Saint Benedict and the Eucharist

Picture caption:  Laborare est Orare ('to work is to pray')- 

a 1862 painting by John Rogers Herbert 

which depicts monks at work in the fields.

Saint Benedict (AD 480-550) was the founder of Western monasticism and is regarded as a patron Saint of Europe.  He wrote a Rule for monks living communally under the authority of an Abbot.  This serves as the founding document of Benedictine monasticism and spirituality.  Over the centuries, Benedictine monasticism spread across the  world; Benedictine monasticism was introduced into Ireland during the eleventh- and twelfth-century church reforms, and expanded further around the time of the Norman settlement.  An important branch of the Benedictine family is the Cistercian Order, founded at Cîteaux in 1098 by Saints Robert of Molesme, Alberic and Stephen Harding.

Of course, Christian monasticism predates Saint Benedict.  Under the inspiration of Saint Anthony the Great (AD 251-356), monks led by St Pachomius and others formed  early monastic communities.   Monasticism flourished in Ireland in the centuries after the arrival of Saint Patrick. Today, the landscape from coast to coast is dotted with ruins of old churches, monasteries, cathedrals, ‘beehive huts’ or ‘clocháin’ as well as crosses and shrines.  Early Celtic spirituality was formed by what we now call the ‘desert’ tradition where individuals and communities sought God in out-of-way places while continuing serve their neighbours. Saint Ciarán called the monastery a place of resurrection;  ‘It is by a living faith in the resurrection that we are being transformed and discovering our true selves’ (source).

Today, there are four Benedictine monasteries in Ireland along with four Cistercian monasteries.  The Rule of Saint Benedict opens with the stark summons:

Listen, O my son, to the instructions of the Teacher, and bring near the ear of your heart. Gladly accept, and carry out in full the counsel of a loving Father.

This is taken from Proverbs 4:20:

My child, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.

These words could be addressed to us, especially, at the opening of each Mass. There, we are in the company of the whole Church on earth and in Heaven. We are about to be fed the Word of God and the Body and Blood of our Saviour. The Eucharist summons us to listen and to be open.

The Rule of St Benedict is centred on the search for God and places particular emphasis on the Work of God (Opus Dei), the solemn celebration of the Divine Office.  These are the fixed times of prayer from matins or Vigils before dawn right through to Compline at night.  There are only two explicit (passing) references to the Eucharist in the Rule: chapter 38 and chapter 60. These are in the context of disciplinary rules for how monks should approach their tasks. Reference is made, in chapter 60, to how priests should not presume to preside at Mass or bless the congregation without the permission of the Abbot. Within the monastery, even priests are subject to the authority of the abbot, who, according to the Rule, is believed to hold the place of Christ in the community.  Obedience and humility are central to the Benedictine Rule and way of life.

The lack of any discussion of the Eucharist in the Rule is not a reflection of its lack of importance in monastic life.  We must remember that in the sixth century, when this Rule was written, the Eucharist was very much central to Christian life so much that it did not require a separate treatise or explanation. The controversies as well as the devotional movements of the second millennium were far in the future.