The ruins of Rievaulx Abbey
Last year, Rod Dreher shook the world when he came out with The Benedict Option. Most Catholic and Orthodox people that I know hate the thesis of this book. I actually quite liked the book and while I have a problem with a few minor details, the overall thesis is a good blueprint for the Western world going forward.
Dreher’s prime example is the Benedictine monastery in Norcia Italy. There is a strong Catholic community surrounding the monastery. He also talks about the Benedictine monastery in Clear Creek Oklahoma. The monastery seems to be a good place for starting a strong Christian community. Whatever happened to monasticism in the Catholic Church? Yes, monasteries still exist so if one feels called, they can enter one, but they no longer have a significant presence in the Church.
The two biggest Ecumenical Councils between the year 1000 and 1500 AD were the Fourth Lateran Council and the Council of Florence. Not only did both of these councils have hundred of Bishops(as one would expect), they had hundreds of abbots present as well. Abbots were the heads of the monasteries where much of the Church intellectual life took place. They were invited as advisers because they were the theological experts. The medieval monastery is where knowledge and faith were strongly preserved. The Church always had famous monasteries such as Cluny, Monte Cassino and others. What happened?
Between 1500 and the present day, there were two large anti-monastic movements. The first came with the Protestant reformation. When several nations started their own independent churches from Rome one of the first things they did was dissolve the monasteries. This was for two reasons. The first reason was that the Catholic faith was strong in the monasteries and the monks and nuns weren’t going to go for the new tribal religion. The second reason is that monasteries had money. If you looted and dissolved the monastery, you inherited their gold, precious items, and currency.
In the 1530’s in England, Thomas Cromwell dissolved over 800 religious houses. Some of these monasteries such as Glastonbury were over 800 years old. One of my favorite religious writers is Aelred of Rievaulx, who was a Catholic monk in England in the 12th century. Most of us watched Robin Hood as children; remember Friar Tuck? He came from a time when being a friar was a big thing in England. Today the Rievaulx Abbey is a pile of ruins. It received the same fate as every other monastery in England. It was dissolved and looted. Friar Tuck would be a homeless monk today.
This didn’t happen only in England, but in every other country that became Protestant. This includes Germany, Scandinavia and other parts of Europe. As we all know, not every country became Protestant. In the countries that remained Catholic, monasticism survived and continued to thrive until the second anti-monastic movement in Europe. Enter Napoleon and the French Revolution.
In the year 1789, nationalism reached a new zenith; even more than it did in the so called reformation. French nationalism sparked the French revolution and it was the end of monasticism in France. This cancer was spread by Napoleon all over Europe and although Napoleon was ultimately defeated, the seeds of nationalism were planted in the areas where he and his army had invaded. These nationalist movements would eventually rise up in Portugal, parts of Spain, Italy and other Catholic areas that were not touched by Protestantism. These countries saw the end of the vast majority of their monasteries.
So here we are are today. These two movements have all but destroyed Catholic monasticism which in the glory days of the Church was a powerful force. If the Church is to regain her former glory, monasticism is needed. Though not a Catholic, Rod Dreher certainly knows this. I believe that at this point in history, the Pope needs to write an encyclical encouraging monastic life. It will at least get the ball rolling in the right direction.
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