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Some are dedicated to the contemplative life in the narrow sense and have few direct contacts with the outside world. All receive and tend to their guests’ spiritual needs, especially in the form of private retreats and conferences. Many monks are entirely engaged in parochial work, either at their abbey or in churches entrusted to its care. Others devote themselves to various forms of artistic work or to farming. Some monasteries are shrines or pilgrimage centers and the monks’ time is absorbed in caring for the many visitors.
It should be evident that there is no specifically Benedictine activity. Each abbey devotes itself to whatever the local or general needs of the Church require. This has been true from the beginning. Saint Benedict himself took care of the youngsters sent to him by their parents from Rome to Subiaco and preached to the neglected souls he found at Montecassino. Soon after the establishment of Benedictinism in England, Anglo-Saxon Benedictines were preaching in Frisia and then in the interior of Germany. In the ninth century, Benedictines undertook to spread the faith in Scandinavia; in the tenth century, in Bohemia, Poland, and Hungary. From the eighth century every monastery was required to conduct a school for the educating of the youngsters of the area. From the ninth to the twelfth century the monastic schools were the best in Europe. Dom Knowles had this to say about external activities: “Yet in the Rule, if anywhere, the necessity for work is insisted upon, and the great variety of activities in which Benedictines have taken part is in many ways due to their freedom from limitation. As Christians they refuse no work that is religious in its scope. Such work may be of great variety, but it is normally such as can be accomplished within the framework of community life, with attendance at the common prayer. As a result of these conditions, normal Benedictine work has the characteristic that it is in most cases consciously felt to be a community work.”
Monks at Belmont Abbey still observe the centuries-old tradition of monastic dress, known as a “habit.”
Belmont Abbey has adopted the venerable tradition of Benedictine education. Its principal apostolate is the conducting of Belmont Abbey College, Belmont, North Carolina. But education in the narrow sense is not its only activity. The students of Belmont Abbey College are under the spiritual care of the monks, one of whom is the Director of Campus Ministry. The priest monks celebrate Mass, preach, hear confessions, and are available for consultation and counseling. They involve themselves in campus activities as participants, advisers, or moderators. Some of the monks are engaged in research and publication. Some are assigned to parish work or act as chaplains in the Charlotte diocese. Several of the monks leave the abbey on weekends in order to assist in various parishes of the Charlotte diocese. Hence, while education is the abbey’s chief apostolate, it is not its only work.
All who join a Benedictine monastery are monks. Some monks receive
the priesthood, while others do not. In Saint Benedict’s day
and for the next few centuries, each monastery would have one or
two priests who would tend to the spiritual needs the community.
But gradually it became the practice for all, or almost all, monks
to advance to ordination. In the eleventh century, the institute
of lay brothers was introduced to attend to the necessary manual
labor. The lay brothers were not monks in the strict sense; in fact,
they were entirely distinct
from the monks. This division of the family into two separate communities
has now been abolished; the entire family consists of monks, some
of whom are priests or candidates for the priesthood, some of whom
do not wish to receive ordination. All make the same vows and follow
the same observance; seniority is reckoned from the date of monastic
profession without regard for holy orders or their absence.
Each recruit is expected to have at least a high school education on which his religious formation can be based. After the community has had an opportunity to get to know him, he applies in writing for admission to the community. If the chapter, consisting of all who have made solemn profession, accepts his petition, he is clothed in the habit and entrusted to the Director of Formation.
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