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Rule
St Benedict of Nursia, tr. Hunter Blair, 1907
Chapter 8
IN winter time, that is, from the first of November until Easter, the brethren shall rise at what may be reasonably calculated to be the eighth hour of the night;1 so that having rested till some time past midnight, they may rise having had their full sleep. And let the time that remains after the Night-Office be spent in study by those brethren who have still some part of the psalter and lessons to learn. But from Easter to the first of November let the hour for the Night-Office be so arranged that, after a very short interval, during which the brethren may go out for the necessities of nature, Lauds, which are to be said at day-break, may follow without delay.
Notes
- Note D (p. 54).—Octava hora. The Romans divided the night as well as the day into twelve equal divisions or hours; but as the night commenced at sunset and continued till sunrise, the length of these hours would vary according to the season, being longer in winter and shorter in summer. Calculated in this way, the eighth hour of the night would of course vary with the time of year, as well as with the latitude of the various countries. At mid-winter, in the latitude of Rome, the eighth hour would commence about 3 A.M., and end about 4. St. Benedict seems to lay down in this chapter that the hour for the night-office is to vary according to the above mode of reckoning. (See Perez, Comment., c. viii. 13.) Paul the Deacon, however, with Turrecremata and others, interprets the words juxta considerationem rationis to mean that the eighth hour was always to be calculated from the same time, either from the first of November or the vernal equinox.
The meditatio, in which the Rule prescribes that the time remaining after the night-office is to be spent, means, as is evident from the context, study, and not meditation in the modern sense of the word. St. Benedict does not lay down any fixed time for mental prayer, apart from the Divine Office. We know, however, that it was the regular practice in his monasteries, from his life by St. Gregory (Dialogues, Bk. ii. c. 4), which speaks of “the hour when the singing of psalms was ended, and the monks betook themselves to prayer.”