The abbot, the community, and obedience in the Rule of Saint Benedict as compared to its source, The Rule of the Master, to see Saint Benedict's originality. 'Historians of monasticism will read this translation, as they have long read the French original, for its close exegesis and textual analysis of the eighteen chapters of the RB directly dealing with the abbot's authority, along with the parallel passages in the RM that influenced Benedict' -Speculum.

Arriving at the end of my course, after more than fifty years of presence in the monastery, an instinct pushes me to share my great hope of eternal life, as I have shared recently my small experience of fasting.In this meditation of the phrase to desire eternal lifefrom the Rule of St. Benedict, Adalbert de Vogue shares what hope has been for him before entering the monastery and after. Then he surveys Holy Scripture as a simple hearer of the Word (lectio divina) and finally he listens once more to some beloved phrases of the ancient monks before and after St. Benedict. To desire eternal...