heart towards his word that we may the better put it into practice. Inclina aurem cordis tui1. If the mind alone hears without the heart's co-operation, God's word does not bring forth all its fruit. If you do not listen to the word of him, who holds the place of Christ towards you, with faith, humility and in a childlike spirit, as St. Benedict desires (admonitionem patris) 2, but in a spirit of criticism or simply with a closed heart, this word, even if it came from a saint, would remain barren and might even be hurtful 3. And on the day of judgment we shall be asked to give an account of all the teachings by which we have not chosen to profit. Therefore the Psalmist exclaims: "Today if you shall hear [the Lord's] voice, harden not your hearts": Hodie si vocem eius audieritis, nolite obdurare CORDA vestra 4. how do we harden our hearts? By pride of spirit.

And

Yea rather, Blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it, even when they are, or think themselves, more learned than the one who speaks: Beati qui audiunt verbum Dei 5. Receiving this word (it is still the same idea) with" a good and perfect heart": CORDE bono et optimo, they will bring forth at the heavenly harvest that "hundredfold' that very much fruit" which alone rejoices our Heavenly Father because in this is He glorified: In hoc clarificatus est Pater meus, ut fructum plurimum afferatis 6.

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VII.

To docility of mind, St. Benedict wishes the monk to join obedience of action and for the love of God to submit himself to his superior in all obedience ": Pro Dei amore omni obedientia se subdat majori". But as the great Patriarch devotes a special and important chapter to this virtue, we will treat of it further on. What is to be noted here is a twofold aspect very characteristic of St. Benedict's teaching. On the one hand there is a rare width of view in the material organisation of the monastic life; on the other hand, an almost boundless fidelity to the least details of the observance, when once established by authority, is required. Far removed from all parti-pris, from all formalism, the Lawgiver of monks leaves the regulation of many details,

1. St Gregory likewise employs this expression more than once: Si ipse verba Dei audit qui ex Deo est, et audire verba ejus non potest quisquis de illo non est, interroget se unusquisque si verba Dei in aure cordis percipit; et intelliget unde sit. Homilia 18 in Evang. 2. Prologue of the Rule, 3. St Paul speaks of the enlightening of the eyes of the heart as necessary for knowing the truth. (Eph. 1, 18.) 4. Ps. XCIV, 8. 5. Luc. XI, 28. - 6. Joan. xv, 8.7. Rule, ch. vII.

"

sometimes even points of consequence, to the Abbot's power of discretion. Thus in the matter of food, he refrains from fixing the quantity or quality with too much precision, for everyone has his proper gift from God1" in what regards corporal necessities; in case of illness or delicate health, he allows the use of meat 2, and more generally a moderate use of wine; when the labour of the monks is harder than usual, the Abbot has the faculty of increasing the customary portion 4". St. Benedict leaves a like latitude in what concerns the quality of the clothing: the Abbot is to decide according to the requirements of the climate and other considerations 5. In the matter of penances and punishments for faults committed, much is left again to the Abbot's judgment Culparum modus in abbatis pendet arbitrio; we find the same discretion, and this seems astonishing relatively to the distribution of psalms in the Divine Office : in proposing an order to be adopted in the psalmody, the holy Legislator adds that he does not wish to impose this order; if any Abbot finds a better arrangement, he is free to adopt it".

The extent of the Abbot's authority is, in some ways, indefinite. All, from the prior and cellarer down to the last of the brethren, must submit to the decision of the Abbot; In abbatis pendeat arbitrio, ut quod salubrius esse judicaverit, et cuncti obediant ; every action done knowingly without the Abbot's authorisation is imputed to presumption and, however slight a matter it may be, its author will be subjected to a penance : Vindictae regulari subjaceat qui praesumpserit... quippiam quamvis parvum sine abbatis jussione facere. This entire submission naturally extends to the use of material objects: "It is not licit to have anything whatsoever that the Abbot has not given, or authorised to receive " Nec quidquam liceat habere quod Abbas non dederit aut permiserit 10 St. Benedict goes still further; even the supererogatory acts of mortification that the monks wish to undertake are accounted by him presumption and vainglory, and as unworthy of reward, if the Abbot has not been consulted in this respect and if they have not had the blessing of his consent and of his prayers. Let everything then be done with the approval of the Abbot ": Ergo cum voluntate abbatis omnia agenda sunt11.

How are we to explain these apparently contradictory

3. Ibid. ch. XL. — 4.

2. Ibid. ch. xxxvi and xxxix.

9. Ibid. ch. LXVII. 10. Ibid. ch. xxxIII. —

5. Ibid. ch. LV. 6. Ibid. ch. xxiv. — 7. Ibid. ch. XVIII.

II. Ibid.

attitudes ? How reconcile these extreme requirements with these broad views? St. Benedict had too enlightened a mind to place monastic perfection in such or such a detail of the common life taken in itself: it would have been a pharisaical tendency repugnant to his great soul. These details undoubtedly have their importance, but they do not constitute the matter of perfection. The form of perfection is something far higher. It is the absolute tradition of the monk to God's Will by a loving and generous obedience. This is why St. Benedict shows himself so exacting once this Will is manifested, for the obedience which is given to superiors is given to God": Obedientia quae majoribus praebetur, Deo exhibetur 1. Therefore, he adds, Those who burn with love of eternal life... desire to have an Abbot over them. Our holy Father St. Benedict does not say that they “support" the authority of the head of the monastery, but that they "desire" it: Abbatem sibi praeesse DESIDERANT 2. So true is it that the holy Legislator sees in the obedience given through love the very path that leads us to God: Scientes se PER HANC VIAM ituros ad Deum3.

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Ever faithful to his essentially Christian method, the great Patriarch places before the eyes of his sons the One Example of all perfection: Christ Jesus. By obedience to their Abbot, they will imitate Him Who said: "I came not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him Who sent Me1.

Never let us lose sight of this essential principle placed by St. Benedict at the very head of his Rule; it perfectly synthetises our whole life; it lights us all along our path like a luminous and kindly beacon. The Abbot holds the place of Christ. He is the head of the monastic society, the high priest and pastor. The monks should show him a humble and sincere affection, great docility of spirit and perfect obedience.

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A Benedictine community animated by such sentiments becomes veritably the palace of the King, a Paradise where Justice and Peace give one another the kiss of union". From such souls who are " truly seeking God" goes up the inward, silent cry: Father, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven : Pater, fiat voluntas tua sicut in coelo et in terra! By humble prayer, constant dependence on Eternal Wisdom, and close union with the Prince of Pastors, the Abbot will endeavour to know this Divine will and set it before his brethren; it is for them to do it with generous obedience inspired by love.

38.

1 and 2. Rule, ch. v. 3. Ibid. ch. LXXI. 4. Ibid. ch. vii; cf. Joan. VI, 5. Ps. LXXXIV, II.

And when (again to take up St. Benedict's words) 1, the Lord looks down to see if there be any who seek Him, He will find, in such a Community, hearts that are pleasing to Him because they imitate the Son of His love; He will behold the realisation, as it were, of that ideal whereof He Himself speaks by His Spirit in the Scriptures: "This is the generation of them that seek Him, of them that seek the face of the God of Jacob": Haec est generatio quaerentium Eum, quaerentium faciem Dei Jacob 2.

Nothing more vividly translates all this admirable and fruitful supernatural doctrine than the conventual Mass celebrated by the Abbot surrounded by his sons. Vested in the insignia of his dignity, the head of the monastery offers the Sacred Victim to God, or rather, through his ministry, Christ, the Supreme High Priest and universal Mediator, offers Himself to the Father. The Abbot offers up to Heaven the homage, the vows, the very hearts of his monks, whence arises a perfume of sacrifice and of love, which the Father receives, through Christ, in the odour of sweetness: in odorem suavitatis 3.

In this solemn moment of the holy Oblation, when voices are blended in one and the same praise, hearts uplifted in the same spirit of adoration and love towards God, the Abbot worthy of the name can repeat the words uttered in the presence of His Disciples by the Divine Pastor, when He was about to give His life for His sheep: "Father, Thine they were, and to me Thou gavest them... I pray not that Thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldst keep them from evil... May they be one among themselves and with me, as Thy Son is One with Thee... may Thy love abide in them, and to all may it one day be given to contemplate the glory of Thy Christ, and to be partakers of Thy blessed fellowship with Thy beloved Son and the Holy Spirit.

1. Prologue, - 2. Ps. XXIII, 6. 3. Exod. xxix, 41.

SUMMARY.

T

- I. Hierarchical relations of the Abbot with the monks. II. Forms of activity that are to be manifested in the monastic society: prayer. -III. Work; the spirit that should inspire it. IV. Stability in the common life. V. Mutual relations of the members of the Cenobitical society. VI. Stability likewise attaches monks to their cloister.

HE foundation stone of the cenobitical society having been laid in the person of the Abbot, it remains for us, in order to complete our broad outline of the Benedictine idea, to examine more closely the divers elements whence result the organic life. and intimate existence of this society.

We will first treat of the Abbot's relations with the monks from the hierarchical point of view; we will next see what sort of activity ought to be manifested in the framework of this organisation, an activity which is summed up in prayer and work; then stability in the common life will appear to us as one of the characteristic elements of cenobitical existence; and we will conclude by indicating what should be the dispositions of those who dwell in the monastery, so that the ideal formed by the great Patriarch may be attained.

I.

We have already remarked that there is a striking analogy between the government instituted by St. Benedict and that of the Church, and this should in nowise astonish us in a Rule coming from one in whom the Christian sense is so closely allied to the Roman genius 1.

You know that the constitution given by Eternal Wisdom to His Church establishes a monarchical and hierarchical form of government, reflecting upon earth God's supreme

1. This is evidently only an analogy; if points of similitude exist between the Church and the monastery, there are also differences, and some are considerable. We at once see those that are most important; in certain cases the Sovereign Pontiff is infallible, the head of the monastery never enjoys this privilege; the Pope's authority is universal, that of the Abbot is restricted, etc.