for practicing charity in a community where people are committed
to each other for life.
o Benedict sees the common life as a time of preparation for the
higher states of commitment, as in the life of the hermit.o For many who lived it, however, the life was sufficiently
rigorous and demanding to require a lifetime of dedication to
accomplish true obedience.o As monasteries became more prosperous, the “school”
dimension came to the fore, and monasteries formed the basic
source of both Christian discipleship and learning for centuries.The Legacy of Benedictinism
• Pope Gregory I (“the Great”) was himself a Benedictine monk and
wrote the biography of Benedict. He used Benedictine monks as the
instruments for the restoration of the church in England.
• In 596, Gregory sent Augustine, the prior of the monastery of Saint
Andrew in Rome, together with other monks, to England and made
him the archbishop of Canterbury.• Augustine converted King Ethelbert, whose wife, Bertha,
was already Christian, and through the king, England rapidly
became Catholic.• The Benedictine monasteries, which fit so well within the manorial
system of medieval society, became places that exemplified and
enabled a deeper commitment to the faith. English monks in
particular were critical to the next stage of evangelization in Europe.• Perhaps the most remarkable testimony to the work of Benedict is
that despite a long series of repressions and reforms, the way of
life according to his Rule continues to be lived by men and women
around the world to the present day. Not many 1,500-year-old
books have worn as well.