The Rule of St. Benedict are written rules, or laws, by Benedict of Nursia in the 6th century for members of the monastic order known as the Benedictine Order. Beyond its great religious influences, it is one of the most important written works in the shaping of Western society, embodying, as it does, the idea of a written constitution, and authority limited by law.
Benedict of Nursia left the comfort of the life of a student in Rome in about the year 500 A.D. to seek holiness. He attracted companions in this life, and the plan of life he established for these monastics is known as the Rule of St. Benedict (c. 530). His community eventually founded the monastery of Monte Cassino, between Rome and Naples.
The Rule is summed up in the motto of the Benedictine Order: pax, "peace." The monk or nun's life is divided into regular periods of sleep, prayer, sacred reading, rest, and physical labor. In later periods intellectual work and teaching took the place of farming, crafts, or other forms of manual labor for many — if not most — Christian monastics.
The model for the monastic life under Benedict was the family, with the abbot as father and all the monks as brothers. Priesthood was initially an unimportant part of monasticism - monks used the services of their local pastor. Because of this, female monasticism with an abbess as mother worked as well as male monasticism.
The monk's daily life revolved around the 8 liturgical hours, 8 times a day liturgy would be performed: The day would begin at midnight with the service of matins, followed by that of lauds at 3am. Before the advent of wax candles in the 14th Century this was done in the dark or with minimal lighting and monks were expected to memorize everything. These services could be very long sometimes lasting till dawn but usually consisted of a chant, three anthems, three psalms, and three lessons, along with celebrations of any local saints days. The monks would retire for a few hours of sleep and then awake again at 6am to wash and attend the service of prime . They then gathered to receive orders and directions for the day as well as other judicial business. Then came private mass or reading or working until 9am when the office of terce was said, and then high mass. At noon came the office of sexts and then dinner. After a brief period of private time for relaxation the monk could retire to rest until the office of nones , a 3pm afternoon service. This was followed by work in the gardens and other maintenance until after twilight, vespers at 6pm, then compline at 9pm and off to blessed bed before rising soon again for matins.
Other rules were written by or are attributed to major monastic founders -- the Rule of St. Pachomius and the Rule of St. Basil in Eastern Orthodoxy and the rules of other western orders. Benedict was undoubtedly aware of them, but to what degree the Rule of St Benedict, was based on a direct knowledge of the those organizations is much debated.
The Benedictine Order, like any organization that lasts more than 1500 years, has had high and low points. In any moment of reform dynamic Benedictine leaders turn back to a life as close to that of the Rule as they can manage.
The Rule of Saint Benedict is one of the most important written works in the shaping of Western society, embodying, as it does, the ideas of a written constitution, authority limited by law and under the law, the right of the ruled to review the legality of the actions of their rulers, a society without distinctions of birth, and one in which manual labor is regarded as a dignified occupation rather than one that demeans the laborer.
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