IV. The Cenobitical Society

Summary. — I. Hierarchical relations of the Abbot with the monks. - — II. Forms of activity that are to be manifested in the monastic society : prayer. — III. Work ; the spirit that should inspire it. — IV. Stability in the common life. — V. Mutual relations of the members of the Cenobitical society. — VI. Stability likewise attaches monks to their cloister. he foundation stone of the cenobitical society having been laid in the person of the Abbot, it remains for us, in order to complete our broad outline of the Benedictine idea, to examine more closely the divers elements whence result the organic life and intimate existence of this society.

We will first treat of the Abbot’s relations with the monks from the hierarchical point of view ; — we will next see what sort of activity ought to be manifested in the framework of this organisation, an activity which is summed up in prayer and work ; then stability in the common life will appear to us as one of the characteristic elements of cenobiti¬ cal existence ; — and we will conclude by indicating what should be the dispositions of those who dwell in the monastery, so that the ideal formed by the great Patriarch may be attained.

I

We have already remarked that there is a striking analogy between the government instituted by St. Benedict and that of the Church, and this should in nowise astonish us in a Rule coming from one in whom the Christian sense is so closely allied to the Roman genius.

You know that the constitution given by Eternal Wisdom to His Church establishes a monarchical and hierarchical form of government, reflecting upon earth God's supreme monarchy in Heaven and the hierarchy which reigns there.¹

At the basis of the visible body which is His Church, Christ Jesus has placed a visible foundation, Peter and his successors. From them all power and jurisdiction is derived. In the same way, our Blessed Father makes the entire organisation of the monastery depend upon the Abbot ; Nos vidimus expedite... in abbatis pendere arbitrio ordinationem monasterii sui. From the supreme abbatial authority flows all the activity of the monastery, and all delegation : the principal officials in the monastery, the prior, cellarer, deans are instituted by the Abbot. St. Benedict says that the Abbot is to appoint the Prior himself and for himself : Ordinet ipse sibi praepositum 2. Not only does the first investiture of these officials depend on the power of the Abbot, but, in the exercise of their charges, they must not undertake or carry out anything beyond the orders or wishes of the Abbot 3.

This centralisation of power within the hands of the Abbot is one of the most distinct ideas in the monastic code.

Absolute as is the Abbot’s authority, we know however that it is not arbitrary. The Sovereign Pontiff, in his teaching, must follow Christ’s doctrine and the spirit of tradition ; in the same way, the Abbot, says St. Benedict, must not teach, ordain, or command anything contrary to the Divine precepts ; in all things he must, like his brethren follow the Rule : Omnes in omnibus sequantur Regulam ; but, as Christ’s Vicar is the authorised interpreter of the laws of the Church, so it is for the Abbot to regulate and, if needs be, to decide the meaning of the letter of the monastic code, make modifications and permit the exceptions that he judges expedient for the good of the community.

Moreover the Abbot is not left to his own lights. The Council of Cardinals surround the Pope and guide him in many circumstances ; the Abbot likewise finds counsel in the “ seniors ” senior es, who enlighten him in manifold ordinary occasions where the life of the Abbey is interested.

St. Benedict goes further. In affairs where the spiritual or temporal interests of the monastery are seriously concerned ch- LXV‘ ~ 2; Iblcb — 3- Praepositus ilia agat cum reverenlia quae ab abbate suo eimjuncta fuertnt, mhil contra abbatis voluntatem aut ordinationem Idctens, (C. lxv) ; cellanus... sme jusstone abbatis nihil faciat, quae jubentur cuslodiat Omma quae ei mjunxent abbas ipsa habeat subcurasua;a quibus eum prohibuent non praesumat (xxxi) ; decani sollicitudinem geranl in omnibus secundum praecepta abbatis sui (xxi). — 4. It is however to be noted that the Sovereign Pontiff is more than the interpreter of the Church’s laws since he himself is the lawgiver. urc“ 3 he wishes the Abbot to call together the brethren, and himself lay before them the matter in question and ask their advice. And the reason our holy Legislator gives for this consultation is that it is often to the younger of the brethren that the Lord gives the most judicious views. And this shows us once more the supernatural spirit that guided St. Benedict's pen in the drawing up of the Rule. This consultation is however very different from those which are held in parliaments.'' St. Benedict wishes “ the brethren to give their advice in all humility and subjection, without stubbornly upholding their opinion.” Then, the advice having been heard, it belongs to the Abbot to examine the matter himself and take the course which he considers to be best : Et audiens consilium fratrum tractet apud se, et quod utilius judicaverit facial 2. Doubtless, the Abbot must regulate everything with foresight and equity ; for he will have to render rigorous account of his administration to One Who is Infinite Justice. Further¬ more, the Church in her canon law has fixed the guaranties which surround several determined cases, such as the recep¬ tion of novices, in which the conclusion of the affair depends on the vote of the Community.

As long as the question is in suspense, one ought to speak with humble frankness, at need with respectful boldness ; but once the Abbot has taken his decision, all, says St. Bene¬ dict, must obey: Ei cuncti obediant. To murmur then, to discuss the matter judged, contendere, is an attitude that the holy Legislator rigorously condemns, because it is un¬ worthy and disloyal ; besides, nothing is more opposed to the spirit of faith and to the loving submission which should characterise the true monk.

That patria potestas granted to the Abbot by our Blessed Father St. Benedict gives us an insight into the family charac¬ ter which the cenobitical life ought to bear. The Kingdom of God is a family. We see that the liturgy often uses the expression “ God’s household 4 ” to designate the Church. All Christians, God’s children by the grace of adoption, form, in fact, one family of whom the eldest is the Only-begotten Son, the Son of the Heavenly Father’s delight. All the other members are to resemble this eldest Son, according to the degree of their union with Him ; they are pleasing to God in the measure of perfection wherewith they reproduce the features of this Only-begotten One become the Firstborn

1. Rule, ch. hi. — 2. Ibid. — 3. Ibid. ch. in. — 4. Collect for fifth Sunday after Epiphany ; first Sunday in Lent ; twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost, etc.

Christ, the Ideal of the Monk. of a multitude of brethren. This is indeed their divine “ predestination ” ; Praedestinavit [nos] conformes fieri imaginis Filii sui, ut sit ipse primogenitus in multis fratribus.

In this household of God, upon earth, the Sovereign Pontiff is the visible Father. The Abbot holds the same role in the little monastic family ; he is truly, according to the great Patriarch’s own words, “ the Father of the monastery ” who has to provide for all the needs of his children : Omnia a Patre monasierii sperare 2. All is ordered in this household which our Blessed Father calls "the house of God” in such a way that the members may reproduce in themselves the features of the Eldest Brother, in Whose footsteps they are to tread.

From this same principle of the p atria potestas likewise flows the following application, generally confirmed by tra¬ dition, although the letter of it is not explicitly found in the Rule : the power of the Abbot, like that of the Sovereign Pontiff, is for life, that is to say, Providence alone is to put an end to the exercise of his authority at the same time as to his days. In other institutes of more modern times, the Superiors called Priors, Guardians, Rectors, are elected every three years ; for these institutes this is a condition of vitality and perfection ; in the Monastic Society which forms one family, the Abbot, called " Father ”, normally keep in power during his life. This is one of the characte¬ ristics of the cenobitical life, and cannot be modified without, at the same time, striking a blow at one of the essential principles of our institution. For the monk, this continuity of the Abbot’s power secures to him in a larger measure that “ good of obedience ” which he came to seek in the cloister. Moreover this form of government is traced upon that which Christ Himself, Eternal Wisdom, has given to His Church.

No one would think of denying that this institution has its disadvantages; experience has shown that there have been bad Abbots, as, in ecclesiastical history, unworthy popes are to be found. But no human system is exempt from disadvantages. Against these, moreover, the Church has provided its guarantees and remedies in the monastic government, by Canonical visitations. General Chapters and other stipulations

However this may be, the monarchial and absolute character of the authority of the head of the monastery remains : undoubtedly neither the democratic spirit of the i. Rom. vm, 29. — 2. Rule, ch. xxxiu. — 3. Ibid. ch. xxxi.

THE CEN0BIT1C AL SOCIETY age, nor yet human pride, are in accordance with this, but it is still the one most in conformity with the letter and spirit of the Rule of the Lawgiver of monks. Where monks “ sincerely seek God, ” the closest union knits the sons to their father, and peace, the fruit of the Spirit of Love, reigns in minds and hearts.

II

We have now to see what is to be the kind of activity developed in the religious family thus constituted. This activity is summed up in two points : prayer and work, ora et labor a.

Our Blessed Father, in founding the cenobitical life, had no particular end in view such as the care of the poor, the evangelisation of nations, literary studies, scientific labours. This it is that radically distinguishes the Monastic Order from several later orders and institutes. If we here permit ourselves to establish such or such a comparison with other forms of religious life, it is not to exalt the one and depreciate the other. Certainly nothing is further from our mind. Religious orders are the flowers wherewith the Holy Spirit has adorned the Church, the Garden of the Spouse. Each of them has its particular beauty, its special splendour ; each occupies a place in Christ's Heart and glorifies the Heavenly Father by its works. But, according to the thought of St. Thomas, in order to grasp the nature of a thing, it is useful to comprehend not only what it is but also what it is not ; in order to define, it is necessary to distinguish.

All religious leave the goods of this world that they may imitate Christ : “ Behold we have left all things, and have followed Thee " : Ecce nos reliquimus omnia, et secuti sumus te. However, the manner of following or imitating Christ differs for religious orders according to the nature of their particular vocation. Some are for the evangelisation of the poor ; others for that of the heathen ; here, an institute is founded for the education of children ; there, another makes preaching its special end. We at once see that this particular end, by subordinating all energies and efforts to its influence gives the society its direction, its specific character and its own modality.

The monk “ seeks God ” in Himself 2, for Himself ; that is the adequate goal of all monastic life, that which gives it all its value and beauty. The different forms of activit of work, zeal or charity do not constitute the goal of his life, but are at once the consequences and manifestations of this seeking after “ the one thing necessary 1, ” according to the perfection of the Saviour’s counsels.²

The holy Patriarch, in writing his Rule, wished to found a supernatural society, a school of perfection in the practice of evangelical holiness taken in all its amplitude, a centre of the pure Christian spirit. The members of this society who have left all worldly possessions in order to follow Christ, this Christ to Whom nothing must be preferred : Cut nihil praeponendum, strive to attain to union with God by the practice, as perfect as possible of the precepts of the Gos¬ pel and the counsels of Christ : Per ducatum Evangelii pergamus itinera ejus 3. To this society St. Benedict gives an organisation modelled upon that which the Word Incarnate has chosen for His Church. Now in the works that the Christian has to perform, all have not the same importance in God’s sight ; those are more pleasing to Him that spring most directly from the highest virtues or are most closely allied to them, such as the theological virtues and the virtue of religion. This is why certain duties relating to the virtue of religion are so grave that they are commanded to all Christians without distinction, such as assistance at Holy Mass, the reception of certain sacraments, prayer, — while as for other works the greatest liberty is left to each one ; no occupation is imposed in preference to another, no honest profession is interdicted, as long as it does not hinder the obligations of religion.

In a “ school of Christian perfection 4, ” we must naturally expect to see this principle affirmed and accentuated. In the supernatural society founded by St. Benedict, of which the aim is to pursue the perfection of evangelical holiness, a preponderant place will naturally be given to the practice of the virtue of religion. This is one of the reasons why the holy Legislator dedicates so many chapters of his Rule to organising the Divine Office 5. This constitutes the work of w'orks, that to which “ nothing is to be preferred, ” and that is to become for the monk, with the lectio divina, labour, and what is furthermore ordained by the vows, especially that of obedience, the most authentic means of attaining r. Cf. Luc. x, 42. — 2. Rule, ch. iv and lxxii. — 3. Prologue. — 4. Ibid.

— 5. It is noteworthy that, historically and critically, the considerable developments that S* Benedict gives to the opus Dei in the text of his Rule come from the fact that, in the 5th century, the “ Breviary ” was not yet uniformly constituted. It was necessary to give a regulation to this monks.

— 6. Evidently, obedience accepted for love is the supreme means. Per the end that he proposes to himself : union with God. There¬ fore this work is indispensable in every monastery, and other works depend on the circumstances of place, time, and persons, and can only be undertaken in the measure that they do not interfere with the primal character of the Divine Office. That is and must remain the chief work excelling all others, because it is, according to St. Benedict’s beautiful expression, “ the Work of God ” : Opus Dei x, the one that directly glorifies God, at the same time that it becomes for the monk the most natural, important and fruitful source of his inmost prayer and assiduous intercourse with our Lord.

III

Important as is the Divine Office, it is not, as we have seen, and it cannot be the end and aim of the monastic life : that aim must necessarily be sought for higher ; neither is it the exclusive work nor the chief characteristic of our vocation ; we are not Canons and we have not been gathered together directly for office in choir. In fact, neither the Rule, which wishes the monk to give himself in a very notable measure to reading and work, nor tradition authorises us to admit that the work of God constitutes a special prerogative of our Order.

To Liturgical and mental prayer, work must necessarily be joined : Ora et labora. The whole of monastic tradition shows us that when these two means, prayer and work, have been most held in honour the most abundant fruits of monastic holiness have been brought forth.

It is clear a priori that work is necessary to the monk in order to attain the holiness of his vocation. We must not forget indeed that work is an essential part of the homage that the reasonable creature owes to God. Fashioned in the accidens, the monk can sanctify himself without office in choir, it is in nowise the same without obedience.

1. Rule, ch. xliii, xlvii and lii. — 2. " In short, Canonical prayer is, without doubt, the noblest of the elements of the Benedictine life, because it refers directly to God ; but, after all, it leav'es room for many kinds of activity without being the necessary and indispensable end of aU the rest. Its chosen place among all the exercises of the monk, corresponds with that which it held in the regard and in the daily life of the Primitive Christians ." The Ideal of the Monastic life found in the Apostolic Age, by D. G. Morin, O. S. B., translated from the French by C. Gunning, p. 105. In this little volume of great originality, the author has established how the religious life is linked to the life led by the faithful of the primitive Church such as the Acts have brought them down to us as a lasting example to Christians of all time, and as the model of holiness, fortitude and fruitfulness in the Ecclesia perennis. divine image, man ought to imitate his Creator. Now, God is the great Worker : “ My Father ”, said Jesus, “ worketh until now ; and I work ” : Pater mens usque modo oj>eraiur et ego operor 1. Although God finds all happiness in Himself, He has willed to rejoice in the works of His hands ; He saw that creation was “ very good ” : valde bona a, that it perfectly responded to His eternal thoughts : " The Lord shall rejoice in His works ” : Laetabitur Dominus in operibus suis a. God also delights in the harmonious play of the activity of His creatures which glorify Him by acting in conformity to the laws of their nature.

Work is one of the laws of human nature, as we see in the book of Genesis. After the narration of the creation of the world, it is added that God placed man in a garden of delight. What was he to do there ? Pass his life in repose and contemplation ? No, to cultivate this garden and to keep it: Ut operaretur et custodiret ilium*. Thus even before the fall, God wished Adam to work, because work allows of the exercise of human powers and energies. Only, by innocent man work was done with ease and delight ; it was moreover a hymn of praise, a song arising from the whole human being towards God.

After sin entered the world the Lord renewed to man the promulgation of the law of labour ; but this law was hence¬ forth to cost Adam the sweat of his brow : In sudor e vultus tui 5. Toil became painful, arduous, thankless ; it is, with death, the great penance, the supreme mortification inflicted on sinful man. Our Blessed Father does not speak explicitly in his Rule of the hair shirt and discipline 8, but he devotes several chapters to work ; work is a true penance, and it is impossible for one who shirks it to advance in union with God. Why indeed did we come to the monastery ? “ To seek God. ” And our law is to find God not only in prayer, but also in labour. We find Him in the measure in which we glorify Him, and we glorify Him by freely putting forth our energies in the service of His sovereign will. To seek our ease and a base well-being in idleness, is to go against the Divine Plan, and such behaviour cannot incline God to give us His favours.

Let us contemplate, too, how God acts with His Divine Son when this Son is made man. The Father wills that, in imitation of Himself and for our example, Christ Jesus shall be a “ workman ; ” an artisan ; and Christ accepts and carries out this will. Is He not called in the Gospel “ the carpenter’s son ” : Fabri filius? Although He is con¬ scious of His Godhead, of the greatness of the work that He comes to do upon earth, He passes thirty years of His life in the obscure labour of a poor workshop. His apostolic journeys during His public life, what are they but continual and indefatigable toil, offered for His Father’s glory and the salvation of souls ?³

If it is true that the monk ought to carry out to per¬ fection the programme of Christian life which finds in Christ its first and authentic Exemplar, he must necessarily give to work an important part of his life.

The forms and objects of this work are manifold.

According to the letter of the Rule, the time that the monk has to dispose of, outside the time of Divine Office, is devoted to manual work or to reading, taken in the wide sense of the word, which helps towards “ the seeking after God. " The holy Legislator devotes a whole chapter to manual labour ; he allows arts and crafts to be practised in the monastery 3 ; but it is only in case of necessity that the monks themselves are to gather in the crops 4.

Little by little, in consequence of an evolution which had its principle in the Rule itself, and has been accentuated since monks were raised to the priestly dignity, intellectual work has taken the place of manual labour.

We cannot consider here the manifold aspects of the work accomplished by monachism in the course of ages. What it is especially important to establish at this moment, is the inner spirit that is to vivify and sanctify all the work of the monk. And what is this spirit ? That of obedience. The great Patriarch did not intend to found an agricultural or industrial concern, nor to institute a university, but a school of perfection 5. And here we do not come to seek the satisfaction of self-love, the pleasure of the mind, the joys of dilettantism. We come here “ to seek God 6 ; ” otherwise we might have stayed in the world : we could have done there just as well what we do here.

But we know the most direct path whereby we find God in the monastery is that of obedience : Scientes se per hanc obedientiae viarn ituros ad Deum. St. Benedict accounts as⁴

“ presumption and vain glory 1 ” the mortifications that the monk undertakes without having submitted them to the approbation of authority. It is the same for work ; that too is to be undertaken and performed with the blessing and permission of the Abbot: cum [ Abbatis] fiat orationt et voluntate 2. It is obedience that blesses our efforts, and assures success as God sees it, because it is obedience that brings down upon us and our works light from above, the first source of all fruitfulness. “ May the brightness of the Lord shine upon us, and direct, 0 God, the works of our hands ” : Et sit splendor Domini super nos, et opera manuum nostrarum dirigez. Such is the prayer which was formerly recited at the Chapter immediately before the distribution of the day’s work.

The monk who lives in God’s light knows well that every work that obedience does not impose or ordain, approve or uphold, is barren for himself and for the Kingdom of God : it is in vain that we labour to build up the city of souls, unless God, by the way of obedience, helps us by His grace and blessing : Nisi Dominus aedificaverit domum, in vanum labor aver unt qui aedificant earn 4.

IV

One of the characteristics of cenobitical life, as conceived and organised by St. Benedict, is " stability ”.

The great Patriarch wishes the monastery to possess, as far as can be, all that is necessary to its subsistence, for “ it is by no means expedient for their souls that monks should go abroad uselessly ” : vagari for as 5. The world for which Christ Jesus declared that He prayed not, has its maxims, its morals, its ways of acting which are opposed to the Christian and supernatural spirit ; its atmosphere is fatal to the soul that wishes to safeguard the fragrance of the life hidden in God : Vita vestra est abscondita cum Christo in Deo 7. It is the cloister that, properly speaking, constitu¬ tes the social and moral sphere of the monk where his soul will most naturally unfold in God. Therefore the true monk in nowise seeks, even under pretext of zeal, to go out of his cloister ; he leaves himself on this point to the prescriptions of obedience.

Unknown before St. Benedict’s time, stability becomes in the Rule the object of a vow: the monk is attached until the end of his life to his abbey and the community of which" he makes a part. But this vow will only be well pleasing to God if we observe the spirit of it by our loving observance of the practices of cenobitical life.⁵

To understand clearly the importance of this point, it is needful to recall a principle which you already know, but which is so capital that it is always useful to bring it again to light.

All God’s mercies towards us come from our predestination in Jesus Christ. This is one of the most explicit notions of St. Paul, of that Apostle who was chosen and formed by Christ Himself and caught up to the third heaven. From the solitude of his prison, he writes to the Ephesians that the aurora of every grace is the eternal election that God has made of us in His Word., in His Son : “ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who hath blessed us with spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ ; as He chose us in Him ” : Benedictus Deus et Pater Domini nostri Jesu Christi, qui benedixit nos in omni benedictione spirituali... sicut elcgit nos in ipso. By a free movement of love, God willed to elect the human race, to choose us to be His chil¬ dren ; but, before all things. He began, if we may thus speak, by predestinating the Humanity of His Son Jesus Christ.

In the Divine thought, Christ Jesus is “ the Firstborn of every creature ” : Primogenitus omnis creaturae 2. Therefore God showers upon this Human Nature “ all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge 3 ; ” so that it is truly “ full of grace and truth,” the object, consequently, of all the Father’s delight.

But Christ draws and unites to Himself the whole of humanity that He comes to redeem and save ; and God, in Christ and by Christ, extends His graces and good pleasure upon the Mystical Body of Jesus. All which is not in union with Christ does not exist, so to speak, for God ; union with Christ is the essential condition of our salvation and holiness, as it was of our election : it was in Him that we were chosen : Elegit nos in ipso.

Now how do we abide in Christ, in ipso? Through the Church. Since the Ascension, the normal regular way of our union with Christ, and of safeguarding this union, is to make part of the visible organisation that He founded. In the same way as the body of Jesus united to His soul was “ the instrument of the Divinity ” and the channel of graces, so grace reaches us only if we belong to the body of the Church.⁶

Baptism which incorporates us to this body is, with faith, the first condition of all grace as of all salvation. All power, ” Christ has said, “ is given to Me in heaven and in earth.” “Going therefore, teach ye all nations; he that belie veth and is baptized, shall be saved.” Such is the law established by Christ Himself and ratified by the Father Who “ hath given all things into His hand. ” “No man cometh to the Father, ” is pleasing to -the Father, receives the gifts of the Father, but by Jesus : Nemo venit ad Pattern nisi per me 4; no man, (I am speaking of the law and of the normal way ; we know that in certain cases, the baptism of desire suffices and that many of our "separated brethren ” live in entire good faith), no man, we say, is united to Christ except through the Church, nor receives His doctrine nor partakes of His grace except through the Church. This is in fact, because Christ is the head of His Mystical Body ; the Church is “ of His flesh, and of His bones 6, " says St. Paul ; now, continues the Apostle, “ no man ever hateth his own flesh ; but nourisheth and cherisheth it ” that it may come to perfection. This is what Jesus does through His vivifying Spirit.

We at once understand that the more we live by the life of the Church, through acceptation of her teaching, obedience to her precepts and the practice of her worship, the more abundant share we have in the blessings that Jesus ceases not to pour out upon His Bride. Truth and the light that shines from it in the soul are more fruitful in so far as we are more closely united to the Church.

We likewise understand what a terrible penalty it is for a soul to be separated from the Church by excommunication ; it is to be separated from the very fount of grace ; like a branch cut off from the stem, the nourishing sap no longer reaches it ; it is no longer good for anything but to be cast into the fire. As the etymology of the word indicates, excommunication cuts the soul off from the communion of Saints, from the solidarity of the “ blessed of the Father, ” and from all the graces of light and strength that God sheds upon souls in His Son Jesus ; it is like the anticipated shadow of final excommunication and supreme malediction : " De¬ part from Me, ye cursed ” : Discedite a me, maledicti 7.

Such is, in broad outline, the Divine plan established by the Father, Who has predestined us to share, as children, in His infinite beatitude. Every perfect gift which gladdens our souls comes from Him * through His Son Jesus ; Christ unites us to Himself only in His Church, the dispenser of her Bridegroom’s graces. In order to partake of these graces, we must abide in this visible organisation and live by its life.⁷

The religious Orders and Institutes raised up by the Spirit of God, recognised and approved by the Church, and associated in an official and canonical manner to the Church, possess, on this account, a closer union with the Bride of Christ ; their members, having thus become the privileged ones of the Church, acquire a new and special title to Divine blessings.

But these singular graces only reach our souls in the same measure that we live by the organic life of the Society whereof we are members. This is an important truth. In the same way that we enter into contact with Jesus through the Church on the day of our Baptism, so we enter into the current of religious grace on the day of our Profession : henceforward we have an effectual part in it, according to the degree in which we live the common life.

What do we ask on the day of our Clothing ? “ God’s mercy and the companionship of His servants. ” It is the one that brings us the other. If we put aside the common life, which is the sign of our particular divine election, we shall be like wrecks stranded on the riverbank, doubtless still lapped by the tide, but no longer lifted up and borne along on its impetuous living waters.

You see then of what capital importance it is for the religious to live the common life, in the framework of the established and accepted organisation ; for the monk, as for the Christian, excommunication even in the simply monastic sense, such as instituted by St. Benedict, constitutes a terrible penalty.

There are some minds, says the holy Legislator, unable to grasp the greatness of this penalty, or the great harm that can be wrought in the soul by being excluded from the common life by the Superior. The great Patriarch has pronounced excommunication for certain transgressions ; but do it not let it be supposed that the excommunicated brother is therefore placed beyond the encircling fatherly love that the Abbot is to have for his monks. Human love, after the example of Divine love, does not always exclude severity ; it is manifested quite as much by the just application of salutary chastisements as by rewards and caresses. That he may cure the one confided to him, does not the doctor use, when there is occasion, prohibitions, separations, and very bitter remedies ?⁸

It is rarely that the Abbot, to whom alone belongs the power of pronouncing excommunication, ought to apply this penalty, which moreover admits of degrees. But, unless we take care, we can practically excommunicate ourselves. And this is equally to be dreaded, perhaps even more so, in that a wholesome reaction is less to be hoped for.

How can this case occur ? By wilful and habitual infidelities ; by our self-will which gradually withdraws us from the exercises and usages of the common life. Some souls have the tendency of preferring what they do alone to what is done by the Community, as such ; they imagine, for example, that it would be more useful for them to spend the time of recreation in the oratory rather than in the midst of their brethren ; this kind of piety is not only false in itself, but it is practically sterile, if not worse. How could God give Himself to souls who put themselves outside the current of grace that He has established ? It is impossible. God only communicates Himself to the docile and faithful soul ; and such we are when, obedient to legitimate authority, we are where this authority wills us to be, and at the hour and employment it wills us to be. If God does not find us where He looks for us. He will not bless us. " Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when He cometh, shall find watching ” : Beati servi illi, quos, cum venerit Dominus.invenerit vigilantes 1.

No outward circumstance, besides, can hinder the Divine action and its beneficial effect in the soul. Was it not in the middle of the street, as she was returning home one evening with her young brother Stefano, that St. Catherine of Siena had her first vision, when she saw our Lord, seated upon a magnificent throne, smile lovingly upon her and trace upon her the sign of the cross ? “ And so powerful was this blessing of the Eternal God, that transported out of herself, the child, who by nature was timid, remained standing there, upon the public way, her eyes raised to Hea¬ ven, in the midst of the passing to and fro of men and animals 2. ”

What happens in the case of the saints, comes to pass, all proportion guarded, in every faithful soul : Christ Jesus sometimes chooses the moments which, humanly speaking, appear the least favoiable to calm and recollection, to com¬ municate to us His lights ; — lights which He renders so much the more abundant in that the soul is the more attentive not to seek self-satisfaction, but to be conformed by obedience to the good pleasure from on high ; — lights sometimes lavished to such a degree that the impression of the Bride¬ groom’s embrace remains ineffaceable, and the soul is for a long time embalmed with the fragrance of the Divine visit...⁹

A monk can excommunicate himself not only by with¬ drawing himself, by unfaithfulness or by mistaken piety, from the exercises, customs and traditions of the common life, but also by making himself singular. Everything can serve as an opportunity for singularity, even things of piety and devotion. Some find the best pretexts for justifying themselves in their own eyes ; they are persuaded that they are showing a wider understanding of what should be done, they think they are performing brilliant actions.

Now, St. Benedict himself , gives us to understand that this is often only foolish pride. In fact does it not seem like saying : “ I know better than others what ought to be done ” : non sum sicut caeteri 1 ? However ordinary, however indifferent may appear the common ways and customs, it is giving a proof of humility to hold to them and not to do anytning to draw attention to oneself : " The eighth degree of humility is when a monk does nothing except what is commanded by the common Rule of the monastery or by the traditions of the seniors 2. "

This point is very important, because grace is hidden in the humble observance of common customs and traditions. God gives His grace to the humble : Humilibus dat graham, whilst pride, the most frequent principle of singularity, separates us from God, and renders us, even if we do not see it, insupportable to our neighbour. Look at our Divine Saviour. What more perfect model of holiness can we con¬ template and imitate ? He is God, Eternal Wisdom Incar¬ nate. All that He does is infinitely pleasing to the Father : Quae placita sunt ei facio semper 4; and that not only because He is the Son of God, but because He brings to all His actions a Divine perfection. Now, during thirty years, He remains in such self-effacement — just the contrary to sin- gularity — that when He begins His public life. He is not known otherwise than as “ the carpenter’s son ” : fabri filius K The sublimity of His teaching, the greatness of His miracles, cause astonishment because until then He had not brought Himself into notice. And in the acts of His public life, what admirable simplicity 1 He possesses all the treasures of wisdom. What is our personal wisdom, what is all hu™an wisdom in face of His ? Nothingness and foolishness. ..The true monk, whose gaze is ever fixed upon the Divine Model, follows with simplicity and uprightness the customs common to the Community he has entered and which are a sign of the unity that Christ wishes to see reigning among the members of His Mystical Body. Here exteriorly written for him, as it were, is the practical programme of the perfection he has vowed to seek. If the devil tries to beguile us, to make us think that we shall remain more easily united to God by living apart, and making ourselves singular, do not et us listen to him. If truly, one day, we arrive at the height of sanctity which St. Benedict requires for hermits, and if God so designs, then a cell shall be built for us in a solitary corner, and we shall be surrounded with the vene¬ ration and regard due to so sublime a vocation 1¹⁰

In the meanwhile — whether we be simple monks, or whether the confidence of the Abbot has invested us with a share in his authority — let us keep to the loving obser¬ vance of the common life : it is the path the holy Patriarch invites us to follow, it is the path God wills for us. This observance will be like the sign of our stability in good, as also that of the permanence of God’s grace within us. For therein we shah find Christ Jesus ; and the Father, seeing us united to His Son in all things, will shower upon us, for His sake and through Him, all heavenly blessings : Benedixit nos tn omni benedictione spiritnali 3.

V

From the point of view of the cenobitical life, the notion of excommunication can take other shades of meaning and suggest other lessons.

It may happen, and this is no less grave, that a monk may himself “ excommunicate ” his brethren. This may be done by failing in charity ; by excluding someone, if not from his heart, at least from the radiation of his effective love. Again one may “ excommunicate ” someone from the hearts of others by exciting them to distrust him... This is a sin so utterly contrary to the Christian spirit that we should especially be on our guard against it and act in this matter with the greatest delicacy.¹¹

The cenobitical family is one, the cement that joins together its different members is charity. If that is diminished, the divine life also tends to be lowered in the social body. What, in fact, is the distinctive sign whereby the members of the Christian family are infallibly recognised, the sign given by Christ Himself ? It is mutual love : In hoc cognoscent omnes quia discipnli met estis, si dilectionem habueritis ad invicem. It is the same for the monastic family, and the true mark of the protection of Christ Jesus over a religious Community is the charity that reigns between its members. Woe to those who impair, in whatever manner it may be, this spirit of charity. In rending the robe of the Bride, they tear from their own soul the Christian sign excelling all others.

Christ is one ; He tells us that what we do to the least of our brethren — of His brethren — of good or evil, we do to Himself. St. Benedict reminds the Abbot of this, when he enjoins upon him to love all the brethren without distinction 3. He wishes too that we should testify towards one another a fervent though chaste love : Caritatem fraternitatis casto impendant amore 3. He wills us to translate this love by forgetting ourselves, preferring what seems good for others rather than what seems good for ourselves 4 ; it is this love, he again says, which will fill the hearts of the brethren with the greatest patience so that they may mutually endure their infirmities of body or defects of character : Infirmitates suas sive corporum sive morum patieniissime tolerent 5.

This love will be itself manifested by “ obedience one towards another, ” in matters where nothing contrary has been commanded by the will of the Abbot ; a ready submission which can be exercised in many circumstances when some slight service is asked of us : Etiam sibi invicem. obediant fratres 6. Obedientiam sibi certatim impendant'7.

And because he wishes this love to be chaste, St. Benedict requires it to be accompanied with respect; he recalls St. Paul's recommandation to simple Christians : “ In honour preferring one another ” : Honor e se invicem praeveniant 8. What is the underlying reason for this mutual respect ? It is that every soul, in a state of grace, is the temple of the Holy Spirit. i. Joan, xiii, 35. — 2. Matth. xxv, 40 and 45. — 3. Rule, ch. lxxii. — 4 and 5. Ibid. ch. lxxii. — 6. Ibid. ch. lxxi. — 7- Ibid. ch. lxxii. — 8. Ibid.

8o

We ought to havethat respect for others which strikes us in presence of something sacred. It is especially on the part of the young towards the seniors that the holy Legislator requires this attitude and sense of respect : “ To reverence the seniors ” : Senior es venerate, in the same way as he wishes that love should be shown especially on the part of the seniors towards the young brethren: Junior es diligere 2; — but certainly nothing ought to dispense from respect ; it preserves from that wrong kind of familiarity which is said to breed contempt.

Respect, obedience, love, such is the three-fold character of the relations which the great Patriarch wishes to see reigning between the members of the cenobitical family. Happy, thrice happy, the community inspired by these dispositions and where the members form but one heart and one soul ! Our Lord will assuredly shed upon it His most abundant blessings for it realises the most ardent longing of His Sacred Heart, the supreme wish of His life : “ That they may be made perfect in one " : Ut sint consummate in unum 3. “ The sole means that we have, ” said Venerable

Bede, “ of showing others that Christ dwells within us, is the spirit of holy and individed charity ” : Docet eos non posse aliter dare experimentum Christi in se inhabitants nisi per spiritum sanctae ac individuae caritatis 4. In which this great monk was but the faithful echo of Christ Himself : <s By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love one for another. ”

VI

In attaching ourselves to the monastic family, our vow of stability binds us likewise to the monastery : therefore the monk ought to extend his love to the very walls of his cloister. The Abbey is for him the J erusalem sancta, the City of peace ” where he loves to dwell under the Eye of Goc, in obedience to Christ’s representative, in prayer and labour. For this Jerusalem, he repeats each day the Psalmist’s prayer : “ Let peace be in thy strength : and abundance in thy towers 6 ! ” For his monastery, the true monk, who has a horror of selfishness (that principle of spiritual sterility) knows how to forget himself, how to spend himself in hard unremitting toil and the most obscure tasks. Feeling that the love he bears towards it ennobles the humblest services and fructifies the most thankless labours, he shrinks from nothing that can profit the common good of this portion of the earth, for him blessed amongst all others. His thoughts, his love, his wishes, his prayers, his labours, his life, he gives them all even to his last breath : “ Let my tongue cleave to my palate, if I do not remember thee ” : Adhaereat lingua mea faucibus meis, si non meminero tui l¹²

In this Jerusalem, the Church is the centre of the monk’s love. The abbatial church is truly for him the building where all is sacred to God, the cherished dwelling echoing with the harmony of his praises and jubilation and proclaim¬ ing to all the fervour of his faith in the one thrice holy Lord. There, several times a day, with all the members of the cenobitical family, the monk extends his suppliant arms, like Moses on the mountain, for the intention of his brethren fighting in the plain ; he knows that he can obtain, through the ardour and constancy of his prayer, the victory for the armies of Israel over the enemies of God and of His people. Therefore his gaze, enlightened by faith, reaches out to all that touches God’s Kingdom ; his charity stirs up the flame of his devotion, it would reach all the souls who are struggling in ignorance, error, doubt, misery, tempta¬ tion, suffering, sin ; all who are spending themselves in promoting Christ’s reign upon earth ; all those too who are filled with the intense desire of being nearer to our Lord. To render his intercession more efficacious, he joins his prayer to the all powerful and ever-answered prayer of the Divine Victim with arms stretched out upon the new Calvary which is the high altar...

With what veneration he surrounds this high altar of the abbatial church, this stone upon which holy oil was poured and sacred incense burnt ! This altar has lost nothing of that which was solemnly bestowed upon it on the day of its consecration ; quite the contrary ! The conventual Mass which, day by day, gathers the cenobitical family around it, consecrates it more and more. Therefore it ought to be dear to the heart of the monk as it is dear to the Heart of God. Is not this altar, with the five crosses engraved on its stone to represent Christ’s Wounds, the image of “ the Son of His love ? ” Is it not here that on the blessed day of our vows, we all placed with our own hands the chart of our monastic profession, thus uniting our oblation more closely to the Sacrifice of Christ Jesus that it may rise up to God i. Ps. cx.xx, vi. — 2. Omnis ilia Deo sacra — et dilecta civitas — plena modulis in laude — et canore iubilo — Trinum Deum unicumque — cum lervore praedicat. Hymn for the Dedication of a Church at Lauds.

Christ, the Ideal of the Monk. in the odour of sweetness ? Ecce odor fdii mei sicut odor agri pleni, cui benedixit Dominus 1.

In this church where the'very stones breath forth adoration, immolation, thanksgiving, supplication, the monk will often stay his steps before the image of the great Patriarch to learn from him the unique science of Divine things. Was not our holy Lawgiver, “ the Man of God ”, vir Dei, the great Seer who, at every hour of his magnificent life walked before God in perfection : Ambula coram me, et esto perfectus* ? Is he not the new Abraham, to whom God promised, as a sign of supreme blessing, to make his name illustrious by a numerous and powerful posterity ? Fact am te in gentem magnam, et benedicam tibi, et magnificabo nomen tuum, erisque benedictus 3.

St. Benedict appears to us holding in his hand the Rule, which his profound humility makes him declare to be only a sketch or “ rough outline 4. ” But we know with what spirit of holiness this immortal code overflows ; we know what innumerable cohorts of monks it has sanctified in the course of an era of many hundred years ; we know with what power¬ ful help it has served Christ’s Church and what signal fruits of Christian civilisation its observance has gained for the world. “ Who can measure the extraordinary influence that these few pages [of the Rule] have exercised, during fourteen centuries, over the general development of the western world? Yet St. Benedict thought only of God and of souls desirous to go to God ; in the tranquil simplicity of his faith he purposed only to establish a school of the Lord’s service : Dominici schola servitii. But, just because of this singleminded pursuit of the one thing necessary, God has blessed the Rule of Monks with singular fruitfulness, and St. Benedict has taken his place in the line of the great patriarchs 6. ” The holy Rule, indeed, teaches us that, for the monk, everything lies in " seeking God ” in order to give Him to others , in sure characters, for they are all borrowed from the Gospel of which it is the pure reflection, it marks out the path of most sublime perfection, then it guides us to this end by following Christ in the way of obedience, prayer and work. It is by the Rule that the monk sanctifies himself individually, that socially the Kingdom of Christ i. Gen. xxvii, 27. — 2. Ibid, xvii, 1. — 3. Ibid, xn, 2. _ d Rule eh ef St chiiS conference- — 5. Commentary 'on the Rule

Kren u if^Cr> by °L Solesmes, Introduction, 11, translated from the

French by Dom Justin Me Cann. We shall more than once quote this remarkable work of Dom Delatte. 4 is built up, and that the Heavenly Father is glorified. By it, the great Patriarch continues to live in the Church, for it is the Rule that maintains in those who follow it, that spirit of sanctification which eminently made of him the " Blessed of God. ”

This is why before the image of the holy Lawgiver, we fnay greatly rejoice and return most humble thanks to God, in that we, although unworthy, belong to the holy race that forms his magnificent posterity. And we should repeat for ourselves, for our brethren, for every soul in the city of God, this prayer that the Bride of Jesus places on our lips : " Raise up, O Lord, in Thy Church the spirit that animated our Blessed Father Benedict, Abbot, that being replenished with this same spirit, we may strive to love what he loved and in our actions to practise what he taught ” : Excita, Domine, in E celesta tua, spiritum cut Beatus Pater noster Benedictus abbas servivitt, ut eodem nos repleli, studeamus amare quod am%vit et opere exercere quod docuit.

Note

(The Rule, which his profound humility makes him declare to be only an " outline " : Hanc minimam inchoationis regulam, p. 82).

We must not take these words of the holy Patriarch too literally! Here we certainly have an expression of humility, but there is something more. The Rule of S* Benedict contains both relatively slight material observances and very lofty ascetical directions. In this place, he is only considering the first; he draws a comparison between what he regulates in the way of common ordinances and what was done by men such as Antony, Macarius, and even Pachomius.

" From the individual point of view, the Rule embraces not only the phases of asceticism denominated the “ purgative way " and " illuminative way " : but furthermore it gives to souls — without expecting too much of human strength, — counsels of heroic virtue, and opens out to them — without, seeking to outstrip grace, — the perspectives of the unitive life ". (D. Festugi£re l. c., p. 92).

We see the holy Lawgiver writing that he in nowise wshes to discourage weak souls who climb slowly, but for all that, he does noti intend to hinder the holy ascensions of the valiant up the heights of perfection : Ut et sit quod infirmi non refugiant et fortes quod cupiant. We have but to read the 4th degree of humility to see to what a summit of heroism he invites his disciples to rise.

Moreover the value of the Rule of S* Benedict is sufficiently proved by the rapidity with which it supplanted, in a relatively short time, all the Rules then in use, althought hese rules were made by personages remarkable for their holiness. Again it is proved by the extraordinary supernatural fruit¬ fulness whereof it has been the principle in the course of ages. It is only necessary to survey the long line of saints who found their perfection in the school of him whom S* Gregory the Great calls " the most excellent master of the perfect life " : M agister optimus arclissimae vitae.

“ Is there, apart from the Gospel ” — D. Delatte very truly writes in his Commentary on the Rule (p. 495) — “a book which has been able, as it has, to adapt itself to all the needs of Christian society from the sixth century to our own day ?... We should recognise for a last time that the Rule has ltm itself with wonderful adaptability to works of extremely various kinds, that it has accommodated itself better than any other to times and circumstan¬ ces, and that it has furnished a solid legislative framework to several founders of Orders or Congregations. To devise a Rule so wide as to embrace all, so strong as to contain all, so divinely simple as to be understood by the un¬ lettered Goth and to charm S‘ Gregory the Great, so perfect as to deserve for ever the appellation of " the Rule, " the monastic Rule par excellence: is not this a work of surpassing supernatural genius ” ?

VII

STARTING POINT AND TWO-FOLD CHARACTER OF MONASTIC PERFECTION

V — OUR FAITH, THE VICTORY OVER THE WORLD.

Haec est victoria quae vincit mundum fides nostra.

Footnotes

1. 1. This is evidently only an analogy ; if points of similitude exist between the Church and the monastery, there are also differences, and some are considerable. We at once see those that are most important ; in certain cases the Sovereign Pontiff is infallible, the head of the monastery nevei enjoys this privilege ; the Pope’s authority is universal, that of the Abbot is restricted, etc.
   ↩
2. 1. Matth. XIX, 2 7. — 2. Rule, ch. lviii.
   ↩
3. 1. Joan, v, 17. — 2. Gen. i, ^i. — 3. Ps. cm, 31. — 4- Gen. 11, 15. — 5. Ibid, hi, 19. — 6. Special practices of afflictive penance are clearly indicated, although not in so many words, in treating of the observance of Lent (ch. xlix) ; but they are simply suggested, and individual initiative — always however controlled by the Abbot — here plays a large part. Cf. infra the conference Self Renunciation.
   ↩
4. 1. Matth. xni, 55. — 2. Rule, ch. xlviii. — 3. Ibid. ch. lvii. — 4. Ibid. ch. xlviii. — 5. Prologue. — 6. Rule, ch. lviii. — 7. Ibid. ch. lxxi.
   ↩

5. j. Cf. Rule, ch. xi.tx. — 2. Cf. Ibid. ch. xlix. — 3. Ps. lxxxix, 17 ; Office of Prime. — 4. Ps. cxxvi, 1. — 5. Rule, ch. lxvi. — 6. Joan, xvii, 9. — 7. Col. hi, 3. ↩

6. 1. Eph. i, 3-4. — 2. Col. 1, 15. — 3- Ibid, n, 3. — 4- Joan. 1, 14.
   ↩
7. 1. Matth. xxviii, 18-19. — 2. Marc, xvi, 16. — 3. Cf. Joan. 111, 35 ; v, 22. — 4. Ibid, xiv, 6. — 5. Eph. v, 30. — 6. Matth. xxv, 34. — 7. Ibid. 41.
   ↩
8. 1. Jac. i, 17.
   ↩
9. 1. Luc. xn, 37. — 2. Jorgensen, Sl Catherine of Siena.
   ↩
10. 1. Luc. xviii, 41. — 2. Rule, ch. vii. — 3. I Petr, v, 5 ; Jac. iv, 6.-4 Joan, viii, 29.
    ↩
11. 1. Matth. XIII, 55. — 2. Col. ii, 3. — 3. Eph. 1, 3.
    ↩
12. 1. Rule, ch. iv. — 2. Ibid. — 3. Joan, xvn, 23. — 4. Vita Bedae, auctore anonymo pervetusto, P. L. 90, col. 51. — 5. Ps. cxxi, 7.
    ↩