Anselm Grün, OSB, famed Benedictine author and cellarer—supplies manager—of his monastery at Münsterschwarzach, offers brief reflections on aspects of the Rule of Benedict. He sketches the life of Benedict and reflects on how Benedict’s instructions enable one to live constantly in the presence of God. Even the most mundane objects are signs of the presence of God. It is not merely that we focus our attention on God, but that we're aware that God always focuses attention on us, loving and encouraging us in all things. For example: he calls the cellarer to regard all utensils and goods of the monastery as sacred vessels of the altar.Grün also ponders how work is an aid to prayer and how the Benedictine vow of stability is essential to building community. Silence and the solitude that characterize the monastic are conditions for the possibility of genuine community.Each chapter concludes with a brief reflection on the state of contemporary society and how the aspect of the Rule of Benedict treated in the chapter applies to the needs of today.
Describes the life of St Benedict, with the description of his Life by Saint Gregory, the poem of Mark and the Rule of Benedict. The origins and development of monasticism are outlined and the legacy of Benedict discussed.
St. Benedict of Nursia (480-543) Founder of western monasticism, St. Benedict is one of the most revered saints in the Catholic Church. After living as a hermit, he went on to found numerous monasteries and developed the Rule of St. Benedict which is still practiced to this day by monks and laity alike. During his life he performed many miracles including casting out demons, bringing the dead back to life, and bilocating. St. Benedictis the Patron of monks, agricultural workers, bee keepers, cavers, civil engineers, coppersmiths, dying people, Europe, farmers, and Italian architects. His intercession is often sought against diseases (including contagious diseases and pandemics), against poisoning, against temptations, against possessions & during exorcisms, and against witchcraft. This prayer journal has a prayer book section, containing a biography of St. Benedict, information about the St. Benedict Jubilee medal, descriptions of several of his miracles, the Rule of St. Benedict for Daily Living, a litany, a novena, prayers, a benedictine blessing, quotes, and beautiful classical artwork. In addition to these 34 pages, this prayer journal contains 74 lined pages that can be used as a journal, to record prayer intentions, or as a notebook.
One of the most influential texts in the Middle Ages, The Rule of Saint Benedict offers guidance about both the spiritual and organizational dimensions, from the loftiest to the lowliest, of monastic life. This new Latin-English edition has features of interest for first-time readers of the Rule as well as for scholars of medieval history and language.The Latin text is a transcription of manuscript 914 of the Abbey of St. Gall (Switzerland), an early ninth-century copy regarded as the version that most closely reproduces Benedict's style. The saint’s idiom was informal, sometimes conversational, and heavily influenced by the spoken Latin of the sixth century CE. In the Rule his voice and thought processes come through in all their strength and humanity. Readers will find background to the monastic life in the notes. This volume also includes texts and translations of two letters that explain the origins of the St. Gall version as well as an index to all the translated materials.
This beautiful hardback edition presents the classic text, The Rule of St. Benedict, presented with a gold embossed cover design and gilded page edges. Composed by St. Benedict of Nursia around 529 CE, The Rule of St. Benedict serves as a guidebook for communal Christian living within monasteries. It consists of a comprehensive set of instructions that promote a balanced life centered around prayer, work, and community. The philosophy within the Rule advocates moderation, humility, obedience, and stability, providing a blueprint for harmonious living among individuals committed to a monastic life. The Rule of St. Benedict has had a profound and enduring influence, shaping not only monastic life but also serving as a guide for those seeking a disciplined and purposeful existence in modern times. Its principles of balance, discipline, and community continue to resonate across cultures and generations, offering timeless wisdom for those desiring to live more simply. This elegant pocket-sized gift edition contains the classic and unabridged text, presented with a gold embossed cover design, ivory pages, beautifully designed endpapers and gold gilded page edges. Part of the Arcturus Ornate Classics series, this book makes wonderful gift for anyone interested in religion and spirituality. ABOUT THE SERIES: Arcturus Ornate Classics are beautifully bound editions of iconic literary works across history. These compact, foil-embossed hardbacks are printed using deluxe ivory paper and make the perfect gift.
Discussion around the bestseller The Benedict Option by Rod Dreher has led many people to want to know more about Benedictine principles.???????Listen, my child. I want you to put the ear of your heart to the solid ground of the master’s wisdom (what I received, I’m passing on to you). It’s advice from a spiritual father who loves you—the sort of counsel you receive by letting it shape your whole life. Listening is hard work, but it’s the essential work. It opens us up to the God we’ve rejected by only listening to ourselves. If you’re ready to give up your addiction to yourself, this message is for you: to listen is to equip yourself with the best resources available to serve the real Master, Christ the Lord.So begins the famous opening paragraph of Benedict’s Rule in Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove’s vital, new, contemporary paraphrase. The entire text of the Rule is here plus a lengthy introduction from Jonathan, and detailed explanatory notes throughout that explain difficult passages. The result is a classic re-introduced that will enliven any 21st century expression of religious community.
This work holds the first place among monastic legislative codes, and was by far the most important factor in the organization and spread of monasticism in the West. St. Benedict's rules of obedience, humility, and contemplation are not only prerequisites for formal religious societies, they also provide an invaluable model for anyone desiring to live more simply.
St Benedict also known as the Black Saint Excerpt: Dedication To the Seraphic Patriarch, Saint Francis I cannot do better, O holy Patriarch, than dedicate to thee this Abridgment of the Life of Saint Benedict, thy Son, who now enjoys eternal happiness in the arms of his Father. I do this the more readily, since I need not recall thy glory, which shines from age to age, although we may celebrate it without incurring the reproach of flattery, which may usually be made against dedicatory epistles. It is true, nevertheless, that the merits of children who walk in their father's footsteps, and the glory they win, always redound to the father's greater honor. Our Saint is a striking proof of this. When we read that the countenance of Saint Benedict of Sanfratello became bright and shining when he was in prayer, during the night, we are immediately reminded of the wonderful brightness thou didst shed around thee, in so much, that the cell in which thou wast praying seemed all on fire, and the deceived beholders ran in haste to extinguish the flames. The same may be said of those fundamental virtues, by which our Saint walked in thy blessed footsteps, tinged with the blood of those seraphic wounds which had pierced his heart also. Thou wast accustomed, during prayer, to take refuge under the wings of Saint Michael the Archangel. Saint Benedict was faithful to the same practice. That we may not make too many comparisons, we shall content ourselves with recalling his veneration for the ecclesiastical hierarchy which he had drawn from thy Testament, in which thou dost say, speaking of the sacerdotal order: "It is my desire to fear the priests, to love and honor them as my superiors. I am unwilling to see any sin in them because in each I consider the Son of God, and regard them as my masters." What may render this Abridgment still more agreeable to thee, O venerable Father, is, that thy son Benedict zealously applied himself to imitate and honor thee perfectly; I, then, enter into his views by dedicating to thee this short account of his life, composed on the occasion of his canonization. There is, then, reason to hope that it will be agreeable to both father and child; happy shall I be, if I obtain hereby, from either, that protection which I, with all the reformed religious, implore, prostrate at thy feet. - F. Jacques, Postulator-General Approbation
The first full English translation of one of the most important sources on Thomas Becket. Benedict of Peterborough's Passion and Miracles of St Thomas Becket puts the reader in Canterbury on the day of one of the most famous murders of all time, when four of King Henry II's knights killed the archbishop inside his cathedral on 29 December 1170. It reveals how a monk thrust into the role of chronicler attempted to understand the earliest cures at Thomas Becket's tomb and the rapid growth of his reputation as a miracle-worker. With its description of Becket's murder and some 275 miracles, all dating to 1171-1173, Benedict's text, which went on to circulate across Europe, is by far our most important source for the beginnings of the cult that would draw hundreds of thousands of medieval pilgrims to Canterbury. This book provides the first full English translation of Benedict's Passion and Miracles from the original Latin. It includes an introduction that assesses the relationship of the Canterbury monks to the archbishop, analyses the story of the murder as told in the Passion, and examines the ways in which Benedict gathered material and constructed the Miracles. The translation is also accompanied by full explanatory notes, while two appendices provide biographical information and a translation of the eighteen stories in the Miracles that are also recounted in a slightly later Canterbury collection. This translation will make Benedict's hugely significant text accessible to a wider audience for the first time. This book is available as Open Access under the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND.
The first full English translation of one of the most important sources on Thomas Becket. Benedict of Peterborough's Passion and Miracles of St Thomas Becket puts the reader in Canterbury on the day of one of the most famous murders of all time, when four of King Henry II's knights killed the archbishop inside his cathedral on 29 December 1170. It reveals how a monk thrust into the role of chronicler attempted to understand the earliest cures at Thomas Becket's tomb and the rapid growth of his reputation as a miracle-worker. With its description of Becket's murder and some 275 miracles, all dating to 1171-1173, Benedict's text, which went on to circulate across Europe, is by far our most important source for the beginnings of the cult that would draw hundreds of thousands of medieval pilgrims to Canterbury. This book provides the first full English translation of Benedict's Passion and Miracles from the original Latin. It includes an introduction that assesses the relationship of the Canterbury monks to the archbishop, analyses the story of the murder as told in the Passion, and examines the ways in which Benedict gathered material and constructed the Miracles. The translation is also accompanied by full explanatory notes, while two appendices provide biographical information and a translation of the eighteen stories in the Miracles that are also recounted in a slightly later Canterbury collection. This translation will make Benedict's hugely significant text accessible to a wider audience for the first time. This book is available as Open Access under the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND.
