benedictine libraries
TRANSCRIPT
Benedictine Libraries
St. Benedict, Benedicitne Order, Books and Libraries
Jaclyn Lee Parrott
Library Histories
“The history of an old library can only be traced intermittently, the facts
playing hide and seek like a distant lantern carried over broken ground.”
Ernest Albert Salvage
Benedictine Order of Monks
Founded 529 or 530 AD
Saint Benedict of Nursia
Monte Cassino, Italy
Beginning of library era
“Behold! How great a matter a little fire kindleth!”
Scene
Benedict of Nursia
480 born in Nursia-Benedictus “well-said” or “blessed”
Sought refuge and solitude with God
Barely 14, renounced riches and family
Patriarch of Western Monasticism, instrument of regeneration, Father of Western Civilization, Patron of Europe
543 died standing raising his hands to God
Speculum & exemplar Christicolarum: vita beatissimi patris Benedicti monachorum patriarchae sanctissimi
http://www.wdl.org/en/item/9923/#q=benedictine+library&qla=en
Rule of St. BenedictRegula Benedicti (RB)
• Detailed series of social, liturgical, and penal ordinances
• By 7th Century applied to women• By early 9th century supplanted most other
monastic styles in northern and western Europe.
The Rule of Saint Benedict, from the Abbey of Metten-World Digital Library
,
• St. Benedict prescribed:
• Ora et labora (prayer and work) • Discretio (The Gift of Discernment)• Pax benedicitna (Benedictine Peace)• Stabilitas (Order)• Obedience to the abbot is emphasized• Concrete community of monastics• Caritatem fraternitatis caste
impendant• “they should show brotherly love for one
another”• Solitariness is silence• Hora competens (Order of days-
structured division in the course of daily life)
“Idleness is the enemy of the soul. At set times,
accordingly, the brethren should be occupied with manual work, and again,
at set times, with spiritual reading.”
Saint Benedict of Nursia
Reading Monk should be able to read
(Pachomius)
Made to use this skill (Benedict)
Lent to October, fourth to sixth hour
October to Lent, up to second hour
Beginning of Lent given book from library
Sundays
Reading at table – Weekly Reader
“Above all, have one or two seniors appointed to go around the monastery during the hours for reading to see that no restless brother is by chance idle or chattering and not intent on his reading and so of no profit to himself and a distraction to others.... However, if there is anyone so dull or lazy that he either will not or cannot study or read, let him have some task assigned him which he can perform, so that he may not be idle....”
• Importance of lectio divina (divine reading)emphasized • Audire (hear) and aedificare (build up)• Scriptures rejuvenate so Benedict wanted readers to be vcare (free) •memor (remembering) which came from meditatio (meditation)
Lectio divina and meditatio
• Silent reading made possible •Word separation• English monks Venerable Bede (673-735)•Monk-missionary Boniface (675-754)• Innovation in scribal transcription
• Benedictine abbot Johannes Trithemius (1462-1516)• Wrote De laude scriptorum• Print technology would undermine monastic culture• Challenge of computer technology today
Monte Cassino
Built Monte Cassino 529 AD Saint Benedict resided there 14 years
Towering height midway between Rome and Naples
Principal sanctuary of monastic order
Centre of spiritual virtue, “School of the Lord”
Gained reputation as house of learning
Several times destroyed and rebuilt
• 581 Lombards destroyed, then rebuilt• 884 destroyed by Saracens• Greatest influence in 11th century• 1389, earthquake, period of decline• 1799 sacked by Napoleon• 1866 dissolution of Italian monasteries, became national monument• 1944, World War II, aerial bombardment from Allied advance
BATTLE OF MONTE CASSINO (Jan-
May 1944)
Wikimedia Commons
• Desederius (abbot 1058-1087) • Beneventan script• 200 monks copying and illuminating • Literature preserved through scriptoria • Great service to European civilization • Encouraged original writings• Copying of books in all branches of learning, intellectual revival
Monte Cassinos’ Golden Age
LIBRARIES of Benedictine Houses
• Bibliotheca on upper floor, scriptorium on lower
• Oblong room, high vaulted ceilings• Two sets of books: one for brethren,
and those kept in a safe place• (lending library and library of
reference)• Armeria (books shut up in presses or
bookcases)• Books chained to desks• Cloister of conversation• We understand collegiate libraries
through monastic libraries
Other Benedictine Libraries in Italy
Nonantola, 752-
Library contained manuscripts older than the monastery itself
Bobbio, 614-803
Librarian ranked among officials of library, 700 Codices, of broad scope surpassed Monte Cassino in influence
Subiaco, 520- First printing house in Italy 15th century
Farfa, 681- littera Farfensis, script based on Beneventan
FRANCE
Saint-Germain-des-Pres, 543-1790 – intensive literary activity
Fleury-Saint-Benoit, 651- Carolingian scriptorium, history of calligraphy, one of richest libraries in Christendom
Corbie, 657-1790 renowned for scriptorium, library, and school, first true Carolingian writing
Bec, 1034- advancement of theological learning and influence on course of church history, Lanfranc Statutes to Benedictines
ENGLAND Canterbury, 605-1538 -St. Augustine and
his companions introduce monasticism to England,
Abbey library catalog documents donors and benefactors from 13th century forward
Whitby, 657-1543 – library rich in humanistic literature
Wearmouth, 674-1539 and Jarrow, 681-1536
“greatest library-builder before the Norman-Conquest,” “first great monastic library”
Bede studied here
• Glastonbury, 5th century-1539 – large library included works of modern theology
• Durham, 1083-1538 - library contained large proportion of classical authors, humanistic, and medical works, detailed arrangement of books
• Libraries not assigned special rooms for use until 14th or 15th centuries
• York, 625-1539 - Alcuin, friend of Charlemagne educated here and accompanied him on book hunting expeditions, metrical catalogue, motto was “learn in order to teach”
Germany
Reichenau, 724-1802 –Abbot Waldo “spared neither trouble nor money to increase the library,” several rare works, supported many scholars
Fulda, 744-1803 –love of learning, countless books
“There you will find all that God has sent down to earth from heaven for the benefit of man in the pious works of sacred scripture and all the worldly wisdom that has been made known to the world in various ages.” Boniface
• Benediktbeuern, 740-1803 – library and archives has many priceless manuscripts and charters
• Sankt Michael Library of Metten, 766-• Monk from here founded first Benedictine
abbey in United States, Latrobe, Pennsylvania
• Maria Laach, 1093-center of liturgical reform, hymnology, art
• Beuron, 1687-liturgical monastic revival, supports school
AUSTRIA -Admont Abbey
Wikimedia Commons
“A monastery without a library was like a fortress without an arsenal”
MasterFILE Premier, Codex E, Admont Giant Bible
BIBLIOGRAPHY
“Benedictine (<Christian orders>, Christianity, ... Associated Concepts) .” Art & Architecture Thesaurus Online http://www.getty.edu/vow/AATFullDisplay?find=monte+cassino&logic=OR¬e=benedict*&page=1&subjectid=-1&checked=300148044. Accessed February 23, 2013.
Benedictus. 1909. The Rule of Saint Benedict. London: Chatto and Windus Publishers.
Casson, L. 2001. Libraries in the Ancient World. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Clark, J. W. Libraries In The Medieval and Renaissance Periods. The Rede Lecture, 1894. Chicago: Argonaut, Inc., 1968. http://www.library.uiuc.edu/ereserves/item.asp?id=51278
Grun, A. 2006. Benedict of Nursia: His Message for Today. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.
Lerner, F. 2011. The Story of Libraries: From the Invention of Writing to the Computer Age. New York: Continuum.
Laubier, G. and Jacques Bosser. 2003. The Most Beautiful Libraries in the World. Harry N. Abrams Inc.
Montalembert, C. 2006. Monks of the West: From St. Benedict to St. Bernard. Piscataway, NJ: Gorgias Press.
Neuhofer, M. D. 1999. In the Benedictine tradition: The origins and early development of two college libraries. University Press of Amer.
Savage, E. A., & Hutt, J. 1912. Old English libraries: the making, collection and use of books during the middle ages (No. 240). Methuen & co. ltd..
Studzinski, Raymond. 2009. Reading to Live. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press.
Wilson, R. 1957. English Benedictine Lmonastic Libraries During the Middle Ages. New York: University of Rochester Press for the ACRL.
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