his sister, the “abbess” (head) of a monastery of women. He wrote another for his
nephew, the “abbot” of a male monastery. In Italy, Saint Benedict (d.c.550/560)
wrote the most famous of the monastic rules some time between 530 and 560. With
its adoption, much later, by the Carolingian kings of the ninth century, it became the
monastic norm in the West. Unlike the rule of Agaune, where prayer was paramount,
the Benedictine Rule divided the day into discrete periods of prayer, reading, and
labor. Nevertheless, the core of its program, as at Agaune, was the “liturgy”—not just
the Mass, but also an elaborate round of formal worship that took place seven times
a day and once at night. At these specific times, the monks chanted—that is sang—
the “Offices,” most of which consisted of the psalms, a group of 150 poems in the
Old Testament:
During wintertime... first this verse is to be said three times: “Lord,
you will open my lips, and my mouth will proclaim your praise.” To that
should be added Psalm 3 and the Gloria [a short hymn of praise]. After
that, Psalm 94 with an antiphon [a sort of chorus], or at least chanted.
Then an Ambrosian hymn [written by Saint Ambrose of Milan] should
follow, and then six psalms with antiphons.^14
By the end of each week the monks were to have completed all 150 psalms.
Benedict’s monastery, Monte Cassino, was in the shadow of Rome, far enough to
be an “escape” from society but near enough to link it to the papacy. Pope Gregory
the Great (590–604), arguably responsible for making the papacy the greatest power
in Italy, took the time to write a biography of Benedict and praise his Rule.
Monasteries, by their ostentatious rejection of wealth and power, became partners of
the powerful. The monks were seen as models of virtue, and their prayers were
thought to reach God’s ear. It was crucial to ally with them.
Little by little the Christian religion was domesticated to the needs of the new
order, even as it shaped that order to fit its demands. Chainemund was not afraid to
go to the cemetery outside of Tours. There were no demons there; they had been
driven far away by the power of Saint Martin. The fame of Saint Benedict, Gregory
reported, drew “pious noblemen from Rome,” who “left their sons with him to be
schooled in the service of God.”^15 Benedict’s monasteries had become perfectly
acceptable alternatives to the old avenues to prestige: armies and schools. Saint
Radegund, founder of a convent at Poitiers (not far from Tours), obtained a fragment
