BENEDICT
470
BENEDICT
prayer, it is because the whole condition and mode
of life secured by the Rule, and the character formed
by its observance, lead naturally to the higher states
of prayer. As the saint writes: "Whoever, therefore,
thou art that hastenest to thy heavenly country,
fulfil by the help of Christ this little Rule which we
have written for beginners; and then at length thou
shalt arrive, imder God's protection, at the lofty
summits of doctrine and virtue of which we have
spoken above" (ibid., Ixxiii). For guidance in these
higher states the saint refers to the Fathers, Basil
and Cassian.
From this short examination of the Rule and its system of prayer, it will be obvious that to describe the Benedictine as a contemplative order is mislead- ing, if the word is vised in its modern technical sense as excluding active work; the "contemplative" is a font of life framed for different circumstances and with a different object from St. Benedict's. The
We can now take up again the story of Benedict's
life. How long he remained at Subiaco we do not
know. Abbot Tosti conjectures it was imtil the year
529. Of these years St. Gregory is content to tell no
more than a few stories descriptive of the life of the
monks, and of the character and government of St.
Benedict. The latter was making his first attempt to
reahze in these twelve monasteries his conception of
the monastic hfe. We can fill in many of the details
from the Rule. By his own experiment and his
knowledge of the history of monasticism the saint
had learnt that the regeneration of the individual,
except in abnormal cases, is not reached by the path
of solitude, nor by that of austerity, but by the
beaten track of man's social instinct, with its nec-
essary conditions of obedience and work; and that
neither the body nor the mind can be safely over-
strained in the effort to avoid evil (ibid., bdv). Thus
at Subiaco we find no solitaiies, no conventual her-
The Abbet of Moxte C.\f«ixo
Rule, including its system of prayer and public
psalmody, is meant for every class of mind and every
degree of learning. It is framed not only for the
educated and for souls advanced in perfection, but
it organizes and directs a complete life which is
adapted for simple folk and for sinners, for the ob-
servance of the Commandments and for the be-
ginnings of goodness. " We have written this Rule",
writes St. Benedict, "that by observing it in mon-
asteries, we maj' shew ourselves to have some degree
of goodness in life and a beginning of holiness. But
for him who would hasten to the perfection of re-
ligion there are the teachings of the holy Fathers, the
following whereof bringeth a man to the height of
perfection" (ibid.. Ixxiii). Before leaving the subject
of prayer it will be well to point out again that by
ordering the public recitation and singing of the
Psalter. St. Benedict was not putting upon his monks
a distinctively clerical obligation. The Psalter was
the common form of prayer of all Christians; we must
not read into his Rule characteristics which a later
age and discipline have made inseparable from the
pu'uho recitation of the Divine Office.
mits, no great austerities, but men living together in
org,anized communities for the purpose of leading
good lives, doing such work as came to their hand
— carrying water up the steep mountain-side, doing
the other household work, raising the twelve cloisters,
clearing the ground, making gardens, teaching
children, preaching to the coimtrj- people, reading
and stud>dng at least four hours a day, recei\Tng
strangers, accepting and training new-comers, at-
tending the regvilar hours of prayer, reciting and
chanting the Psalter. The life at Subiaco and the
character of St. Benedict attracted many to the new
monasteries, and with their increasing nimibers and
growing influence came the inevitable jealousy and
persecution, which culminated with a vile attempt
of a neighbouring priest to scandalize the monks by
an exhibition of naked women, dancing in the court-
yard of the saint's monastery (Dial. St. Greg., viii).
To save his followers from further persecution Bene-
dict left Subiaco and went to Monte Cassino.
Upon the crest of Monte Cassino "there was an ancient chapel in which the foolish and simple coimtrj' people, according to the custom of the old
