When he was twenty, Benedict went to live in a cave high on a cliff in the Italian countryside. He stayed there for three years, praying and living simply. A friend lowered down bread in a basket for him every day so he could eat. He eventually decided that he could serve God better by living with a group of others devoted to prayer and hard work, so he started a monastery. The original Benedictine Abbey was in Monte Cassino, near Naples, Italy. His “rule” (guidelines for the lives of monks and nuns) was so successful that it became the basis for much of Christian monastic life. It involved a combination of prayer, reading of the Bible and other sacred writings, and hard physical work. He believed that “idleness is the enemy of the soul.”
Monks and nuns served the Church by living apart from society and devoting their lives to God and good works. They wove their own cloth, grew their own food, and made their own wine. They cared for the sick in monastery hospitals and taught children in monastery schools. Many monasteries were economically successful, becoming well known for producing the best wool or the best wine, or the best of something. If a monastery became too wealthy, some monks or nuns would find its life too soft and contrary to the rule, and would break away to form new monasteries.
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Assignment Pretend you are a monk or nun in training who has just entered a monastery. Write a letter home to your family, telling them what it is like. Do research on life in a monastery during the middle ages in Europe Tell them what you miss most about life at home. Your letter should be 150-200 words. |
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