The Rule of St. Benedict Part I

The Rule of Saint Benedict (Regula Benedicti) is a book of precepts written by St. Benedict of Nursia, founder of the Benedictine Order and of the Monastery of Monte Cassino, and founder of monasticism in the Western Church. The work became the rule of conduct for all Western monks.

In Dante's Divine Comedy we meet St. Benedict in Sphere Seven in Paradiso, with the Contemplatives.

The spirit of St Benedict's Rule is summed up in the motto of the Benedictine Confederation: pax ("peace") and the traditional ora et labora ("pray and work").