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 BENEDICT

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BENEDICT

prayer, it is because the whole condition and mode of life secured by the Rule, and the character formed by its observance, lead naturally to the higher states of prayer. As the saint writes: "Whoever, therefore, thou art that hastenest to thy heavenly country, fulfil by the help of Christ this little Rule which we have written for beginners; and then at length thou shalt arrive, imder God's protection, at the lofty summits of doctrine and virtue of which we have spoken above" (ibid., Ixxiii). For guidance in these higher states the saint refers to the Fathers, Basil and Cassian.

From this short examination of the Rule and its system of prayer, it will be obvious that to describe the Benedictine as a contemplative order is mislead- ing, if the word is vised in its modern technical sense as excluding active work; the "contemplative" is a font of life framed for different circumstances and with a different object from St. Benedict's. The

We can now take up again the story of Benedict's life. How long he remained at Subiaco we do not know. Abbot Tosti conjectures it was imtil the year 529. Of these years St. Gregory is content to tell no more than a few stories descriptive of the life of the monks, and of the character and government of St. Benedict. The latter was making his first attempt to reahze in these twelve monasteries his conception of the monastic hfe. We can fill in many of the details from the Rule. By his own experiment and his knowledge of the history of monasticism the saint had learnt that the regeneration of the individual, except in abnormal cases, is not reached by the path of solitude, nor by that of austerity, but by the beaten track of man's social instinct, with its nec- essary conditions of obedience and work; and that neither the body nor the mind can be safely over- strained in the effort to avoid evil (ibid., bdv). Thus at Subiaco we find no solitaiies, no conventual her-

The Abbet of Moxte C.\f«ixo

Rule, including its system of prayer and public psalmody, is meant for every class of mind and every degree of learning. It is framed not only for the educated and for souls advanced in perfection, but it organizes and directs a complete life which is adapted for simple folk and for sinners, for the ob- servance of the Commandments and for the be- ginnings of goodness. " We have written this Rule", writes St. Benedict, "that by observing it in mon- asteries, we maj' shew ourselves to have some degree of goodness in life and a beginning of holiness. But for him who would hasten to the perfection of re- ligion there are the teachings of the holy Fathers, the following whereof bringeth a man to the height of perfection" (ibid.. Ixxiii). Before leaving the subject of prayer it will be well to point out again that by ordering the public recitation and singing of the Psalter. St. Benedict was not putting upon his monks a distinctively clerical obligation. The Psalter was the common form of prayer of all Christians; we must not read into his Rule characteristics which a later age and discipline have made inseparable from the pu'uho recitation of the Divine Office.

mits, no great austerities, but men living together in org,anized communities for the purpose of leading good lives, doing such work as came to their hand — carrying water up the steep mountain-side, doing the other household work, raising the twelve cloisters, clearing the ground, making gardens, teaching children, preaching to the coimtrj- people, reading and stud>dng at least four hours a day, recei\Tng strangers, accepting and training new-comers, at- tending the regvilar hours of prayer, reciting and chanting the Psalter. The life at Subiaco and the character of St. Benedict attracted many to the new monasteries, and with their increasing nimibers and growing influence came the inevitable jealousy and persecution, which culminated with a vile attempt of a neighbouring priest to scandalize the monks by an exhibition of naked women, dancing in the court- yard of the saint's monastery (Dial. St. Greg., viii). To save his followers from further persecution Bene- dict left Subiaco and went to Monte Cassino.

Upon the crest of Monte Cassino "there was an ancient chapel in which the foolish and simple coimtrj' people, according to the custom of the old