Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 2.djvu/522

 BENEDICTINE

460

BENEDICTINE

monasteries a number of alu7nni. or pupils provision- ally intended for the monastic state, who though not in any way bound to do so, it showing any signs of vocation, are encouraged to receive the habit on reaching the canonical age.

A candidate for admission is usually kept as a postulant for at least some weeks in order that the community he seeks to join may judge whether he is a suitable person to be admitted to the proba- tionary stage. Having been accepted as such, he is "clothed" as a novice, receiving the religious habit and a reUgious name, and being placed under the care of the novice-master. According to the Rule he has to be trained and tested during his period of novice- ship, and canon law requires that for the most part the novice is to be kept apart from the rest of the community. For this reason the novices' quarters are generally placed, if possible, in a different part of the monastery from those occupied by the professed monks. The canonical novitiate lasts one year, at the end of which, if satisfactory, the novice may be admitted to simple vows, and at the conclusion of another three years, unless rejected for grave reasons, he makes his solemn vows of "Stability, Conversion of manners, and Obedience". (Rule of St. Benedict.)

Habit. — With slight modifications in shape in some congregations the habit of the order consists of a tunic, confined at the waist by a girdle of leather or cloth, a scapular, the width of the shoulders and reaching to the knees or ground, and a hood to cover the head. In choir, at chapter, and at certain other ceremonial times, a long full gown with large flowing sleeves, called a "cowl", is worn over the ordinary habit. The colour is not specified in the Rule but it is conjectured that the earliest Benedictines wore white or grey, as being the natural colour of undyed wool. For many centuries, however, black has been the prevailing colour, hence the term "black monk" has come to signify a Benedictine not belonging to one of those separate congregations which has adopted a distinctive colour, e. g. the Camaldolese, Cistercians, and Olivetans, who wear white, or the Sylvestrines, whose habit is blue. The only differ- ences in colour within the Benedictine federation are those of the monks of Monte Vergine. who though now belonging to the Cassinese congregation of Primitive Observance, still retain the white habit adopted by their founder in the twelfth century, and those of the congregation of St. Ottilien, who wear a red girdle to signify their special missionary character.

Present Work of the Order. — Parocliial work is imdertakeu by the following congregations: Cassinese, English, Swiss, Bavarian, Gallican, American-Cassi- nese, Swiss-American, Beuronese, Cassinese P. O., Austrian (both), Hungarian, and the Abbey of Fort Augustus. In the majority of these congregations the missions are attached to certain abbeys and the monks serving them are under the almost exclusive control of their own monastic superiors; in others the monks only supply the place of the secular clergy and are, therefore, for the time being, tmder their respective diocesan bishops.

The work of education is common to all congrega- tions of the order. It takes the form in different places of seminaries for ecclesiastical studies, schools, and gj'mnasia for secondary education not strictly ecclesiastical, or of colleges for a higher or university course. In .Austria and Bavaria many of the govern- ment lycees or gj^ninasia are entrusted to the care of the monks. In England and America the Benedictine schools rank high amongst the educational estab- lishments of those countries, and compete success- fully with the non-Catholic schools of a similar class. Those of the American Cassinese congregation have already been enumerated; they include three semi- naries, fourteen schools and colleges, and an orphan-

age, with a total of nearly two thousand students The Swiss American congregation carries on scholastic work at five of its abbeys. At St. Meinrad's. besides the seminary, there is a commercial college; at Spielerville (Arkansas) and Jlount Angel (Oregon) are seminaries; and at Conception, Spielerville, Cov- ington (Louisiana), and Jlount Angel are colleges. The English Benedictines have large and flourishing colleges attached to each of their abbeys, and be- longing to Downside are also two other smaller schools, one a "grammar school" at Ealing, London, and the other a preparatory school recently estab- lished at Enniscorthy, Ireland.

Foreign M issionary ]i'ork. — Besides the congrega- tion of St. Ottilien, which exists specially for the purpose of foreign missionary work, and has ten mission stations in the Apostolic Vicariate of Zanzi- bar, a few others are also represented in the foreign mission field. Both American congregations labour amongst the Indians, in Saskatchewan (N. W. T., Canada), Dakota, Vancouver's Island, and elsewhere. The Cassinese P. O. congregation has missions in the ApostoHc Vicariate of the Indian Territorj' (U. S. .\.) and in Argentina, under the monks of the French province, in New Zealand under the English province, in Western Australia (Diocese of Xcw Nursia and Apostohc Vicariate of Kimberley) and in the Phihppines under the Spanish province, and the Belgian proNince has quite lately made a foimdation in the Transvaal, South Africa. The BraziHan con- gregation has several missions in Brazil, which are under the direction of the Abbot of Rio de Janeiro, who is also a bishop. In the island of Mauritius the Bishop of Port Louis is generally an EngUsh Bene- dictine. Mention has already been made of the work of the Sylvestrine Benedictines in Ceylon and of the Cistercians in Natal, South Africa.

Statistics of the Order

loo

S

1

1-

h

1

s

,

S2

Is

-

~

e

-t;

o.S

o

.g

o

s

S

Sa

>r.S

m

QQ

IH

188

274

170,540

6

476

4

277

79

87.328

5

380

,1

355

42

V

978

1 1

383

51

78,422

10

1.719

Brazilian

K<

110

6

4

770

1 1

374

1

550

2

42

American Cassinese

10

753

151

110.320

18

1.702

Beuronese

»

711

14

3,812

5

141

V

348

103

35.605

10

675

Cassinese P. 0.

8

1,093

90

115,410

17

859

Imm. Cone.

11

647

367

460,832

11

1.891

St. Joseph

V

293

61

55.062

10

901

Hungarian

11

198

145

37,269

6

1.668

St. Ottilien

•/

163

10

2,835

3

190

Fort Augustus

1

47

8

430

St. Anselm's

1 155

1

5,940

1,402

1.192,734

114

12.392

Orders and congregations professing the Rule of St. Benedict but not included in the Benedictine Federation are as follows: —

MoxAs- No. OF

TERIES RELIGIOrs

Camaldolese 19 241

Vallombrosa 3 60

Cistercians (Common Ob- servance) 29 1,040

(Trappists).. 58 3,637

Sylvestrines 9 95

Ohvetans 10 122

Mechitarists 14 152

142

5,347