Episode 6: Early Western Monasticism

Music: Gregorian Chant and/or St. Patrick’s Hymn

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TIMELINE

• Theme: two monastic developments that evangelized Europe and preserved ancient education after fall of Roman Empire in the West

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Religious and Educational Light in the Darkness: European Monasteries

• Benedictines• Irish Monasticism

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Waypoint: Iona Scotland

• Iona is an island off west coast of Scotland

• Early expansion of Irish monasticism– Founded by St. Columba c. 563

• Iona quickly became leading center of Irish monasticism– Center of learning– Important scriptorium– Missionary activities to England and

Northern Europe

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Irish Church• Ireland never part of Roman Empire;

– not affected by 5th, 6th C barbarian invasions• St. Patrick (d. 490) returned to Ireland from

England after having been a slave in Ireland to preach Christianity – Organizes parishes around monasteries– Makes Latin the scholarly language in Ireland– Feast day, March 17

• Irish monasteries are cutoff from Roman world due to barbarian invasions, develop different customs – Different calculation for Easter– Discipline (penance, private confession)– Organization: abbots rather than bishops

• In early Sixth Century Irish monks led by St. Columba establish a monastery at Iona, Scotland

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6th C Italian Monastic Developments

• St. Benedict of Nursia (480-547)– Greatly influenced by St.

Pachomius– Established an order of

Monks, now known as Benedictines, governed by his Rule

– Feast Day July 11• Sister, Scholastica, founded an

order of nuns to follow the Rule– Feast Day February 10

• Most popular religious order in West until 13th C

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Waypoint: Monte Cassino

• Monastery established by St, Benedict c. 530– High mountain outside of Rome

to try to remove monks from war between Justinian and German barbarians

– Benedict died at Monte Cassino in 543

• Monks lived by Benedict’s Rule• Benedictines and various off-

shoots dominated Western monasticism

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Development of Christian Monasticism: Egyptian Monasticism Early 4th C

• Desert Monks (from Greek for solitary), primarily in Egypt: anchorites withdrawn from society– Most famous: Anthony (251-356), – St. Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria,

wrote a very influential life of Anthony, example: Augustine Confessions Book VIII

• Communal monasticism– Many attracted to this way of life, come

together in groups– Rule of St. Pachomius (286 – 346)– Pachomius’ sister, Mary, established an

Egyptian monastery for women with their own Rule

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What’s a Rule• Prescribes the way of life for the

community• Includes what prayers are said when• Defines balance between work, study,

prayer• Community organization (abbot,

monks, novices) and how leaders are selected

• Process for acceptance into community

• How new communities are created• Relation between community and

diocese

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Key Historical Events 5th Century• Increasingly West was under

pressure from northern tribes (Goths, Visigoths, Vandals)

• Goths sacked Rome in 410– St. Augustine dies in 430 as Hippos is

besieged by Vandals• Center of power in Roman

Empire is only in Constantinople• Attila the Hun reaches Rome in

452, persuaded by Pope St. Leo the Great not to sack Rome

• Last Roman emperor in West abdicated in 476

• Europe enters a period ruled by warring Germanic tribes– Tremendous social and cultural

disruption

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6th and 7th Century Monastic Missionary Activities in Western Europe

• Parallel, independent missionary activities from Rome and Ireland (Iona)

• Irish monks in 6th Century travel far beyond Ireland as missionaries to preach Christianity– St. Columban(us) travels extensively through

Europe establishing Irish style monasteries, including one in Northern Italy (d. 615)

– St. Brendan the Navigator may have reached Iceland, Greenland and perhaps North America

• Meanwhile, missionaries from Rome are also trying to convert Pagan Germanic tribes– Conversion of Chlodwech (Clovis), King of the

Franks, 496– Pope St. Gregory the Great sends St. Augustine

of Canterbury (a Benedictine) to England 597• Differences between Irish and Roman Churches

resolved at Synod of Whitby, 664, in favor or Roman customs

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Map of Early Monasteries

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The Pope Who Brought the Two Monastic Movements Together: Pope St. Gregory the

Great• Pope St. Gregory Great (546-604)

– Benedictine– Wrote a life of Benedict

• Reformed Roman clergy around monastic model

• Reformed the liturgy and Church music

• Encouraged Irish monks, St. Columbanus, to found monasteries in northern Italy

• Earliest extant life of Gregory written by an English nun, 8th C

• Feast Day is September 3

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Later Monastic Developments• Revitalization of Benedictine

monasticism during the Middle Ages– Cluniac Reforms of 10th C– Cistercian Reforms of 11th C

• Monasteries were primary locus of education for boys and girls until later Middle Ages

• Monastic orders continue to live a life of Christian witness– Benedictines– Cistercians– Trappists

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Later History of Iona and Monte Cassino

• Both destroyed by warfare

• Iona destroyed by Vikings in 9th C– Recent excavations and a

popular tourist site

• Monte Cassino destroyed by Allied forces in 1943– Rebuilt after WWII,

reconsecrated by Pope Paul VI in 1964

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Next Waypoint: Aachen Cathedral

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