen and laywomen of the twenty-first century can learn something invaluable about themselves and about how to live their lives on this earth by reading what St.Benedict wrote in the sixth century and by taking it to heart.Yet in considering that strange proposition we might start by looking at the actual use of the Rule throughout the ages,and reflecting that it has been alive and active through all the centuries that have elapsed since it was written.During all that time it has provided spiritual inspiration to countless monks and nuns in their desire to dedicate their whole being to God.During all that time it has also stretched out beyond the walls of the monasteries.It has given spiritual inspiration and encouragement to many of the laity who have been associated as oblates with Benedictine abbeys throughout the world.And now in this present age it has gone even further than that.-Introduction.

No more knowledgeable guide to the Rule can be found than Adalbert de Vogue.Both a monk and a scholar,Dom Adalbert has studied the Rule of Saint Benedict and all the other early latin monastic rules intensively.His critical editions of and commentaries on both the Rule of Saint Benedict and the Rule of he Master have been supplemented by a number of works on the spirituality of the rule and its application to the life of Christians-in monasteries and in the world-today.Among his works available in English are "Community and Abbot in the Rule of Saint Benedict" and "The Rule of Saint Benedict:A Doctrinal and Spiritual Commentary(Cistercian Publications),and "To Love Fastings: The Monastic Experience (St.Bede's Press).A monk of the abbey of La Pierre-quiVire,Dom Adalbert is currently at work on a multi-volume literary history of the monastic movement in antiquity.-Back cover.

"The Privilege of Love: Camaldolese Benedictine Spirituality" is a collection of essays by Camaldose monks,nuns , and oblates.After an introduction by Michael Downey and an overview chapter on Camaldose Benedictine history and spirituality,three chapters center on the Benedictine aspects of spirituality,such as liturgy,lectio divina,and Word/Wisdom of God.The book focuses on Camaldolese sources,eremitical/cenobitical dialectic,and solitude,followed by chapters on Camaldolese ecumenical and interreligious involvement,as well as oblate spirituality.The concluding chapter comments on Camaldolese Benedictine spirituality in a post-Vatican II context.-Back cover.