You can read a lot about the Benedictines at www.osb.org including the Rule. I think that if the Rule resonates with you then the Benedictines may be a good choice. If not, then perhaps another group would be better.All I know about Benedict is lectio divina is what is practiced and he was a excorcist I guess.
At our abbey, all the lay brothers took regular vows and now pray the same Office as what used to be the choir monks. Now there are only postulants, novices, and professed monks (simple profession renewable, then solemn profession which is for life). Of course some may be ordained deacon or priest, but outside the Eucharist or other priestly functions, there’s no formal distinction between a Brother and a Father and all wear the same habit. This is in keeping with what is formally written in the Rule of St. Benedict, which until Vatican II, the major monastic orders had drifted away from.OraLabora, you said:
“Benedictines did used to have ‘lay brothers’; they lived in the abbey, took simple vows, and generally did the manual labour of the abbey, had their own “little offices” instead of the Divine Office said by the choir monks, etc.”
“Vatican II however abolished that category. Now any professed member of an order is a consecrated religious which is not quite the same as a lay state. It’s not a sacrament like the diaconate or ordained religious, but it isn’t exactly the lay state either. A consecrated religious of an institute of pontifical right, for example, requires Vatican approval to be dispensed from his or her vows. The vows are otherwise binding for life.”
Question:
Does this mean that there are no longer Benedictine Brothers, or that the Benedictine Brothers were required to take regular vows and pray the regular office?
But the oblates are still the same?At our abbey, all the lay brothers took regular vows and now pray the same Office as what used to be the choir monks. Now there are only postulants, novices, and professed monks (simple profession renewable, then solemn profession which is for life). Of course some may be ordained deacon or priest, but outside the Eucharist or other priestly functions, there’s no formal distinction between a Brother and a Father and all wear the same habit. This is in keeping with what is formally written in the Rule of St. Benedict, which until Vatican II, the major monastic orders had drifted away from.
OraLabora is talking about vowed members of the community, not oblates.But the oblates are still the same?
I do like Hildegard of Bidgen and Teresa of Avilla and john of the Cross.You can read a lot about the Benedictines at www.osb.org including the Rule. I think that if the Rule resonates with you then the Benedictines may be a good choice. If not, then perhaps another group would be better.
Hildegard is Benedictine. Teresa and John are Carmelites. Perhaps those are spiritualities you would want to explore further.I do like Hildegard of Bidgen and Teresa of Avilla and john of the Cross.
Isn’t there a difference in carmelites and “discalced carmelites” ?Hildegard is Benedictine. Teresa and John are Carmelites. Perhaps those are spiritualities you would want to explore further.
Hopefully a Carmelite will come along and answer that.Isn’t there a difference in carmelites and “discalced carmelites” ?
Carmelites, also called O Carm, are descended from the original order.Isn’t there a difference in carmelites and “discalced carmelites” ?
They were mystics weren’t they?Carmelites, also called O Carm, are descended from the original order.
Discalced Carmelites are a reformed order founded by St Teresa of Avila and St John of the Cross, 1500’sAD Spain.
I can’t speak for O Carm, I don’t know enough about them.
Discalced Carmelites follow the spirituality of St Teresa and St John of the Cross. We have focused on contemplative prayer, have a great devotion to the Blessed Mother and follow a life of spiritual poverty and chastity, according to one’s state in life.
My wife and myself are Secular Order Discalced Carmelites which is essentially a 3rd order for lay people.
We are one of the few 3rd orders where we can make vows of obedience and chastity, a year after making definitive promises.
That’s it in a nutshell, but there is a lot to becoming an OCDS member of a community.
Jim
YesThey were mystics weren’t they?
How do you join this if there is no orders like this in your diocese? We have Jesuits and maybe carmelites. But no Benedictines, Augustinians, Franciscans, Dominicans or what else.My wife and myself are Secular Order Discalced Carmelites which is essentially a 3rd order for lay people.
We are one of the few 3rd orders where we can make vows of obedience and chastity, a year after making definitive promises.
That’s it in a nutshell, but there is a lot to becoming an OCDS member of a community.
Jim
You can’t.How do you join this if there is no orders like this in your diocese? We have Jesuits and maybe carmelites. But no Benedictines, Augustinians, Franciscans, Dominicans or what else.
So does that mean that you have to live there locally then?You can’t.
The OCD order use to allow isolated members, but no longer.
Jim
You have to live near a community that will accept you and you them.So does that mean that you have to live there locally then?
Benedictines typically allow oblates from wide-ranging geographic areas. The charism is to the community, not the order. Our abbey is in Quebec, but we have oblates from the Maritime provinces, Ontario, and even Minnesota, Maine and Vermont in the USA. I know an American oblate of Douai abbey in England.How do you join this if there is no orders like this in your diocese? We have Jesuits and maybe carmelites. But no Benedictines, Augustinians, Franciscans, Dominicans or what else.