Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, called also Benet College, was founded about 1352 by the united guilds of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin, two fraternities of townspeople which used to meet for prayers at St BenedictChurch and St Mary's respectively. The endowments of the college were considerably increased by Archbishop Parker, who also bequeathed to it his valuable collection of manuscripts.
Corpus Christi College, Oxford is a college founded by Richard Fox, bishop of Winchester, under the license from Henry VIII in 1516. The foundation consisted of twenty fellows and twenty scholars. Research Corpus Christi College
Augustin Calmet was a French exegetical and historical writer. He was born in 1672 at Lorraine and died in 1757. He early entered the order of St Benedict, and became the head of several abbeys in succession. He was an industrious compiler of voluminous works, such as Commentaire sur tous les Livres de l'Ancien et du Nouveau Testament (Paris, 1707-16), Dictionnaire Historique et Critique de la Bible, Histoire Ecclesiastique et Civile de la Lorraine, etc. Research Augustin Calmet
Benedictines are members of the most famous and widely-spread of all the orders of monks, founded at Monte Casino, about half-way between Rome and Naples, in 529, by St Benedict.
No religious order has been so remarkable for extent, wealth, and men of note and learning as the Benedictines. Among the branches of the order the chief were the Gluniacs, founded in 910 at Clugny in Burgundy; the Cistercians, founded in 1098, and reformed by St Bernard in 1116; and the Carthusians from the Chartreuse, founded by Bruno about 1080. The order was probably introduced into England about 600 by St Augustine of Canterbury, and a great many abbeys, and all the cathedral priories of England, save Carlisle, belonged to it. Their habit consists of a loose black gown with large wide sleeves, and a cowl on the head ending in a- point. The Benedictines have produced many valuable literary works.
The fraternity of St Maur, founded in 1618, had in the beginning of the 18th century 180 abbeys and priories in France, and acquired fame by means of its learned members, such as Mabillon and Montfaucon. They published the celebrated chronological work, L'Art de Verifier les Dates, besides others. Research Benedictines
The Celestines (named from their founder PopeCelestine V), were a religious order instituted about the middle of the 13th century, in Italy, who followed the rule of St Benedict, and were devoted entirely to a contemplative life. Very few priories of this once numerous order were still existant by the start of the 20th century. Research Celestines
The Cistercians are a religious order named from its original convent, Citteaux (Cistercium), not far from Dijon, in Eastern France,
where the society was formed in 1098 by Robert, abbot of Molesme, under the strictest observance of the rule of St Benedict. The Cistercians led a severely ascetic and contemplative life, and having freed themselves from episcopal supervision, formed a kind of spiritual republic under a high council of twenty-five members, with the abbot of Citeaux as president. Next to Citeaux the four chief monasteries were La Forte, Pontigny, Clairvaux (founded by the celebrated St Bernard in 1115), and Morimond. In France they called themselves Bernardines in honour of St Bernard. Among the fraternities emanating from. them the most remarkable were the Barefooted monks, or Feuillants, and the nuns of Port Royal, in France; the Recollets, or reformed Cistercians; and the monks of La Trappe. There were a hundred Cistercian houses in England at the dissolution of monasteries. The general fate of religious orders during the French revolution reduced the Cistercians to a few convents in Spain, Poland, Austria, etc. There are still two or three houses in the British Isles. The Cistercians wear white robes with black scapularies. Research Cistercians
St Basil (called the Basil the Great) was one of the Greek fathers. He was was born in 329 and died in 379. In 370 he was made Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia. He was distinguished by his efforts for the regulation of clerical discipline, and above all, his endeavours for the promotion of monastic life. The Greek Church honours him as one of its most illustrious saints, and celebrates his festival on January the 1st. The vows of obedience, chastity, and poverty framed by St Basil are essentially the rules of all the orders of Christendom, although he is particularly the father of the eastern, as St Benedict is the patriarch of the western orders. Research St Basil
St Benedict was the founder of the first religious order in the West. He was born in 480 at Nursia, in the province of Umbria, Italy, and died in 543. In early youth he renounced the world and passed some years in solitude, acquiring a great reputation for sanctity. Being chosen head of a monastery his strictness proved too great for the monks, and he was forced to leave. The rule for monks, which he afterwards drew up, was first introduced into the monastery on Monte Cassino, in the neighbourhood of Naples, founded by him. His Regula Monachorum, in which he aimed, among other things, at repressing the irregular lives of the wandering monks, gradually became the rule of all the western monks. Under his rule the monks, in addition to the work of God (as he called prayer and the reading of religious writings), were employed in manual labour, in the instruction of the young, and in copying manuscripts, thus preserving many literary remains of antiquity. Research St Benedict
A scapulary is a kind of garment or portion of dress, consisting of two bands of woollen stuff - one going down the breast and the other on the back, over the shoulders - worn by a religieux. The original scapular was first introduced by St Benedict, in lieu of a heavy cowl for the shoulders, designed to carry loads. Research Scapulary
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
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