TABLE OF CONTENTS

[Prologue]
[1. On the Kinds of Monks]
[2. What Kind of Man the Abbot Ought to Be]
[3. On Calling the Brethren for Counsel]
[4. What Are the Instruments of Good Works]
[5. On Obedience]
[6. On the Spirit of Silence]
[7. On Humility]
[8. On the Divine Office During the Night]
[9. How Many Psalms Are to Be Said at the Night Office]
[10. How the Night Office Is to Be Said in Summer Time]
[11. How the Night Office Is to Be Said on Sundays]
[12. How the Morning Office Is to Be Said]
[13. How the Morning Office Is to Be Said on Weekdays]
[14. How the Night Office Is to Be Said on the Feasts of the Saints]
[15. At What Times “Alleluia” Is to Be Said]
[16. How the Work of God Is to Be Performed During the Day]
[17. How Many Psalms Are to Be Said at These Hours]
[18. In What Order the Psalms Are to Be Said]
[19. On the Manner of Saying the Divine Office]
[20. On Reverence in Prayer]
[21. On the Deans of the Monastery]
[22. How the Monks Are to Sleep]
[23. On Excommunication for Faults]
[24. What the Measure of Excommunication Should Be]
[25. On Weightier Faults]
[26. On Those Who Without an Order Associate With the Excommunicated]
[27. How Solicitous the Abbot Should Be for the Excommunicated]
[28. On Those Who Will Not Amend After Repeated Corrections]
[29. Whether Brethren Who Leave the Monastery Should Be Received Again]
[30. How Boys Are to Be Corrected]
[31. What Kind of Man the Cellarer of the Monastery Should Be]
[32. On the Tools and Property of the Monastery]
[33. Whether Monks Ought to Have Anything of Their Own]
[34. Whether All Should Receive in Equal Measure What Is Necessary]
[35. On the Weekly Servers in the Kitchen]
[36. On the Sick Brethren]
[37. On Old Men and Children]
[38. On the Weekly Reader]
[39. On the Measure of Food]
[40. On the Measure of Drink]
[41. At What Hours the Meals Should Be Taken]
[42. That No One Speak After Compline]
[43. On Those Who Come Late to the Work of God or to Table]
[44. How the Excommunicated Are to Make Satisfaction]
[45. On Those Who Make Mistakes in the Oratory]
[46. On Those Who Fail in Any Other Matters]
[47. On Giving the Signal for the Time of the Work of God]
[48. On the Daily Manual Labor]
[49. On the Observance of Lent]
[50. On Brethren Who Are Working Far From the Oratory or Are on a Journey]
[51. On Brethren Who Go Not Very Far Away]
[52. On the Oratory of the Monastery]
[53. On the Reception of Guests]
[54. Whether a Monk Should Receive Letters or Anything Else]
[55. On the Clothes and Shoes of the Brethren]
[56. On the Abbot’s Table]
[57. On the Craftsmen of the Monastery]
[58. On the Manner of Receiving Brethren]
[59. On the Sons of Nobles and of the Poor Who Are Offered]
[60. On Priests Who May Wish to Live in the Monastery]
[61. How Pilgrim Monks Are To Be Received]
[62. On the Priests of the Monastery]
[63. On the Order of the Community]
[64. On Constituting an Abbot]
[65. On the Prior of the Monastery]
[66. On the Porters of the Monastery]
[67. On Brethren Who Are Sent on a Journey]
[68. If a Brother Is Commanded to Do Impossible Things]
[69. That the Monks Presume Not to Defend One Another]
[70. That No One Venture to Punish at Random]
[71. That the Brethren Be Obedient to One Another]
[72. On the Good Zeal Which Monks Ought to Have]
[73. On the Fact That the Full Observance of Justice Is Not Established in This Rule]

ST. BENEDICT’S
RULE FOR MONASTERIES

PROLOGUE