True History - Veritas Card #5 - St. Benedict and Monasticism

St. Benedict and Monasticism - c. 540

    Did you know the Greek word 'Monk' means solitary? How would you imagine a monk lived? Why would someone live alone and far away from civilization like that?
    Monks did live in deserts like hermits. The reason for this was that they wanted to follow Christ's demand for self denial. They believed they would be away from the world enough that the world would have no more hold on them. Of course, we know that sin is in our own hearts and we can't get away from ourselves, for if we try, we just take sin with us!
   Monks gathered in private communities called 'monasteries' or 'abbeys'. Women would gather in places called convents. St. Benedict came up with some rules for monasteries around the year 540.
   Monks and nuns took three vows. One was a vow of poverty, which meant that they would not personally own any property. The second was a vow of chastity, which stated that they would not marry. The third was a vow of obedience, in which they would submit to the rules of the abbot and the community in which they  lived.
  St. Benedict had learned from being a monk and had used his knowledge to write a document called, The Rule of St. Benedict. He wrote that a monastery should be self sufficient. Men would do manual work during the day, as well as have times of prayer and worship. Most of the literature, as well as the preservation of the Bible, was done by monks who lived in the monasteries.
   Monasteries developed their own schools in order to educate young monks and children of nobility. At this time, the Roman Empire was beginning to decline, and the monasteries became the centers of learning. Monks were also sent out from monasteries to do evangelism. Some of these monks were; St. Patrick, Boniface, Cyril, and Methodius. They went out from Ireland to China. They worked hard to make sure God's word was available to many, many people.