THIS PAGE HAS WILL GIVE YOU INFORMATION ABOUT THE CONGREGATIONS OF MONKS PLANNED BY MONASTIC AUTHORITIES-THE ORDER OF SAINT BENEDICT.
the ORDER OF SAINT BENEDICT
When the book and its rules influenced many people it was considered that St Benedict had found his own order-“The order of Saint Benedict”. The first Benedictine monks were those in Monte Cassino living under the rules of St.Benedictine. In the 9th century, Charlemagne declared that the rules set up by Benedict would be used by all monks and nuns. Even thought the Rule of Benedict had widely been adopted there was no connection between the Benedictine monasteries. Each monastery was independent and had no order.Pope Innocent II changed this. He instructed the monasteries to form alliances and they had to be headed by presidents. The president was to do two things-meet regularly with the abbots and do reviews of the monasteries. These measures would encourage a certain degree of equality in monks and and also foster good monastic discipline and also grow relationships through common worship. The English Benedictines were really inspired by Benedict’s rules and so in 1216 the English congregation was born. Eventually, other national groups did the same. In order to be able to control the different national Benedictine congregations smoothly,Pope Leo XIII united the Congregations into an organization known as the “order of saint Benedict”.The chief abbot, headquartered in Rome at Sant’Anselmo has limited control over individual abbeys and the congregations,mainly in certain extraordinary circumstances related to disputes and discipline. The independence of these monasteries was to be preserved. Although the chief Abbot 's power is limited and his post is a little symbolic, he does serve as the mediating link between the abbeys(Like the secretary general of the UN) to solve issues and disputes. Today, the Benedictine Confederation is made up of 21 congregations with 381 monasteries and some 8400 monks. The English Benedictine Congregation has 13 monasteries with 335 monks and 45 nuns.
|