Benedict of Nursia - The Rule of Saint Benedict

Benedict of Nursia

Regula Sancti Benedicti

Translator: Leonard J. Doyle

e-artnow, 2022

Contact: info@e-artnow.org

EAN: 4066338120106

Prologue PROLOGUE Table of Contents

Chapter 1. On the Kinds of Monks CHAPTER 1 On the Kinds of Monks Table of Contents

Chapter 2. What Kind of Man the Abbot Ought to Be CHAPTER 2 What Kind of Man the Abbot Ought to Be Table of Contents

Chapter 3. On Calling the Brethren for Counsel CHAPTER 3 On Calling the Brethren for Counsel Table of Contents

Chapter 4. What Are the Instruments of Good Works CHAPTER 4 What Are the Instruments of Good Works Table of Contents

Chapter 5. On Obedience

Chapter 6. On the Spirit of Silence

Chapter 7. On Humility

Chapter 8. On the Divine Office During the Night

Chapter 9. How Many Psalms Are to Be Said at the Night Office

Chapter 10. How the Night Office Is to Be Said in Summer Time

Chapter 11. How the Night Office Is to Be Said on Sundays

Chapter 12. How the Morning Office Is to Be Said

Chapter 13. How the Morning Office Is to Be Said on Weekdays

Chapter 14. How the Night Office Is to Be Said on the Feasts of the Saints

Chapter 15. At What Times “Alleluia” Is to Be Said

Chapter 16. How the Work of God Is to Be Performed During the Day

Chapter 17. How Many Psalms Are to Be Said at These Hours

Chapter 18. In What Order the Psalms Are to Be Said

Chapter 19. On the Manner of Saying the Divine Office

Chapter 20. On Reverence in Prayer

Chapter 21. On the Deans of the Monastery

Chapter 22. How the Monks Are to Sleep

Chapter 23. On Excommunication for Faults

Chapter 24. What the Measure of Excommunication Should Be

Chapter 25. On Weightier Faults

Chapter 26. On Those Who Without an Order Associate With the Excommunicated

Chapter 27. How Solicitous the Abbot Should Be for the Excommunicated

Chapter 28. On Those Who Will Not Amend After Repeated Corrections

Chapter 29. Whether Brethren Who Leave the Monastery Should Be Received Again

Chapter 30. How Boys Are to Be Corrected

Chapter 31. What Kind of Man the Cellarer of the Monastery Should Be

Chapter 32. On the Tools and Property of the Monastery

Chapter 33. Whether Monks Ought to Have Anything of Their Own

Chapter 34. Whether All Should Receive in Equal Measure What Is Necessary

Chapter 35. On the Weekly Servers in the Kitchen

Chapter 36. On the Sick Brethren

Chapter 37. On Old Men and Children

Chapter 38. On the Weekly Reader

Chapter 39. On the Measure of Food

Chapter 40. On the Measure of Drink

Chapter 41. At What Hours the Meals Should Be Taken

Chapter 42. That No One Speak After Compline

Chapter 43. On Those Who Come Late to the Work of God or to Table

Chapter 44. How the Excommunicated Are to Make Satisfaction

Chapter 45. On Those Who Make Mistakes in the Oratory

Chapter 46. On Those Who Fail in Any Other Matters

Chapter 47. On Giving the Signal for the Time of the Work of God

Chapter 48. On the Daily Manual Labor

Chapter 49. On the Observance of Lent

Chapter 50. On Brethren Who Are Working Far From the Oratory or Are on a Journey

Chapter 51. On Brethren Who Go Not Very Far Away

Chapter 52. On the Oratory of the Monastery

Chapter 53. On the Reception of Guests

Chapter 54. Whether a Monk Should Receive Letters or Anything Else

Chapter 55. On the Clothes and Shoes of the Brethren

Chapter 56. On the Abbot’s Table

Chapter 57. On the Craftsmen of the Monastery

Chapter 58. On the Manner of Receiving Brethren

Chapter 59. On the Sons of Nobles and of the Poor Who Are Offered

Chapter 60. On Priests Who May Wish to Live in the Monastery

Chapter 61. How Pilgrim Monks Are To Be Received

Chapter 62. On the Priests of the Monastery

Chapter 63. On the Order of the Community

Chapter 64. On Constituting an Abbot

Chapter 65. On the Prior of the Monastery

Chapter 66. On the Porters of the Monastery

Chapter 67. On Brethren Who Are Sent on a Journey

Chapter 68. If a Brother Is Commanded to Do Impossible Things

Chapter 69. That the Monks Presume Not to Defend One Another

Chapter 70. That No One Venture to Punish at Random

Chapter 71. That the Brethren Be Obedient to One Another

Chapter 72. On the Good Zeal Which Monks Ought to Have

Chapter 73. On the Fact That the Full Observance of Justice Is Not Established in This Rule

Table of Contents

Listen, my son, to your master’s precepts, and incline the ear of your heart. Receive willingly and carry out effectively your loving father’s advice, that by the labor of obedience you may return to Him from whom you had departed by the sloth of disobedience.

To you, therefore, my words are now addressed, whoever you may be, who are renouncing your own will to do battle under the Lord Christ, the true King, and are taking up the strong, bright weapons of obedience.

And first of all, whatever good work you begin to do, beg of Him with most earnest prayer to perfect it, that He who has now deigned to count us among His sons may not at any time be grieved by our evil deeds. For we must always so serve Him with the good things He has given us, that He will never as an angry Father disinherit His children, nor ever as a dread Lord, provoked by our evil actions, deliver us to everlasting punishment as wicked servants who would not follow Him to glory.

Let us arise, then, at last, for the Scripture stirs us up, saying, “Now is the hour for us to rise from sleep.” Let us open our eyes to the deifying light, let us hear with attentive ears the warning which the divine voice cries daily to us, “Today if you hear His voice, harden not your hearts.” And again, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” And what does He say? “Come, My children, listen to Me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord. Run while you have the light of life, lest the darkness of death overtake you.”

And the Lord, seeking His laborer in the multitude to whom He thus cries out, says again, “Who is the man who will have life, and desires to see good days?” And if, hearing Him, you answer, “I am he,” God says to you, “If you will have true and everlasting life, keep your tongue from evil and your lips that they speak no guile. Turn away from evil and do good; seek after peace and pursue it. And when you have done these things, My eyes shall be upon you and My ears open to your prayers; and before you call upon Me, I will say to you, ‘Behold, here I am.’”

What can be sweeter to us, dear brethren, than this voice of the Lord inviting us? Behold, in His loving kindness the Lord shows us the way of life.

Having our loins girded, therefore, with faith and the performance of good works, let us walk in His paths by the guidance of the Gospel, that we may deserve to see Him who has called us to His kingdom.