THIS BOOK IS COMPOSED of a series of lectures given to young monks at the Institute of Monastic Studies at Sant'Anselmo in Rome during the winter of 1955-56. It is published at their request and dedicated to them. It is an introductory...
moreTHIS BOOK IS COMPOSED of a series of lectures given to young monks at the Institute of Monastic Studies at Sant'Anselmo in Rome during the winter of 1955-56. It is published at their request and dedicated to them. It is an introductory work and therefore not intended for specialists, for already wellinformed scholars. They would, with justice, find fault with it for generalizations which can hardly be avoided in a comprehensive work. Hence, it is desirable at the very beginning, that its scope be defined. Its purpose is not to offer a synthesis that would be premature, nor to provide a bibliography which can be found elsewhere, but to draw attention to subjects for further investigation and to suggest partial and provisional solutions. The sources used will be, primarily, written documents, particularly those of doctrinal or spiritual character; treatises on geography, medicine or law will not be under consideration. In fact, religious writings are the most numerous and most fully represented in the manuscripts. No complete listing will be given nor will all those which have been used be mentioned. Those which are, will be cited merely as examples. They will rarely be taken from authors later than the beginning of the thirteenth century. Within these limits and with such reservations, the work will still necessarily involve simplifications and broad generalizations VII PREFACE which would call for supporting arguments, shading and further definition. This has occasionally been done in special studies where evidence is supplied which is not provided in this exposition. We shall not here attempt to shed any new light on the subject but in the main to summarize works whose results have not been brought together in focus. Scholars such as C. H. Haskins, Fr. de Ghellinck, and in our own times, Paul Lehmann, Bernhard Bischoff and others have undertaken patient and fruitful research on medieval culture in general. In relation to their findings, perhaps the time has come to ask whether monastic culture has its own identifying characteristics and what they are. This is difficult to decide: there are certain aspects of monastic history to which non-monastic scholars may not have paid enough attention and to which a monk risks paying too much. A margin of error will therefore always exist in evaluations and even in the findings themselves and it is best to admit this at the outset. Accordingly, the point here is less to pass judgment than to understand. Judgment is God's province; the historian must be satisfied to learn why men and events were what the texts tell him they were. No doubt it is an illusion to think that men can be known-the throngs of men, of monks who have lived over the centuriesby means of written documents or pictures and yet, they are the only sources we have. These are the work of only a few of their number and cannot show them to us completely even if the testimony of ordinary and often unknown men is enlisted to round out the testimony of the great authors and exceptional geniuses. There were weaknesses in monasticism; there are lies and falsifications in its literature. But that is not all there was. And, after all, the monks' truest self, the self they wished to be, is what was best in them. Vill covered fairly recently, in the present century, during the years which preceded the first World War, by C. Baeumker, Fr. de Ghellinck, Msgr. Grabmann and others and has attracted more and more attention through the efforts of masters like E. Gilson, A. Landgraf, Dom Lottin and many more. It is now generally accepted that this period played a capital role in laying the foundations for the scholastic theology of the thirteenth century. The term pre-scholastic (in German "Vorscholastik" or "Friihscholastik") is given to all doctrinal writings of the period immediately preceding the great expansion of the thirteenth century, the "great scholasticism" (Hochscholastik) which in turn preceded i in a school, under a scholastic, by means of the quaestio, but individually, under the guidance of an abbot, a spiritual father, through the reading of the Bible and the Fathers, within the liturgical framework of the monastic life. Hence, there arose a type of Christian culture with marked characteristics: a disinterested culture which was "contemplative" in bent. Very different from this are the schools for clerics. Situated in cities, near cathedrals, they are attended by clerics who had already received a Liberal Arts formation in rural, parochial or monastic schools and are intended to prepare them for pastoral activity, for "the active life." It is in these schools for clerics that "scholastic theology" is born, the theology of the schools, that which is taught in the schools. When men of the twelfth century speak of "schools," the End. The important word is no longer quaeritur, but desideratur; no longer sciendum, but experiendum. Bernard never tires of emphasizing this in musical, rhythmical, consistently beautiful expressions whose depth cannot be rendered in translation: A canticle of this kind, fervor alone can teach; it can be learned only through experience. Those who have experienced it will recognize this. Those who have not experienced it, may they burn with desire not so much to know as to experience. At this high point of his exposition Bernard brings us to the frontiers of poetry. But he must bring his discourse to an end, and he does so with still another allusion to monastic observance. For in the writing of this ardent and undoubtedly sincere elevation, he makes use of a literary form and conforms to its laws. He is a theologian; but through the perfection of his style and careful composition, he shows he is, as well, a man of letters. The literary form he employs here is essentially Christian, traditional with the Fathers and in monasticism, the sermon. Now, every well-made sermon contains an exordium, a development and a conclusion: Bernard bows to its restrictions. And within the rules which he has set for himself, he gives proof of a flexibility and a freedom that is in strong contrast to the divisions and subdivisions which mark the structure of the Prologue of Peter Lombard. Like the style, the teaching is personal; it is not subjective, it is universal, it has value for all, insofar as each person is unique, engaged in a spiritual experience which is his very own. Finally to the extent that Bernard makes use of sources, or in any case, models, they are no longer Pelagius, Haymo, Gilbert de la Porrée; they are two great mystical doctors, Origen and Saint Gregory the Great. Although this simple comparison of two contemporary texts gives rise to certain problems, it also offers a hint for their solution. That there is a theology in Peter Lombard, no one will deny. But is one to be found in Saint Bernard, and what are its characteristics? His text itself suggests the answer: it consists in the reconciliation of two elements which seem opposed, but which are to be found in almost all monastic literature. They will be rec-FORMATION OF MONASTIC CULTURE to light concerning almost every problem of monastic culture, a fact which is not without some significance. To cast light on St. Benedict's culture, one could search for the sources of his Rule. But since he often quotes at second hand, using earlier rules, this criterion does not reveal very much. To sum up, the author of the Rule is distinguished less by the breadth of his knowledge than by the intelligence with which he uses it, by his understanding of the monastic life and by the characteristics he impressed upon it. It is scarcely any easier to offer a precise and certain answer for the second question: what culture does St. Benedict expect or demand of the monk? On this point again, that is to say, on St. Benedict's attitude toward learning and toward study, varying judgments have been expressed. Some see in the monastery a sort of academy. Others advance the opinion that St. Benedict makes little, if any, provision for intellectual work. It is true that he makes no legislation on it, no doubt because he takes it for granted, while he regulates manual work according to what is allowed or required by the established daily order of time. Here again there is disagreement even among the well-informed because reasons can be found in the Rule to justify different interpretations. In the Rule itself the "studies problem" exists; let us try to state it first according to the Rule itself, and then by comparison with the teaching of a contemporary of Benedict, Cassiodorus. In the Rule we can distinguish the two elements which we have seen in the life of St. Benedict: the knowledge of letters and the search for God. The fundamental fact that stands out in this domain is that one of the principal occupations of the monk is the lectio divina, which includes meditation: meditari aut legere. Consequently one must, in the monastery, possess books, know how 16 CONVERSION OF SAINT BENEDICT to write them and read them, and, therefore, if it be necessary, learn how to read. It is not certain that St. Benedict is speaking of a library since the word bibliotheca, which he uses in referring to books read in Lent, can mean, for him, the Bible.? But St. Benedict evidently takes for granted the existence of a library, and a fairly extensive one at that, since each monk is supposed to receive a codex in Lent. Toward the end of the Rule, it is suggested that all read the Scripture, Cassian and St. Basil; they should be able to read in the refectory, in choir, and before guests. Naturally, in order to possess books, it eventually becomes necessary to know how to write them. All the monks, as a matter of course and without exception, are supposed to know how to write. The abbot and the cellarer must keep accouuts of what is expended and what is received.® Written documents are kept in the archives.° One of the things exacted of the monks is that they ask permission to...
