Beyond the cloister: A busy autumn for the monks

We often wonder how St. Benedict’s monks truly lived. St. Gregory’s Life of our holy patron adds invaluable depth and clarity to the Rule he wrote. For instance, the Rule states that a monk should always receive a special blessing when leaving the monastery overnight, but it does not explain why he might leave. It is in the Life that we learn the reasons monks occasionally left: to visit family or to offer spiritual assistance to the local faithful (cf. Ch. 19). Despite their location high on the mountain, the monks maintained a near-continuous interaction with the world around them. Click here to keep reading.