A
monastery is the home of a cenobitic
religious community. The nucleus of the community is composed of men or
women religious, or more simply, religious. Community members are expected
to dedicate their lives to the service of God through a combination of
manual labor, prayer, and study. Religious are termed regular clergy because
they follow a rule, or regula, a set of laws that governs their
community. The laws vary between houses, but are always based upon the
Rule
of St. Benedict or the Rule
of St. Augustine. When joining a monastery, a person must take vows
of poverty, chastity, and obedience. This means that the aspirant must
surrender all worldly goods and never own personal property, must abstain
from any sexual activity; and must obey the head of the house and the rules
that regulate the community.
A monastic community may belong to a religious order, or may not be affiliated with any external organization of regular clergy. Some orders are little more than families of mother and daughter houses, while others differ from the standard monastic model in a variety of ways. A number of orders impose a supra-communal organization upon their member houses to ensure that each house meets certain standards. Several different orders are represented among the hundreds of monasteries in England.
This article is divided into several chapters. The first covers those
aspects of monastic life that are common to most religious houses. Subsequent
and future sections address the particularities of the various monastic
orders represented in England, some of which differ substantially from
the norm. Another future chapter will discuss hospitals, as these establishments
are often run by regular clergy and are similar to monasteries in many
respects. Finally, hermits and their ilk will be considered; although eremites
often fall outside the ecclesiastical hierarchy, they have much in common
with (and indeed, may in fact be) regular clergy, and a discussion involving
one would not be complete without the other.
|
Copyright © 2002 Christopher Golden All Rights Reserved. Last modified 2-22-02 |