CHAPTER 40
74 The Rule, Chapter 40 What St. Benedict wants to stress above all in chapter 39 of the Rule is the avoidance of overindulging. He does not want a monk to " experience indigestion. For nothing is so inconsistent with the life of any Christian as overindulgence." Indigestion is a common experience for most people in a nation like ours. Isn't it remarkable that we— you and I— can be reminded of this pitfall by an abbot in a sixth-century rule of life? St. Benedict is always speaking to us today.
CHAPTER 40
The Proper Amount of Drink Many families today have members who are chemically dependent. So have monasteries. There is a stereotyped image of the medieval monk who spends more time in the wine cellar than in the chapel. Visitors who come for tours sometimes ask to see our wine cellar. Everyone knows that monks drink.
Therefore, it should not be surprising that some monks are alcoholics.
St. Benedict says, "We read that monks should not drink at all, but since the monks of our day cannot be convinced of this, let us at least agree to drink moderately, and not to the point of excess, for wine makes even wise men go astray (Sir 19:2). "
Not all monks have succeeded in drinking moderately.
Records of monastic visitations in sixteenth-century England refer to a monastery that owned a tavern in the village where a good part of the community " sought solace/7 In another monastery, the prior was "a bad-tempered drunkard/' Martin Luther castigated monks for excessive drinking. Chaucer and Rabelais ridiculed them.
If monks are depicted as sots in history and literature, they have an even greater reputation for the positive contribution
The Rule, Chapter 40 75 they have made to viticulture. European monasteries produced excellent wines and liqueurs throughout the Middle Ages. The Reformation in Germany and the Revolution in France ended much of this monastic enterprise. But monks, and nuns too, have been able to preserve the tradition, although not many of them are involved commercially nowadays.
When the German Benedictines came to Pennsylvania in the last century, Abbot Boniface Wimmer was discouraged to discover the temperance movement in full swing and an Irish bishop who had evidently taken the pledge. Bishop O'Connor opposed the running of a brewery over which St. Vincent's
Abbey had control. Wimmer complained to Pope Pius IX, who said, " Germans and not drinking beer. That is much." "Yes indeed," Wimmer said, "until now we could do so, being young, but when we grow older, we will probably be in necessity to make beer/' The Pope replied, "Of course. St. Paul also wrote to St. Timothy he should take a little wine for his weak stomach, and so you must have something."1
St. Benedict admits "uneasiness" in specifying the amount of drink. He permits "a half bottle of wine a day" for each monk, advising the abbot to "take great care lest excess or drunkenness creep in." Every abbot knows that precautions will not guarantee complete sobriety in his community. After all, St. Benedict himself says monks cannot be convinced. He also says if the amount of wine has to be reduced or not consumed at all, the monks "should bless God and not grumble."
Quoting First Corinthians, St. Benedict begins chapter 40 in this way: "Everyone has his own gift from God, one this and another that (1 Cor 7:7)." Abstinence is a gift. The monk who is a recovering alcoholic knows that he has been blessed by God. So does every other man or woman who is recovering from alcoholism. St. Benedict tells them, "Those to whom God gives the strength to abstain must know that they will earn their own reward."