Benedictine Monasticism: Its Formation and Development Through the 12th Century

Description

This survey of monasticism during the early Middle Ages is intended as a help for students and teachers in need of a fuller treatment than that given in Western Civilization courses or even in upper division medieval survey courses. It attempts to chronicle the chief developments of “the Benedictine Centu¬ ries,” and to present some of the problems which beset monas¬ ticism during these centuries as well as some of the answers of various reformers to them. Introduction by Richard E. Sullivan xi EARLY MONASTIC DEVELOPMENTS r. The Roman World Grows Old 5 2. The Church and Her Early Ascetics 20 3. Great Men of Desert Days 33 4. Developments in Western Monasticism 49 BENEDICTINE MONASTICISM 5. St. Benedict of Nursia 69 6. The Rule 83 CONSTRUCTION OF CHRISTENDOM 7. The Construction of Christendom: England 99 8. The Construction of Christendom: France and Germany 111 9. Further Construction of Christendom 124 REFORMS AND ADAPTATIONS 10. The Reform of Benedict of Aniane 141 11. The Cluniac Reform 152 12. Monastic Bishops in England 166 13. The Cistercian Reform 173 INTERNAL GOVERNMENT 14. Life in a Monastery 193 15. Problems: “Internal, External and Fraternal” 212 16. Cases in Point: The Story of Evesham and Jocelin’s Chronicle 223 BENEDICTINE INFLUENCES 17. Monastic Influences on Agriculture, Industry and Commerce 245 18. Monastic Practice of Charity 260 19. The Intellectual Apostolate 268 20. Monastic Authors 283 21. Monastic Influences on Law, Medicine and Art 303 22. Benedictine Influence on Medieval Spirituality 315 23. Epilogue 323 Appendix: Documents Document 1 The Story of the Early Ascetics Influences St. Augustine 331 Document 2 Excerpts from the Letter of St. Augustine (CCXI, A.D. 423) to the Nuns of the Convent of which His Sister Had Been Superior and in which He Gives Some General Rules for Their Guidance 336 Document 5 Prologue to St. Benedict’s Rule 342 Document 4 Charter of the Cluny Monastery 350 Document j The Charter of Love (Carta Caritatis) 354 Document 6 The Monastic Horarium according to the 359 Regularis Concordia.