1. The Majesty of Monasticism
Preserving the Past for Perpetuity
Professor Will Adams
Valencia College
Spring 2012

2. The Meaning of Monasticism
 The word monk comes from the Greek word monos, meaning alone.
 The earliest monks were men who left their homes to be alone in remote
places.
 Monastic communities trace their origins to the early centuries of the
Christian era.
 Some early Christians fled to the Egyptian deserts to live alone with God.
 These Desert Fathers greatly influenced the development of monasticism,
both Eastern and Western.
 At the heart of the monastic impulse is the rejection of the world, and the
recreation of paradise.

3. Monasticism’s Origins
In the late Roman period,
many religiously-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.

4. Monasticism’s Origins
As individuals and as
small groups, these monks
often sought out remote
locations away from the
large medieval cities others
flocked to.
They did this to be away
from the temptations of the
world and away from the
marauding German tribes.

5. Monasticism’s Origins
 Individuals were called hermits; they
lived in a place called a hermitage.
 However, not all monks wanted to live
alone.
 Many chose to live with others in
religious communities called
monasteries.
 Shown is St. Catherine’s at Mt.
Sinai, founded c. 550 C.E., which is
widely considered the first
monastery.

6. Monasticism’s Origins
These early monks turned
away from what was
considered a “normal life”
for the time:
They prayed often.
They became chaste.
They fasted.
They gave up their
worldly goods.

7. Monasticism’s Origins
It was St. Anthony the
Great who organized and
founded the first
monastery, St. Catherine’s
at Mt. Sinai in Egypt.
Soon there were many
monasteries throughout
Egypt.

8. Monasticism’s Origins
However, it was St.
Benedict of Nursia who
brought the practice of
monastic life to the West.
He established his
monastery, the first in
Europe’s history, in Italy,
at Monte Cassino in 529
C.E.

9. Monasticism’s Origins
It was St. Benedict’s sister,
St. Scholastica, who founded
the first convents for women,
which gave women the
opportunity of a monastic life.
Women who lived in convents
were called nuns.
This came from the Latin
word nonna, which means
tutor.

10. Missionary Monks: Spreading Faith
Catholic monks helped make the
medieval world more orderly, in
fact they provided the only
source of European order after
Rome’s fall.
Risking their lives, monks set
out to convert the pagan
barbarians living throughout
Europe to Christianity, a
practice known as mission.

11. Missionary Monks: Spreading Faith
Famous monks – who later
became saints – that took
Christianity to the pagan
barbarian tribes of the ancient
world included:
St. Cyril, St. Methodius,
St. Paul, and St. Barnabus
in the East,
St. Patrick and St. Donan
in the West.

12. The Rule of St. Benedict
Most significantly, St.
Benedict contributed a book of
rules, known as the Rule of
St. Benedict, that is accepted
as the way western monks
should live to the present day.
Its seventy-three chapters
outline a life of “pax, ora et
labora”, or “peace, prayer and
work”.

13. The Rule of St. Benedict
 The Rule saw monastic life as a
family.
The abbot was seen as the father.
The monks were brothers.
 Each day was divided into units of:
Group prayer
Private prayer
Sleep
Ritual reading
Manual labor

14. Monastic Itinerary: The Horarium
Monks living in monasteries
followed a strict daily schedule
that is rooted in the Rule of St.
Benedict’s focus on work and
prayer called a horarium.
Prayer services took place
frequently throughout the day
and at night.
Between these services there were
times to sleep, eat and – most
importantly – work.

15. The Monastic Church & Cloister
At the heart of every monastery
or abbey lay the church that
was used for communal prayer
– both by the monks or the
parishioners,
Surrounding that was a walled-
in space called a cloister that
was used for individual
meditation and prayer by the
monks, as well as for work, as
gardens were often planted
there..

16. A Monk’s Avowed Existence
 In order to live within the monastic
community, monks or nuns also had
to make vows to adhere to certain
codes.
 Monks vowed to observe:
 Poverty: they would own nothing.
 Obedience: they would follow the
directions of their abbot.
 Out of obedience also came a
commitment to chastity: avoiding sex.
 Many monks or nuns were also
required to take a vow of silence.

17. The Monastic Meditative Life
Monks spent a good part of
their lives 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 during his day.

18. The Monastic Meditative Life
At meals, monks ate
silently, while listening to
readings from the Rule of
St. Benedict.
This took place in the
monastery’s communal
dining hall, which is
referred to as a refectory.

19. Laboring in The Lord’s Name
When they were not engaged in
prayer, monks worked at a wide
range of activities.
First and foremost, they farmed
the land and made huge
advances in agriculture during
the medieval period.
Monasteries sought to be self-
sufficient, so the monks became
proficient at producing
vegetables, livestock, and wine.

20. Laboring in The Lord’s Name
Additionally, monks and nuns
cared for the sick.
Although medieval knowledge
of disease and treatment were
limited by modern standards,
monks and nuns ran
hospitals, which used
knowledge of Roman and
Greek medicine to treat the
sick or dying.

21. Laboring in The Lord’s Name
 For use in treating illness, they
cultivated medicinal herbs in
cloister gardens.
 The knowledge of these herbs was
gleaned from Classical texts.
 Examples of medicinal plants
grown are:
 Coriander: Used to treat fever
 Anise: Used to reduce sweating
 Rosemary: Used to stimulate memory
 Yarrow: Used to treat headaches

22. Laboring in The Lord’s Name
 They preserved knowledge by
copying books.
 Some say that monks actually
saved civilization itself in Western
Europe by preserving what little
learning remained from the
Classical world of ancient Greece
and Rome.
 This took place in a space called a
scriptorium, where monks copied out
books by hand.
 The illustrated texts they produced
are called illuminated manuscripts.

23. Laboring in The Lord’s Name
 They taught, drawing on their
wealth of Classical knowledge.
 Young clergymen were taught the
Bible and theology at their
schools.
 The first European universities
were run by monks and nuns.
 The first European university
was Italy’s University of Bologna,
founded around 1088 C.E.

24. Laboring in The Lord’s Name
Some monks even fought.
The Knights Templar were an
order of fighting monks,
dedicated to conquering and
holding the Holy Land in
Israel for Christianity, against
the invading Ottoman Turks.
These Crusaders also brought
back knowledge of Eastern
wisdom, like calculus and the
architectural pointed arch.

25. Ecclesiastical Experimentation
Because a monastery could
rely on its fellow
monasteries for support, it
was possible for them to
experiment.
New farming techniques,
equipment and products
were the result, and that
new knowledge was shared
with other monasteries and
convents.

26. Ecclesiastical Experimentation
As previously mentioned,
monks produced large
quantities of wine, for
sacramental and other uses.
A French monk, named Dom
Perignon, is credited with
inventing Champagne.
Champagne was created by
accident when Dom Perignon
added additional sugar to the
bottle as the wine fermented.

27. Innovation: Crop Rotation
The three-field system
probably originated on a
monastic farm.
Land would be divided into
thirds.
One third would have one crop,
another third a second, and
the last third would be fallow.
Over three years the crops
and fallow land rotated.

28. Innovation: The Heavy Plow
The combination of education,
farming knowledge and shared
risk helped to spark medieval
invention.
Nailed horseshoes and horse-
collars made it possible to
replace slow oxen with plow
horses, capable of much more
work.
This made it possible for
Europeans to avoid famine.

29. Medieval 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, skills and
information.

30. Monumental Monastic Architecture
Medieval monastic orders,
like the Benedictines,
Augustinians, Cluniacs
and Cistercians generated
great wealth which they
used to build impressive
buildings to the glory of
their God – cathedrals and
abbeys that reached for
Heaven itself.

31. The Dominant Monastic Orders
Eventually, two orders came
to dominate the Christian
West: the Cluniacs and the
Cistercians.
Cluniacs were known for
the opulence of their abbeys,
while the Cistercians were
known for eschewing that
style entirely.

32. The Cluniac Monastic Order
 The Cluniacs built beautiful
abbeys and decorated them with
gorgeous stained glass and
magnificent ornaments.
 It was one Cluniac, abbot, Abbot
Suger, who is said to have
invented the Gothic form of
architecture when he renovated the
Abbey of St. Denis in 1135 C.E.
 The Gothic style is defined by
its use of stained glass and
Eastern-inspired pointed arches..

33. The Cistercian Monastic Order
The Cistercians resented the
Cluniacs’ show of wealth and
built grand, but unadorned
abbeys.
They believed that their
austere lifestyle and extreme
denial of Earthly pleasure
put them in better touch with
God.
They dominated the wool
trade of medieval Europe.

34. The 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.

35. Conclusions & Consequences
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.