ST. BENEDICT’S RULE FOR MONASTERIES Translated from the Latin by Leonard J. Doyle THE LITURGICAL PRESS St John’s Abbey Collegeville, Minnesota This translation of the Holy Rule of St. Benedict was made from the third edition of the text as edited by Dom Cuthbert Butler of Downside Abbey in England (St. Louis: B. Herder Book Co., 1935). _Nihil obstat:_ Basil Stegmann, O.S.B., _Censor librorum._ _Imprimi potest:_ ✠ Alcuin Deutsch, O.S.B., D.D., Abbot, St. John’s Abbey, January 5, 1947. _Imprimatur:_ ✠ Joseph F. Busch, D.D., Bishop of St. Cloud, January 8, 1947. Copyright 1948 _by_ The Order of St. Benedict, Inc., Collegeville, Minnesota. TABLE OF CONTENTS Prologue 1. On the Kinds of Monks 2. What Kind of Man the Abbot Ought to Be 3. On Calling the Brethren for Counsel 4. What Are the Instruments of Good Works 5. On Obedience 6. On the Spirit of Silence 7. On Humility 8. On the Divine Office During the Night 9. How Many Psalms Are to Be Said at the Night Office 10. How the Night Office Is to Be Said in Summer Time 11. How the Night Office Is to Be Said on Sundays 12. How the Morning Office Is to Be Said 13. How the Morning Office Is to Be Said on Weekdays 14. How the Night Office Is to Be Said on the Feasts of the Saints 15. At What Times “Alleluia” Is to Be Said 16. How the Work of God Is to Be Performed During the Day 17. How Many Psalms Are to Be Said at These Hours 18. In What Order the Psalms Are to Be Said 19. On the Manner of Saying the Divine Office 20. On Reverence in Prayer 21. On the Deans of the Monastery 22. How the Monks Are to Sleep 23. On Excommunication for Faults 24. What the Measure of Excommunication Should Be 25. On Weightier Faults 26. On Those Who Without an Order Associate With the Excommunicated 27. How Solicitous the Abbot Should Be for the Excommunicated 28. On Those Who Will Not Amend After Repeated Corrections 29. Whether Brethren Who Leave the Monastery Should Be Received Again 30. How Boys Are to Be Corrected 31. What Kind of Man the Cellarer of the Monastery Should Be 32. On the Tools and Property of the Monastery 33. Whether Monks Ought to Have Anything of Their Own 34. Whether All Should Receive in Equal Measure What Is Necessary 35. On the Weekly Servers in the Kitchen 36. On the Sick Brethren 37. On Old Men and Children 38. On the Weekly Reader 39. On the Measure of Food 40. On the Measure of Drink 41. At What Hours the Meals Should Be Taken 42. That No One Speak After Compline 43. On Those Who Come Late to the Work of God or to Table 44. How the Excommunicated Are to Make Satisfaction 45. On Those Who Make Mistakes in the Oratory 46.