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Benedict's Rule: A Translation and Commentary

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Over the past 16 years, I've become personally involved with Benedictine spirituality through regular retreats to the monastic cloister. Kardong's book has given me the historical perspective and linguistic insight into that deep well, "The Rule of St. Benedict", the life source of Benedictine monasticism. Through his scholarly exegesis of "The Rule", I've gained understanding of this way of life, and thus have better lived my own life and faith. I have referred again and again to "Benedict's Rule: A Translation and Commentary" in the writing of my own commentary on "The Rule" for parents, "The Family Cloister: Benedictine Wisdom for the Home". I am currently working on a companion volume, "The Family Cloister Workbook: 52 Benedictine Activities for the Home", and have continually opened the pages of Kardong's book to better understand certain chapters and phrases in "The Rule". Besides the monks themselves who daily live the Rule, Kardong's commentary is one of the most complete expositions of Benedict's Rule I've found.

The godliness of living a Gospel life when it comes to The Rule of St. Benedict, the nature of the author's intentions and set of mind, the understandings of The Rule itself, are a few of the rewards one gets from Terrence G. Kardong's, "Benedict's Rule: A Translation and Commentary." One thesis of Father Kardong's is, "...the Rule teaches a dynamic spirituality." A book for those interested in living a Gospel life, some areas touched upon by this book include, "progress and growth" in the religious and spiritual life, what's referred to as ongoing conversion in the life of faith, and humility.

The book suggests looking towards continued reading of "...the teaching of the Bible and Fathers." This last a recommendation of the Rule, and the book "Benedict's Rule" an endorsement and recommendation of St. Benedict's little book for beginners.

A reader interested in St. Benedict's Rule will find this 600 plus page work, published by The Liturgical Press a scholarly work. It can be used as a text for reading, as in study, or as a reference work (so I think). The book speaks of St. Benedict's sense of moderation, and his humility, an earmark of the book about the Rule itself, and a hallmark of the author who is a monk and priest.

Father Kardong writes at the very beginning of the book in a dedication that the work is, "To my brothers of Assumption Abbey who taught me how to be a monk and who freed me for the work of writing this commentary on the Rule of Benedict." This is a book for monks in the monastery, and also for lay people and Oblates of St. Benedict. This is a book for church goers. This is a book for people who practice the work of God, the daily office.

One needs to have patience and perseverance to read it. One needs to take this book as it comes, not hurry it along, and in many places reread both the Rule as translated by Father Kardong, and his commentary. A retired Episcopal priest, who used to give retreats for the laity introducing The Rule of St. Benedict, suggested that I read the book without a sense of time or looking towards the end of it. He thought the work a book to be savored.

Father Kardong has many good thoughts and suggestions; certainly his commentary is beneficial for the interested reader. That is not a statement too obvious to be made, for this is a worthy book by a wise and educated monk.

I will find a good quote from Terrence G. Kardong's writings, but first this description of the book from the preface by Father Kardong says he has produced "...a double-deck commentary with detailed philological material in notes and discursive material in the overviews." This is his interpretation of the Rule. He notes that much is experiential. For me, this added merit to the book. His commentary is part of his life experience and work. An attribute that adds to the authenticity and authority of, "The Rule: A Translation and Commentary."

The famous words of the Rule begin, "Listen, O my son, to the teachings of your master, and turn to them with the ear of your heart." After all, the Rule is a religious book, and religion is for the heart. These words for the heart have been around 1,500 years. What is meant by these few words of the Rule is made commentary in another quotation: "Let us open our eyes...is a possible allusion to the Transfiguration, where the drowsy disciples are startled by the shining forth of Christ, and instructed by the voice from heaven (Luke 9:32)."

At a preached retreat in Big Sur, California USA, at Immaculate Heart Hermitage, Brother Bede explained that the Rule is a holy book, an illuminated work that keeps on giving, like the Bible. I remembered his instruction when approaching "Benedict's Rule" and considered that the writer Father Kardong also approached it as such. This itself is an important point, for the work presented is exemplary.

In his commentary on the last part of the Rule, he writes, "...that observance of the Rule [Biblical theme of the Rule] itself is not enough; the Rule, like the Law, is to be `fulfilled.'" Though many believe the Rule is a way to perfection, and asks for that perfection, a serious consideration is that the Rule is also a book of love. Kardong believes it is mainly a book about love.

A major theme of the last chapter, love is described in the commentary: "...for the love that is preached in the penultimate chapter is essentially communal and public...selfless love for the other is a better way to end the Rule than the theme of `perfection.'"

It is the love in community; love for and of one another, the love that God offers and gives, that is central to living the Rule of St. Benedict. This alone is worth the price of admission. For as the monastery is a school for living, so the Rule offers a school for living the Gospel in ongoing conversion in one's life. "The Rule of St. Benedict" is a book inspired by the Gospel and written by a great holy man, Benedict of Nursia (St. Benedict).

--Peter Menkin, Easter 2007

The Rule of St. Benedict itself is a fairly short book - it can be done as a pocket-sized edition. It is a good example of the statement, 'good things come in small packages'. The rule is a guide of life, but not 'a rigid, brutal structure imposed legalistically'. Benedict was fully aware of human frailty, as true 1500 years ago as it is today. This frailty requires much to be done to give the person strength, and so Benedict's Rule is designed for an ever-increasing self-discipline which is supported by community worship and practice.

Benedict's Rule for life includes worship, work, study, prayer, and relaxation. Benedict's Rule requires community -- even for those who become hermits or solitaries, there is a link to the community through worship and through the Rule. No one is alone. This is an important part of the relationship of God to the world, so it is an integral part of the Rule.

Benedict's Rule was set out first in a world that was torn with warfare, economic and political upheaval, and a generally harsh physical environment. This Rule was set out to bring order to a general chaos in which people lived. This is still true today, and men and women all over the world use Benedict's 'little rule for beginners' as a basic structure for their lives.

The first word of the rule is Listen. This is perhaps the best advice for anyone looking for any guidance or rule of life. While Benedict's Rule is decidedly Christocentric and hierarchical (though not as hierarchical as much popular ideas about monastic practice would have one think), it nonetheless can give value to any reader who is looking to construct a practice for oneself.

Benedict's establishment of a monastery was in fact the establishment of a school for spirituality. In his prologue to the Rule, Benedict even states this as his intention. 'In drawing up its regulations, we hope to set down nothing harsh, nothing burdensome.' He sets forth in this brief rule a guide to individual life within community that will bring one ever closer to the divine.

Benedict explores the issues of charity, personality, integrity, and spirituality in all of his rules. From the clothing to the prayer cycle to the reception of guests, all have a purpose that fits into a larger whole, and all have positive charges and negative warnings. Benedict is especially mindful of the sin of pride, be it pride of possession, pride of person, pride of place -- he strives for equality in the community (as a recognition that all are equal before God).

Hundreds of thousands of pages have been written over the last millenium and a half on the Rule of St. Benedict, but it all comes down to this brief collection, which can be read easily in an hour, yet takes a lifetime (or perhaps more!) to master.

Open it for yourself to see what riches it may hold for you.

This particular version by Kardong includes the original Latin text (with minor editing and updating) as well as extensive translation notes and commentary. The Rule itself is very short, and can be (and has been) printed in 80 small pages; the fact that this volume is over 600 pages should give an good indication of the richness of the commentary. Good things do come in small packages, but the notes and additional material here is not to be missed, not to mention the interesting aspect of reading the text in the original language.

Probably one of the definitive treatments of this subject. Excellent translation and the commentary is quite helpful to those looking for a more acedemic approach to this classic. Recommended!

This commentary has its ups and downs.

It aspires explicitly to the new textual scholarship well beyond the time of Rule of St. Benedict: A Commentary by Dom Paul Delatte and variously translated into English, yet cannot surpass the gentle insights of that essential volume.

This large tome strives to be the first full Anglo American commentary on the Rule for Monks, the cornerstone of western European civilization, yet falls in the shadow of the wise and brilliant light which shines forth from The Rule of Benedict: A Spirituality for the 21st Century (Spiritual Legacy Series) and other collections of commentary in our Rule by this great American Prioress.

This book wishes to match the scholarship of Anselmo Lentini's La Regola or the massive several volumes of Adalberto de Vogue's La règle de saint Benoît, tome 1 through La règle de saint Benoît, tome 7 yet relies upon them extensively.

Nevertheless this is by the leading American Benedictine writer in this matter, and rewards listening, if reading here draws us more carefully and attentively to hear what the Rule for Monks tells us here and now, in our own heart and mind.

The bibliography alone is very valuable to the Benedictine scholar.

What one immediately notices upon the opening of this large book is the lack of the original chapter titles on the Table of Contents pages. This delays the study by those of us who have not yet memorized which chapter number deals with which topic under the Abbot's consideration, rather like asking readers of Ulysses (Gabler Edition) to recall which episode takes place where by the number alone, as the author ultimately intends, without those deceptive Homeric titles.

As far as we know, here the author intends us to have at hand the chapter headings, e.g., On Humility, yet they have been stripped from the Table of Contents without explanation that I can find.

Small potatoes you may well say, but indicative nevertheless. Thus, let us look more deeply into the text.

The author explains that if written in committee this volume may have taken much different shape, answering the concerns of the committee. This may have been a good thing, as often we find his personal thoughts on other matters entering the writing here. Perhaps a committee might have granted greater focus, perhaps not. As the author explains in his opening, this is an individual work and thus is his work, with his concerns, and someone else would write it differently.

Therefore, our best resort is simply to carry always a pocket copy of The Rule of Saint Benedict and consult each day what it has to say to us this day, to our heart, and life, and mind and soul, and place. To listen.

That is all that is required. To read it always and to listen. No further, outside commentary required. We only need read it and pray, and convert, as Benedict says. Listen.

One notices nevertheless within this volume the text has been versified, as is common after Rule of Saint Benedict in English, with full punctuation of a text which might not have had any once. Thus editorial decisions are made without explanation of how sentences are divided, and phrases which might well go with one sentence and not the other are left in debate as sentences which might not yet have ended are cut short. These matters need careful consideration by the translator. I met one circumstance in which this translator overcomes some confusion or awkwardness which could be resolved by conjoining phrases which might once have flowed together.

And yet this translator is very careful, changing what he calls rough Latin into our unavoidably rugged saxon tongue.

The Index of themes also seems much briefer than it might be. Therefore for researching particular themes we might find it more simple to use a Kindle edition of this book when possible. For example we find no reference to sexuality in the Index, yet frequent references within the text. For example on page 575 in the second note to Chapter LXIX Ut In Monasterio Non Praesmat Alter Alterum Defendere, we read the following,
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It is probably not unrealistic to suppose that there is a certain background of sexual dynamics lying behind this chapter. The most powerful emotional attachments are rarely lacking in this element, so it must be taken into account. Although it has rarely been discussed in the monastic literature (an exception is Pachomius, SBo 107, Ruppert, 181) homosexuality has always been a factor in monasteries. Where it is physically expressed, the task of monastic authority becomes immensely more complicated.
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We discover in the Index no reference to this theme.

The touchstone for any translation of the Rule for Monks is how the translator handles the measure of a hemina. Dom Delatte states with reliable sourcing thus, on page 275 of the 1959 Archabbey edition translated by Fr. McCann: The Roman hemina was almost a quarter of a liter (nearly a half pint). A note on this page below indicates a source for determining that the Roman sextarius was generally an English pint, specifying it is .96 of a pint, and that the hemina was half a sextarius. Dom Delatte gives overall a solid commentary on this and every chapter, and is highly recommended for our reading.

Kardong on the other hand appears rather strongly defensive on this chapter, and insists the hemina, Saint Benedict's suggested daily measure of wine be half a mina, which he claims was a full quart. This ón page 328 of his commentary for Kardong is the 'more plausible.'

Kardong then indulges in quite a bit of prejudice regarding the Mediterreanen culture, as he did regarding monks defending one another, and elsewhere, explicitly drawing unsupportable conclusions about cultural practices of that time and place. He seems conveniently to overlook the physiological phenomenon that imbibing alcohol actually dehydrates the body in his defense of drinking more in the heat.

In his commentary upon the sentence starting 'We read that wine is absolutely not for monks', Kardong conveniently infers that Our Holy Father Saint Benedict was only joking, as Kardong writes 'I would prefer to think that someone who could write a Rule that is so flexible and so closely attuned to human capabilities would not lack a sense of humor. Therefore, it is possible that verses like this are to be taken in the same sense (p. 330).' This is a very comfortable conclusion for one who writes in the Hemingway way; for a monk it is unseemly and cannot be allowed.

Within the commentary upon this chapter we also find these opinions shared with the reader seeking God and conversion of a hardened heart: 'The same point is made in 34.3-4 where it is noted that it is a weakness to need more. This implies that it is a strength to need less, which is precisely the kind of truth that our consumerist system wishes to keep well hidden (p. 329).'

In this same socio-economic vein we read shortly afterward: 'The procedures of modern agribusiness are in sharp contrast to that, for commodities are transferred all over the world, thus distancing people form the produce of their own land and rendering them dependent on international corporate manipulation (p. 331).'

All in all, if you cannot get de Vogue, read The Rule of Benedict: A Spirituality for the 21st Century (Spiritual Legacy Series).

Receive this as a gift to keep on the shelf for occasional consultation, but do keep a copy of the Rule always with you wherever you go, and read it always, with close listening, and a converting heart.