The Regula Magistri or Rule of the Master is an anonymous sixth-century collection of monastic precepts. The text of the Rule of the Master is found in the Concordia Regularum of Benedict of Aniane, who gave it its name.
The Rule of the Master was written two or three decades before Benedict of Nursia's the Rule of Saint Benedict. [1] Unlike the Rules of Pachomius, which are a collection of regulations, instructions, and prohibitions concerning the life of the community, the Rule of the Master contains precise regulations but also a theological and spiritual reflection showing the reason for the regulations. The Rule of the Master consisted of an introduction followed by ninety-five chapters. Over twenty chapters are devoted to the Divine Office.
The four-part introduction comprises a prologue, the parable of the spring, a commentary on the Lord's Prayer and the commentary on the Psalms. The format follows the literary convention of a series of questions. The first part, through Chapter 10, discusses spiritual doctrine, the latter portion, monastic discipline. [2]
In the Parable of the Spring, the Master invokes Christ's appeal in Matthew 11:29 to "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart ...". Adalbert de Vogüé points out that the Master viewed the monastery as a school where one learns from Christ. [3] The first part of the Rule is characterized by the abbot's function to teach. [2]
One of the writings that influenced the Master was Saint Augustine's Letter 211, which was sent to a community of women founded by Augustine in the city of Hippo. Augustine's writings were well known in the West in the sixth century (though unknown in the East until several centuries later) and his texts on religious or monastic life were considered standard. [4] The writings of John Cassian are also indicated. [5]
The Regula Magistri is three times as long as Benedict's rule. It was possibly used by St Benedict as source material for his own "Rule". The structure of the Rules is similar, and there are parallel passages. [2] [6]
However, Benedict did not simply copy the Regula Magistri. He deleted some sections, and adapted others based on his own experience, placing more emphasis on fraternal love. Benedict's Rule demonstrates a more positive view of human nature than the Master. [4] There is no historical record of the Regula Magistri having ever been used by any particular monastic community.
The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict, 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 a religious from an early age, but chose to live as a hermit. They retained a close relationship until her death.
The Rule of Saint Benedict is a book of precepts written in Latin c. 530 by St. Benedict of Nursia for monks living communally under the authority of an abbot.
Monte Cassino is a rocky hill about 130 kilometres (80 mi) southeast of Rome, in the Latin Valley, Italy, 2 kilometres west of Cassino and at an elevation of 520 m (1,710 ft). Site of the Roman town of Casinum, it is widely known for its abbey, the first house of the Benedictine Order, having been established by Benedict of Nursia himself around 529. It was for the community of Monte Cassino that the Rule of Saint Benedict was composed.
Scholastica was an Italian Christian hermit and the sister of Benedict of Nursia. She is traditionally regarded as the foundress of the Benedictine nuns.
A scriptorium was a writing room in medieval European monasteries for the copying and illuminating of manuscripts by scribes.
Benedict of Aniane, born Witiza and called the Second Benedict, was a Benedictine monk and monastic reformer who had a substantial impact on the religious practice of the Carolingian Empire. His feast day is either February 11 or 12, depending on the liturgical calendar.
The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a Catholic religious order of cloistered monastics that branched off from the Cistercians. They follow the Rule of Saint Benedict and have communities of both monks and nuns that are known as Trappists and Trappistines, respectively. They are named after La Trappe Abbey, the monastery from which the movement and religious order originated. The movement began with the reforms that Abbot Armand Jean le Bouthillier de Rancé introduced in 1664, later leading to the creation of Trappist congregations, and eventually the formal constitution as a separate religious order in 1892.
Aelred of Rievaulx, O Cist., also known as also Ailred, Ælred, or Æthelred; was an English Cistercian monk and writer who served as Abbot of Rievaulx from 1147 until his death. He is venerated by the Catholic Church as a saint and by some Anglicans.
Caesarius of Arles, sometimes called "of Chalon" from his birthplace Chalon-sur-Saône, was the foremost ecclesiastic of his generation in Merovingian Gaul. Caesarius is considered to be of the last generation of church leaders of Gaul who worked to integrate large-scale ascetic elements into the Western Christian tradition. William E. Klingshirn's study of Caesarius depicts Caesarius as having the reputation of a "popular preacher of great fervour and enduring influence". Among those who exercised the greatest influence on Caesarius were Augustine of Hippo, Julianus Pomerius, and John Cassian.
The Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about the year 400, is a brief document divided into eight chapters and serves as an outline for religious life lived in community. It is the oldest monastic rule in the Western Church.
John Cassian, also known as John the Ascetic and John Cassian the Roman, was a Christian monk and theologian celebrated in both the Western and Eastern churches for his mystical writings. Cassian is noted for his role in bringing the ideas and practices of early Christian monasticism to the medieval West.
Gertrude the Great or Gertrude of Helfta was a German Benedictine nun and mystic who was a member of the Monastery of Helfta. While herself a Benedictine, she also has strong ties to the Cistercian Order; her monastery in Helfta is currently occupied by nuns of the Cistercian Order.
Chrodegang was the Frankish Bishop of Metz from 742 or 748 until his death. He served as chancellor for his kinsman, Charles Martel. Chrodegang is claimed to be a progenitor of the Frankish dynasty of the Robertians. He is recognized as a saint in the Catholic Church.
Evagrius Ponticus, also called Evagrius the Solitary, was a Christian monk and ascetic from Heraclea, a city on the coast of Bithynia in Asia Minor. One of the most influential theologians in the late fourth-century church, he was well known as a thinker, polished speaker, and gifted writer. He left a promising ecclesiastical career in Constantinople and traveled to Jerusalem, where in 383 AD he became a monk at the monastery of Rufinus and Melania the Elder. He then went to Egypt and spent the remaining years of his life in Nitria and Kellia, marked by years of asceticism and writing. He was a disciple of several influential contemporary church leaders, including Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazianzus, and Macarius of Egypt. He was a teacher of others, including John Cassian and Palladius of Galatia.
Monastic sign languages have been used in Europe from at least the tenth century by Christian monks, and some, such as Cistercian and Trappist sign, are still in use today—not only in Europe, but also in Japan, China and the US. Unlike deaf sign languages, they are better understood as forms of symbolic gestural communication rather than languages, and some writers have preferred to describe them as sign lexicons.
William of Saint-Thierry, O. Cist was a twelfth-century Benedictine, theologian and mystic from Liège who became abbot of Saint-Thierry in France, and later joined the Cistercian Order.
Smaragdus of Saint-Mihiel OSB was a Benedictine monk of Saint-Mihiel Abbey near Verdun. He was a significant writer of homilies and commentaries.
In the Catholic Church, a religious institute is "a society in which members, according to proper law, pronounce public vows, either perpetual or temporary which are to be renewed, however, when the period of time has elapsed, and lead a life of brothers or sisters in common."
Donatus was a bishop of Besançon, founder of the monastery Palatium in Besançon and author of a rule for nuns. He is venerated as a saint since the 11th century; his feast day is August 7.
Henry David Hurst, known also as Dom David Hurst OSB and to his colleagues and students as Father David, was a classicist and historian best recognized for his scholarship on Bede. He spent the greater part of his career as a teacher of Greek and Latin at the Portsmouth Abbey School, a prep school in Rhode Island with an attached monastery.