Order Of St. Benedict

[MissScripture]

So, I just got done with a 5 1/2 hour drive by myself, and while I was driving, I was thinking about random things. One thing I started thinking about and then wondering about is what Benedictines were called when St. Benedict was alive. Their the "Order of St. Benedict" or "OSB," correct? But what were they before St. Benedict was a Saint? Were they just "Order of Benedict" or did they have some other name entirely? I just started thinking of that, because the Dominicans are really "Order of Preachers" so they never had that issue.

[CatherineM]

I have no idea when the little initials started being used, but I'd bet it was after the university system was in place, so that would be well after he was a saint.

[HopefulBride]

MS,

You sound like me when I drive by myself. Good question though, I am anxious to know....

[MissScripture]

[quote name='HopefulBride' timestamp='1288901397' post='2184878']
MS,

You sound like me when I drive by myself. Good question though, I am anxious to know....
[/quote]
lol, and for a good chunk of the drive there are a very limited number of radio stations that come in, and I forgot to grab my Catholic educational CDs out of my husbands car before I left.

[Tally Marx]

I think they were just known as "Benedictines".

[MissScripture]

[quote name='Tally Marx' timestamp='1288902061' post='2184882']
I think they were just known as "Benedictines".
[/quote]
Who started calling them that? I mean, did Benedict actually name them after himself? Or did someone else coin the name and it just caught on so they used it?


I realized on this trip how little I actually know about some things like this!

[regina_coeli]

Since he was among the first monastics to have a "rule", and that happened about 500 AD, I don't think anyone was using initials. They were monks and nuns, period. In later years, when other rules were written, the OSB indicated which rule was followed.

[Maximilianus]

[quote name='MissScripture' timestamp='1288902295' post='2184884']
Who started calling them that? I mean, did Benedict actually name them after himself? Or did someone else coin the name and it just caught on so they used it?


I realized on this trip how little I actually know about some things like this!
[/quote]
lol, you trip also made me realize how little I know.
St. Benedict didn't really found an order, just created a rule, so I'm guessing that O.S.B came well after his death when other rules and orders developed. Maybe they just referred to themselves as the monks/nuns from which ever abbey they inhabited.

[MissScripture]

[quote name='Maximilianus' timestamp='1288905078' post='2184905']
lol, you trip also made me realize how little I know.
St. Benedict didn't really found an order, just created a rule, so I'm guessing that O.S.B came well after his death when other rules and orders developed. Maybe they just referred to themselves as the monks/nuns from which ever abbey they inhabited.
[/quote]
I guess that makes sense. I don't really know the historical context of the start of religious orders. About the most I know is that St. Francis and St. Dominic were friends, because my sister told me so. LOL

[Maximilianus]

It's pretty interesting stuff. With the Benedictines you have a case in which the name of a rule is also the name of an order, but not every order using the rule uses the name of the rule's founder. The Cistercians are Benedictines but name themselves after Citeaux, in the case of the Trappist they name themselves after Citeaux and La Trappe. The Knights Templar were Cistercians, but didn't refer to themselves as such or as Benedictines...at least not that I know of. Another case is the Augustinian rule in which you have the Augustinians and then Order of Preachers and the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mercy who are based on the Augustinian rule but aren not named for or referred to by the rule's founder.

[Tally Marx]

[quote name='MissScripture' timestamp='1288902295' post='2184884']
Who started calling them that? I mean, did Benedict actually name them after himself? Or did someone else coin the name and it just caught on so they used it?


I realized on this trip how little I actually know about some things like this!
[/quote]


I'm definitely no expert on the subject!
But I'm pretty sure St. Benedict didn't name the Order after himself. Actually, I can't remember reading anywhere that he named the Order at all... he titled his rule simply, "Rule for Monks".
And St. Gregory's writings on Benedict only refer to "the Monastery of Terracina", "one of the monasteries", "a monk", etc.
The name "Benedictine" probably came about some time after that, and the abbreviation even closer to the present time.


Maybe some Benedictines would know!

[url="http://christdesert.org/About_Us/index.html"]These religious might know more[/url]

I've spoken with [url="http://www.stscho.org/"]THESE[/url] on several occassions, but yours is such a good question, I never thought to ask.

Edited November 5, 2010 by Tally Marx

[MissScripture]

So, now reading all of this brings up another few questions: Why did he feel the need to write this rule? Were there religious communities before he wrote the rule? And if so, how were they structured? If not, why did he suddenly think to start them?

Thank you for all the answers. Idk why I suddenly thought of all of this...probably because I should be studying things that are completely unrelated to this topic.

[the_rev]

The desert fathers existed before the Rule, they followed a cenobitic rule. The Benedictines were the first monastic community, so they were simply monks and nuns. Eventually monasticism evolved, the Benedictines saw their height with their affiliated house of Cluny and as someone mentioned earlier Cistercians are a reform and the Carthusians are the purest form of Benedictines--never in need of reform. The religious before monasticism were cenobitic and eremitic.

[CatherineM]

The early monastics were heavy on self mortification, and Benedict brought in administration and learning.

[Maximilianus]

Actually St. Benedict wasn't the first to start monasticism, by the time he developed his rule monasticism already existed in the form of eremetical(hermits) and cenobitical(communal). St. Pachomian introduced Christian cenobetic monasticism. St. Basil introduced cenobetic monasticism in the East.

Edited November 5, 2010 by Maximilianus