Monastic Life In The Early Middle Ages

977 Words4 Pages

Meaghan Halkyard
HSTS 319
Lucie Laumonier
10 October 2017
Monastic life in the early Middle Ages Monasticism is a religious lifestyle that allows an individual to devote one’s life fully to spiritual work, “monks were people, mostly lay people, who had withdrawn from society to pursue the spiritual life in solitude” , monks lived in self sustained communities with those also following monastic rule. To follow the monastic life all worldly goods are to be renounced and Medieval Monks were to spend their lives under religious discipline in a Medieval Monastery and aiding their community in a positive way. Monasticism was an important element to the Middle Ages in progressing and enriching the lives of not only the monks but the rest of the …show more content…

Saint Anthony, one of the early figures of monasticism, lived a solitary and ascetic life. Saint Anthony’s lifestyle can be seen as a basic foundation for monastic rules. Living an ascetic life allowed monks to be spiritually disciplined by giving up aspects of the regular world. Under monastic rule, monks would be ascetic and renounce marriage, pleasures of the body, private property, and the “ordinary comforts” of material life . The most followed aspect of asceticism followed in the monastic life was being sexually abstinent. It was believed that by removing material and bodily pleasures, an individual would focus more on their spirituality, thus coming closer to …show more content…

Saint Benedict began his religious journey as a solitary hermit following the rules of what can be viewed as extreme asceticism. Monastic rules were produced with the intention of providing a legal binding to one’s religious practice, but also to later be “turned into textual collectables with a certain sense of authority” , many of the regulations and laws of the monastic life came from Benedict. There were different rules regarding monastic practice for men and women. Rules for men were to take a vow of poverty, chastity and obedience. By taking these rules men would be bound to the rules of their monastery. Women who chose to follow monasticism lived in a convent and spent their time aiding the community through prayer and