MONASTICISM
469
MONASTICISM
Western monachism, which had a still laxer constitu- tion, had not a remarkable man introduced into the monastic life a more settled order and a more rigid discipline, and given it the shaping and direction of a hierarchical religious order, by which it became so influ- ential an instrument to Christianity, particularly for the conversion and the culture of rude nations (Neander, ii, 25t»). This remarkable man was Benedict, an Ital- ian monk of the early part of the Gth century. His religious rules were at first intended and framed mere- \y for the government of the convent Monte Cassino (q. v.), over which he presided, but the}' afterwards were adopted hy or forced upon a verj' great number of monasteries. His rule was founded on that of Pacho- miiis, though in many respects it deviated from it. His great object seems to have been to render the dis- ci])line of the monks milder, their establishment more solid, and their manners more regular than those of other monastic establishments. "Benedict," saj's Ne- ander, "aimed to counteract the licentious life of the irregular monks — who roamed about the country, and spread a corrupting influence both on manners and on religion — by the introduction of a severer discipline and spirit of order." The dominant principles of Benedict's rule are obedience and labor; being ad- ministrative rather than creative in its origin, and pre- supposing the existing rules of chastity and poverty. The founder speaks of his rule as merely a beginning, a tentative ordinance — " Hanc minimam inchoationis regulam," etc. (c. 73). The principal of every estab- lishment was enjoined to take counsel, either of the whole house in capitular assembly, or of the decanal bod J' chosen from the different decades of the communi- ty. A candidate for the novitiate was long kept with- out the walls to try his constanc}'. When admitted within, he was placed for two months under the tuition and surveillance of an experienced monk, and warned daily with respect to the hardships and discipline of the monastery. If the novice still wished to take the vow, the laws of the society were read over to him, and per- mission given him to return to the world if he so pleased. The same opportunity was three times re- peated during the jear of novitiate, at the expiration of which time he was admitted as a member of the community. The sixty-three heads under which the rule is arranged refer to the relative duties of the principal and subordinate members — divine worship, discipline, household economj', and various ordinances referring to hospitality, missions, nursing, etc. The prescribed dress was in all probability that which had ahvaj's been adopted by recluses, for it is almost the same coarse garb as that which Columella {De Re Rus- tlca, xi, 1) recommends for the f;irm serf in all kinds of weather. The whole time of the monks of his order he directed to be divided between praj'er, reading, the ed- ucation of j'outh, and other pious and learned labors. All who entered his order were obliged to pi-omise when they were received as novitiates, and to repeat their promise when thej-^ were admitted as full mem- bers of the society, that they would in no respect and on no account attempt to change or add to the rules which he had instituted. Doubtless aware that the ascetic severity of manj' of the monastic orders in the East was unsuited to the rude men of the West, and also to the more unfriendly climate, Benedict did not require of his monks many of the mortifications which were sometimes imposed upon those of the East, and allowed them several indulgences Avhich were there sometimes forbidden. His rule was consequently em- braced by nearly all the monks of the West. In some of the more isolated churches, as, for instance, that of Britain, it would seem that the reformations of St. Benedict were not introduced until a late period; and in the churches of that country', as well as those of Ire- land, the}- were a subject of considerable controversy. Benedict admitted botli tlie learned and unlearned into his order ; it was the dutv of the first to assist
at the choir, of the latter to attend to the household economy and temporal concerns of the monastery. At this period, it may be observed, the recitation of the divine office at the choir (as it is called by the Roman Catholics) was confined to the monks ; after- wards it was established as the duty of all priests, deacons, and sub-deacons. The Benedictines at first admitted none into their order who were not well in- structed how to perform it ; but it was not necessary that they should be priests, or even in holy orders. Afterwards many were admitted who were ignorant of the duty of the choir ; they were employed in meni- al duties : hence the introduction of Lai/ Brothers into the Benedictine order. When first introduced, they were not considered as a portion of the monastic es- tablishment, but as merely attached and subordinate to it; but in course of time both the order and the Church acknowledged them to be, in the strictest sense of the word, professed religious. All other religious orders, both men and women, following the example of the Benedictines, have admitted lay brothers and sisters. In 1322 the Council of Vienna ordered all monks to enter into the order of priesthood. The monks of Vallombrosa, in Tuscany, are the first among whom lay brothers are found under that appellation. See Lay Brother ; Priesthood. One of the most important modifications of monachism in the West, it will be noticed by the careful reader, regarded the nature of the occupation in which the monks were to be engaged during the times not directly devoted to prayer, meditation, or other spiritual exercises. In the East, manual labor formed the chief, if not the sole external occupation prescribed to the monks ; it being held as a fundamental principle that for each individual the main business of life was the sanctifica- tion of his own soul. In the West, besides the labor of the hands, mental occupation was also prescribed, not, it is true, for all, but for those for whom it was es- pecially calculated. From an early period, therefore, the convents of the West became schools of learning, and training-houses for the clergy and the missionary. At a later period, most monasteries possessed a scnp- toriuni, or writing-room, in which the monks were em- ployed in the transcription of MSS. ; and though much of the work so done was, as might naturally be expect- ed, in the department of sacred learning, yet it is to the scholars of the cloister we owe the preservation of most of those masterpieces of ancient classic literature which have reached our age (comp., however, Leckey, Hist. Europ. Morals, ii, 220 sq.). Thence also went out those who became founders of Christianity in hea- then countries. In this way Germany and Switzer- land were converted. In these, as well as in the Sla- vic countries, it was not only by preaching, but still more by the establishment of convents having the character of agricultural establishments, that conver- sion was advanced (comp. Maclear, /7i«<. of Chistian Missions in the Middle Ages, p. 40G sq.).