St. Benedict Archives ~ The Imaginative Conservative

On Saint Benedict

By Benedict XVI|2020-07-10T23:38:38-05:00July 10th, 2020|Categories: Catholicism, Christianity, Europe, History, Pope Benedict XVI, St. Benedict|

St. Benedict of Norcia, with his life and his work, had a fundamental influence on the development of European civilization and culture. The most important source on Benedict’s life is the second book of St. Gregory the Great’s “Dialogues,” in which he gives us a model for human life in the climb towards the summit [...]

How One Monk Began Rebuilding the West

By R. Jared Staudt|2020-07-11T12:28:06-05:00July 10th, 2020|Categories: Catholicism, Christianity, Culture, History, St. Benedict|

The life of Venerable Dom Prosper Guéranger, a Benedictine monk, is truly one of rebuilding the Church from the ruins of the French Revolution and the lingering corruption of the Gallicanism which preceded it. In an age of great disintegration, Guéranger can be a model of rebuilding for all of the faithful. Tomorrow, July 11, [...]

Debating the Benedict Option

By Thomas Ascik|2019-11-01T22:22:30-05:00November 1st, 2019|Categories: Books, Christian Living, Christianity, Culture, Senior Contributors, St. Benedict, Thomas R. Ascik|

Rod Dreher’s book, “The Benedict Option,” has gone on to become an international cultural event. Yet, today, it is not clear whether the book has had any influence on Church institutions and leadership. Has the Benedict Option then been a failure? Should other “options” be considered? Rod Dreher’s book The Benedict Option, a New York [...]

The Domestic Monastery: The Rule of Saint Benedict

By Dwight Longenecker|2019-05-25T22:40:59-05:00May 25th, 2019|Categories: Books, Character, Christianity, Dwight Longenecker, Senior Contributors, St. Benedict|

Whatever a person’s place in life, Saint Benedict offers a “little Rule for beginners.” The principles of the spiritual life which he sets down put us down firmly in life right where we are. By paralleling family and monastery, today’s reader can glean simple yet practical wisdom for, as well as extraordinary insight into, the [...]

Opting for Saint Benedict in an Ordinary Parish

By Dwight Longenecker|2019-01-27T15:26:18-06:00August 4th, 2018|Categories: Catholicism, Christianity, Dwight Longenecker, St. Benedict|

Like Saint Benedict we’re not trying to change the whole world. We’re simply doing what we can with what we have where we are… I first encountered Saint Benedict while I was a student at Oxford. I had enrolled to train as a priest in the Church of England, but a Catholic woman in the [...]

With Hearts Expanded

By Benedict of Nursia|2020-07-10T22:07:17-05:00July 11th, 2018|Categories: Catholicism, St. Benedict|

Having then, brethren, asked the Lord who it is that shall dwell in His tabernacle, we have heard what He commands to those who wish to dwell there; and if we fulfill those commands, we shall be heirs of the kingdom of heaven. […]

Rebuilding Western Civilization: A Tale of Two Monasteries

By Dwight Longenecker|2019-07-18T12:11:27-05:00July 7th, 2018|Categories: Catholicism, Christianity, Community, Dwight Longenecker, England, John Senior, St. Benedict, Tradition|

The three vows of the Benedictine monk are obedience, stability, and conversion of life. In our own ways, we can follow this example, making it real by paying attention to prayer, cracking the books in solid study, and rolling up our sleeves in the honest, hard work of rebuilding what has fallen into despair and [...]

A Sonnet for St. Benedict

By Malcolm Guite|2020-03-29T11:36:50-05:00July 11th, 2017|Categories: Malcolm Guite, Poetry, St. Benedict|

On July the 11th the Church celebrates the feast of St. Benedict of Nursia, the gentle founder of the Benedictine order and by extension the father of Monasticism. A moderate and modest man he would have been astonished to learn that his ‘simple school for prayer, ’his ‘modest rule for beginners’ led to the foundation of communities [...]

The Benedict Option & the Barbarians at the Gate

By John Horvat|2019-01-27T15:30:19-06:00June 25th, 2017|Categories: Christianity, Community, Culture, John Horvat, St. Benedict, Timeless Essays|

If we truly desire the Benedict Option, then let us not withdraw from modernity, for strategic retreats easily turn into routs. Let us rather engage our neo-barbarian culture by both cultivating our Benedictine identity when projecting Boniface’s strength. It is the only option… Today’s offering in our Timeless Essay series affords readers the opportunity to [...]

Benedict Means Business

By Dwight Longenecker|2020-01-29T10:00:46-06:00September 25th, 2016|Categories: Character, Christianity, Culture, Dwight Longenecker, Sainthood, St. Benedict, Timeless Essays|

Today’s offering in our Timeless Essay series affords readers the opportunity to join Dwight Longenecker as he explains the importance of applying St. Benedict’s Rule to the business world. —W. Winston Elliott III, Publisher It seems a far cry from a sixth-century hermitage to the world of twenty-first century business. But the outlines of Benedict’s [...]

Gradually Restoring the World

By John Henry Newman|2021-05-04T15:35:07-05:00July 11th, 2016|Categories: Catholicism, Christendom, Quotation, St. Benedict, St. John Henry Newman|

St. Benedict found the world, physical and social, in ruins, and his mission was to restore it in the way not of science, but of nature, not as if setting about to do it, not professing to do it by any set time, or by any rare specific, or by any series of strokes, but [...]

Benedict Means Business

By Dwight Longenecker|2019-01-27T15:30:22-06:00November 15th, 2015|Categories: Character, Christianity, Culture, Dwight Longenecker, Sainthood, St. Benedict|

It seems a far cry from a sixth-century hermitage to the world of twenty-first century business. But the outlines of Benedict’s life and work speak to our world with great relevance. Benedict was born around the year 480 into a noble and wealthy family. As a young man he was sent to Rome to study. [...]

Benedict the Balanced

By Dwight Longenecker|2019-01-27T15:30:22-06:00April 4th, 2014|Categories: Christianity, Dwight Longenecker, Family, St. Benedict|

In the summer of 1987 I had three months free, and decided to make a hitch-hiking pilgrimage to Jerusalem. I had visited Benedictine monasteries in England and decided to stay in monasteries and convents all along the route. It was a glorious summer and I had an excellent adventure. One of the best parts of [...]