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204 pages

English

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This comprehensive manual is aimed especially at oblates and associates of Benedictine communities, those who regularly spend retreats or quiet days in Benedictine centres and all those who want to order their life to be more in tune with Benedictine spirituality.
The book contains: the text of the Rule of St Benedict; an introduction to the essentials of Benedictine spirituality; a simple daily office and other Benedictine prayers; a "who's who" introducing us to 100 Benedictine saints and followers; a guide to living the Rule in the world and community and a tour of the Benedictine family worldwide.
Many notable authors have contributed to this volume which is designed to last a lifetime. They include Esther de Waal, Columba Stewart, Kathleen Norris and Patrick Barry.

Sujets

Religion

Christianisme

Philosophie et théologie

Christianity

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Publié par	Hymns Ancient & Modern
Date de parution	27 juin 2003
Nombre de lectures	0
EAN13	9781848253520
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,1040€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

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The Benedictine Handbook

© the Contributors 2003
The Rule of St Benedict © Ampleforth Abbey Trustees 1997
First published in 2003 by the Canterbury Press Norwich (a publishing imprint of Hymns Ancient & Modern Limited, a registered charity) 13a Hellesdon Park Road, Norwich, Norfolk, NR6 5DR
Second impression 2011
www.canterburypress.co.uk
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, Canterbury Press
The Contributors have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the Authors of this Work
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-85311-499-1 ISBN 978-1-85311-499-1
Typeset by Rowland Phototypesetting Ltd, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk Printed and bound in Great Britain by the MPG Books Group
Contents
Introduction Anthony Marett-Crosby OSB
About the Contributors
Part One: Saint Benedict’s Rule
A Short Introduction Patrick Barry OSB
A New Translation for Today Patrick Barry OSB
Part Two: Tools of Benedictine Spirituality
The Work of God Demetrius R. Dumm OSB
The Art of Lectio Divina Michael Casey OCSO
Prayer Mary Forman OSB
Work Laurence McTaggart
Perseverance Kym Harris OSB
The Vows Richard Yeo OSB
Hospitality Kathleen Norris
Part Three: The Benedictine Experience of God
A Simple Daily Office – Morning and Evening Prayer Oswald McBride OSB
Little Hours Oswald McBride OSB
Benedictine Prayers Oswald McBride OSB
A Benedictine Who’s Who Robert Atwell
Benedictine Holy Places Colmán Ó Clabaigh OSB
Part Four: Living The Rule
In Community Columba Stewart OSB
In Solitude Maria Boulding OSB
As an Oblate Dwight Longenecker
In the World Esther de Waal
Part Five: The Benedictine Family
A Short History Joel Rippinger OSB
Benedictines Worldwide Dominic Milroy OSB
The Cistercian Tradition Nivard Kinsella OCSO
Part Six: A Glossary of Benedictine Terms
Jill Maria Murdy and Terrence Kardong OSB
Introduction
When St Benedict of Nursia put down his pen some time in the sixth century, he had completed one of the most remarkable and long-lasting achievements of his and any other century. Since his time, there have been men and women committed to the search for God that he describes, a search that has always been shared with oblates, friends, pilgrims and visitors who have come to Benedict’s monasteries since the beginning. This handbook is one expression of that ongoing sharing.
Most people coming to a monastery for the first time have one question at the back of their minds: ‘What do you, the monks or nuns, actually do?’ This is not a bad question with which to approach the heart of the Benedictine life – let me give an example.
In 1309, two rather dishevelled monks were summoned to answer exactly this question. It was not, at the beginning, a friendly encounter.
On the one side were three busy officials of the King of England, Edward I. They had been sent to the last remaining fragments of the King’s regions in France, and specifically to the island of Jersey, to enquire into the state of Royal property. Facing them were two monks, by birth loyal to the King of France, by monastic vow attached to a Norman monastery and by chance of appointment abandoned on a remote outcrop of rock between Jersey and the Cherbourg peninsula. Their rock was truly tiny – at high tide little more than a break in the waves – but the King of England was nevertheless interested in who owned it, and, more particularly, in what its only two residents did. Their answer is recorded in the plain style of a legal document:

‘He who is called Prior and his companion . . . dwelling in the chapel throughout the whole year maintain a light burning in that chapel so that the sailors crossing the sea by that light may avoid the peril of the reef . . . where the greatest danger exists of being wrecked. These two always perform the divine office.’
To me, this simple answer reveals much about the nature of the Benedictine vocation. In so many different ways throughout its history, and in so many different places throughout the world today, Benedictine women and men have engaged in precisely that same task of bearing a light that shines not for their own glory but for the good of the church and the world. So the aim of this Benedictine handbook is very simple – to be a support to those many people who come into contact with monasteries today and who want to deepen their experience of the monastic way in their own lives. You may live under the shadow of some mighty monastery, or you may be a visitor who has always wondered whether such places still exist. You may be an oblate or supporter of a new foundation, or you may live a long way from a monastery such that you want to take a part of it with you. If you belong to any one of these groups, then this handbook is for you.
Our aim is to create a lifelong companion for you, the friends of monasteries, you want to seek God with the sons and daughters of St Benedict. This handbook is not written for monks and nuns themselves, but rather for those who belong, in whatever sense, to the wider family of the Benedictines. It is not meant to be read all at once – we hope that you will dip in and out of it, sometimes for information but more often for support in prayer and for deepening your own sense of belonging.
The handbook starts, in Part One, with Benedict’s own Rule, the foundation charter for the ongoing experience of monasticism in the Latin churches. Though enriched over the centuries by commentaries and interpretations of every sort, the Rule must always stand alone, for it is to St Benedict’s timeless wisdom that all those who take his name must return. It is the basis for everything else that follows, and all the later sections will, we hope, lead you back to Benedict, and through him to the Gospel of Christ which is Benedict’s inspiration. It is a short document, and a mixture of the spiritual and the practical, just as our lives are called to become.
Part Two explores the tools of monastic life, the particular activities which shape the son or daughter of St Benedict and his or her relation to the world.
From these tools, in Part Three we go on to explore their goal, which Benedict describes in his Prologue in these words:

‘Let us open our eyes to the light that comes from God and our ears to the voice that every day calls out.’
In this part, you will find a simple structure of daily prayer, which might be of value to anyone who wishes to share in an uncomplicated way in the rhythm of monastic prayer. This is followed by brief explorations of other aspects of holiness, the treasury of Benedictine prayers, the lives of some of Benedict’s disciples and the tradition of Benedictine holy places.
It is the breadth of the Benedictine search for God that takes us forward to Part Four of the handbook, which focuses on living the Rule. We look at life in community, then in solitude, and then in the life of oblates. Finally, we examine what it might mean to live the Benedictine life in the world.
Part Five focuses on the Benedictine family throughout the world, both past and present. This part, along with Part Six, a glossary of Benedictine terms, might enable you to understand more of why particular monasteries live the way they do, and of how so many different interpretations of Benedict’s words are, each in their own way, faithful to his vision.
Wherever you are within the Benedictine world, it is the aim of this handbook that you might feel that you belong there. It is the prayer of all of those who have been involved with this handbook that, with its help, you may continue ‘to prefer nothing whatever to Christ’.

Fr Anthony Marett-Crosby OSB
Ampleforth Abbey
About the Contributors
Robert Atwell is an Anglican priest working in the Diocese of London. After six years as Chaplain of Trinity College, Cambridge, where he taught Patristics, he became a Benedictine monk, spending the next ten years in a monastery in the Cotswolds. He is currently Vicar of St Mary’s, Primrose Hill, in north London. His collections of daily spiritual readings, Celebrating the Saints and Celebrating the Seasons , are published by the Canterbury Press.

Patrick Barry OSB was born in England in 1917. He became a monk of Ampleforth Abbey in 1936 and was ordained priest in 1945. He was Headmaster of Ampleforth College for fifteen years and Abbot of the Abbey from 1984 to 1997.

Maria Boulding OSB is a nun of Stanbrook Abbey, Worcestershire. She is the author of the spiritual classic The Coming of God . published by the CP.

Michael Casey OCSO is a monk of Tarrawarra Abbey, Australia. He is involved in the formation of his own community and other monastic communities internationally. He is the author of several books on monastic spirituality.

Demetrius R. Dumm OSB is a monk of St Vincent Archabbey, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, a professor of the New Testament in St Vincent Seminary, and the author of several books, including Cherish Christ Above All: The Bible in the Rule of St Benedict .

Mary Forman OSB is a member of the Monastery of St Gertrude, Cottonwood, Idaho. She teaches monastic studies at the School of Theology Seminary, St John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota.

Kym Harris OSB is a nun of the Monastery of Transfiguration at Yeppoon in Central Queensland, Australia. She has worked in various areas in her monastic life, primarily in crafts like pottery, leather work and candle decoration. She was editor of Tjurunga: The Australasian Benedictine Review for five years. In 1996 she received a Master’s Degree from the Melbourne College of Divinity for a thesis on the spirituality of the medieval monastic