CHAPTER 59
The Rule, Chapter 59 109 and trouble. "The novice should be clearly told all the hardships and difficulties that will lead him to God."
During the novitiate the Rule is read to the novice three times. If the novice feels that he will not be able to live under the Rule, he is given the opportunity to depart. The novice who lasts to the end of the novitiate is then allowed to profess vows.
"But he must be well aware that, as the law of the rule establishes, from this day he is no longer free to leave the monastery, nor to shake from his neck the yoke of the rule which, in the course of so prolonged a period of reflection, he was free either to reject or to accept." The novices of St. Benedict's day, like our Oblates today, made their final commitment after one year. There was no period of temporary profession. Monks and nuns of the Order of St. Benedict still profess vows, temporary and final, in rites that are basically the same as the ceremony St. Benedict outlines in the Rule. The rite of oblation has its roots there. All of us who are followers of the Rule of St. Benedict pray: "Receive me, Lord, as you have promised and I shall live; do not let me be disappointed in my hope."
CHAPTER 59
The Offering of Sons by Nobles or by the Poor "If a member of the nobility offers his son to God in the monastery, and the boy himself is too young, the parents draw up the document mentioned above; then, at the presentation of the gifts, they wrap the document itself and the boy's hand in the altar cloth. That is how they offer him."
The document is the vow chart St. Benedict describes in chapter 58.
110 The Rule, Chapter 59 When he [the novice who is about to make profession] is to be received, he comes before the whole community in the oratory and promises stability, fidelity to monastic life, and obedience. . . . He states his promise in a document drawn up in the name of the saints whose relics are there, and of the abbot, who is present. The novice writes out this document himself, or if he is illiterate, then he asks someone else to write it for him, but himself puts his mark to it and with his own hand lays it on the altar.
Chapter 59 applies to boys who are so young they cannot read or write or even comprehend what making a mark on the document entails. They will find out, though, as they grow older. Their parents have offered them to the monastery. The parents have made an oblation of their sons at the offertory of the Mass. This is a practice that would surely guarantee monastic vocations in our day, but no monastery would ever get away with it now. Neither would parents.
As to their property, they [the parents] either make a sworn promise in this document that they will never personally, never through an intermediary, nor in any way at all, nor at any time, give the boy anything or afford him the opportunity to possess anything; or else, if they are unwilling to do this and still wish to win their reward for making an offering to the monastery, they make a formal donation of the property that they want to give to the monastery, keeping the revenue for themselves, should they so desire.
St. Benedict is asking the parents if they'd like to take out an annuity. It is surprising to find him functioning like the development director of a modern religious community. 'This ought to leave no way open for the boy to entertain any expectations that could deceive and ruin him." The boy will reach an age when he realizes that his family has wealth, and he may be tempted to forsake his monastic vocation. "May God forbid this, but we have learned from experience that it can happen." Therefore, take some precautions, St. Benedict advises
The Rule, Chapter 59 111 the parents. If the boy's inheritance already belongs to the monastery, he will not be tempted to leave.
"Poor people do the same, but those who have nothing at all simply write the document and, in the presence of witnesses, offer their son with the gifts."
While St. Benedict was still at Subiaco, St. Gregory informs us of two youths who were offered to the monastery:
It was about this time that pious noblemen from Rome first came to visit the saint and left their sons with him to be schooled in the service of God. Thus Euthicius brought his son Maurus, and the senator Tertullus, Placid, both very promising boys. Maurus, in fact, who was a little older, had already acquired solid virtue and was soon very helpful to his saintly master. But Placid was still only a child.
St. Bede was also only a youngster when he began monastic life. "I was born on the lands of this monastery, and on reaching seven years of age, I was entrusted by my family first to the most reverend Abbot Benedict Biscop and later to Abbot Ceolfrid for my education. I have spent all the remainder of my life in this monastery and devoted myself entirely to the study of the Scriptures."1
In offering their little boys to monastic life, these parents gave the Church three admirable saints. Are you encouraging vocations to the Benedictine way of life, especially to the comunity of which you are an Oblate?