THE BENEDICTINE REVOLUTION

For centuries, the Benedictine rule was just one of several such rules available to those interested in following a monastic life. Indeed, the very idea of monasticism as we might understand it – men and women living in community under vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and stability (a promise to remain in the monastery) – was yet to be fully developed in these early centuries.

By Francis Young

Rules of life such as Benedict's represented a noble aspiration, and we know that some early monasteries followed Benedict's rule. But many monasteries were governed by a mixture of traditions, and monks were not always clearly distinguished from canons (priests who lived in community and sang the office in choir, but were not under a rule of life like monks). Certainly, the idea of all who followed the rule of Saint Benedict having a collective identity as ‘Benedictines’ did not exist before the tenth century. Odo of Cluny The man who changed this was Odo of Cluny (ca. 878–942) who, in 927, became abbot of the great French abbey of Cluny and immediately embarked on a far-reaching programme of reform. Odo enforced the wearing of the monastic habit, required monks to stay…

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Medieval World Culture & Conflict (Digital) - 1 Issue, Issue 10 - 2024

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