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This article concerns Roman Catholic Benedictines; see also Benedictine Confederation and Benedictine.

For the article on Orthodox Benedictines, see Order of Saint Benedict (Orthodox)

For the Anglican order of the same name, see Order of St. Benedict (Anglican)

The Order of Saint Benedict – full Latin name: Ordo Sancti Benedicti (Ordo, nominative 'Order', Sancti Benedicti, genitive 'of Saint Benedict', initials: OSB – sometimes referred to as the Benedictine Order, is a name used for the Roman Catholic confederation of congregations into which, in modern times, the traditionally independent monastic communities ("abbeys", "Houses") that observe the Rule of St Benedict have affiliated themselves for the purpose of representing their mutual interests, without the individual abbeys however ceasing any of their autonomy

Today the terms "Order of St Benedict" and "Benedictine Order" are also used frequently to refer to the total of the independent Roman Catholic Benedictine abbeys, thereby giving the wrong impression of a "generalate" or "motherhouse" with jurisdiction over dependent communities.

Contents 1 Historical development 2 Benedictine Vow and life 3 General 4 See also 5 Further reading 6 Benedictines in popular culture and fiction 7 External links

The monastery at Monte Cassino in Italy established by Saint Benedict of Nursia ca 529 was the first of a dozen monasteries founded by him. Even so, there is no evidence to suggest that he intended to found an order. Quite the contrary – his Rule presupposes the autonomy of each community. But despite the absence of a Benedictine order, since most monasteries founded during the Middle Ages adopted the Rule of St Benedict – initially only communities of monks but soon also communities of nuns –, it became the standard for Western Monasticism.

The Benedictine monasteries went on to make considerable contributions not only to the monastic and the spiritual life of the West, but also to economics, education, and government, so that the years from 550 to 1150 may be called the "Benedictine centuries".

Even today Benedictine monasticism is fundamentally different from other Western religious orders insofar as its individual communities are not part of a religious order with "Generalates" and "Superiors General". Rather, in modern times, the various autonomous Houses (that is, communities) have formed themselves loosely into Congregations (for example, Cassinese, English, Solesmes, Subiaco, Camaldolese, Sylvestrines) that in turn are represented in the Benedictine Confederation that came into existence through Pope Leo XIII's Apostolic Brief "Summum semper" (12 July 1893). This organization facilitates convenient dialogue of likeminded communities with e.g. religious orders and attending efficiently to certain other mutual interests.

Other religious that use the Rule of Saint Benedict and are generally considered to be of the Benedictine tradition are the Cistercians, Bernardines, and Benedictine Sisters of Grace and Compassion, although these are not part of the Benedictine Confederation.

The largest number of Benedictines are Roman Catholics or members of one of the churches of the Anglican Communion, although they are occasionally found in other Christian denominations as well, e.g. the Lutheran church.

The original purpose of monasteries is not to contribute to culture, or even save it perhaps, but to ensure salvation for its members. Therefore, the Rule of St Benedict (ch. 58.17) requires candidates for reception into a Benedictine community to promise solemnly stability (to remain in the same monastery), conversatione morum (an idiomatic Latin phrase suggesting "conversion of manners"), and obedience (to the superior, because the superior holds the place of Christ in their community). This solemn commitment tends to be referred to as the "Benedictine vow" and is the Benedictine antecedent and equivalent of the evangelical counsels professed by candidates for reception into a religious order.

Benedictine abbots and abbesses have full jurisdiction of their abbey ("House") and thus absolute authority over the monks, or nuns resp., of their own House, e.g. to assign them duties, to decide their choice of books, to take charge of their comings and goings, and if necessary to punish and even to excommunicate them.

A tight communal timetable ("horarium") is meant to ensure that the time given by the God is not wasted but in whichever way necessary used in his service, whether for prayer, work, meals, spiritual reading, sleep.

The Benedictines make no vow of silence, nevertheless the hours of stricter silence are fixed, and even at other times, out of fraternal love, silence is maintained as much as is practically possible. Social conversations tend to be limited to communal recreation times. But such details, like many others details of the daily routine of a Benedictine House that the Rule of St Benedict leaves to the discretion of the superior, are set out in its customary.

In the Roman Catholic Church according to the norms of the Code of Canon Law 1983 a Benedictine abbey is a "Religious Institute", and its professed members are therefore members of the "Consecrated Life", commonly referred to as "Religious". All Benedictine monks and nuns are members of the Laity among the Christian Faithful; only those Benedictine monks who have been ordained priests are also members of the Hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church.

Benedictines who are not members of the Consecrated Life (i.e., Oblates) nevertheless endeavour to embrace the spirit of the Benedictine Vow in their own life in the world.

The Benedictine motto is: pax (Latin: "peace"), traditionally also ora et labora (Latin: "pray and work").

Since the Middle Ages those Benedictine monks that traditionally wear a black habit have been nicknamed "Black Monks".

• Benedictine
• Abbey of Cluny, an abbey, reformed during the Middle Ages, strictly adhering to the Rule.
• Camaldolese
• Sylvestrines
• Cistercian
• Trappists
• Mont Saint-Michel
• Autpert Ambrose
• Henry Wansbrough
• Blue Cloud Abbey, a monastery in South Dakota, US.

• Dom Columba Marmion OSB, Christ the Ideal of the Monk – Spiritual Conferences on the Monastic and Religious Life (Engl. edition London 1926, trsl. from the French by a nun of Tyburn Convent).

(The following list is not limited to titles that traditionally would have been approved monastic reading.)

• A stage play based on a book by Hugh Whitemore, The Best of Friends, provides a window on the friendships of Dame Laurentia McLachlan, OSB (late Abbess of Stanbrook) with Sir Sydney Cockerell and George Bernard Shaw through adaptations from their letters and writings.
• The 1975 TV film In This House of Brede, with Dame Diana Rigg in the lead role, presents a portrayal of the progress of a fictitious postulant. The film was inspired by the 1969 novel of the same name written by Rumer Godden.
• Perhaps the most famous Benedictine monk in all fictiondom is Brother Cadfael. (Friar Tuck does not qualify for this distinction, as he was a Franciscan.) Edith Pargeter, writing under the pen name Ellis Peters, created the character of Brother Cadfael as the detective hero of her series of medieval murder mysteries known as The Cadfael Chronicles.
• Although the protagonist is a Franciscan, the Umberto Eco novel The Name of the Rose is set in a fictional Benedictine monastery in Italy.
• Samples of chanting Benedictine monks were used in the song I'm Dying by V.A.S.T., from their album Visual Audio Sensory Theater.
• Joseph Knecht, the protagonist of Hermann Hesse's novel The Glass Bead Game, is sent as an ambassador of sorts to a Benedictine abbey for his first assignment.
• Benedectine warrior-monks are featured in the Legacy of the Aldenata series by John Ringo.

This article or section is missing citations or needs footnotes. Using inline citations helps guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies.(August 2007)

• Abbot Primate Jerome Theisen, The Benedictines: An Introduction
• R Dom Luke Dysinger, The Benedictine Family Tree with an introduction to the Benedictine Confederation
• Catholic Encyclopedia entry for The Benedictine Order
• Confoederatio Benedictina Ordinis Sancti Benedicti, the Benedictine Confederation of Congregations
• Benedictine Abbeys of Provence in France (fr.with translator)
• Links of the Congregations

• Benedictine Abbeys & Monasteries:
  • Ganagobie Abbey, Ste.Madeleine, France
  • St. Bernard Abbey, Cullman, Alabama, U.S.
  • Saint Benedict's Monastery, St. Joseph, Minnesota, U.S.
  • St. Anselm's Abbey, Washington, D.C., U.S.
  • Assumption Abbey, Richardton, North Dakota, U.S.
  • Belmont Abbey, Belmont, North Carolina, U.S.
  • Sisters of St. Benedict at St. Mary Monastery, Rock Island, Illinois, U.S.
  • St. Meinrad Archabbey St. Meinrad, Indiana, U.S.
  • Marmion Abbey Aurora, Illinois, U.S.
  • Saint Joseph Abbey & Seminary College Benedictine Monks In Saint Benedict, Louisiana
  • St John's Abbey, Collegeville, MN
  • St Mary's Abbey Delbarton School, Morris Township, New Jersey, U.S.
  • St. Benedict Abbey Still River, Massachusetts, U.S.
  • Monastery of the Ascension, Jerome, Idaho, U.S.
  • Glenstal Abbey County Limerick, Ireland
  • Benedictine Sisters - Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration in Clyde, Missouri, U.S.
  • Kansas Monks - St. Benedict's Abbey in Atchison, Kansas, U.S.
  • Benedictine Sisters of Mount St. Scholastica - Mount St. Scholastica in Atchison, Kansas, U.S.
  • Benedictine Sisters of Virginia - Saint Benedict Monastery, Bristow, Virginia, U.S.
  • Benedictine Sisters of Ferdinand, Indiana
  • Missionary Benedictines of Christ the King Priory, Schuyler, Nebraska, U.S.

This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.