Saint Jerome translated the rule of Pachomius into Latin for the use of his own monks at Bethlehem and of certain of the Latins in Italy. Dom Gasquet says that in the time of Saint Jerome and Saint Augustine the monastic life was well recognized as an integral part of the Church's system. There was no established code of rules, however, to which all the monks were bound to conform themselves; an individual might pass from this or that house to any other in which the monastic life was led. Monasteries continued to spring up in many parts of the West during the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries. One of the most famous of these was situated on the islands of ha rips in the Mediterranean Sea, off the coast of France, near the present town of Cannes. .Another was that founded by Saint Martin of Tour. at Poitiers. under the direction of Saint Hilary, Bishop of that city. monasteries flourished in Ireland during these centuries and fun-nishod•missiunory monks who spread not only Christianity. but also civilization and an awakening love for literature and the arts, among the barbarians who had over run the Continent of Europe. Coltunbanus, an Irish monk of the end of the sixth century, drew up a monastic rule that because of its strictness has been the model of many subsequent austere Orders. Perpetual silence, complete abstinenee from tlesh meat, daily fasting. labor, reading, prayer, poverty, humility, and chastity are the essence of his prescriptions.
The numastic rule which had most influence in the \Vest, however, was that of Saint Bene dict, who about 529, after a youth passed as a soli tary, gathered some monks who hail been attract ed to his solitude at Subiaeo and founded the .1\lonastery of 11\lonte Cassino. This became the mother house of IVestern monastkisin. Bene dict founded seven other mcmasteries (among them one for women under the direetion of his sister, Saint Scholastica, at l'ionibiarole, about five miles from Alonte Cassino), and dwservadh• bears the name of patriarch of the inonl:s of the West. Benediet's rule is characterized by a wide and wise discretion. To secure the end more certainly. those who desired to walk in the path 1,1 the Gospel counsels under his guidance prom ised a lifelong obedience. was rho Ill'St introduction of a profession for life according to the rule: and it was known to the monk who wished to tight under the law that as the rule says Trott] that day it was not lawful for him to withdraw his neck from the yoke of the rule.' The result of this introduction was twofold: on the ono hand it established firmly the perpetuity of the cloistral family life, that stability in the community whit-hr has since become the charac teristic mark of monasticism; and on the other Imo' for the only will of the abbot or superior, it substituted a code of laws by which his gov ernment was to be guided." (Gasquet.) Never theless the rule itself shows that though Saint Benedict required obedience to his Bode of regu lations, he never intended to forbid other cus toms and practices. In fact, he expressly refers his followers to the rule of Saint Basil and others for further guidance.
The immediately succeeding c•enturies saw a wonderful of monasticism in the \Vest. The monasteries became the home of
learning. .:\lonks were the teachers of the world. and went forth as missionary preaehers into England, (lei-many, and the nations of Northern and Central Europe. _\griculture as well as civilization iweinue their care, amt (lie first seri ous attempt to 110 away with serfdom was under their rule. Education for women developed first in the convents and spread to their sisters in the world, mitil WOlic.11 were 110 ter C(111(.:11111 111:111 at, any preeeding period in history. In the monasteries and convents expert nursing of the sick and wounded and the first germs of modern elinieal medicine developed. ,Nlany members of royal families became monks and nuns, and the first glimmer of understanding between different niers of society appeared.
.1i-cording to the role of Saint Benedict, each monast cry was 111 t l' and 11'11011y IIICi With :111 independent life of its own. The first serious attempt at union was made at it great assembly held al Aix-la-Chapelle in 517, under the of Saint Benedict of -\ Diane. Ilene roles for the better regulation of monastic life \ken. passed. Belo-diet had great influence N‘itli the Emperor Louis the Pious, the son of cliarle inagne, lie planned to secure the most unitormity among the monks of all monasteries, and was seconded in his effort by the sovereign. Benedict was chosen as general. This assembly causeu a reawakening of the monastic spirit throughout Europe, and affected also England, where the Concordia liegularis, which prescribed one set of monastic customs for the whole of England, was adopted. In the next century oc curs the greatest name in monastic history, that of Cluny. The ideal of Cluny was the existence of one great central monastery, with dependen cies spread over many lands and forming a vast feudal hierarchy. The subordinate monasteries were dependents in the strictest sense. Their superiors were not called abbots, but priors. The superior of every house, however great, was the nominee of the Abbot of Cluny; the profes sion of every member vvas made in the name and with the sanction of the :11ibot of Cluny. Cluny remains, in spite of the defects of its feudal character, one of the chief factors in the history of the eleventh century. The authority of Peter the Venerable, the contemporary of Saint nard. was recognized by 2000 dependent monas teries. The Cistercian system of monasticism is the next feature of historical development. It was founded by Saint Stephen Harding, an Eng lishman, who early left his own country to live in France. Ile adopted the rule of Saint Ilene diet; the heads of other houses were abbots, lint attached to the mother house by the obligation of yearly assembling at Citeaux, while the Abbot of Citeaux had the right to visit all other mon asteries, and, while forbidden to interfere with the management of their temporalities without the consent of the community, could insist 011 re forms in discipline if he deemed them neeessary. The greatest of the Cistercians was Saint Ber nard. who founded, with thirty-two young nobles, the of Clairvaux.