Concept
Benedictines
Overview
The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (Latin: Ordo Sancti Benedicti, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, they are the oldest of all the religious orders in the Latin Church. The male religious are also sometimes called the Black Monks, especially in English speaking countries, after the colour of their habits, although some, like the Olivetans, wear white. They were founded by Benedict of Nursia, a 6th-century Italian monk who laid the foundations of Benedictine monasticism through the formulation of his Rule. Benedict's sister Scholastica, possibly his twin, also became religious from an early age, but chose to live as a hermit. They retained a close relationship until her death.
Despite being called an order, the Benedictines do not operate under a single hierarchy. They are instead organized as a collection of autonomous monasteries and convents, some known as abbeys. The order is represented internationally by the Benedictine Confederation, an organization set up in 1893 to represent the order's shared interests. They do not have a superior general or motherhouse with universal jurisdiction but elect an Abbot Primate to represent themselves to the Vatican and to the world.
In some regions, Benedictine nuns are given the title Dame in preference to Sister.
Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).
Possible passages
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The re-establishing this ancient order was the object of several statutes enacted in England during the course of the fourteenth century, particularly of what is called the statute of provisors; and of the pragmatic sanction, established in France in the fifteenth century. In order to render the election valid, it was necessary that the sovereign should both consent to it before hand, and afterwards approve of the…
Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
States what Benedictines is.
The Creed denominates the holy Christian Church, communionem sanctorum, a communion of saints; for both expressions, taken together, are identical. But formerly the one [the second] expression was not there, and it has been poorly and unintelligibly translated into German eine Gemeinschaft der Heiligen, a communion of saints. If it is to be rendered plainly, it must be expressed quite differently in the German…
Martin Luther, Martin Luther's Large Catechism
States what Benedictines is.
In more developed Christianity, we see that seed of asceticism unfold into the full flower in the writings of the Christian saints and mystics. These preach, besides the purest love, complete resignation, voluntary and absolute poverty, genuine calmness, perfect indifference to all worldly things, dying to our own will and being born again in God, entire forgetting of our own person, and sinking ourselves in the…
Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Idea
States what Benedictines is.
Philosophers who discussed Benedictines
Related ideas
- Eastern Orthodox Church
- French Revolution
- Florence
- Hungary
- Holy See
- Hildegard of Bingen
- Alcuin
- Latin
- London
- Middle Ages
- Anselm of Canterbury
- Archbishop of Canterbury
- Rome
- Hermit
- Warsaw
- Doctor of the Church
- Madrid
- Pope Leo XIII
- Mendicant
- Jacques Maritain
- Montmartre
- Catholic Church
- Christian mysticism
- Bourbon Restoration in France
Place in the tradition
Part of German philosophy.