csnturv, to the establishment Early Benedictine , • ' , „,
ot new orders. Thus arose,
on the basis of the rule of St. Benedict, but with many
alterations, the orders of Camaldoli [see Camaldu-
LES], Fontevrault (q. v.), Chartreux (q. v.), Citeaux
[see Cistercians], Humiliates, Olivet ins, Tironene-
ans [see Bernard of Tiros], and others.
English Benedictine? : I, at Home; 2, at Church.
Benedict XII, in 133G, divided the Benedictines into ar, provinces, and decreed the regular holding of tri- ennial provincial chapters and annual general chap- t rs, but this Constitution could never be carried through. The rise of the mendicant orders (q. v.) de- prived the Benedictines of a great deal of their influ- ence, and their subsequent distinction lay almost whol- ly in the field of literary production. The Reforma- tion reduced the number of their convents from 15,000 ," 6000. After the Reformation, piety and discipline continued to be generally at a very low ebb through- out the Benedictine community, when; it was more difficult than with other orders to find a remedy, as frequently Laymen were made abbots {commendatory •> account of the rich revenues of the monas- 3tUl, it put forth some flourishing new branch- es, amon; which the congregation of St. Vanne and 81. Uidulph, established by Didier de la Cceur 1 1550 1623), and the congregation of St. Maur [see Maui, St.], the mo i learned of all monastic confraternities in Hi" historj of the Roman Catholic Church, are the most remarkable.
The reign of Joseph II in Austria, the French Rev- olution, and the suppression of monasticism generally
in Spain, Portugal, and Sardinia, reduced also the number of Benedictine convents greatly. In Austria, however, the order was restored in 1802, and at pres- ent more than one half of its members are living in Austrian convents. In Bavaria, the order received, by a rescript of 1834, the charge of several state col- leges. In France an attempt at reviving the congre- gation of St. Maur was made in 1833 by the establish- ment of a Benedictine community at Solesme. These new St. Maurines have already developed a great liter- ary activity, but have as yet neither been able to ex- tend themselves nor to attain the celebrity of their predecessors. In Switzerland the order has, besides several other convents, the convent of Einsiechln, one of the most famous places of pilgrimages in the Roman Catholic Church. The order has also been re-estab- lished in England and Belgium. In the United States they have St. Vincent's Abbey, in the diocese of Pitts- burg, which in 1858 elected for the first time an abbot for lifetime. Most of the Austrian abbeys followed, until very recently, a mitigated rule ; and the endeav- ors of papal delegates, aided by the state govern- ment, to force a stricter rule upon them, led in 1858 to protracted and serious disturbances. At the general chapter of the congregation of Monte Cassino in 1858, to which also the convent of St. Paul's in Rome be- longs, it was resolved to re-establish, for the benefit of all the monks of the Benedictine family who wish to study in Rome, the college of St. Anselm, such as it had been under the foundation of Pope Innocent XI.
According to the calculation of Fessler, the Bene- dictines count among their members 15,700 authors, 4000 bishops, 10J0 archbishops, 200 cardinals, 24 popes, and 1560 canonized saints. Among the great literary names that adorn the order are those of D'Achery, Mabillon, and Montfaucon, all St. Maurines. The principal sources of information on the Benedictines are, Mabillon, Annates Orel S. Benedicti (Paris, 1703-39, 6 vols, [carries the history up to 1157]); Ziegelbauer, Historiu rei literarim Ord. S. Bened. (Aug. Vind. 1754, 4 vols. fol.). See also Helyot, Ordres Religieur, i, 425 sq. ; Montalembert, Les Moines d* Occident (Paris, 18G0).
Benedictine Nuns, nuns following the order of Benedict. They claim St. Scholastics, the sister of Benedict, as their founder, but without historical grounds. All previous orders were gradually forced to adopt the Benedictine rule, and so it spread widely throughout Christendom. In France they possessed one hundred and sixteen priories and abbeys in the gift of the king alone, and in England seventy-four houses. In some of these houses the nuns followed the strictest rules, never touching meat, wearing no
Reformed Benedictine Nun: 1, at Home; 2, at Church,
BENEDICTION
141
BENEFICE
linen, and sleeping on the bare boards. Others ad- mitted some relaxation of this severity. The Bene- dictine nunneries were rarely united in congregations, but remained single, under the jurisdiction of the dio- cesan bishops, rarely under that of the Benedictine monks. Irregularities and disorder spread among them earlier and more generally than among the monks ; a great preference was given to the nobility, and some of the richest monasteries even changed themselves into secular institutions of ladies of nobili- tjr, which retained of the Benedictine order nothing but the name. Several congregations of reformed Benedictine nuns were founded, among which the most important were the congregation of Mount Calvary, founded in 1G17, and the congregation of the Perpetual Adoration of the Sacred Sacrament, who, in addition to other austerities, are obliged to have perpetually one of their number kneeling day and night before the sacrament ! They were founded by Catherine de Bar, a native of St. Die, in Lorraine, in 1015, and ratified by Innocent XI in 1676. Both have in recent times re-established several monasteries in France, the lat- ter also in Italy, Austria, and Poland.