History of Religious Life
Origins of Christian Monasticism - Part 2
by Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.
The Institute on Religious
Life and the Daughters of St. Mary of Providence Chicago bring you Part Two
and the conclusion of the lecture Origins of Christian Monasticism given
by Fr. John A. Hardon S.J. in his classes on the History of Religious Life.
The Early Development of Structured Religious Life Up to St. Benedict
The date of St. Benedict is 529. Our intention is to see
in historical sequence the early development of what may be called structured
religious life; but all before St. Benedict, the Founder of Western Monasticism.
To get our bearings and keep them, we should first divide the matter to be seen
into something like logical parts each preceding, somehow meeting, the future
part on which, then, it will build.
Part One: To look at something of the persons whose
life and practices set the pattern for Western Monasticism; second, the features
of the life of these persons and third, the organization in established Rule.
People Practicing Consecrated Chastity
First, then the persons living primitive religious
life: If we were to identify the first signs of religious life in the Catholic
Church on any semblance of a structured form, we may safely say that this life
was first shown in the lives of the Christian virgins already in the first century
of the Christian era. Well to know. Thats how religious life started, with
people practicing consecrated chastity. Their practice of continence was, almost
from the beginning, associated also with the renunciation of riches. And, by
the way, not a few of the earliest virgins came from very wealthy, noble families.
Reference to these virgins occurs in the Christian literature of the first century,
and the Fathers of the second century praise their mode of living. Shortly after
the virgins appeared those whom, the early Fathers called, asketi, the
ascetics and whom the Latin Church calls confessors; so that ascetic is the
Greek word corresponding to confessor from the Latin. They too, made profession
of chastity and sometimes of poverty and surprisingly people wed never know
lived this kind of a consecrated life, actually did so; for example St. Cyprian.
In the liturgy, the ascetics took rank before the virgins.
The Historian Eusebius, in his History of the Church,
fourth century, mentions among the ascetics the greatest bishops of the early
Church, for example: St. Ignatius of Antioch, Clement of Rome, St. Polycarp;
so that people we dont usually think of as religious, in any intelligible sense
in which the word could be used in those early ages, they were.
Life of Austerity and Retirement
By the fourth century, we find clear traces of the kind
of life in which religious profession becomes, by degrees, more developed and
brought under rule, namely, the life of the monks. The note that characterizes
the monks, the first thing you recognize is their seclusion from the world and
their love of retirement. Until then virgins and ascetics had edified the world
by keeping themselves pure in the midst of corruption and recollected in the
midst of dissipation. The monks, and this includes nuns, as St. Ambrose letters
indicate, the monks endeavor to edify the world by avoiding and contemning,
as we might say, all that the world esteems. Thus the life of a solitary and
the monk that we will see in a few minutes theyre not quite the same was
really a life of austerity and of retirement. Part of the austerity was
retirement because most people, over the centuries till this day, like to talk.
And retirement was intended as one means of practicing austerity. The world,
which sent travelers to contemplate these monks, was astonished at the heroism
of their penance. I trust you got a few ideas from St. Anthony. Would you say
that he was a mortified man?
Victory of Grace Over Nature
The religious life took the form of a war against fallen
human nature. Its goal was to achieve and then witness to others to a victory
of grace over nature. And what wild human natures some of those early monks
and nuns had; then came the severe persecutions, one after another, the most
serious was under Decius about 250 A.D. This persecution gave birth to the first
great hermit of the deserts, St. Paul of Thebes, sometimes called St. Paul the
Anchorite, again St. Paul of Egypt, again St Paul the Solitary: its all the
same Paul. Other Christians, too, sought refuge there in the desert from their
tormentors. And some of the great writings of that period defend fleeing from
persecution, not out of fear, but to imitate Christ. To imitate Christ who more
than once escaped from the hands of His would-be assassins, not because He was
afraid of them, but He wanted to live a little bit longer to proclaim the Gospel.
The Desert Fathers also wished to continue proclaiming the gospel in words,
but especially in deeds.
Like-Minded Men Seeking Perfection
Somewhat later than Paul came St. Anthony, the dates, as
by now I trust you know is authentic 251 to 356. Let never anyone tell you that
austerity will shorten your life. At the age of twenty, he retired to the desert
for a different reason; reading and meditating on the event in the Gospels when
the rich young man was called and did not follow the Master, Anthony decided
to do what the wealthy youth in Matthews Gospel, had not done. He wanted to
expiate. He went to the desert where he soon had disciples whom he formed into
monastic villages. There they lived in clusters of like-minded men who all were
seeking perfection as Christ promised and where they found encouragement from
Pachomius Founder of Cenobitic Religious Life
At the same time that Anthony was loosely associating followers,
St. Pachomius these are the big names St. Pachomius, he didnt live quite
as long 292 to 346. He died as a youngster. Also in Egypt, he decided to bring
all his Monks under one roof and he is commonly credited with being the Founder
of Cenobitic Religious Life, meaning community religious life. He wasnt really
the first but his Rule has since affected all others, including every community
he represented. His monasteries had large numbers under one head. When he died
he was virtually Superior of seven thousand monks, of whom thirteen hundred
were in Tabennesi, thats one place, and two hundred to three hundred in smaller
How Was Religious Life Structured At This Stage
First, there was the Abbot over all the monasteries.
The word abbot comes from the word we have in the Gospels, Abba, which
Second, a subordinate superior from the Latin writers
called praepositus, that means superintendent or if you wish, superior
over individual houses.
And third was called the so-called leader - the Latin
word is hebdomadarius, thats almost untranslatable. Hebdomida
in Latin is week. Call him the weekly leader; he was appointed on a weekly basis,
I suppose, so he wouldnt get either proud or couldnt abuse his privileges.
Before they could bribe the hebdomadarius there was another man appointed
in his stead. His job was to call the monks to prayer, lead the Office and relate
directives to the monks and take complaints from the monks to the abbots. His
was the least enviable of all these positions. That may be another reason why
he was on for just a week. Maybe thats about as long as anyone could take it.
Moreover, everybody got their chance. What a delightful technique!
Priesthood and Religious Life Later Innovation
The monks of Anthony and Pachomius were not priests. This
is a great moment. The priesthood in religious life is a much later innovation.
And as one who is both priest and religious, let me tell you, it is not an easy
combination to preserve. I believe this is one of the main reasons why of all
the men religious orders in the Catholic Church today, the hardest hit have
been the Trappists. The last figures I read was 36% of the world membership
defected. Many reasons; unscreened candidates but from having known the Trappists
- I knew Thomas Merton well, personally. One of the problems was that once they
became priests with all the education that implies, and they wanted to engage
then in apostolic work; people would come to them. They would want to go out
and then what happens to the monastic-Cistercian life? Very Hard. My annual
retreat, the one job that I principally have to get myself back on the straight
and narrow, is to control my priestly apostolate within the limits of what my
religious life demands, which is especially, prayer. That I dont talk to others
and then, like St. Paul feared become myself a castaway because I havent been
enough with God! So, all the early monks were what we would call religious who
were not priests; the latter, there were some that were gradually, you might
say, ordained, but they were usually called in on Saturdays and Sundays for
confessions, for the liturgy and for such counsel that, say, only a priest presumably
Pachomius Organizational Success
For example Origen, the year 240, talks about private confession
to a priest among religious when he further notes that Pachomius was eminently
successful with his organization in several ways. How?
First, in the large numbers of his dedicated followers,
people just wanted to become hermits and in time, though they were eremitical
at first, became organized into communities.
Second; Pachomius is famous for making monasticism
available to both men and women. Before his time, though, there had been virgins
living in small groups but nothing on any large scale: and, least of all, you
just did not send women to the desert just didnt do that. Pachomius felt,
well, they can take it too. When he died there were nine Foundations of men
and two of women.
Thirdly, Pachomius should be remembered for inspiring
other leaders to follow his example; organize communities like his. Again in
formulating a Rule, Pachomius was very practical, detailed and yet remarkably
adjustable depending always listen to this on its interpretation by the
Pachomius Rule Became the Prototype for Monasticism
I thought for awhile I would give you as your assigned reading,
the Rule of St. Pachomius. Well I could have done that but I decided on what
I did. Pachomius Rule became the prototype of Eastern and Western Monasticism.
Its best known for, just for the record, is the text of St. Jerome, in Latin,
published 405 A.D. It influenced St. Basil of the East and Benedict in the West.
And all of us are debtors, ultimately, to Pachomius. Thats the West, though
we dont usually think of Egypt or Africa as the West but weve got to make
a division somewhere.
Along with Pachomius in the West was Basil in the East;
his is the greatest name in Monasticism. After Pachomius and among the Easterners
of course, theres nobody greater than Basil. His contribution was manifold
but mainly and clearly distinguishing; the solitary and community religious
life. He stressed the one great advantage of the latter that is community life,
namely the opportunity that living in a community affords for the practice of
charity, as no religious who is sober and is in his or her right mind, doubts.
You either practice charity or you dont survive in the community.
Moreover, while criticizing excessive mortification, he
exhorted the Superior to moderate the external ascetic life reasonably. One
reason that I wanted you to read Anthony because well, Anthony was a law, you
might say, to himself; and I suppose when you finish the reading, youre not
too surprised that Anthony did not have the thousands of followers that, say,
either Pachomius or later on Basil had; because Anthony was he was a rugged
saint. My Pastor back home in Cleveland, I used to serve Mass and, every once
in awhile, he would chew us up for we didnt know why we were just no good.
So we go to Sister in the other Sacristy, the boys Sacristy for consolation.
And she would tell us, Now Fr. John is a diamond in the rough. We were sure
he was rough; we didnt know he was a diamond.
Basil Originator of the Aspirancy
So Basil with several centuries of Anthonys and Pauls
and Pachomius, well, he there is more balance you might say though we should
not fault those early great heroes for they were living in rough times. And
you may be sure the devil was very active, and Anthony was going to conquer
the devil if it killed him. St. Basil also encouraged his monks to undertake
the education of children. That is a great moment! And he was pleased when
some of these children embraced the monastic life, yet he was careful to make
sure they did so of their own accord. In case you havent heard St. Basil was
the originator of the Aspirancy, which I think is a very good idea. I really
do! He was, for example, would not allow the freedom of a son or daughter to
be restrained or somehow compelled because their parents wanted them to be religious.
He wanted to make sure that his religious were such of their own accord. I believe
the hope for future of religious life in countries like our own is to re-assess
and re-establish some aspect or form or adaptation of the Aspirancy. I speak
as one who knows. I finished college before I entered the order. I think its
great! But I wouldnt want to wish what I went through on anyone. Sometimes
I just rub my eyes and I cant believe that I survived! The world is very
attractive. In any case St. Basil, so as I tell people for a thousand years
until the Reformation, this was the universal practice. Then we went out in
search of vocations, well now thats all right. You know what weve been doing,
advertising. Im speaking of some young blood here and you know how many we
got and Im not sure we always got the best who answered our ads. In any case,
just an aside we are in Basil.
Augustine: Clericalization of Religious Life
The fifth and last great name we should consider
in the progress of religious life before St. Benedict was Augustine. Now I didnt
think Augustine would mind if I gave you more from St. Ambrose than, say from
St. Augustine to read because you know that Ambrose instructed and baptized
Augustine and every good pupil (and Augustine was a good pupil) always appreciates
when his teacher is honored. The best single term to describe Augustines contribution
is to call it in a good sense clericalization of religious life. Augustine
introduced priests into the religious life.
Eusebius Organized His Clerics into the First Recorded
Religious life in the East had remained basically non-clerical;
in fact almost to this day, most monks in the East are not priests. It was integrated
into the social and apostolic life of the Church but not, this is the East,
in its priestly state. Thats why the Society of Jesus which is mainly priests
or priests to-be that could never have been founded in the Orient. It was, then,
to the credit of the West, that it brought religious life to the priesthood.
Or shall we say the priesthood to the religious life? The roots of this process
are found early in the history of that life in the West. Eusebius of Vercelli
just so that we have some names and believe me Im choosing out of scores of
names, Eusebius of Vercelli about 360 A.D. organized the clerics of his Cathedral
he was Bishop into the first recorded Clerical Monastery in history. You
see what they did? They had priests working already as secular priests but the
bishop had decided it would be good for his diocese and good for the men if
they formed a religious order. A similar arrangement was made by St. Ambrose
in Milan and by St. Paulinus in Nola: all three in Italy.
Augustine Organized the Whole Life of His Clergy
However, it was St. Augustine whose efforts had most influence
on later generations. His own autobiography is not without importance here.
As a priest in Tagaste in Africa, he organized a semi-monastic form of life.
But that group was directed to intellectual studies and, if you please, to help
with the completion of the education of his son. You know Augustine had lived
a checkered life before he became a saint. Well, he wont mind my putting this
on the board. He called his boy at least the one that is most famous, Adeodatus
given by God of course he gave him the name after Augustines own conversion.
Later on as Augustine was instructed in the Faith and ordained in Hippo in Africa;
he again formed a group but this time directed to the formation of clerics as
a Seminary. Finally as Bishop and the date is 396, he organized the whole life
of his clergy. I dont know if everybody in the Diocese of Hippo remained in
the diocese or some begged to go elsewhere but he told them; Now my dear friends,
he must have called a conclave and said, Ive made a decision in the Lord; after
a certain date you will all be religious. Thats right. Do you want to stay
in the diocese? They probably said to each other, Well where can we go?
Augustines Three Qualities for the Life of His Clergy
He organized the whole life of his clergy around him with
Common life - they were to live together - no apartment
Second. Renunciation of property. There are plenty
of poor people in Hippo for you priests to share your possessions with.
And thirdly, obedience. Needless to say, he left
no doubt who was their Superior.
The purpose was mainly to direct the pastoral service of
the priests rather than, as before, to theological activity. Before we leave
Augustine we should note that there are two letters of St. Augustine one of
which has become the standard for womens communities that follow in the Augustinian
spirit. But Augustine never thought for a moment that these women would be ordained.
Augustine, therefore, really drafted two principal rules; one for men and the
other for women.
Cassian His Rule Gave the Idea of Stability to Monastic
Side by side with this clerical monasticism, the West also
had its proponents of monasticism as it was lived in the East, which is the
older type, and was exemplified by the Rule of life fostered by such men as
St. Martin of Tours. What is St. Martin famous for? He divided his cloak. John
Cassian of Marseilles, also in France; St. Caesarius of Aries, also in France;
Of these John Cassian was the most important because he bequeathed in his writings
his own distillation of the eastern form of monasticism; but Caesarius besides
Cassian is equally important because it was his rule that gave the idea of stability
to monastic life and later on Benedict would adopt and make one of the principal
features of monasticism; so much for a bit of history.
Now the Principal Characteristics: Necessarily I
have touched only on the highlights of that very early structured religious
life. I thought better than go into more historical detail to try to synthesize
a lot of material and classified under certain main headings, all typifying
religious life before Benedict.
Prayer and Penance Lead to Perfection
First feature - Purpose of Religious Life. The life
of the monks and nuns was much more systemized than that of the earlier versions;
and ascetics its immediate goal was sanctification of the religious, contemplation
through prayer, and victory over the flesh through mortification where so it
was held bound to lead to holiness.
There are three ps that typify this purpose, which is also
a p: prayer and penance leads to perfection. The monks and the nuns did not
aspire to the priesthood. In fact, they desired not to be ordained even when
as under Augustine some clerics were formed into monastic communities. It was
listen to this priests who became religious and not religious who became
priests. This, I call it dialectic, between the priesthood and the religious
state would remain throughout the centuries as a source of tension and difficulty,
but also of development even to the present day. So much for purpose: the
primary purpose was perfection. The principal means were prayer
Community Life Calls for Obedience
Second - Obedience. As good Christians these early
religious owed obedience, of course, to their bishop in religious matters. And
their profession, if rightly lived, made prompt and complete submission easy.
But religious obedience, as the Church conceives it, was associated only with
community or cenobitic life. Do you hear that? That is a great moment!
This is now my eighth year in working, such as I am doing,
as a consultant to the Holy See and many questions and problems that I sometimes
look at and make some comments on; I keep saying to myself and, well, telling
others like yourselves you can practically forget about obedience if you dont
have a strong community life. If you allow religious to do whatever, well, they
individually want to do, no matter how good or holy it may be the moment they
separate themselves from the community; from living together, praying together,
working together for a common end, what happens to Major Superiors as Ive told
one Mother General who later became the head of the Major Superiors of Women
Religious of America; Mother, you know what you are? What? You are the
very gentle, spiritual counselor of your community. Youve got no authority
left. She said, Youre right. Its community life that calls for religious
obedience; ramifications and interpenetrations of these two community and
obedience are manifold, just to state the fact. Depending therefore on how
communal the monastic life was, religious obedience took its form and made its
Why Become Religious Unless You Give Up Something
Third Characteristic - Poverty. At the time which
we are speaking poverty consisted in the renunciation of worldly goods and in
the most sparing years of food, clothing and all necessaries - the model of
religious life before Benedict was expressed in this phrase; no luxuries
and mortification in necessities which, by the way, is not a bad thing to
Some religious actually think theyre supposed to mortify
themselves in their luxuries. Like another Mother General Im sure I must
have quoted this to you on one occasion. A priest friend of mine, a Canonist,
heard this from the man who saw this Mother General off, whom I know well, the
Mother General she just finished a lecture she gave in Ottawa to a Canon Law
Society of Canada and as he bade her Godspeed; he looked in the back and the
whole back of the car was her wardrobe. Well so she might maybe, do with one
or two dresses less thats not mortification! A religious, Im quoting the
early Church, no luxuries, mortification in necessities. My fourth year in
dealing with Mother Teresas group, all I can tell you is those who have the
vocation like it rough and dont like it when they find it too easy. They say
theres something wrong and their instincts are right. We dont make religious
life hard for the sake of making it hard but why become a religious unless you
give something up?
Absolute Dispossession Was the Common Law
Moreover, the cenobites as they were called, the monks and
nuns living in communities were forbidden to enjoy any separate property. Absolute
dispossession was the common law in the Church up to the Reformation. There
were no simple vows of poverty. You either gave everything up or you were not
a religious. They had to receive from their Superior or Procurator, as he was
also or she was called, everything they needed for their use. Now there were
abuses and were talking about the religious life that survived and whose rules
have endured to the modern times.
Celibacy An Assumed Pre-requisite
Fourth Characteristic - Chastity. Celibacy was an
assumed prerequisite for the monastic life. Yet, as in the case of Augustine
this did not mean that persons who had not lived chaste lives before could not
be religious. A consoling thought! Moreover, provision was made for widows and
widowers, also for married persons who having provided for their spouse and
children might give themselves to the religious life living, thenceforth, in
celibacy. Marriage for a monk or a nun, once they had left the world, was simply
Early Canonical Decree Brands As Infamy Carnal Intercourse
Fifth Feature - Vows. Having once entered the life
of a virgin, or ascetic or monk or nun, the person felt a clear obligation to
persevere. Always before then in the earliest stages of religious life and
this passage keeps recurring in the literature of those days - was the warning
of Christ; No man putting his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for
the Kingdom of God. (Luke 9:62) There are passages in Tertullian and St. Cyprian
writing about virgins that may interpreted as their having taken, and thats
very far back, authentic vows. Moreover, it was certain that a woman who had
bound herself to Jesus Christ by a profession of virginity was liable to severe
canonical penalties. You either didnt make the promise or if you did, you are
punished if you broke it. St. Cyprian regarded such a person as an adulterous
bride but after having absolved her, he allowed such a one to enter marriage
if, as he said, she could not keep continency. Just for the historical record;
the earliest canonical decree, which we know on the subject of vows was that
of Pope St. Siricius, S-i-r-i-c-i-u-s writing to a certain bishop in 385A.D.,
it brands as infamy the carnal intercourse of any monk or virgin. The oldest
complete vow formula that we have of a religious, the kind of vow they took,
is placed in Egypt from a monastery about the year 400, in one of the monasteries
founded by Pachomius. As I read it youll say to yourself what kind
of vow is that? Well. We didnt formulate it; were just quoting the kind of
vow they took.
The Title of the First Known Vow in the Catholic Church
I swear before God in His Holy Temple in which the word
I have spoken is my witness, that I will not defile my body in any way. I will
not steal. I will not bear false witness. I will not lie. I will not do wrong
in secret. If I break my oath I am willing listen to this not to enter the
Kingdom of Heaven although I were in sight of it, God before whom Ive made
this Covenant will then destroy my body and soul in Hell for I should have broken
the oath of allegiance that I have taken. Then an addition as for contradiction,
disobedience, murmuring, contention, obstinacy or any such things these faults
are quite manifest to the whole community.
The rest of the text is missing and it seems that community
will and I give them the privilege to take care of me if Im obstinate or contradictory,
or disobedient or contumacious since everybody will see it, they can take care
of me. So much for the vow; we dont have the full text but theres enough there
to indicate that it was meant to be taken for life and the penalties were severe.
Sixth Feature - Canon Law. Almost as soon as the
Church was liberated by Constantine in 315 A.D., the Hierarchy began to enact
formal legislation for religious. The first known Church Law for religious is
in the Council of Gangra, G-a-n-g-r-e- pardon G-a-n-g-r-a, date
- 330, place - Asia Minor. It was addressed to three classes of persons, namely
virgins, those who were continent but not virgins; or the married or widowed
or otherwise and third, those who retire from worldly affairs to practice more
faithfully the duties of piety towards their parents, children, husband or wife;
and second to avoid all vanity and pride. Now, this is a very interesting
and I think an important feature of that early religious life: that people would
be formed into a religious community to take care of their parents, or their
children, or husband, or wife. In other words, where there is no prospect for
a variety of reasons, to enter a community mainly because their of age, or the
inability to leave an immediate duty which they had; there were special groups
formed, say, of people who wanted to take care of their aged parents.
Two Important Decisions
Two important decisions of Councils of the Church long before
Benedict paved the way for other essential features of community life. The Council
of Chalcedon, its a general Council, date 451, made the erection of a monastery
depend on the consent of a bishop. By the way, lets remember that. No community
in the Catholic Church exists without the approval of the Hierarchy, unknown;
and the date for that legislation is 451. Thus we Jesuits, who are exempt from
direct Episcopal control, nevertheless we simply do not enter a diocese unless
we are invited by the Bishop. And we stay there only as long as he wants us.
And the second was a series of Councils mainly in France
in the fifth century legislating perseverance in the religious state. In other
words, already fifteen centuries ago, the Church felt She should make laws,
general laws for religious besides their own specific laws which are approved
by the Church for that community.
Two Levels of Legislation
So we have two levels of legislation: legislation for the
community, by the community and within the community always to be approved by
the Church the Churchs hierarchy: and, second, general legislation applying
to all religious. The proposed revision of Canon Law (and, by the way, lets
keep this in mind) is not to touch, it is not its intent, the internal government
of each institute the proposed revision of Canon Law is for the Churchs general
laws affecting all communities, which is why I have been so urgent and urging
chapters and religious institutes to make sure that your own domestic laws are
clear, specific, and sufficiently detailed; that whatever the new provision
for the whole Church will be you will not find yourselves in the impossible
position of depending on the universal law for your survival.
Four Basic Rules from Which All Religious Communities
What, by this time, can we call (we got two minutes) the
basic rules of religious life? In the transition were going to start, beginning
with our next classes, were going to deal with highly organized religious life,
starting with Benedict. I think it would be well to recognize that historically
the Church speaks of four basic rules from which all religious communities in
the Catholic Church now derive. They are: the Rule of St. Basil, date 329 to
379; the Rule of St. Augustine, his life span 354 to 430; the Rule of St. Benedict,
his life span is 480 to 543, and the Rule of St. Francis, and Ill give you
the first date of the first Rule of Francis approved by the Church, 1223. Accordingly,
there are two Rules; that of Basil and Augustine which, so far, have deserved
our special attention and there will be two large Rules of Benedict and
Francis that we shall see. And besides those four so many others including,
I trust, something for everyone here in class, including something about the
Society of Jesus.
Conference transcription from a talk that Father Hardon gave to the
Institute on Religious Life
Institute on Religious Life, Inc.
P.O. Box 410007
Chicago, Illinois 60641
Copyright © 1998 by Inter Mirifica