Benedictine Order

• Motto: Ora et Labora (prayer and work)
• Formation: c. 535–540 CE
• Founder: Saint Benedict of Nursia

The Order of Saint Benedict (O.S.B.) is a religious order in which the members follow the rule of life written by Saint Benedict of Nursia. Benedict, an Italian who lived from about 480 to 547 CE, wrote the order’s guiding principle, the Benedictine Rule, around 535 to 540. Members of this order consist of priests, nuns, and lay brothers, and they may be Roman Catholic or Anglican. The members are called Benedictines, and the order is often called the Benedictine Order.

There is no central organization, and each monastery is independent. Benedict wrote his rule for the monks of his monastery at Monte Cassino in Italy, but he did not intend to found a new religious order. In contrast to the cultures of the other rigid regimens of the time, he made his rule strict but not extreme so that all could follow it. Among other requirements, Benedictines are required to both work and pray. During the Middle Ages, their work included farming and copying manuscripts. Their prayers were highly valued, and people made donations to receive the monks’ prayers.

Later religious orders often based their own rules on the Benedictine Rule, which became the foundation for Western monasticism.

Saint Benedict’s feast day was originally celebrated on March 21, which, according to some manuscripts, was the day of his death. However, after 1969, his feast day was moved to July 11 because March 21 falls during Lent.

History

Saint Benedict was born in Nursia, Italy, in the early sixth century CE. He studied in Rome but turned away from life there to live as a hermit in a cave, dedicating his life to God. After three years, a group of local monks asked him to be their abbot. He taught them to worship together as a community. However, they soon became disenchanted with his discipline and tried to poison him. He returned to his cave and eventually established twelve monasteries in the area but left when a local priest turned against him and his work. Benedict settled at Monte Cassino and built a monastery there, later writing the rule that influenced Western monastic life for centuries.

Benedict’s sister Scholastica (c. 480–542) settled nearby and established a religious community of women who followed Benedict’s Rule. Some say she was Benedict’s twin; others say she was not. The Feast of Saint Scholastica is celebrated on February 10.

After Benedict’s death, the Benedictine Order continued to flourish and spread through Europe, Scandinavia, and Iceland. The Lombards destroyed the monastery at Monte Cassino in 580, and the monks took refuge in Rome, where Pope Gregory the Great helped them build a new monastery. For the next five hundred years, the monasteries became centers of education, learning, and literature, growing in both size and wealth. There were no other monastic orders in Europe until the twelfth century, and at that point, there were an estimated 3,000 Benedictine monasteries of men and women in existence.

The Benedictine Order declined with the coming of the Protestant Reformation in the sixteenth century, but in the seventeenth century, the order rebounded. The Benedictine Order was present in the Americas, Asia, Africa, and Australia in the nineteenth century. In the third decade of the twenty-first century, the number of Benedictine monks totaled between 7,000 and 8,000.

Beliefs & Practices

Men and women of the Order of Saint Benedict follow Benedict’s Rule, which emphasizes common sense and moderation as well as prayer, meditation, study, work, and community life. Benedict established a one-year probation; following this probation period, candidates take several vows. One of the vows the Benedictines take is a vow of obedience to the abbot, who is the head of the monastery. Other vows include vows of chastity, poverty, and stability—meaning members will stay in one monastery for as long as they live. They also vow to seek God through prayer, reading, and service.

Saint Benedict’s motto was Ora et Labora, meaning "prayer and work." In addition to personal prayer, Benedictines participate in public worship, singing or reciting the Divine Office daily. The Divine Office is the Roman Catholic official public prayer. Benedictines perform physical labor in addition to engaging in prayer. They may work in the garden or fields, do domestic or intellectual work, or do service work. Benedict divided the day into three parts, which included five to six hours of prayer, five hours of manual labor, and four hours of religious reading.

Benedict did not mandate a particular kind of clothing or habit, saying only that the monk’s attire should be simple and should fit. Usually, Benedictines wear a black habit with a tunic, belt, and hood. Over the habit is a scapular, a long length of cloth that hangs from the shoulders and may reach to the knees or to the ground. A cowl, a long gown with wide sleeves and a hood, is worn for ceremonies. At least one Benedictine Order wears a white habit.

Benedictines are organized into communities headed by an elected abbot or abbess. If the community is small, it is headed by a prior or prioress. Communities may join together to form congregations, and the congregations join together in the Benedictine Confederation. The head of the Confederation is the abbot primate, whose purpose is to encourage unity. The abbot primate is different from the general of other religious orders insofar as he is considered to be first among equals and not a superior. He interferes as little as possible with the independence of the individual communities. Some communities do not join congregations and instead communicate directly with the abbot primate. In 2018, there were about 7,500 monks in 400 communities. This number remained steady throughout the early 2020s. Most communities are small, with some numbering less than twenty people; the largest communities have about one hundred monks. 13,000 nuns were also attached to the order.

The Benedictine life within one community can be very different from life in another, although all members of the order are still living according to Benedict’s Rule. Some members live within their monasteries and remain separate from the outside world. Others become involved with local society outside the monastery walls through such efforts as education, mission work, and healthcare.

Bibliography

Atwood, Craig D., and Frank S. Mead. Handbook of Denominations in the United States. 13th ed., Abingdon, 2010.

“Benedictines.” Belmont Abbey, belmontabbey.org/benedictines. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.

"A Brief History of the Benedictine Order." OSB.org, www.osb.org/our-roots/a-brief-history-of-the-benedictine-order. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.

Jeffrey, James. “Monastic Decline and the Loss that Goes with It.” Catholic World Report, 3 Dec. 2022, www.catholicworldreport.com/2022/12/03/monastic-decline-and-the-loss-that-goes-with-it/. Accessed 21 Dec. 2024.

Juergensmeyer, Mark, and Wade Clark Roof. Encyclopedia of Global Religion. Sage, 2012.

Kessler, Ann, and Neville Ann Kelly. Benedictine Men and Women of Courage: Roots and History. Rev. ed., Lean Scholar, 2014.

Werner, Roberta. Reaching for God: The Benedictine Oblate Way of Life. Liturgical Press, 2013.