Benedictine Monasticism: Its Formation and Development Through the 12th Century

Introduction by Richard E. Sullivan xi
EARLY MONASTIC DEVELOPMENTS
r. The Roman World Grows Old 5
2. The Church and Her Early Ascetics 20
3. Great Men of Desert Days 33
4. Developments in Western Monasticism 49
BENEDICTINE MONASTICISM
5. St. Benedict of Nursia 69
6. The Rule 83
CONSTRUCTION OF CHRISTENDOM
7. The Construction of Christendom: England 99
8. The Construction of Christendom: France and
Germany 111
9. Further Construction of Christendom 124
REFORMS AND ADAPTATIONS
10. The Reform of Benedict of Aniane 141
11. The Cluniac Reform 152
12. Monastic Bishops in England 166
13. The Cistercian Reform 173
INTERNAL GOVERNMENT
14. Life in a Monastery 193
15. Problems: “Internal, External and Fraternal” 212
16. Cases in Point: The Story of Evesham and
Jocelin’s Chronicle 223
BENEDICTINE INFLUENCES
17. Monastic Influences on Agriculture, Industry and
Commerce 245
18. Monastic Practice of Charity 260
19. The Intellectual Apostolate 268
20. Monastic Authors 283
21. Monastic Influences on Law, Medicine and Art 303
22. Benedictine Influence on Medieval Spirituality 315
23. Epilogue 323
Appendix: Documents
Document 1 The Story of the Early Ascetics
Influences St. Augustine 331
Document 2 Excerpts from the Letter of St. Augustine (CCXI, A.D. 423) to the Nuns of the Convent of which His Sister Had Been Superior and in which He Gives Some General Rules for Their Guidance 336
Document 5 Prologue to St. Benedict’s Rule 342
Document 4 Charter of the Cluny Monastery 350
Document j The Charter of Love (Carta Caritatis) 354
Document 6 The Monastic Horarium according to the 359
Regularis Concordia.