102 HISTORY AND ETHNOLOGY. * 



templation and prayer. The leading Scriptural authority for the institution 

 is founded in the remark of Christ to the young man ^^ho inquired the way of 

 eternal life : " One thing thou lackest. Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou 

 hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven ; and come, 

 take up the cross, and follow me." These words many applied to themselves ; 

 and renouncing all earthly and worldly goods, they sought an undisturbed 

 tranquillity where they might devote themselves to prayer and meditation, 

 whilst they mortified their flesh. 



Such persons received the names of recluses, anchorites, or herm'its (from 

 '(iprifxo^, tcasth. desert), and subsequently monks (from /jl6vo<; and fMovdxo<^^ 

 solitary, alone). Their quiet contemplative life offered strong inducements to 

 imitation, and the numbers at length increased to such an extent that they 

 united in associations. Their common residence, inclosed with hedges or 

 w^alls, was called cloister (from claustrum, an inclosure). The superior 

 took the title of abbot, from the S^mac abba, signifying father. Women 

 and young girls formed themselves into similar societies, and called them- 

 selves nuns, an Egyptian word meaning mother. The cloisters probably 

 originated in the fourth century, but their number was increased in every 

 coming century. PL 32, fig. 8, Greek monk of Poland ; fig. 9, Jacobite 

 monk. 



After the sixth century the monks began to act in accordance with fixed 

 rules, though as early as the year 350, St. Basil [pi. 32. fig. T) of Neo- 

 Caesarea drew up a system of regulations for the use of both monks and nuns. 

 These rules were especially spread in the East, and are still observed in all 

 convents of the Greek church, as well as by the Basilians in Spain and Sicily. 

 On the plan of St. Basil the monks and nuns were required to observe chastity, 

 obedience to the superior, prayers at regular hours, long continued fasts, and 

 to live mainly upon a vegetable diet. 



About the beginning of the sixth centur}^, St. Benedict of Norcia reformed 

 the whole system of monachism in the west. As a pious and judicious 

 leader of an order, he built a cloister on Mount Cassino, near Naples, and 

 the regulations which he established in his society proved so successful that 

 they came to be generally adopted in all similar institutions of the west. 

 He made the cloisters the abode of piety, temperance, and industry ; and 

 during thos^ lawless and revolutionary times they became the retreat of 

 philosophy and literature. Benedict, considering the wants of the times, 

 abolished the severe fasts and the constantly repeated praj^ers, and per- 

 suaded the monks to work, and thus to render themselves of service to the 

 community in which they lived. His society, known in history as the 

 Benedictines, pledged themselves to obedience to the canons, to an uncondi- 

 tional submission to the superior, to a constant monastic life, to uniform and 

 settled hours for prayers and secular duties, to the observance of an 

 inviolable cliastity, and to the entire relinquishment of all worldly pleasures. 

 In place of th-e white dress adopted by the order of St. Basil, the Bene- 

 dictines wore a black cowL PL 32, figs. 10, 11, Benedictine monk and 

 nun. 



In the course of time the original discipline was gradually relaxed. To 

 274 



