The Rule of St Benedict Chapter 33
Whether monks ought to have anything of their own
Text
Above all this vice must be cut out of the monastery by the roots, that no-one presume to give or receive anything without the permission of the Abbot, nor should anyone keep [anything] of their own, neither book, nor writing tablet, nor pen, nor anything at all: because they are not even to allowed to have their body or their will in their own power.
Praecipue hoc vitium radicitus amputetur de monasterio, ne quis praesumat aliquid dare aut accipere sine iussione Abbatis, neque aliquid habere proprium, nullam omnino rem, neque codicem, neque tabulas, neque graphium, sed nihil omnino: quippe quibus nec corpora sua, nec voluntates licet habere in propria potestate.
Let them, however, hope to receive all from the father of the monastery, nor are they allowed to keep anything which the Abbot has not given or permitted.
Omnia vero necessaria a patre monasterii sperare; nec quicquam liceat habere, quod Abbas non dederit aut permiserit.
Let all things be common to all, as it is written, nor let anyone say or presume anything to be his [own].
Omniaque omnibus sint communia, ut scriptum est, nec quisquam suum esse aliquid dicat aut praesumat.
If anyone is found to indulge in this dreadful vice, let him be admonished once and again: if he does not amend, let him undergo correction.
Quod si quisquam hoc nequissimo vitio deprehensus fuerit delectari, admoneatur semel et iterum: si non emendaverit, correctioni subiaceat.
Comment
The first sentence of this chapter is sometimes translated as “let the vice of private ownership be cut off”. However the words “private ownership” do not actually exist in this sentence in the Latin. The vice he is referring to is defined in the rest of the sentence; presuming to keep or hold on to anything they have for their own use. It’s a small point, but St Benedict does not ban private ownership per se, and that is because the very life of the monk and the vows he makes in his profession make this concept impossible. The monastic life is a life in common, where everything is shared and private property simply does not exist to be banned. We will return to this in chapter 58.
The title of this chapter, like all the titles, is a later addition to the Rule but it is taken from St Basil, according to Dom Delatte in his commentary. He goes on:
Experience teaches that religious apostasy nearly always begins with some breach of poverty. Infidelities multiply and conscience slumbers… When personal ownership is re-established, under whatever form, we are no longer in God’s house, but in our own, among our goods and chattels, or in furnished apartments, for our relation to God is instantly changed.
I think recent history bears this out; how many religious orders moved away from holy poverty towards their members being given money to spend on themselves, and away from religious habits to secular clothing? What happened to them? They no longer exist.
Habits are an expression of poverty; monks do not choose what to wear and simply wear what they’re given. In reality, clothing is tailored to their size so they do “have” their own clothing, but as everyone wears the same kind of clothing, no-one can “possess” it. In contrast, the habit-less religious choose what clothing they wear; the colour, the fit, the style, thus expressing their own will. Simplicity of life leads to simplicity of soul, so a monk possesses nothing, not even the choice of what to wear. As St Benedict says, due to the duty of obedience, they not only have no possessions, they also do not even possess their own bodies.
In traditional communities, this concept of poverty means that if a monk is given anything, even by family, he must go to the Abbot and ask to keep it if he wishes to. There is no automatic right for him to retain it, as St Benedict makes clear. Likewise they cannot give anything to another monk. There is no personal property – as I mentioned last week, everything a monk uses (ad usum) is at the disposal of the Abbot.
A coptic set of wax writing tablets, from around the time of St Benedict, which would have been used in the monastery for the purpose of making notes or list of goods owned by the monastery, to save spending valuable time and especially money on parchment. A wooden or metal pen (stylus) would be used to write with.
What if a monk inherits anything from a relative by the operation of law? As I mentioned last week, the legal documents completed by the monk on solemn profession vest all his property in the monastery and anything he owns at the time will be transferred to the ownership of the monastery. A similar thing happens with anything he receives while a monk – he has not the legal capacity to administer it.
It goes further - monks may be asked to move cell (their room – traditionally called a cell) from time to time, especially in the early years, to break even the potential attachment to a particular room. For a similar reason, the Abbot will change their duties in the monastery on occasion; all share everything equally, and attachment is the enemy of poverty of spirit.
Dom Delatte sums up the true goal of this kind of poverty in his commentary:
The religious should should be free of it all, free from all material possession, from all immoderate desires, from all deliberate attachment to any good which is not God. Riches, in themselves, are neither good nor bad; nor is poverty itself good, save when it permits us to enjoy the Sovereign Good in all completeness…. Poverty, as St Benedict understands it, secures our subsistence and banishes all care, secures us a position of legitimate and necessary independence, secures us liberty to go to God, secures our obedience and submission to the Abbot, secures our fraternal charity, since there is no longer “mine and thine”, secures our charity towards God, and our perfection.
We, in the world, do not have this kind of freedom but we can strive to free ourselves from attachments, desire for status, high earnings, etc., to live in a poverty of spirit:
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:3
Saint Benedict, pray for us! ☦️⏳🌐⛪⛲🔥🕊️📿🕯️