What is the Rule of Saint Benedict?
by Corentin 6 min read
The Rule of Saint Benedict in two sentences
The Rule of Saint Benedict is a short book written in the 6th century by Benedict of Nursia to organise the life of a community of monks. In a prologue and 73 short chapters, it sets out prayer, work, meals and the running of the monastery, and it still guides Benedictines, Cistercians and Trappists.
Summary of the Rule of Saint Benedict
The text opens with one word: "Listen, my son, to the precepts of the master." It can be read in a few hours. Here is what it contains, in order.
- The prologue and chapters 1 to 3: the call to follow Christ, the different kinds of monks, the portrait of the abbot and the counsel of the brothers.
- Chapters 4 to 7: the virtues of the monk. The "tools of good works", obedience, silence and humility, described as a ladder of twelve steps.
- Chapters 8 to 20: the Divine Office. The order of prayer by night and by day, and the distribution of the 150 psalms over one week.
- Chapters 21 to 57: daily life. Sleep, faults and forgiveness, the cellarer, the sick, meals, work, reading, Lent and the welcome of guests.
- Chapters 58 to 73: entering the monastery and common life. The formation of novices and their vows, the election of the abbot, the prior, the porter, mutual obedience and the "good zeal" that should drive the brothers.
The key principles of the Rule
Prayer first
The monks gather several times a day for the [offices](O21), from night until evening. Benedict calls this prayer "the work of God" and asks: "Let nothing be preferred to the work of God."
Work and reading
"Idleness is the enemy of the soul," Benedict writes in chapter 48. So he divides time between manual work and the reading of Scripture, lectio divina. Work supports the monastery and keeps the brothers from distraction.
Obedience, silence and humility
The Rule describes three inner attitudes. Obedience is lived without delay and willingly. Silence makes one available to God and to others: meals are eaten in silence while a brother reads aloud. Humility, finally, is the monk's long road, which Benedict compares to a ladder.
The abbot, an elected father
Each monastery is led by an abbot, elected by his brothers. The word comes from the Aramaic abba, "father". Benedict asks him to love his monks, to adapt to each one's character and to seek to be loved more than feared. To learn more about the roles in a monastery, read who does what in an abbey.
Welcoming guests
Chapter 53 is dear to RITRIT: "All guests who present themselves are to be welcomed as Christ." This is why so many abbeys open their doors today for a spiritual retreat.
Moderation
Benedict distrusts excess. He asks the abbot to arrange everything so that "the strong have something to strive for and the weak are not driven away". At the end of the text, he modestly calls it "a little rule for beginners".
The vows of the Rule of Saint Benedict
In chapter 58, the novice promises three things: stability, meaning to remain in his community; conversion of life; and obedience. These vows differ from the better-known formula "poverty, chastity, obedience", which we explain in our article on religious vows.
Is "Ora et labora" in the Rule?
No. The motto "pray and work" sums up the balance Benedict asks for, but it does not appear in the text. It became popular much later as a way to describe Benedictine life.
Who was Saint Benedict?
Benedict was born around 480 in Nursia, today Norcia, in Umbria. After studying in Rome, he withdrew to Subiaco and lived as a hermit in a cave, helped by a monk named Romanus. Disciples joined him, and he founded twelve small monasteries around him.
Around 529, he settled at Monte Cassino, between Rome and Naples. There he wrote his Rule, and there he died, around 547. We know his life thanks to Pope Gregory the Great, who devoted the second book of his Dialogues to him. Saint Benedict's feast day is 11 July. Pope Paul VI proclaimed him patron saint of Europe in 1964.
A Rule that has lasted fifteen centuries
Benedict drew on older texts, in particular an anonymous rule known as the Rule of the Master. Around 580, Monte Cassino was destroyed by the Lombards and the monks took refuge in Rome, which helped the Rule to spread.
In 816 and 817, under Emperor Louis the Pious, the councils of Aachen, inspired by Saint Benedict of Aniane, imposed it on the monasteries of the Empire. Cluny followed it from its foundation in 910. In 1098, the founders of Cîteaux wanted to return to its letter: they were the first Cistercians. The Trappists, Cistercians of the Strict Observance, came from them. To place these families, see our introduction to religious orders.
Benedictine abbeys remain autonomous. They are grouped into congregations, and in 1893 Pope Leo XIII created the Benedictine Confederation to link them. In many monasteries a passage of the Rule is still read every day, so that it is read in full three times a year.
Where to experience the Rule of Saint Benedict today
Several communities on RITRIT live by the Rule and welcome guests:
- Fleury Abbey, at Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, which has kept relics of Saint Benedict since the end of the 7th century. About twenty monks live there;
- Jouarre Abbey, east of Paris, where Benedictine nuns pray six times a day in an abbey founded in 630;
- Notre-Dame de Timadeuc Abbey, in Brittany, with the Trappist monks;
- Val d'Igny Abbey, in the Marne, with the Cistercian sisters.
You can also search by region: Centre-Val de Loire, Île-de-France, Brittany or Grand Est, or browse all the retreat places.
Frequently asked questions
How many chapters does the Rule of Saint Benedict have?
A prologue and 73 chapters, many of them very short.
Which orders follow the Rule of Saint Benedict?
Benedictines, Cistercians and Trappists, as well as other monastic families born from the Benedictine tradition.
When was the Rule written?
In the 6th century, at Monte Cassino, in the years after Benedict arrived there around 529.
Can you live by the Rule without being a monk?
Yes. Lay people commit themselves as oblates of an abbey and draw on the Rule in their family and working life. A retreat in a Benedictine monastery is also a good way to discover it.