Rule for Beginners

Selections from the Rule of St. Benedict

St. Benedict writes his Rule about 525 AD. For almost 1,500 years, communities of both women and men have used this document to organize their daily activities and, more importantly, their relationships to one another and to God. This long tradition is itself a witness to the wisdom and humanity of the document. Many people, and not just Benedictines, continue to find the Rule a valuable source of practical insight for their own lives.

This edition, A Little Rule for Beginners: Selections from the Rule of St. Benedict, was first put together for a group of educators interested in building communities on college campuses. The translation emphasizes the character of the monastery as a “school of the Lord’s service.” I have given the text a more immediate and more inclusive feel without abandoning its original character. It is a sixth-century document written for a group of men seeking God, and the translation does not pretend otherwise. Though parts seem strange and even wrong to our ways of thinking, still much that Benedict says transcends the sixth century, and the translation seeks to help bridge that gap.

Fr. Harry Hagan, OSB
Saint Meinrad Archabbey

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