Monasticism and its orgin and development

1. Monasticism
DR.PRICILA
Dr.R.Pricila

2. Monasticism
The word comes from the Greek word
monos, the meaning “the act or state
dwelling alone”.
The earliest monks were men who left their
homes to be alone in remote places.
Monasticism was one of the greatest
civilizing forces of the Middle Ages.
Dr.R.Pricila

3. Origins
In the late Roman period.
Many religious-minded
people abandoned
“civilization” to go into
the wilderness or deserts
to be closer to God.
This deliberate
abandonment of worldly
temptations is known as
asceticism.
Dr.R.Pricila

4. Origins
As individuals and as
small groups, these
monks often sought
out remote locations.
They did this to be
away from the
temptations of the
world .
Irish monastic oratory
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5. Origins
Individuals were
called hermits; they
lived in a place called
a hermitage..
However, not all
monks wanted to live
alone.
Dr.R.Pricila

6. Origins
Many chose to
live with others
in religious
communities
called
monasteries..
St. Catherine, Early monastery in the
Sinai Peninsula
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7. Origins
These early monks
turned away from
“normal life”:
They prayed often.
They became chaste.
They fasted.
They gave up their
worldly goods.
Dr.R.Pricila

8. Origins
Saint Anthony the
Great was the first to
organize a monastery.
Soon there were many
monasteries in Egypt.
Dr.R.Pricila

9. St. Anthony of Egypt, also called St. Anthony
the Great, Anthony also called Antony or
Antonios, (born c. 251, Koma, near Al-Minyā,
Heptanomis [Middle Egypt], Egypt—died
January 356, Dayr Mārī Antonios hermitage,
near the Red Sea; feast day January 17),
religious hermit and one of the earliest Desert
Fathers, considered the founder and father of
organized Christian monasticism.
His rule (book of observances) represented one
of the first attempts to codify guidelines for
monastic living.
Dr.R.Pricila

10. When Christian persecution ended after the
Edict of Milan (313), he moved to a
mountain in the Eastern Desert, between the
Nile and the Red Sea, where the monastery
Dayr Mārī Antonios still stands.
Dr.R.Pricila

11. The early monks who followed Anthony
into the desert considered themselves the
vanguard of God’s army, and, by fasting
and performing other ascetic practices, they
attempted to attain the same state of
spiritual purity and freedom from
temptation that they saw realized in
Anthony.
Dr.R.Pricila

12. St. Benedict
However, it was St.
Benedict of Nursia
who brought monastic
life to the West.
He established his
monastery in Italy, at
Monte Cassino.
Dr.R.Pricila

13. The only source of information about the life
of Benedict is the “Dialogues” of pope
Gregory the Great.
He founded 12 monasteries each consisting of
12 monks.
Later he founded a monastery on the hill of
Monte Cassino.
St. Bendict was the father and law-giver of
Western Monasticism.
He started his monastic life as a hermit.
Dr.R.Pricila

14. The “Rule” which St. Bendict formulated
was not very severe.
The Benedictine Rule laid down that those
entering monastic life should take the vows
of
POVERTY
CHASTITY
OBEDIENCE
Dr.R.Pricila

15. In addition to these three usual vows they
have to take fourth one
Stability.-to assure the their stay in the
monastery till their death.
Dr.R.Pricila

16. The day work is divided into well-balanced
periods..
PRAYER
MANUAL WORK
READING SCRIPTURES
AND SPIRITUAL WORKS.
Dr.R.Pricila

17. As the Benedictins were upholders of the
authority of the Pope, the greatest patronage
from the Pope especially Gregory the Great.
Gregory himself was the first monk to
become a Pope.
Soon Benedictine monasteries were
established throughout the length and
breadth of Europe.
Dr.R.Pricila

18. These Monasteries became the great centres
of learning and well served the cause of
christianity.
Dr.R.Pricila

19. Origins
Benedict’s sister,
Scholastica, founded
convents for women
which gave women the
opportunity of a monastic
life.
Women who lived in
convents were called nuns.
Dr.R.Pricila

20. Spreading the Faith
Monks helped make
the medieval world
more orderly
Risking their lives,
they set out to convert
the barbarians to
Christianity.
Dr.R.Pricila

21. Rule of St. Benedict
Saint Benedict contributed
a book of rules that was
accepted as the way
western monks should live
to the present day.
It provided a life of “pax,
ora et labora” (peace,
prayer and work).
Dr.R.Pricila

22. Rule of St. Benedict
The rule saw monastic life as a family.
The abott was seen as the father.
The monks were brothers.
Each day was divided into units of:
Group prayer
Private prayer
Sleep
Ritual reading
Manual labour
Dr.R.Pricila

23. The Horarium
Services took place
throughout the day
and at night.
Between these
services there were
times to sleep, eat and
work.
Dr.R.Pricila

24. The Church & Cloister
At the heart of every monastery lay both a
church for communal prayer, and a cloister
for individual meditation and prayer.
Dr.R.Pricila

25. A Monk’s Life
Monks vowed to
observe:
Poverty – they would
own nothing.
Obedience – they
would follow the
directions of their
abbott.
Out of obedience also
came a commitment to
Chastity – avoiding sex.
Dr.R.Pricila

26. A Life of Prayer
Monks spent a good
part of their life in
prayer – both public
and private.
Public prayer involved
going to church 8 times
a day– in addition to
their work routine.
Private prayer
happened during work
or in the few quiet
moments a monk might
enjoy.
Gloucester Cathedral Cloister
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27. A Life of Quiet Meditation
At meals, monks
ate silently, while
listening to
readings from the
Rule of St.
Benedict.
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28. A Life of Work
Monks worked at a
wide range of
activities:
They farmed the land.
Dr.R.Pricila

29. A Life of Work
They cared for the sick.
Hospital of St. Mary
Magdalene, Stourbridge,
England
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30. A Life of Work
They cultivated herbs
for medicinal use.
A recreated 12th century herb
garden in Cheshire, England
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31. A Life of Work
They cared for the
needy.
Hospital of St. Cross,
Winchester, England. Where
the poor came to be fed in the
Hundred Men’s Hall.
Dr.R.Pricila

32. A Life of Work
They preserved
knowledge by copying
books.
Some say they saved
civilization itself in
Western Europe by
preserving what little
learning remained
from the classical
world.
Dr.R.Pricila

33. A Life of Work
They taught.
Young clergymen were
taught at their schools.
The first universities
were run by monks.
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34. Experimentation
Monks produced large
quantities of wine, for
sacramental and other
uses.
A Monk, Dom
Perignon, is credited
with inventing
Champagne.
Dr.R.Pricila

35. Monastic Expansion
Monasteries were very
successful.
As more people joined
them, they established
new abbeys that were
connected to others of
the same order.
This allowed a sharing
of resources and of
skills and information.
Dr.R.Pricila

36. Monastic Wealth
Two orders came to
dominate the Christian
West – the Cluniacs
and the Cistercians.
Cluny III – Central church of
the Cluniacs
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37. Cluniacs
The Cluniacs built
beautiful abbeys and
decorated them with
gorgeous stained glass
and magnificent
ornaments.
A Cluniac, Abbott
Suger, invented the
Gothic form in
architecture.
Dr.R.Pricila

38. Carthusian Order
Carthusian, member of Order of
Carthusians (O.Cart.), an order of monks
founded by St. Bruno of Cologne in 1084 in
the valley of Chartreuse, north of Grenoble,
Fr. The Carthusians, who played an
important role in the monastic-reform
movement of the 11th and 12th centuries,
combine the solitary life of hermits with a
common life within the walls of a
monastery. Dr.R.Pricila

39. Dr.R.Pricila

40. The monks live in individual cells, where they
pray, study, eat, and sleep, gathering in the church
only for the night office, morning mass, and
afternoon vespers.
They eat together on Sundays and at great feasts,
when they also have a period of conversation; and
once a week they take a long walk together.
The monks wear hair shirts and practice total
abstinence from meat, and, on Fridays and other
fast days, they take only bread and water.
The lay brothers’ life is also strictly ordered but is
lived in community.
Dr.R.Pricila

41. Carthusian nuns, with a few monasteries in France and
Italy, are also strictly cloistered and contemplative.
The Carthusians spread slowly, but, by 1521, the order
numbered 195 houses in every country of Catholic Europe.
Vocations to Carthusian solitude are rare; it is the one form
of communal religious life that has never required and
never experienced reform.
Dr.R.Pricila

42. Franciscan Order
In St. Francis of Assisi: The Franciscan rule
of St. Francis of Assisi
1221) formed the Third Order of Brothers
and Sisters of Penance, a lay fraternity that,
without withdrawing from the world or
taking religious vows, would carry out the
principles of Franciscan life. As the friars
became more numerous, the order extended
outside Italy.
Dr.R.Pricila

43. It was probably in 1207 that St. Francis felt the call to
a life of preaching, penance, and total poverty.
He was soon joined by his first followers, to whom he
gave a short and simple rule of life.
In 1209 he and 11 of his followers journeyed to Rome,
where Francis received approval of his rule from Pope
Innocent III.
Under this rule, Franciscan friars could own no
possessions of any kind, either individually or
communally (i.e., as the property of the order as a
whole).
Dr.R.Pricila

44. The friars wandered and preached among the
people, helping the poor and the sick.
They supported themselves by working and by
begging for food, but they were forbidden to
accept money either as payment for work or as
alms.
The Franciscans worked at first in Umbria and
then in the rest of Italy and abroad. The impact of
these street preachers and especially of their
founder was immense, so that within 10 years they
numbered 5,000.
Dr.R.Pricila

45. Cistercians
The Cistercians
resented the Cluniac’s
show of wealth and
built grand, but
unadorned abbeys.
They dominated the
wool trade.
Cistercians at prayer
Dr.R.Pricila

46. Other Monastic Orders
New monastic orders assumed
new roles. In Britain alone,
there were 11 groups operating.
Augustinians
Benedictines
Carmelites
Carthusians
Cistercians
Cluniacs
Dominicans
Franciscans
Gilbertines
Premonstratensians
Tironensians
All follow the Rule of St.
Benedict.
Dr.R.Pricila

47. Conclusions
Monasticism was a vital
feature of medieval life.
Monks preserved and
extended knowledge.
They provided what little
social welfare was available.
They created wealth and
helped make the height of
medieval civilization
possible.
Dr.R.Pricila