The Holy Rule of St. Benedict

The Holy Rule of St. Benedict

The Holy Rule of St. Benedict

The 1949 Edition
Translated by Rev. Boniface Verheyen, OSB

Prologue 
Chapter 1: Of the Kinds or the Life of Monks 
Chapter 2: What Kind of Man the Abbot Ought to Be 
Chapter 3: Of Calling the Brethren for Counsel 
Chapter 4: The Instruments of Good Works 
Chapter 5: Of Obedience 
Chapter 6: Of Silence 
Chapter 7: Of Humility 
Chapter 8: Of the Divine Office during the Night 
Chapter 9: How Many Psalms Are to Be Said at the Night Office 
Chapter 10: How the Office Is to Be Said during the Summer Season 
Chapter 11: How the Night Office Is to Be Said on Sundays 
Chapter 12: How Lauds Are to Be Said 
Chapter 13: How Lauds Are to Be Said on Week Days 
Chapter 14: How the Night Office Is to Be Said on the Feasts of the Saints 
Chapter 15: At What Times the Alleluia Is to Be Said 
Chapter 16: How the Work of God Is to Be Performed during the Day 
Chapter 17: How Many Psalms Are to Be Sung at These Hours 
Chapter 18: In What Order the Psalms Are to Be Said 
Chapter 19: Of the Manner of Reciting the Psalter 
Chapter 20: Of Reverence at Prayer 
Chapter 21: Of the Deans of the Monastery 
Chapter 22: How the Monks Are to Sleep 
Chapter 23: Of Excommunication for Faults 
Chapter 24: What the Manner of Excommunication Should Be 
Chapter 25: Of Graver Faults 
Chapter 26: Of Those Who without the Command of the Abbot Associate with the Excommunicated 
Chapter 27: How Concerned the Abbot Should Be about the Excommunicated 
Chapter 28: Of Those Who Having Often Been Corrected Do Not Amend 
Chapter 29: Whether Brethren Who Leave the Monastery Ought to Be Received Again 
Chapter 30: How Young Boys Are to Be Corrected 
Chapter 31: The Kind of Man the Cellarer of the Monastery Ought to Be 
Chapter 32: Of the Tools and Goods of the Monastery 
Chapter 33: Whether Monks Ought to Have Anything of Their Own 
Chapter 34: Whether All Should Receive in Equal Measure What Is Necessary 
Chapter 35: Of the Weekly Servers in the Kitchen 
Chapter 36: Of the Sick Brethren 
Chapter 37: Of the Aged and Children 
Chapter 38: Of the Weekly Reader 
Chapter 39: Of the Quantity of Food 
Chapter 40: Of the Quantity of Drink 
Chapter 41: At What Times the Brethren Should Take Their Refection 
Chapter 42: That No One Speak after Complin 
Chapter 43: Of Those Who Are Tardy in Coming to the Work of God or to Table 
Chapter 44: Of Those Who Are Excommunicated -- How They Make Satisfaction 
Chapter 45: Of Those Who Commit a Fault in the Oratory 
Chapter 46: Of Those Who Fail in Any Other Matters 
Chapter 47: Of Giving the Signal for the Time of the Work of God 
Chapter 48: Of the Daily Work 
Chapter 49: On the Keeping of Lent 
Chapter 50: Of the Brethren Who Work a Long Distance form the Oratory or Are on a Journey 
Chapter 51: Of the Brethren Who Do Not Go Very Far Away 
Chapter 52: Of the Oratory of the Monastery 
Chapter 53: Of the Reception of Guests 
Chapter 54: Whether a Monk Should Receive Letters or Anything Else 
Chapter 55: Of the Clothing and the Footgear of the Brethren 
Chapter 56: Of the Abbot's Table 
Chapter 57: Of the Artists of the Monastery 
Chapter 58: Of the Manner of Admitting Brethren 
Chapter 59: Of the Children of the Noble and of the Poor Who Are Offered 
Chapter 60: Of Priests Who May Wish to Live in the Monastery 
Chapter 61: How Stranger Monks Are to Be Received 
Chapter 62: Of the Priests of the Monastery 
Chapter 63: Of the Order in the Monastery 
Chapter 64: Of the Election of the Abbot 
Chapter 65: Of the Prior of the Monastery 
Chapter 66: Of the Porter of the Monastery 
Chapter 67: Of the Brethren Who Are Sent on a Journey 
Chapter 68: If a Brother is Commanded to Do Impossible Things 
Chapter 69: That in the Monastery No One Presume to Defend Another 
Chapter 70: That No One Presume to Strike Another 
Chapter 71: That the Brethren be Obedient to One Another 
Chapter 72: Of the Virtuous Zeal Which the Monks Ought to Have 
Chapter 73: Of This, that Not the Whole Observance of Righteousness is Laid Down in this Rule