St. Benedict's Rule for Monasteries

About this book

The first word of the Rule is 'Listen'. It was written by Saint Benedict for the monks of his monastery at Monte Cassino in Italy in the sixth century. In seventy-three short chapters he sets out how a community should live: obedience to the abbot, who must govern with fatherly care; silence and humility, with its twelve steps; the hours of prayer through the day and night; manual work and reading, since idleness is the enemy of the soul; meals, clothing and sleep; and hospitality, for every guest should be received as Christ himself.

Context and significance

Benedict of Nursia (about 480–547) wrote the Rule with moderation and good sense, and it became the foundation of monastic life in Western Europe for over a thousand years; the monasteries it shaped preserved much of ancient learning. This translation is by Leonard J. Doyle. Compare The Confessions of St. Augustine.

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