to the Vigils. After Complin they never spoke, and a deep silence was preserved during the whole night. The sick were carefully tended in a separate chamber, and a brother was appointed to take care of them.

During the daytime the monks rarely spoke to one another. No mention is made of recreation in their Rule. Without the permission of the abbat no letters or presents were received. They never left enclosure except on an errand of business, and then always two of them in company. Before they went they commended themselves to the prayers of the community; and on their return they lay prostrate during the office in the choir, to expiate the offences that they might have committed in their absence. They never repeated any thing which they had heard without.

The brethren were at first simple laics; and it does not appear that S. Benedict himself was ever a clerk. If a priest asked admission into the monastery he bound himself to conform to the Rule, and in all things to obey the abbat, after whom he had the next place of honour. He also gave the benediction, and presided at the offices, if the superior desired him. But in chapter he took his place according to his entrance into the house.

Postulants remained at the gate for four or five days; they were then admitted into the guests' house; and after a little time to the society of the novices. Their vocation was strictly examined, and the difficulties of the religious life set before them. At the end of two months the Rule was read to them; and again at the end of six months, and finally when the year of probation was finished. If they still de

sired admission they were then received. Their profession was made in the oratory in presence of the community. They promised steadiness, change of manners, and obedience. If possessed of goods, they gave them to the poor or to the monastery by a formal deed.

When a brother transgressed the Rule he was privately admonished by the elder brethren, twice; then once in public, and if he still continued obstinate he was punished by fasts and scourging at the discretion of the abbat. In extreme cases he was excommunicated. This sentence cut him off from the society of his brethren; and he became the special charge of the superior.

The abbat was chosen by the community, and ordained by the bishop or the other abbats. He ought to be well instructed in the law of God, and to possess great prudence and charity. Under him was a prior or provost-præpositus. There were also deans -decani-who had each the charge of ten monks, at work and at all times.

abbat governed the house.

These officers with the

There were also religious sisters who adopted this Rule, and were called Benedictine nuns.

As the discipline became relaxed after some ages, many reforms took place from time to time, which gave rise to several important branches of the order. The foundation of their Rule was always that of S. Benedict, with some additional constitutions of their own. The discipline of these later branches is often much more severe than the original Rule. The chief of these are the Cluniac, founded by Bernon, abbat of Gigni in Burgundy and Odo abbat of Cluni, about

912; the Camaldolian, established in 1009 at Camaldoli near Florence, by S. Romuald, which combines the cenobitical and eremitical life; of Grandmont, instituted at Grandmont in Limoisin about 1076 by Stephen of Auvergne; the Carthusian, founded by Bruno of Cologne, at Chartreux in the diocese of Grenoble about 1080; the Cistercians, or White Monks, established by Robert of Molesme in Burgundy, at Cistercium or Cisteaux in the diocess of Chalons in the same duchy, in 1098; the nuns of Fontevrault, founded by Robert d'Arbrissel at Fons Ebraudii or Fontevrault in Poictou in 1099; the Tironenses, instituted by S. Bernard of Abbeville about 1109; the Grey Brothers of Savigni, by Vitalis de Mortain in 1112, and united to the Cistercians in 1158; of La Trappe in Normandy founded by John de Rancé, in 1664.

The Benedictine is one of the most illustrious orders that have adorned the Church. After all the changes and storms of thirteen centuries it still survives, and before the last destruction of monasteries in France, and more recently in Spain, it possessed thirty-seven thousand houses throughout Christendom. When England was separated from the communion of the Latin Church there were one hundred and twenty-eight houses of this order in it, and twentynine in Scotland, including most of the great abbeys, and nearly all the Cathedral priories, in which the bishop filled the place of the abbat, and the community was governed by a prior. A countless number of holy patriarchs and bishops, of saints, emperors, kings and queens, princes and nobles have embraced its Rule; besides the innumerable company of reli

gious of humbler rank in this world, who within its blessed enclosures have, while yet in the body, anticipated the life of the just made perfect. The services which many of the brethren have rendered to the cause of letters have earned the praise even of those who deem of little value their life of prayer and self denial.

Thrice happy they who earthly stores have sold,
Dearer sublunar joys, domestic ties,

And form themselves into one holy fold,
To imitate on earth the happy skies,
With vigil, prayer, and sacred litanies,
Their souls to heavenly contemplation given,
While earthly hope within them buried lies,
Their sole employ to purge the evil leaven,
And render their cleansed souls a fit abode for Heaven.
Baptistery, p. 15.

APRIL.

APRIL 3.

S. Richard, Bishop.

1253.

S. RICHARD was born in the town of Wyche about four miles from the city of Worcester. His father Richard and his mother Alice were of gentle blood. His elder brother offered him the succession to the family estate, but he refused it, and applied himself to study, and attained great fame first at Oxford and afterwards at Paris. He became a doctor of the canon law at Bologna, and on his return to England was elected chancellor of the University of Oxford.

Edmund archbishop of Canterbury, hearing of his fame, appointed him chancellor of his diocess, and he was soon honoured with the friendship of the holy primate. The archbishop, says the historian, delighted in the wisdom and discretion of the chancellor; and he in the sanctity and heavenly conversation of the archbishop. In 1241 God took the blessed Edmund to Himself. He died in exile at Soissy, and was buried at Pontigny in France, where he rests. Richard gave up all his secular employments, and began to study theology in a house of