BENEDICTINES
An order of monks who professed to follow the rules of St. Benedict. They were obliged to perform their devotions seven times in twenty-four hours. They were obliged always to go two and two together. Every day in Lent they fasted till six in the evening, and abated of their usual time in sleeping, eating, &c.
Every monk had two coats, two cowls, a table-book, a knife, a needle, and a handkerchief; and the furniture of his bed was a mat, a blanket, a rug, and a pillow. The time when this order came into England is well known, for to it the English owe their conversion from idolatry. They founded the metropolitan church of Canterbury, and all the cathedrals that were afterwards erected. the order has produced a vast number of eminent men.
Their Alcuinus formed the university of Paris; their Dionysius Exiguus perfected the ecclesiastical computation; their Guido invented the scale of music; and their Sylvester the organ.
Fuente: Theological Dictionary
Benedictines
Broadly speaking, the Order comprises all religious following the Rule of Saint Benedict, though in its proper sense it does not include branches of the order which later became independent, such as the Cistercians and Camaldolese. The Benedictines, sometimes called Black Monks from their habit, were founded at Monte Cassino, Italy, by Benedict of Nursia, c.529. The aim of the order is the personal sanctification of its members who may undertake any work provided it be compatible with living in community and the performance of Divine Office in choir. The influence of the monks has manifested itself in missionary works, notably by the conversion of the Teutonic races, in the civilization of northwestern Europe, and in the fields of art, literature, and education. They engage in teaching, the practise of the arts, agriculture, in study, and, the care of souls. Continual industry and an atmosphere of peace characterize their monasteries. Peace is their motto. Monte Cassino was destroyed by the Lombards, 581 or 589, and the monks were sheltered in the Lateran Basilica, Rome. Pope Gregory the Great established the Benedictine rule in his monastery of Saint Andrew on the Coelian Hill, and probably in six others which he founded, and introduced the order into England, whence its missionaries spread over Europe. In the 9th century barberic invasions of Europe razed many monasteries, but a new period of Benedictine fame began with the establishment of the renowned Abbey of Cluny, 910. A number of the greatest universities of Europe developed from schools of the Benedictines, including those of Paris, Bologna, and Cambridge. Important among yhe offshoots of the order which were established during this period were the Camaldolese (1009), Vallombrosians (1039), Cistercians (1098), Sylvestrines (1231), and Olivetans (1319). Cluny’s centralized method of government was followed by a number of monasteries which united themselves in groups, the groups later forming congregations. This was a deviation from the original idea of Saint Benedict, who sought the total independence of each abbey.
The feudal system, by which abbots of some of the great Benedictine monasteries became feudal lords, the appointment of commendatory abbots and other social and political circumstances resulted in a period of decline for the order in the latter half of the 12th century until its revival after the Council of Constance (1414-1418). Widespread reform ensued, and approximately 1500 abbeys could be counted in Europe at the time of the Reformation. All of these were centers from which civilization spread and some of them, especially Cluny, exercised a strong influence on the spirit, morals, and learning of their times. The French Congregation of Saint Maur, dating from 1621, attained fame by reason of its extensive activity in the field of literature and the devout lives of its members. The French Revolution, wars, secularization, and similar causes took their toll of Benedictine foundations, so that in the early 19th century there were no more than 30 houses of the order extant. Since that time another revival has taken place, though later in the same century houses were closed in Spain, Italy, and France. At present the Benedictines number 15 congregations, viz: the Cassinese, English, Hungarian, Swiss, Bavarian, Brazilian, French, American-Cassinese, Swiss-American, Beuronese, Cassinese of Primitive Observance, Austrian (of the Immaculate Conception), Austrian (of Saint Joseph), Saint Ottilien, and Belgian.
Benedictine nuns or Sisters of Saint Benedict are women following the Rule of Saint Benedict. As the abbeys of the Benedictine monks increased in number, monasteries for women were also established. Saint Benedict’s sister, Scholastica, ruled over such a community not far from the Abbey of Monte Cassino, though it is open to question whether this may be considered the actual foundation of the Benedictine nuns. Gradually the Rule of Saint Benedict was introduced into convents of Gaul and the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle enjoined its observance in all nunneries of the empire. England, Germany, and other parts of the continent saw the rise of many convents, rivaling in number the abbeys of the monks in the Middle Ages. They sustained great losses due to the Reformation, the wars of religion, and the French Revolution. The convents are not united in the congregational system, but are either under the direction of a particular abbey or else subject to the episcopal jurisdiction of the diocese in which they are located. The nuns engage principally in educational work, and have monasteries in the United States, British Isles, and Malta, Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Holland, Italy, and Poland .
Fuente: New Catholic Dictionary
Benedictines
a monastic order of the Roman Catholic Church, founded by Benedict of Nursia in 515 (according to others, 529) in Monte Cassino. The leading ideas in the monastic rule of St. Benedict were, SEE BENEDICT OF NURSIA, that the monks should live in common a retired life, remain poor, and render unlimited obedience to their superiors. Benedict states explicitly (ch. 73) that his rule can lead only to the beginning of a holy life, while he refers his monks for perfectness to the Scriptures and the fathers. His aim was to give to repentant and religious men of the world a house of refuge, but he had no projects for a universal mission in the Church such as those entertained by the later mendicant orders. He received children into his convents, who, under the common superintendence of all the monks, and clothed in the monastic habit, were educated for the monastic life.
The spread of the order was very rapid. As early as 541 it was introduced into Sicily, and in 543 into France. The order began to take extraordinary dimensions through the exertions of Pope Gregory the Great, who lent the whole weight of his vast influence to its diffusion. Augustine introduced it into England and Ireland, and the followers of Cassian and Columban in large number exchanged their former rules for those of Benedict. When, in the eighth century, the bulk of the Germanic world entered into connection with the Roman Catholic Church, the prominent influence of Boniface, himself a Benedictine, secured for the principles of his order almost general adoption by the rising monastic institutions of Germany. As its wealth and power advanced, the Benedictine order by degrees almost monopolized the science and learning in the Christian Church, and established a large number of distinguished schools. Their many Irish teachers (known under the name of Scots) were the first to lay the foundation of the scholastic theology. As many of the convents amassed great riches, the strict rule and primitive purity of morals disappeared, and attempts at reform were called forth. The most remarkable among these were that of Benedict of Aniane (q.v.) in the eighth century, of Abbot Berno at Clugny 910, at Hirschau 1069, at Vallombrosa in the eleventh century, at Bursfield in 1425. These reforms introduced among the followers of Benedict the congregational system, combining several convents into a congregation, with a common government. The congregation of English Benedictines founded by Augustine was reformed by St. Dunstan in 900, again by Lanfranc in 1072, and finally suppressed by Henry VIII. The congregational government has since remained that of the Benedictines, who have never had a general and central government like the other orders. The efforts to introduce a greater centralization led, from the end of the tenth century, to the establishment of new orders. Thus arose, on the basis of the rule of St. Benedict, but with many alterations, the orders of Camaldoli, SEE CAMALDULES, Fontevrault (q.v.), Chartreux (q.v.), Citeaux, SEE CISTERCIANS, Humiliates, Olivetans, Tironeneans, SEE BERNARD OF TIRON, and others.
Benedict XII, in 1336, divided the Benedictines into 36 provinces, and decreed the regular holding of triennial provincial chapters and annual general chapters, but this Constitution could never be carried through. The rise of the mendicant orders (q.v.) deprived the Benedictines of a great deal of their influence, and their subsequent distinction lay almost wholly in the field of literary production. The Reformation reduced the number of their convents from 15,000 to 5000. After the Reformation, piety and discipline continued to be generally at a very low ebb throughout the Benedictine community, where it was more difficult than with other orders to find a remedy, as frequently laymen were made abbots (commendatory abbots), on account of the rich revenues of the monasteries. Still, it put forth some flourishing new branches, among which the congregation of St. Vanne and St. Hidulph, established by Didier de la Caeur (15501623), and the congregation of St. Maur [see MAUR, St.], the most learned of all monastic confraternities in the history of the Roman Catholic Church, are the most remarkable.
The reign of Joseph II in Austria, the French Revolution, 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 present 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 colleges. In France an attempt at reviving the congregation of St. Maur was made in 1833 by the establishment of a Benedictine community at Solesme. These new St. Maurines have already developed a great literary activity, but have as yet neither been able to extend themselves nor to attain the celebrity of their predecessors. In Switzerland the order has, besides several other convents, the convent of Einsiedeln, one of the most famous places of pilgrimages in the Roman Catholic Church. The order has also been re- established in England and Belgium. In the United States they have St. Vincent’s Abbey, in the diocese of Pittsburg, 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 endeavors of papal delegates, aided by the state government, 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 belongs, 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 Benedictines count among their members 15,700 authors, 4000 bishops, 1600 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, Annales Ord. S. Benedicti (Paris, 1703-39, 6 vols. [carries the history up to 1157]); Ziegelbauer, Historia rei literariae Ord. S. Bened., (Aug. Vind. 1754, 4 vols. fol.). See also Helyot, Ordres Religieux, 1, 425 sq.; Montalembert, Les Moines d’ Occident (Paris, 1860).