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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 March 2011
The rule which Benedict Biscop had laid down for the monastery of St Peter and St Paul at Wearmouth and Jarrow is twice mentioned in some detail in the writings of the Venerable Bede. Unfortunately both passages are rather vague in that no clear indication is given of which particular rule Biscop introduced at Wearmouth–Jarrow. It is certain, however, that Biscop did not compose a totally new rule, but accepted for his own houses the monastic institutes which he had learned abroad.
1 Historia Abbalum xi (Loeb edition 1963, 416–18Google Scholar), and Homily I. 13. 113-20. Quotations from the homilies are taken from D. Hurst's edition in CCSL cxxii, and the Benedictine Rule is quoted from R. Hanslik's edition in CSEL lxxv, 2nd edn, 1977.
2 McCann, J.,Saint Benedict, London 1937, 233Google Scholar.
3 Maycock, A. L., ‘Bede and Alcuin (735-1935)’, The Hibbert Journal xxxiii (1934-1935), 405Google Scholar;Dickinson, J. C.,Monastic Life in Medieval England, London 1961, 62Google Scholar;Willis, G. G., Further Essays in Early Roman Liturgy, London 1968, 203Google Scholar.
4 Riché, P.,Education and Culture in the Barbarian West, Sixth through Eighth Centuries, tr. J. J. Contreni, Columbia 1976, 378Google Scholar; see also Duckett, E. S., Anglo-Saxon Saints and Scholars, New York 1948, 221Google Scholar; and Davis, Ruby, ‘Bede's early reading’, Speculum viii (1933), 183Google Scholar.
5 Mayr-Harting, H. M. R. E., The Coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England, London 1972, 154Google Scholar; The Venerable Bede, the Rule of St Benedict, and Social Class, Jarrow Lecture 1976, 6; Blair, P. Hunter, The World of Bede, London 1970, 199Google Scholar.
6 Meyvaert, P.,Bede and Gregory the Great, Jarrow Lecture 1964, 19Google Scholar.
7 ‘Saepiusque regula sancti Benedicti legatur in conventu fratrum et propria exponatur lingua, ut intellegi possit ab omnibus’: Alcuin,Ep. 19, MGH, Epp. iv at p. 54.
8 Allison, T., English Religious Life in the Eighth Century, London 1929, 62Google Scholar.
9 Wormald, P., ‘Bede and Benedict Biscop’, Famulus Christi. Essays in commemoration of the thirteenth centenary of the birth of the Venerable Bede, ed. Bonner, G., London 1976, 142Google Scholar.
10 Prinz, F., ‘Monastische Zentren im Frankenreich’, Studi Medievali, 3rd series xix (1978), 571Google Scholar and 585, points out that Lerins also had a composite rule consisting of Benedictine and Columbanian elements, but that the Benedictine components began to displace the other elements in the second half of the seventh century.
11 Mayr-Harting, Jarrow Lecture, 7.
12 In Ez. et Mem, iii. 466-73 (CCSL cxix A); cf. RB vii. 5-6.
13 These allusions are described by , McCann, Saint Benedict, 233Google Scholar;Laistner, M. L. W., The Intellectual Heritage of the Early Middle Ages, ed. Starr, C. G., New York 1957, 133Google Scholar; Wormald, ‘Bede and Benedict Biscop’, 143-4; Mayr-Harting, Jarrow Lecture, 8; and Bonner, G., ‘Bede and medieval civilization’, Anglo-Saxon England ii, ed. Clemoes, P., Cambridge 1973, 77Google Scholar
14 Noted by Bonner, ‘Bede and medieval civilization’, 77.
15 Knowles, D., The Monastic Order in England. A history of its development from the times of St Dunstan to the Fourth Lateran Council, 943-1216, Cambridge 1949, 14 n. 1Google Scholar.
16 Bonner, ‘Bede and medieval civilization’, 78.
17 See for instance Horn. I. 6. 307-11; I. 23. 89-90; II. 14. 159-61; II. 18. 239 and II. 22. 2-4.
18 ‘…Ut nos ad suae gloriae visionem sublevaret: Horn. I. 6. 281;’… ut mereamur eum… qui nos vocavit in regnum suum, videre’: RB, prol. 21. See also ‘Toto corde tota anima tota virtute Deum dilige ut ad eius visionem pertingere merearis’:Horn. I. 23. 89-90.
19 ‘Porta diligens proximum tuum patienter eius infirma tolerando’:Horn. I. 23. 83-4; ‘infirmitates suas sive corporum sive morum patientissime tolerent’: RB lxxii. 5.
20 ‘Nee tantu m proximis et amicis verum etiam inimicis perfectus quisque beneficium dilectionis inpendere debet’:Horn. II. 14. 161-3; ‘Inimicos diligere’: RB iv. 31.
21 ‘Diligamus toto corde tota anima tota virtute Deum patrem … diligamus ipsum filium’:Horn. II. 18. 239-42; ‘Nihil amori Christi praeponere’: RB iv. 21.
22 ‘Nam et si quis nostrum conscientiam habet avaritiae elationis vanae gloriae indignationis iracundiae vel invidiae ceterorumve vitiorum sorde pollutam …’:Horn. I.
22 104-g; and ‘Si quis bona quae gessit forte periurii furti blasphemiae detractionis rixae vel etiam corporis inmunditiae ceterorumve huiusmodi peste foedavit’: ibid. 11. 114-16.
23 Avaritia (RB xxxi. 12 and lvii. 7); elatio (RB iv. 69; xxxviii. 2; lxii. 2 and lxv. 18); vana gloria (RB xlix. 9); iracundia (RB iv. 23); invidia (RB iv. 67; lxv. 7 and lxv. 22); periurium (RB iv. 27); furtum (RB iv. 5); detractio (RB iv. 40 and lxv. 7); rixa (RB lxv. 7).
24 Indignatio (RB iv. 22: ira); blasphemia (RB iv. 51: ‘s suum a malo vel pravo eloquio custodire.’)
25 Horn. I. 1. 183-7.
26 ‘Ideoque necesse est talis ut reatum suum cognoverit mox ad preces lacrimasque confugiat’:Horn. I. 22. 118-20; ‘Mala sua praeterita cum lacrimis vel gemitu cottidie in oratione Deo confiteri’: RB iv. 57; see also ‘secretas orarionum lacrimas’:Horn. I. 18, 79.
27 It should be noted that Gregory the Great also combines the ideas of feeding the hungry and burying the dead in his description of the active life: ‘Activa etenim vita cum corpore deficit. Quis enim in aeterna patria panem esurienti porrigat, ubi nemo esurit? Quis potum tribuat sitienti, ubi nemo sitit? Quis mortuum sepeliat, ubi nemo moritur?’ (Horn, in Ez. II. 2. 9, PL lxxvi. 954A).
28 See n. 14.
29 Chapter vii, On humility, is one of the longest chapters in the Rule.
30 Bonner, ‘The Christian life in the thought of the Venerable Bede’, Durham University Journal, NS xxxii (1970-1), 41-2; see also n. 12.
31 ‘Quotquo t per gradum sacerdotalem ad dispensanda illius sumus sacramenta promoti’: Horn. I. 12. 169-70.
32 Mayr-Harting, Jarro w Lecture, 17; for St Benedict's use of theRule of the Master seeD. Knowles, ‘TheRegula Magistri and the Rule of Benedict, St’,Great Historical Enterprises. Problems in monastic history, London 1963, 139–95Google Scholar.
33 ‘Ordinatus autem caveat elationem au t superbiam’: RB lxii. 2; and ‘Nee occasione sacerdotii obliviscatur regulae oboedientiam’: ibid. 4.
34 ‘Voluntaria m paupertatem diligant’:Horn. I. 15. 179-80; R B lviii. 24-5.
35 ‘Pro aeterno desiderio lugeant’:Horn. I. 15. 180-1; ‘vitam aeternam omni concupiscentia spiritali desiderare’: R B iv. 46.
36 ‘Pro observatione iustitiae persecutionem pati non vereantur’:Horn. I. 15. 182-3; ‘Persecutionem pro iustitia sustinere’: RB iv. 33.
37 ‘Orationibus et ieiuniis…insistere desiderent’:Horn. I. 15. 184-5; ‘orationi frequenter incumbere’: RB iv. 56; and ‘ieiunium amare’: ibid. 13.
38 ‘Confugiamus seduli ad domu m orationis ubi secreta libertate dominum invocantes et de perceptis ab eo beneficiis gratias agamus et de percipiendis humili devotione precemur’: Horn. I. 23. 140-3.
39 ‘Sed et si aliter vult sibi forte secretius orare, simpliciter intret et oret, non in clamosa voce, sed in lacrimis et intentione cordis’: R B lii. 4.
41 ‘Quicumque his auditis metuunt cum impiis damnari cupientes benedici cum piis omnem odiorum et invidiae fomitem abiciunt…’:Horn. I. 14. 140-2; see also 11. 156-7 and Horn. I. 25. 101-6.
42 ‘Non esse superbum’: RB iv. 34.
43 ‘Humilitati atque innocentiae studcre et superbiam coeperit atque invidiam suo de corde repellere’:Horn. I. 14. 186-7.
44 ‘Sacrae lectioni crebrius adtendendo’: ibid. 310; ‘Lectiones sanctas libenter audire’: RB iv. 55.
45 ‘Oboedientiam discere atque habere satagis’:Horn. I. 14. 173-4; R-B v
46 ‘Quisque peccandi metum corripit ad paenitendi remedium confugit’:Horn. I. 14. 200-1; RB xxv. 3.
47 ‘Qui timentes dominum de bona observantia sua non se reddunt elatos, sed ipsa in se bona, non a se posse, sed a domino fieri existimantes’: RB prol. 29; see also ‘Bonum aliquid in se cum viderit, Deo adplicet, non sibi’: ibid. iv. 42.
48 ‘Nulla quae facimus vel percipimus bona nostris mentis adscribimus, sed auctoris nostri per omnia gratiam respicimus’:Horn. II. 19. 338-40; see alsoHorn. I, 2. 52-5; I, 21. 264-6; II, 14. 249-50.
49 Horn II, 6. 57-60; RB iv. 53 and 50.
50 ‘Si qui caenum nequitiae sordidantis incidimus festinemus rursum lacrimarum et paenitentiae fonte mundare’: Horn. II. 6. 100-2; RB iv. 57-8.
51 Horn. II. 6. 117-22; for giving false testimony, see RB iv. 7.
52 ‘Cum genibus flexiscotidie rogamus patrem dicentes, “adveniat regnum tuum” …’: Horn. II. 12. 31-2.
53 ‘Unde provide dominus … ipse cotidianos electorum erratus qui verbo maxime vel cogitatu contingunt cotidianis orationum studiis docet debere curari quos inter alia sic orare praecepit: “Et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris”’:Horn. II. 14. 228-33. See alsoHorn. II. 5. 110-19.
54 ‘Plane agenda matutina vel vespertina non transeat aliquando, nisi in ultimo per ordinem oratio dominica omnibus audientibus dicatur a priore propter scandalorum spinas, quae oriri solent, ut conventi per ipsius orationis sponsionem, qua dicunt, “dimitte nobis, sicut et nos dimittimus”, purgent se ab huiusmodi vitio’: RB xiii. 12-13.
55 ‘Ecce ieiunium quadragesimale domino auxiliante iam plurima ex parte conplevimus’: Horn. II. 3. 183-4.
56 ‘At nos qui divini saepe timoris obliti iter laevum incedimus, non ilia levi et cotidiana orationum sollemnitate possumus ab erratuum nostrorum sorde liberari, sed maior necesse est inquinatio maiore orationum vigiliarum et ieiuniorum lacrimarum atque elemosinarum exercitio purgetur’:Horn. II. 5. 122-6.
57 Unde et ipse merito nocte hac redemptionis nostrae memores vigiliis Deo dignis instamus et precibus lectionibus divinis … audiendis operam damus’:Horn. II. 7. 236-8.
58 ‘Sicut enim imminentibus sollemniis paschalibus quadragesimam ieiuniorum observantiamcelebravimus’:Horn. II. 16. 134-6.
59 ‘Quia per labores et continentiam, per vigilias et orationes et per cetera quae apostolus commemorat arma iustitiae ad vitae immortalis praemia debeamus adtingere’: ibid. 145-8.
60 The date for this feast was 23 April, and it could therefore fall just before Easter.
61 ‘In hac adhuc vita ieiuniis et continentia nos castigari oportet ut ad internae dulcedinis satietatem pervenire mereamur’:Horn. II. 25. 310-12.
62 RB xlix. 2-7.
63 ‘Recte autem quinquagenario dierum numero statum futurae nostrae beatitudinis in imagine veneramur ieiunia videlicet relaxando, alleluia canendo, stantes orando’:Horn.II. 16. 293-5; see also 11. 261-2.
64 ‘Unde merito quinquagesimae diebus… crebrius ac festivius alleluia canere solemus’: ibid. 159-61; see also 11. 198-202.
65 RBix. 1,4.
66 Wormald, ‘Bede and Benedict Biscop’, 144.
67 Mayr-Harting, Jarrow Lecture, 17.
68 Ogilvy, J. D. A., Books Known to the English, 597-1066, Cambridge, Mass. 1967, 99Google Scholar, lists the Benedictine Rule among the books which were known to Bede.
