Rule of Benedict

The Rule of Benedict (RB), composed in the first third of the 6th century by an abbot active in central Italy about whom little is known, provides a comprehensive guide to the organization and discipline of a monastery. It prescribes a firm yet flexible pattern of monastic deportment and defines the role of the abbot as the kindly but strict father of the monks under his care. Chapters 8-20 concern the regulation of the monks’ prayer in common, the ‘opus dei,’ over which nothing in the life of the monastery can claim precedence. Thanks to the sponsorship of the Carolingian liturgical reform and especially the efforts of Benedict of Aniane (ca. 750-821), the Rule of Benedict became the norm...