The Rule of St Benedict Chapter 27
How Careful the Abbot Should be of the Excommunicate
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The Abbot should take care with all solicitude of erring brothers: for it is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. 1
Omni sollicitudine curam gerat Abbas circa delinquentes fratres: quia non est opus sanis medicus, sed male habentibus.
And so he should act in every way like a wise physician: sending wise and senior brothers like secret and sympathetic comforters, who may in secret console the wavering brother, and encourage him to make humble satisfaction, and comfort him, lest he is overwhelmed by the over-abundance of sorrow; as the Apostle said: Let charity be strengthened towards him, and let all pray for him.
Et ideo uti debet omni modo ut sapiens medicus: immittere quasi occultos consolatores sympaectas, id est, seniores sapientes fratres, qui quasi secrete consolentur fratrem fluctuantem, et provocent eum ad humilitatis satisfactionem, et consoletur eum, ne abundantiori tristitia absorbeatur; sed sicut ait Apostolus: Confirmetur in eo caritas, et oretur pro eo ab omnibus.2
In fact the Abbot should take the greatest care with erring brothers, healing them with all wisdom and diligence, that he may not lose any of the sheep entrusted to him.
Magnopere enim debet sollicitudinem gerere Abbas circa delinquentes fratres, et omni sagacitate et industria curare, ne aliquam de ovibus sibi creditis perdat.
He must know that he has undertaken the cure of weak souls, not tyranny over the healthy: et let him fear the threat of the prophet, through whom God says: What you saw to be fat, you took; and what was frail you threw away.
Noverit enim se infirmarum curam suscepisse animarum, non super sanas tyrannidem: et metuat Prophetae comminationem, per quem dicit Deus: Quod crassum videbatis, assumebatis; et quod debile erat, proiiciebatis.3
And let him imitate the example of the Good Shepherd, who, leaving 99 sheep in the mountains, went to find the one sheep that had strayed, on whose weakness he had such compassion, that he deigned to lay it on his sacred shoulders, and thus bring it back to the flock.4
Et pastoris boni pium imitetur exemplum, qui, relictis nonaginta novem ovibus in montibus, abiit unam ovem, quae erraverat, quaerere; cuius infirmitati in tantum compassus est, ut eam in sacris humeris suis dignaretur imponere, et sic reportare ad gregem.
Comment
This chapter focuses on how much care the exommunicated should be given. One word - “sympaectas” - is not in the dictionary and much has been written about its possible meaning. Here I have chosen to translate it in a traditional way - someone who has sympathy for the erring monk. Dom Delatte describes these secret comforters in this way:
the Abbot makes them parties to his game of mercy and accomplices of his charity. They shall go secretly to find the excommunicated brother, as though of their own accord and not as formal ambassadors… Their function is first to console the brother and then to dispose him to amendment.
As St Benedict says, they should comfort him, lest he is overwhelmed by the over-abundance of sorrow. But this is not the only action; all the community should pray for him. This is a matter of grace cooperating with human actions.
St Augustine (quoted by Dom Delatte in his Commentary) said in relation to priests:
Their care should be the cure of men rather than men who have been cured. They must endure the faults of men so as to cure them, for a plague must be endured before it can be cured.
This chapter focuses on the cure of the spiritually sick, and it is good to remember St Benedict’s instructions for the Abbot: see here and here . One passage is very relevant here:
In his teaching, the Abbot should always following the teaching of the Apostle, where he says: “Reprove, entreat, rebuke”; that is, mingling as occasions may require, gentleness with severity, the dread of a master and showing the loving kindness of a father, sternly reproving the undisciplined and restless, but exhorting the obedient, gentle and patient to make progress in virtue and we charge him to rebuke and correct the negligent and proud. He should not shut his eyes to the faults of offenders, but as soon as they appear he should strive to root them out, remembering the fate of Eli, priest of Shiloh.
This account from 1 Kings 2-4 reminds us that the the High Priest had wicked sons, whom he did warn about their behaviour, but did too little to prevent them from their evil inclinations and actions. As a result, the Israelites were defeated and the Ark of the Covenant fell into the hands of the enemy. Dom Delatte explains the relevance of this example:
Monastic houses rarely perish of hunger; they die of wounds that have not been cared for, where none has ministered strengthening wine or assuaging oil, of wounds which grow and fester.
So the Abbot must not just excommunicate erring monks, he must do his utmost to bring them back to the fold, but without endangering the rest of his flock. He must try to cure them, at all costs. What if he fails? What if the monk refuses to amend? That is the subject of the next chapter.
Next chapter
1 Matt 9:12
2 2 Cor 1:7-8
3 Ezekiel 34:3-4
4 Matthew 18:12-14, Luke 25:3-7, John 10