Cluniac Lay Order

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Hello. I would like your help with something I have been thinking about for some time. I recently read about the Cluniac reforms of the 10th century, especially its focus on encouraging art, and I had the idea to form a new Cluniac lay/Third Order where lay Catholics could focus on implementing the Benedictine rule, particularly its program of humility, encouraging the interior life of contemplation and penance, and specifically on sanctifying and evangelizing culture through the promotion of Catholic art, both explicitly Catholic and implicit. It would be an expression of the New Evangelization.

This could be a branch of the Benedictine oblates, but it is meant to focus primarily on art and the evangelization of modern secularized culture, reinjecting culture with the ideals and themes of Catholicism in a way that could reach modern people, addressing the ideas of dehumanization, relativism and the artificial sterility of modern times which has made people forget what it means to be authentically human. It is also meant to encourage more artistic expression in modern churches, implementing the sacramental, symbolic worldview of the past in church architecture, windows, statues, etc.

I also greatly value the thought of St. Thomas Aquinas and so his ideas could also be incorporated, if that wouldn’t be too complicated.

Is this idea too ambitious, especially for someone with the little qualifications I possess? Is it even possible? Any advice or help would be greatly appreciated.

God bless
 
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Thank you for your advice. Just out of curiosity, could you tell me why the Benedictine oblates also accept non-Catholics? It seems odd to me, is that practiced by other Catholic religious orders?
 
@OraLabora is probably the best person on CAF to answer your questions about the Oblates.
 
There are also non Catholic Benedictine monasteries.

Not all abbeys accept non-Catholics. Ours doesn’t. However one does not need to be Catholic to live by the Rule. As Benedictine houses are indépendant of each other, each can legislate independently on this, liturgy, and other things. It is often quipped that it is more accurate to call it the Benedictine dis-Order!

Oblates by their very definition are tied to a specific monastery, not the order. Solesmes is considered the official inheritor of the Cluniac tradition. My suggestion would thus be to become an oblate of a house of the Solesmes Congregation. Starting a Third Order requires papal approval, and is not likely to be an easy task, since Third Orders are foreign to Benedictine tradition. There are however unattached oblates as part of the WCCM, and that is a possible route.

Remember that the Rule was written as a rule for monasteries of 6th century Italy. For Oblates and even monastics of today, it is inspiration, not legislation. Even the date of autumn, when the longer winter readings begin, corresponds to the Italian autumn start of early November. For our house in Canada, winter readings resume on a much more realistic 14th of September.
 
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Thank you for your help. I wonder if the Solesmes congregation has similar aims as what I expressed in my original post, specifically the artistic evangelization of culture and adding more artistic expression into church architecture and liturgy. I will have to look into them more. Thanks again and God bless.
 
Yes for music, liturgy and architecture. The architecture while artistic also favours monastic simplicity. For liturgy, Gregorian chant is the basis of their liturgical tradition. Solesmes is the official guardian of the Gregorian chant tradition, and the official Gregorian chant books are, by Vatican appointment, maintained by Solesmes, both for the Mass and the Divine Office of Roman and Monastic traditions.

Prosper Gueranger, first abbot of Solesmes, is considered the father of the liturgical renewal movement. It was Solesmes that restored Gregorian chant in the late 19th century, and that produced the Vatican Edition of the Graduale Romanum, commissioned by the Vatican.
 
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That’s very interesting, I’ll have to study this more thoroughly. Thank you again for all your help, God bless you. 🙂
 
As of this moment, the OP, if they wish to do so, can consider themselves a private lay association of Christ’s Faithful without the Intention of becoming an institute of religious life. I would name it the Lay Cluniac Association of St Benedict. There are statutes to be developed, but living the life will practically write the guiding documents.

As for Third Orders requiring Rome’s approval, everything begins on diocesan level. Rome won’t look at it unless it’s been lived and previously approved by the local bishop.

I’m wanting to say that the Benedictine nuns of the IHM monastery in Vermont of the Solemnes congregation.
 
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