The Rule of Benedict was written in the Middle Ages by St. Benedict of Nursia. In it he goes into great detail about what monastic life should look like including everything from how psalms should be sung to the sleeping arrangements of the monks. The strict guidelines provided by Benedict ultimately created basis for the types of monks and monasteries seen throughout the remainder of the Middle Ages. Because of this, The Rule became one of the most influential writings for Christianity.
The Rule of Benedict was written as a tool for unifying and standardizing the practices of medieval monasteries by laying out a list of rules and regulations all monks were expected to adhere to. Before this document was published (and even a while after, before it gained popularity) anyone could call themselves a monk, regardless of how they chose to practice. Benedict’s rule served as a way to legitimize monasticism and create from that a way of life.
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Benedict gives insights into what the daily life of a monk and the inner workings of a monastery might have looked like in the Middle Ages. One of many examples of Benedict’s strict structuring of the monastic life can be found in sections 16 and 17 of the rule. In section 16, titled “Arrangements for the divine office during the day” Benedict writes that there needs to be prayer seven times a day, every day. He divides this into Lauds, Prime, Terce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Compline. Then in section 17 he goes into even more detail by describing exactly how the monks should be praying. Benedict writes, “At Prime three psalms should be said, one by one, each with separate Gloria; and before the psalms begin, the hymn for that office should be sung after the verse ‘God come to my assistance.’” This illustrates just how particular St. Benedict wanted the monks to be. He created a lifestyle that ensured that all of its followers would truly devote their entire life to god, not just in name but in practice as
Why Henry VIII Closed the Monasteries There were 800 monks and nuns in 1500s they had strict rules, The rule of St. Benedict for monks of the Benedictine order was prayer should take place eight times a day, all monks should sleep in separate beds, all monks must rise quickly when signal is given to attend the services and all monks must not grumble about the colour or rough material of their clothes. The rule of St. Augustine for the monks of the Augustine order was love god and your neighbour and monks should spend their time when not praying, coping books, looking after the poor and old, nursing the sick and crippled, teaching children and looking after travellers. Between 1536 and 1539 Henry V111 and Cromwell decided to close the monasteries because the monks are not flowing rules and take all the wealth to defend the country. In order to complete this essay I am going to explain below in detail why the monasteries were closed by Henry V111 between 1536 and 1539
With the rise of the reformation in the 16th century, Roman Catholics had a difficult time defending their religion but they did so through different means. The protestant reformation's rise was a cause of the Babylonian Captivity of the 14th century, the Great Schism from 1377 to 1417, and the Conciliar Movement to reform. As a result, Catholic women began to criticize heresy, institutional changes condemned protestant thought, and catholicism remained strong through influential Baroque arts.
The Transformation of Benedict in Much Ado About Nothing. In "Much Ado About Nothing" Shakespeare manages to transform Benedict. from being a bachelor to being in love with Beatrice. Shakespeare does extremely well to make this change of character seem believable as it such a big one.
In short, disestablishment is the most literal form of separation of Church and State; it prohibited the state from funding or establishing a religion. This was a continuation of the fight for the freedom on conscience. James Madison was very influential in this fight, “Religion was not invented by human policy” thus he argued that it should never be subjected to human policy (Maddison, 120). Maddison expresses that a person’s religion is to be determined by his own conviction and conscience, “and it is the right of every man to exercise it” (Maddison, 118). Freedom of religion, the first amendment, existed before disestablishment, but in it’s entirety was dependent on disestablishment. Establishment was achieved through imposing taxes on
In his youth, St. Boniface encountered many priests or clerics who traveled from town to town. Through these spiritual conversations, it became evident to St. Boniface that he wanted to pursue a life with God. Eventually, after continuos begging and his fathers fatal sickness, he was sent to the care of the Monastery of Examchester. (Appleton) It is here, that St. Boniface expressed to the Abbot at the time, that he wanted to live a monastic life. The father of the monastery, after council, granted him his wish. Here is where the saint began to prove his love for God, and could begin his journey of the Christian life. After exceeding all expectations and surpassing the knowledge of his teachers, he moved to a neighboring monastery, called Nursling, whereby he studied under the influence of Abbot Winbert.(St. Boniface Church) Here he gained vast knowledge of scriptures and the spiritual exposition of the Bible. Here, he gained such a reputation that men and women from far and wide traveled to study scriptures under his guidance. At the age of 30 he was humbly ordained a priest and yet another branch of his life was fulfilled.
One of the biggest spiritual reforms was the development of monasteries. Before this time monasteries were a place for social revolutionaries and rejects, but St. Benedict set up a code of values for these monasteries that emphasized such values as prayer, poverty, obedience and chastity. Therefore, monasteries became an acceptable way to show devotion to God and the church.
Late in the fifth century the son of a well-off family in Italy left for isolation on his mission to truly seek god. This man was St. Benedict, who is credited with the first establishment of the concept of withdrawing from all temptation for Christian beliefs in the west. St. Benedict left his home and went to the top of a mountain, where he established a monastic community. In this community the individuals who resided there, constantly reiterated their faith. They sacrificed whatever they may have had to prove their true commitment to God. This became an early ideal of Christianity, that one must suffer loss and sacrifice to prove their loyalty to the faith. It was believed in this time period that if one is content with only what they truly need one is freer to think about other people and to think about God . These individuals were called Regular Clergies (monks) and were considered heroes of the faith.
Under the Pope, there were the bishops. The bishops directed church courts and managed cases relating to the public such as marriage, wills and other public predicaments. Priests held religious services that consisted of sacraments, baptisms and the usual Sabbath services. The monks and nuns received manual labour that required helping clean the monasteries and assist the needy. Educated monks copied manuscripts of medieval and ancient knowledge in the Scriptorium.
Understanding the Buddhist lifestyle requires learning about the background of the religion and the monks. Buddha set the teachings of Buddhism, also called the Dhamma-Vinaya. The code of conduct, called the Vinaya, teaches people aspiring to gain the monastic life of a monk to gain wisdom and mindfulness. Buddha set these rules for the well-being of the Bhikkus, or the monk. He set these rules to help create a peaceful atmosphere for the Buddhist community and to avoid corruption in the Buddhist community. All monks and/or nuns must not only follow these rules, but also many other rules and principles.
The main strenghts of cluniac monasticism lay in its independence, it’s early spiritual energy, it’s observence of the benedictine rule and it’s sainly abbots. These provided very well for Cluny for a significant period, but over-growth of the order led to a slackening in observence of the Rule, and with the disasterous abbacy of Pons and a basic shift in religious opinion these strenghts became weaknesses that
The differences between the laity and monastic worshippers within Buddhist tradition are distinguished by the extent to which these two groups are willing to follow the middle-way as taught by Buddha. Typically, in order to have a functional Buddhist society, there must be the devout, and those who support the devout, giving aid in the form of food, monies, shelter, transportation, etc. The devout who sacrifice the purity of a true monastic lifestyle in order to support the community (who in turn are the recipients of merit or punya; a bank of ‘good’ actions tied to ‘good’ karma) (Gethin 101), from the monastic worshippers, are called the laity; upasakas (men laity) and upasikas (women laity). The monastics, or Bhikkhus (monks) and Bhikkhunis (nuns) are responsible for accepting the devotion shown by the laity, reciprocally, the laity are obliged to maintain devotion for “in order to be free from guilt […] the bases of a clear conscience [is] generosity and good conduct” (Ibid 83) . Good conduct is the realization and active partaking of the “eight significant dimensions [the Noble Eight-fold Path] of one’s behavior” (Ibid 82), which constitute right (in all actions of) understanding, thought, speech, action, livelihood, effort, mindfulness, and concentration (although not limited to, rather expanded upon realization). The importance of a laities duty within society is to support, through their livelihood, the only traditional Buddhist teaching available to them (Ibid 92). In order to adapt a Buddhist ideology, some conducts were left out of lay worship to support a less strenuous spiritual life (putting the emphasis on merit earned) in pursuit of maintaining a functional community. The purpose, to establish the five lay percepts ...
- How did the Protestant maintain almost a century of peace in Ireland during the Protestant Ascendancy?
Early Christian monasticism was influenced by the lives of John the Baptist and Prophet Elijah, as they both dwelled alone in the desert, but the ultimate inspiration was the life of Jesus Christ. His life was entirely dedicated to God, devoted in prayer, preaching, teaching and fasting. In Matthew 4:1-11, we read about how Jesus went into the desert and fasted for forty days and forty nights, before he could begin his public ministry.
In the middle ages Friars, Monks and Prioresses had very specific roles in society. A Friar had to follow the mendicant order while living off of charity, preaching, educating, attending to the sick and absolving people from their sin. The Prioress was the head of a group of nuns. She would have had a low social standing as she belongs to the Theocracy. Her roles included growing vegetables and grain, producing wine and honey, providing medical care for the community and being in charge of the Priories. Lastly, the Monk’s role was to remain in his cloister and study religious texts; “And that a monk uncloistered is a mere/ Fish out of water, flapping on the pier…”(177-178). All of these people were supposed to model holiness; they were bound to the community and had no personal possessions. They are supposed to be selfless Christians dedicated to the Church.
There are several different cultures in the world today. Each culture has its own different traditions and values. One of the world’s most popular cultural differences has to deal with religion. Religion is defined as “an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods” (Meriam). One popular religion is Roman Catholicism. Being a catholic means different things to different people but it usually revolves around one central theme; doing the right thing according to God. While I am not Catholic, I can certainly understand some of the values and beliefs they have.