The Holy Rule of St. Benedict

Name: The Holy Rule of St. Benedict
Author: St. Benedict

Benedict of Nursia (480–547) was an Italian monk, the founder of the Benedictine order and of the great abbey of Monte Cassino, and honoured since 1964 as a patron saint of Europe. After years as a hermit at Subiaco, he gathered communities of monks under a written rule. His Rule of St. Benedict — moderate, wise, and centred on prayer and work — has governed Western monastic life for fifteen centuries.

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First published: 530
Category: Devotional
Length: 20k words · about 1 hour
Chapters: 75

About this book

The Rule of Benedict of Nursia, written around 530 for monks living in community, is the foundational document of Western monastic life. In short, practical chapters it orders the community's prayer, work, meals, and discipline, and guides the abbot's care of the brethren. Its balance of prayer and labour has shaped religious communities for fifteen centuries.

The Holy Rule of St. Benedict
Prologue
Chapter I. Of the Kinds or the Life of Monks
Chapter II. What Kind of Man the Abbot Ought to Be 🔒
Chapter III. Of Calling the Brethren for Counsel 🔒
Chapter IV. The Instruments of Good Works 🔒
Chapter V. Of Obedience 🔒
Chapter VI. Of Silence 🔒
Chapter VII. Of Humility 🔒
Chapter VIII. Of the Divine Office during the Night 🔒
Chapter IX. How Many Psalms Are to Be Said at the Night Office 🔒
Chapter X. How the Office Is to Be Said during the Summer Season 🔒
Chapter XI. How the Night Office Is to Be Said on Sundays 🔒
Chapter XII. How Lauds Are to Be Said 🔒
Chapter XIII. How Lauds Are to Be Said on Week Days 🔒
Chapter XIV. How the Night Office Is to Be Said on the Feasts of the Saints 🔒
Chapter XV. At What Times the Alleluia Is to Be Said 🔒
Chapter XVI. How the Work of God Is to Be Performed during the Day 🔒
Chapter XVII. How Many Psalms Are to Be Sung at These Hours 🔒
Chapter XVIII. In What Order the Psalms Are to Be Said 🔒
Chapter XIX. Of the Manner of Reciting the Psalter 🔒
Chapter XX. Of Reverence at Prayer 🔒
Chapter XXI. Of the Deans of the Monastery 🔒
Chapter XXII. How the Monks Are to Sleep 🔒
Chapter XXIII. Of Excommunication for Faults 🔒
Chapter XXIV. What the Manner of Excommunication Should Be 🔒
Chapter XXV. Of Graver Faults 🔒
Chapter XXVI. Of Those Who without the Command of the Abbot Associate with the Excommunicated 🔒
Chapter XXVII. How Concerned the Abbot Should Be about the Excommunicated 🔒
Chapter XXVIII. Of Those Who Having Often Been Corrected Do Not Amend 🔒
Chapter XXIX. Whether Brethren Who Leave the Monastery Ought to Be Received Again 🔒
Chapter XXX. How Young Boys Are to Be Corrected 🔒
Chapter XXXI. The Kind of Man the Cellarer of the Monastery Ought to Be 🔒
Chapter XXXII. Of the Tools and Goods of the Monastery 🔒
Chapter XXXIII. Whether Monks Ought to Have Anything of Their Own 🔒
Chapter XXXIV. Whether All Should Receive in Equal Measure What Is Necessary 🔒
Chapter XXXV. Of the Weekly Servers in the Kitchen 🔒
Chapter XXXVI. Of the Sick Brethren 🔒
Chapter XXXVII. Of the Aged and Children 🔒
Chapter XXXVIII. Of the Weekly Reader 🔒
Chapter XXXIX. Of the Quantity of Food 🔒
Chapter XL. Of the Quantity of Drink 🔒
Chapter XLI. At What Times the Brethren Should Take Their Refection 🔒
Chapter XLII. That No One Speak after Complin 🔒
Chapter XLIII. Of Those Who Are Tardy in Coming to the Work of God or to Table 🔒
Chapter XLIV. Of Those Who Are Excommunicated—How They Make Satisfaction 🔒
Chapter XLV. Of Those Who Commit a Fault in the Oratory 🔒
Chapter XLVI. Of Those Who Fail in Any Other Matters 🔒
Chapter XLVII. Of Giving the Signal for the Time of the Work of God 🔒
Chapter XLVIII. Of the Daily Work 🔒
Chapter XLIX. On the Keeping of Lent 🔒
Chapter L. Of Brethren Who Work a Long Distance from the Oratory or Are on a Journey 🔒
Chapter LI. Of the Brethren Who Do Not Go Very Far Away 🔒
Chapter LII. Of the Oratory of the Monastery 🔒
Chapter LIII. Of the Reception of Guests 🔒
Chapter LIV. Whether a Monk Should Receive Letters or Anything Else 🔒
Chapter LV. Of the Clothing and the Footgear of the Brethren 🔒
Chapter LVI. Of the Abbot's Table 🔒
Chapter LVII. Of the Artists of the Monastery 🔒
Chapter LVIII. Of the Manner of Admitting Brethren 🔒
Chapter LIX. Of the Children of the Noble and of the Poor Who Are Offered 🔒
Chapter LX. Of Priests Who May Wish to Live in the Monastery 🔒
Chapter LXI. How Stranger Monks Are to Be Received 🔒
Chapter LXII. Of the Priests of the Monastery 🔒
Chapter LXIII. Of the Order in the Monastery 🔒
Chapter LXIV. Of the Election of the Abbot 🔒
Chapter LXV. Of the Prior of the Monastery 🔒
Chapter LXVI. Of the Porter of the Monastery 🔒
Chapter LXVII. Of the Brethren Who Are Sent on a Journey 🔒
Chapter LXVIII. If a Brother Is Commanded to Do Impossible Things 🔒
Chapter LXIX. That in the Monastery No One Presume to Defend Another 🔒
Chapter LXX. That No One Presume to Strike Another 🔒
Chapter LXXI. That the Brethren Be Obedient to One Another 🔒
Chapter LXXII. Of the Virtuous Zeal Which the Monks Ought to Have 🔒
Chapter LXXIII. Of This, that Not the Whole Observance of Righteousness Is Laid Down in this Rule 🔒