# Benedictines

The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (Latin: Ordo Sancti Benedicti, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, they are the oldest of all the religious orders in the Latin Church. The male religious are also sometimes called the Black Monks, especially in English speaking countries, after the colour of their habits, although some, like the Olivetans, wear white. They were founded by Benedict of Nursia, a 6th-century Italian monk who laid the foundations of Benedictine monasticism through the formulation of his Rule. Benedict's sister, Scholastica, possibly his twin, also became a religious from an early age, but chose to live as a hermit. They retained a close relationship until her death.
Despite being called an order, the Benedictines do not operate under a single hierarchy. They are instead organized as a collection of autonomous monasteries and convents, some known as abbeys. The order is represented internationally by the Benedictine Confederation, an organization set up in 1893 to represent the order's shared interests. They do not have a superior general or motherhouse with universal jurisdiction but elect an Abbot Primate to represent themselves to the Vatican and to the world.
In some regions, Benedictine nuns are given the title Dame in preference to Sister.

## Historical development

The monastery at Subiaco in Italy, established by Benedict of Nursia c. 529, was the first of the dozen monasteries he founded. He later founded the Abbey of Monte Cassino. There is no evidence, however, that he intended to found an order and the Rule of Saint Benedict presupposes the autonomy of each community. When Monte Cassino was sacked by the Lombards about the year 580, the monks fled to Rome, and it seems probable that this constituted an important factor in the diffusion of a knowledge of Benedictine monasticism.
Copies of Benedict's Rule survived; around 594 Pope Gregory I spoke favorably of it. The rule is subsequently found in some monasteries in southern Gaul along with other rules used by abbots. Gregory of Tours says that at Ainay Abbey, in the sixth century, the monks "followed the rules of Basil, Cassian, Caesarius, and other fathers, taking and using whatever seemed proper to the conditions of time and place", and doubtless the same liberty was taken with the Benedictine Rule when it reached them. In Gaul and Switzerland, it gradually supplemented the much stricter Irish or Celtic Rule introduced by Columbanus and others. In many monasteries it eventually entirely displaced the earlier codes.
By the ninth century, however, the Benedictine had become the standard form of monastic life throughout the whole of Western Europe, excepting Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, where the Celtic observance still prevailed for another century or two. Largely through the work of Benedict of Aniane, it became the rule of choice for monasteries throughout the Carolingian empire.
Monastic scriptoria flourished from the ninth through the twelfth centuries. Sacred Scripture was always at the heart of every monastic scriptorium. As a general rule those of the monks who possessed skill as writers made this their chief, if not their sole, active work. An anonymous writer of the ninth or tenth century speaks of six hours a day as the usual task of a scribe, which would absorb almost all the time available for active work in the day of a medieval monk.
In the Middle Ages monasteries were often founded by the nobility. Cluny Abbey was founded by William I, Duke of Aquitaine, in 910. The abbey was noted for its strict adherence to the Rule of Saint Benedict. The abbot of Cluny was the superior of all the daughter houses, through appointed priors.
One of the earliest reforms of Benedictine practice was that initiated in 980 by Romuald, who founded the Camaldolese community. The Cistercians branched off from the Benedictines in 1098; they are often called the "White monks".
The dominance of the Benedictine monastic way of life began to decline towards the end of the twelfth century, which saw the rise of the mendicant Franciscans and nomadic Dominicans. Benedictines by contrast, took a vow of "stability", which professed loyalty to a particular foundation in a particular location. Not being bound by location, the mendicants were better able to respond to an increasingly "urban" environment. This decline was further exacerbated by the practice of appointing a commendatory abbot, a lay person, appointed by a noble to oversee and to protect the assets of the monastery. Often, however, this resulted in the appropriation of the assets of monasteries at the expense of the community which they were intended to support.

### Austria & Germany

Saint Blaise Abbey in the Black Forest of Baden-Württemberg is believed to have been founded around the latter part of the tenth century. Between 1070 and 1073 there seem to have been contacts between St. Blaise and the Cluniac Abbey of Fruttuaria in Italy, which led to St. Blaise following the Fruttuarian reforms. The Empress Agnes was a patron of Fruttuaria, and retired there in 1065 before moving to Rome. The Empress was instrumental in introducing Fruttuaria's Benedictine customs, as practiced at Cluny, to Saint Blaise Abbey in Baden-Württemberg. Other houses either reformed by, or founded as priories of, St. Blasien were Muri Abbey (1082), Ochsenhausen Abbey (1093), Göttweig Abbey (1094), Stein am Rhein Abbey (before 1123) and Prüm Abbey (1132). It also had significant influence on the abbeys of Alpirsbach (1099), Ettenheimmünster (1124) and Sulzburg (c. 1125), and the priories of Weitenau (now part of Steinen, c. 1100), Bürgel (before 1130) and Sitzenkirch (c. 1130).

### France

Fleury Abbey in Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, Loiret was founded in about 640. It is one of the most celebrated Benedictine monasteries of Western Europe, and possesses the relics of St. Benedict. Like many Benedictine abbeys it was located on the banks of a river, here the Loire. Ainey Abbey is a ninth century foundation on the Lyon peninsula. In the twelfth century on the current site there was a romanesque monastery, subsequently rebuilt.
The seventeenth century saw a number of Benedictine foundations for women, some dedicated to the indigent to save them from a life of exploitation, others dedicated to the Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament such as the one established by Catherine de Bar (1614–1698). In 1688 Dame Mechtilde de Bar assisted Marie Casimire Louise de La Grange d'Arquien, queen consort of Poland, to establish a Benedictine foundation in Warsaw.
Abbeys were among the institutions of the Catholic Church swept away during the French Revolution. Monasteries and convents were again allowed to form in the 19th century under the Bourbon Restoration. Later that century, under the Third French Republic, laws were enacted preventing religious teaching. The original intent was to allow secular schools. Thus in 1880 and 1882, Benedictine teaching monks were effectively exiled; this was not completed until 1901.
In 1898 Marie-Adèle Garnier, in religion, Mother Marie de Saint-Pierre, founded in Montmartre (Mount of the Martyr), Paris a Benedictine house. However, the Waldeck-Rousseau's Law of Associations, passed in 1901, placed severe restrictions on religious bodies which were obliged to leave France. Garnier and her community relocated to another place associated with executions, this time it was in London, near the site of Tyburn tree where 105 Catholic martyrs—including Saint Oliver Plunkett and Saint Edmund Campion had been executed during the English Reformation. A stone's throw from Marble Arch, the Tyburn Convent is now the Mother House of the Congregation.

### Poland & Lithuania

Benedictines are thought to have arrived in the Kingdom of Poland in the 11th-century. One of the earliest foundations is Tyniec Abbey on a promontory by the Vistula river. The Tyniec monks led the translation of the Bible into Polish vernacular. Other surviving Benedictine houses can be found in Stary Kraków Village, Biskupów, Lubiń. Older foundations are in Mogilno, Trzemeszno, Łęczyca, Łysa Góra and in Opactwo, among others. In the Middle Ages the city of Płock, also on the Vistula, had a successful monastery, which played a significant role in the local economy. In the 18th-century benedictine convents were opened for women, notably in Warsaw's New Town.
A 15th-century Benedictine foundation can be found in Senieji Trakai, a village in Eastern Lithuania.

### Switzerland

Kloster Rheinau was a Benedictine monastery in Rheinau in the Canton of Zürich, Switzerland, founded in about 778. The abbey of Our Lady of the Angels was founded in 1120.

### United Kingdom

The English Benedictine Congregation is the oldest of the nineteen Benedictine congregations. Through the influence of Wilfrid, Benedict Biscop, and Dunstan, the Benedictine Rule spread rapidly, and in the North it was adopted in most of the monasteries that had been founded by the Celtic missionaries from Iona. Many of the episcopal sees of England were founded and governed by the Benedictines, and no fewer than nine of the old cathedrals were served by the black monks of the priories attached to them. Monasteries served as hospitals and places of refuge for the weak and homeless. The monks studied the healing properties of plants and minerals to alleviate the sufferings of the sick.
During the English Reformation, all monasteries were dissolved and their lands confiscated by the Crown, forcing those who wished to continue in the monastic life to flee into exile on the Continent. During the 19th century English members of these communities were able to return to England.
St. Mildred's Priory, on the Isle of Thanet, Kent, was built in 1027 on the site of an abbey founded in 670 by the daughter of the first Christian King of Kent. Currently the priory is home to a community of Benedictine nuns. Five of the most notable English abbeys are the Basilica of St Gregory the Great at Downside, commonly known as Downside Abbey, The Abbey of St Edmund, King and Martyr commonly known as Douai Abbey in Upper Woolhampton, Reading, Berkshire, Ealing Abbey in Ealing, West London, and Worth Abbey. Prinknash Abbey, used by Henry VIII as a hunting lodge, was officially returned to the Benedictines four hundred years later, in 1928. During the next few years, so-called Prinknash Park was used as a home until it was returned to the order.
St. Lawrence's Abbey in Ampleforth, Yorkshire was founded in 1802. In 1955, Ampleforth set up a daughter house, a priory at St. Louis, Missouri which became independent in 1973 and became Saint Louis Abbey in its own right in 1989.
As of 2015, the English Congregation consists of three abbeys of nuns and ten abbeys of monks. Members of the congregation are found in England, Wales, the United States of America, Peru and Zimbabwe.
In England there are also houses of the Subiaco Cassinese Congregation: Farnborough, Prinknash, and Chilworth: the Solesmes Congregation, Quarr and St Cecilia's on the Isle of Wight, as well as a diocesan monastery following the Rule of Saint Benedict: The Community of Our Lady of Glastonbury.
Since the Oxford Movement, there has also been a modest flourishing of Benedictine monasticism in the Anglican Church and Protestant Churches. Anglican Benedictine Abbots are invited guests of the Benedictine Abbot Primate in Rome at Abbatial gatherings at Sant'Anselmo.
In 1168 local Benedictine monks instigated the anti-semitic blood libel of Harold of Gloucester as a template for explaining child deaths. According to historian Joe Hillaby, the blood libel of Harold was crucially important because for the first time an unexplained child death occurring near the Easter festival was arbitrarily linked to Jews in the vicinity by local Christian churchmen: "they established a pattern quickly taken up elsewhere. Within three years the first ritual murder charge was made in France."

#### Monastic libraries in England

The forty-eighth Rule of Saint Benedict prescribes extensive and habitual "holy reading" for the brethren. Three primary types of reading were done by the monks in medieval times. Monks would read privately during their personal time, as well as publicly during services and at mealtimes. In addition to these three mentioned in the Rule, monks would also read in the infirmary. Monasteries were thriving centers of education, with monks and nuns actively encouraged to learn and pray according to the Benedictine Rule. Rule 38 states that 'these brothers' meals should usually be accompanied by reading, and that they were to eat and drink in silence while one read out loud.
Benedictine monks were not allowed worldly possessions, thus necessitating the preservation and collection of sacred texts in monastic libraries for communal use. For the sake of convenience, the books in the monastery were housed in a few different places, namely the sacristy, which contained books for the choir and other liturgical books, the rectory, which housed books for public reading such as sermons and lives of the saints, and the library, which contained the largest collection of books and was typically in the cloister.
The first record of a monastic library in England is in Canterbury. To assist with Augustine of Canterbury's English mission, Pope Gregory the Great gave him nine books which included the Gregorian Bible in two volumes, the Psalter of Augustine, two copies of the Gospels, two martyrologies, an Exposition of the Gospels and Epistles, and a Psalter.$^{:23–25}$ Theodore of Tarsus brought Greek books to Canterbury more than seventy years later, when he founded a school for the study of Greek.$^{:26}$

### United States

The first Benedictine to live in the United States was Pierre-Joseph Didier. He came to the United States in 1790 from Paris and served in the Ohio and St. Louis areas until his death. The first actual Benedictine monastery founded was Saint Vincent Archabbey, located in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1832 by Boniface Wimmer, a German monk, who sought to serve German immigrants in America. In 1856, Wimmer started to lay the foundations for St. John's Abbey in Minnesota. In 1876, Herman Wolfe, of Saint Vincent Archabbey established Belmont Abbey in North Carolina. By the time of his death in 1887, Wimmer had sent Benedictine monks to Kansas, New Jersey, North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Illinois, and Colorado.
Wimmer also asked for Benedictine sisters to be sent to America by St. Walburg Convent in Eichstätt, Bavaria. In 1852, Sister Benedicta Riepp and two other sisters founded St. Marys, Pennsylvania. Soon they would send sisters to Michigan, New Jersey, and Minnesota.
By 1854, Swiss monks began to arrive and founded St. Meinrad Abbey in Indiana, and they soon spread to Arkansas and Louisiana. They were soon followed by Swiss sisters.
There are now over 100 Benedictine houses across America. Most Benedictine houses are part of one of four large Congregations: American-Cassinese, Swiss-American, St. Scholastica, and St. Benedict. The congregations mostly are made up of monasteries that share the same lineage. For instance the American-Cassinese congregation included the 22 monasteries descended from Boniface Wimmer.

## Benedictine vows and life

A sense of community has been the defining characteristic of the order since the beginning. To that end, section 17 in chapter 58 of the Rule of Saint Benedict specifies the solemn vows candidates joining a Benedictine community are required to make: a vow of stability, to remain in the same community), and to adopt a "conversion of habits", in Latin, conversatio morum and obedience to the community's superior. The "Benedictine vows" are equivalent to the evangelical counsels accepted by all candidates entering a religious order. The interpretation of conversatio morum understood as "conversion of the habits of life" has generally been replaced by notions such as adoption of a monastic manner of life, drawing on the Vulgate's use of conversatio as indicating "citizenship" or "local customs", see Philippians 3:20. The Rule enjoins monks and nuns "to live in this place as a religious, in obedience to its rule and to the abbot or abbess."
Benedictine abbots and abbesses have jurisdiction over their abbey and thus canonical authority over the monks or nuns who are resident. This authority includes the power to assign duties, to decide which books may or may not be read, to regulate comings and goings, and to punish and to excommunicate, in the sense of an enforced isolation from the monastic community.
A tight communal timetable – the horarium – is meant to ensure that the time given by God is not wasted but used in God's service, whether for prayer, work, meals, spiritual reading or sleep. The order's motto is Ora et Labora "pray and work".
Although Benedictines do not take a vow of silence, hours of strict silence are set, and at other times silence is maintained as much as is practically possible. Social conversations tend to be limited to communal recreation times. Such details, like other aspects of the daily routine of a Benedictine house are left to the discretion of the superior, and are set out in its customary, the code adopted by a particular Benedictine house by adapting the Rule to local conditions.
According to the norms of the 1983 Code of Canon Law, a Benedictine abbey is a "religious institute" and its members therefore participate in consecrated life which Canon 588 §1 explains is intrinsically "neither clerical nor lay." Males in consecrated life, however, may be ordained.
Benedictines' rules contain a reference to ritual purification, which is inspired by Benedict's encouragement of bathing. Benedictine monks have played a role in the development and promotion of spas.

## Organization

Benedictine monasticism differs from other Christian religious orders in that as congregations sometimes with several houses, some of them in other countries, they are not bound into a unified religious order headed by a "Superior General". Each Benedictine congregation is autonomous and governed by an abbot or abbess.
The autonomous houses are characterised by their chosen charism or specific dedication to a particular devotion. For example, In 1313 Bernardo Tolomei established the Order of Our Lady of Mount Olivet. The community adopted the Rule of Saint Benedict and received canonical approval in 1344. The Olivetans are part of the Benedictine Confederation. Other specialisms, such as Gregorian chant as at Solesmes in France, or Perpetual Adoration of the Holy Sacrament have been adopted by different houses, as at the Warsaw Convent, or the Adorers of the Sacred Heart of Montmartre at Tyburn Convent in London. Other houses have dedicated themselves to books, reading, writing and printing them as at Stanbrook Abbey in England. Others still are associated with the places where they were founded or their founders centuries ago, hence Cassinese, Subiaco, Camaldolese or Sylvestrines.
All Benedictine houses became federated in the Benedictine Confederation brought into existence by Pope Leo XIII's Apostolic Brief "Summum semper" on 12 July 1893. Pope Leo also established the office of Abbot Primate as the abbot elected to represent this Confederation at the Vatican and to the world. The headquarters of the Benedictine Confederation and the Abbot Primate is the Primatial Abbey of Sant'Anselmo built by Pope Leo XIII in Rome.

## Other orders

The Rule of Saint Benedict is also used by a number of religious orders that began as reforms of the Benedictine tradition such as the Cistercians and Trappists. These groups are separate congregations and not members of the Benedictine Confederation.
Although Benedictines are traditionally Catholic, there are also other communities that follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. For example, of an estimated 2,400 celibate Anglican religious (1,080 men and 1,320 women) in the Anglican Communion as a whole, some have adopted the Rule of Benedict. Likewise, such communities can be found in Eastern Orthodox Church, and Lutheran Church.

## Saints and Blesseds of the Order

Male Saints
* Benedict of Nursia (2 March 480 – 21 March 547), Founder of the Order and Patron Saint of Europe
* Laurence of Canterbury (died 2 February 619), the second Archbishop of Canterbury
* Mellitus (died 24 April 624), the third Archbishop of Canterbury
* Justus (died on 10 November between 627 and 631), the fourth Archbishop of Canterbury
* Paulinus of York (died 10 October 644), the first Bishop of York
* Cuthbert of Lindisfarne (c. 634 – 20 March 687), the first Archbishop of Canterbury
* Benedict Biscop (c. 628 – 12 January 690), founder of Monkwearmouth-Jarrow Priory
* Erkenwald (c. 630 – c. 693), Bishop of London
* Wilfrid (c. 633 – c. 709), Bishop of York
* Bertin (c. 615 – c. 709), abbot of a monastery in Saint-Omer later named the Abbey of Saint Bertin
* Aldhelm (c. 639 – 25 May 709), Abbot of Malmesbury Abbey, Bishop of Sherborne, and a writer and scholar of Latin poetry
* Rupert of Salzburg (c. 660 – 27 March 710), Bishop of Worms as well as the first Bishop of Salzburg
* Swidberth of Kaiserwerdt (died c. 713), who accompanied Willibrord on the Anglo-Saxon mission
* John of Beverley (died 7 May 721), Bishop of York, canonized in 1037
* Leudwinus (c. 660 – 29 September 722), Count of Treves who later became Archbishop of Treves and Laon
* Bede the Venerable (672/3 – 26 May 735), "The Father of English History" and Doctor of the Church
* Willibrord c. 658 – 7 November 739), Bishop of Utrecht and "Apostle to the Frisians"
* Boniface (c. 675 – 5 June 754), Bishop of Mainz, Apostle to the Germans and martyr of the Anglo-Saxon missions
* Wilfrido della Gherardesca (died 15 February 756), monk, canonized on 12 September 1861
* Sturm of Fulda (c. 705 – 17 December 779), disciple of Boniface and founder and first abbot of the Benedictine monastery and abbey of Fulda, canonized on 19 April 1139
* Benedict of Aniane (747 – 12 February 821), "The Second Benedict"
* Adalard of Corbie c. 751 – 2 January 827), Abbot of Corbie, canonized in 1026
* Rabanus Maurus (c. 780 – 4 February 856), Archbishop of Mainz and "The Teacher of Germany"
* Swithun (c. 800 - 2 July 863), Bishop of Winchester
* Paschasius Radbertus (c. 785 – c. 865), abbot of Corbie, canonized on 12 July 1073
* Ansgar (8 September 801 – 3 February 865), Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen and "Apostle of the North"
* Altfrid von Hildesheim (died 15 August 874), Bishop of Hildesheim, and founder of Essen Abbey, canonized on 16 February 1965
* Hincmar (806 – 21 December 882), Archbishop of Reims
* Bertario di Montecassino (c. 810 - 22 October 883), abbot and martyr, canonized on 26 August 1727
* Berno of Cluny (c. 850 – 13 January 927), the first abbot of Cluny and began the tradition of the Cluniac reforms
* Odo of Cluny (c. 878 – 18 November 942), the second abbot of Cluny
* Oda of Canterbury (died 2 June 958), the twenty-third Archbishop of Canterbury
* Aymard of Cluny (died c. 965), the third abbot of Cluny
* Æthelwold of Winchester (between 904 and 909 - 1 August 984), Bishop of Winchester
* Dunstan (c. 909 – 19 May 988), Archbishop of Canterbury, canonized in 1029
* Majolus of Cluny (c. 906 – 11 May 994), the fourth abbot of Cluny
* Wolfgang of Regensburg (c. 934 – 31 October 994), Bishop of Regensburg, canonized on 8 October 1052
* Adalbert of Prague (c. 956 – 23 April 997), missionary Bishop of Prague and martyr, canonized in 999
* Attilanus (c. 937 – c. 1007), Bishop of Zamora and prior of Moreruela Abbey, canonized in 1095
* Andrew Zorard (c. 980 - c. 1009), monk, canonized in 1083
* Benedict of Skalka (died c. 1012), monk and martyr, canonized in 1083
* Simeon of Mantua (died 1016), hermit, canonized in 1016
* Emperor Henry II (6 May 973 – 13 July 1024), Holy Roman Emperor and oblate of the order, canonized on 4 March 1146
* Bononio of Lucedio (died 30 August 1026), Abbot of Lucedio, canonized in 1026
* Romuald (c. 951 - 19 June 1027), founder of the Camaldolese Order, canonized on 9 July 1595
* Guido da Pomposa (c. 970 - 31 March 1046), Abbot of Pomposa
* Gerard of Csanád (23 April 977/1000 – 24 September 1046), Bishop of Csanád and martyr, canonized in 1083
* Odilo of Cluny (c. 962 – c. 1 January 1049), the fifth abbot of Cluny
* Alferio (c. 930 - 12 April 1050), founder of the Abbey of La Trinità della Cava and became its first abbot, canonized on 21 December 1893
* Íñigo of Oña (c. 1000 - 1 June 1057) Abbot of San Salvador at Oña, canonized in 1259
* Pier Damiani (c. 1007 – 21 or 22 February 1072 or 1073), Cardinal and Doctor of the Church
* Giovanni Gualberto (c. 985 – 12 July 1073), founder of the Vallumbrosan Order, canonized on 24 October 1193
* Maurus of Pécs (c. 1000 – c. 1075), Bishop of Pécs, canonized on 22 July 1848
* Pope Gregory VII (c. 1015 – 25 May 1085), Bishop of Rome, canonized on 24 May 1728
* Arnulf of Soissons (c. 1040 - c. 1087), Bishop of Soissons and founder of the Abbey of St. Peter in Oudenburg, canonized on 6 January 1120
* Leone I (died 1079), second abbot of La Trinità della Cava, canonized on 21 December 1893
* Wulfstan of Worcester (c. 1008 – 20 January 1095), Bishop of Worcester, canonized on 14 May 1203
* Alberto da Prezzate (or da Pontida) (c. 1025 - 2 September 1095), abbot, canonized on 7 July 1961
* Walter of Pontoise (c. 1030 – c. 1099), abbot of Pontoise, canonized in 1153
* Pietro de Anagni (died 3 August 1105), Bishop of Anagni and papal legate, canonized on 4 June 1109
* Anselm of Canterbury (c. 1033 – 21 April 1109), Archbishop of Canterbury and Doctor of the Church, canonized on 4 October 1494
* Hugh of Cluny (13 May 1024 – 29 April 1109), Abbot of Cluny and one of the most influential leaders of the monastic orders from the Middle Ages, canonized on 6 January 1120
* Lidanus (c. 1026 - c. 1118), founder of Sezze Abbey
* Pietro di Pappacarbone (died 4 March 1123), third abbot of La Trinità della Cava, canonized on 21 December 1893
* Bruno di Segni (c. 1045 – 18 July 1123), Bishop of Segni and Abbot of Montecassino, canonized on 5 September 1181
* Constabile (c. 1070 – 17 February 1124), fourth abbot of La Trinità della Cava, canonized on 21 December 1893
* William of Montevergine (c. 1085 – 25 June 1142), founder of the Congregation of Monte Vergine, or "Williamites"
* Ernest (died c. 1148), abbot of Zwiefalten Abbey
* Étienne d'Obazine (c. 1085 – 8 March 1159), hermit, canonized in 1701
* Franco da Assergi (c. 1154 or 1159 - 12th century), hermit, canonized in 1757
* Rinaldo di Nocera (c. 1150 - 9 February 1217), Bishop of Nocera Umbra
* Edmund Rich of Abingdon (perhaps 20 November c. 1174 - 16 November 1240), canonized on 16 December 1246
* Silvestro Gozzolini (c. 1177 – 26 November 1267), founder of the Sylvestrine Order, canonized on 29 August 1890
* Pope Celestine V (1209/1210 or 1215 – 19 May 1296), Bishop of Rome and founder of the now-extinct Celestine Order, canonized on 5 May 1313
* Bernardo Tolomei (10 May 1272 – 20 August 1348), founder of the Olivetan Order, canonized on 26 April 2009
* John Roberts (c. 1577 – 10 December 1610), martyred during the English Reformation and one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, canonized on 25 October 1970
* Ambrose Barlow (before 30 November 1585 – 10 September 1641), martyred during the English Reformation and one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, canonized on 25 October 1970
* Alban Roe ((20 July 1583 – 21 January 1642), martyred during the English Reformation and one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales, canonized on 25 October 1970
* Oliver Plunkett (1 November 1625 – 1 July 1681), Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland and oblate of the order, victim of Titus Oates' "Popish Plot", canonized on 12 October 1975
Female Saints
* Scholastica (c. 480 – 10 February 543), sister of Saint Benedict and traditionally the founder of the Benedictine nuns
* Æthelthryth (c. 636 – 23 June 679), Abbess of Ely
* Hilda of Whitby (c. 614 – 17 November 680), virgin and abbess
* Werburh (c. 650 - 3 February 700), princess who later became a nun
* Mildrith (c. 660 - after 732), abbess of the Abbey at Minster-in-Thanet, canonized in 1388
* Walpurga (c. 710 – 25 February 777 or 779), Anglo-Saxon missionary to the Frankish Empire, canonized on 1 May c. 870
* Wiborada of St. Gall (died c. 926), anchoress and martyr, canonized on 5 January 1047
* Edith of Wilton (c. 961 – c. 984), the daughter of Edgar, King of England (r. 959–975) and Saint Wulfthryth, who later became a nun together with her mother and retired to Wilton Abbey
* Wulfthryth of Wilton (c. 937 – 21 September c. 1000), the mother of Edith of Wilton and the second known consort of Edgar, King of England and later became abbess of Wilton Abbey
* Adelaide of Vilich (c. 970 – 5 February 1015), abbess, canonized on 27 January 1966
* Cunigunde of Luxembourg (c. 975 – 3 March 1033), Holy Roman Empress, canonized on 29 March 1200
* Hildegard of Bingen (c. 1098 – 17 September 1179), abbess and Doctor of the Church, canonized on 10 May 2012
* Mechtilde of Hackeborn (c. 1240 or 1241 – 19 November 1298), nun
* Gertrude the Great (6 January 1256 – 17 November 1302), mystic who was a member of the Monastery of Helfta, canonized on 20 July 1738
* Frances of Rome (c. 1384 – 9 March 1440), Patroness of Benedictine Oblates, canonized on 29 May 1608
* Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello (2 October 1791 - 21 March 1858), founder of the Benedictine Sisters of Providence, canonized on 19 May 2002
Male Blesseds
* Alcuin (c. 735 – 19 May 804), a leading scholar and teacher at the Carolingian court, declared Blessed by popular acclaim
* Utto of Metten (died 3 October 829), first abbot of Metten Abbey, beatified on 25 August 1909
* Notker the Stammerer (c. 840 – 6 April 912), composer, poet and scholar, beatified in 1512
* Hermann of Reichenau (18 July 1013 – 24 September 1054), the possible composer of "Salve Regina", "Veni Sancte Spiritus", and "Alma Redemptoris Mater", beatified in 1863
* Pope Victor III (c. 1026 – 16 September 1087), Bishop of Rome, beatified on 23 July 1887
* Lanfranc (c. 1005 or 1010 – 24 May 1089), Archbishop of Canterbury, declared Blessed by popular acclaim
* William of Hirsau (c. 1030 – 5 July 1091), abbot of Hirsau Abbey and father of the Hirsau Reforms, declared Blessed by popular acclaim
* Robert of Arbrissel (c. 1045 – c. 1116), founder of Fontevraud Abbey, declared Blessed by popular acclaim
* Simeone (died 16 November 1140), fifth abbot of La Trinità della Cava, beatified on 16 May 1928
* Falcone (died 6 June 1140), sixth abbot of La Trinità della Cava, beatified on 16 May 1928
* Berthold de Rachez of Garsten (c. 1060 – 27 July 1142), monk, beatified on 8 January 1970
* Rupert von Ottobeuren (died 15 August 1145), prior, beatified on 2 August 1963
* Peter the Venerable (c. 1092 – 25 December 1156), the ninth abbot of Cluny, beatified in 1862
* Marino (died 15 December 1170), seventh abbot of La Trinità della Cava, beatified on 16 May 1928
* Giovanni de Surdis Cacciafronte (c. 1125 - 16 March 1184), Bishop of Vicenza and martyr, beatified on 30 March 1824
* Benincasa (died 10 January 1194), eighth abbot of La Trinità della Cava, beatified on 16 May 1928
* Pietro II (died 13 March 1208), tenth abbot of La Trinità della Cava, beatified on 16 May 1928
* Balsamo (died 24 November 1232), eleventh abbot of La Trinità della Cava, beatified on 16 May 1928
* Conrad of Ottobeuren (died 27 July 1227), Abbot of Ottobeuren Abbey, beatified in 1555
* the Benedictine prior of Avignonet (whose name is unknown) (died 28 May 1242), inquisitor martyred at Avignonet in a mission to eradicate the Cathar heresy, beatified on 6 September 1866
* Giordano Forzate (c. 1158 - 7 August 1248), monk, beatified on 6 September 1769
* Leonardo (died 18 August 1255), twelfth abbot of La Trinità della Cava, beatified on 16 May 1928
* Leone II (c. 1239 - 19 August 1295), sixteenth abbot of La Trinità della Cava, beatified on 16 May 1928
* Pope Urban V (c. 1310 – 19 December 1370), Bishop of Rome, beatified on 10 March 1870
* Hugh Cook Faringdon (died 14 November 1539), the last Abbot of Reading Abbey, martyred during the English Reformation (Dissolution of the Monasteries), beatified on 13 May 1895
* John Rugg (died 14 November 1539), martyred alongside Abbot Hugh Faringdon during the English Reformation (Dissolution of the Monasteries), beatified on 13 May 1895
* John Eynon (died 14 November 1539), martyred alongside Abbot Hugh Faringdon during the English Reformation (Dissolution of the Monasteries), beatified on 13 May 1895
* Richard Whiting (c. 1461 – 15 November 1539), the last Abbot of Glastonbury Abbey, martyred during the English Reformation (Dissolution of the Monasteries), beatified on 13 May 1895
* John Thorne and Roger James (died 15 November 1539), martyred alongside Abbot Richard Whiting during the English Reformation (Dissolution of the Monasteries), beatified on 13 May 1895
* John Beche (died 1 December 1539), the last Abbot of Colchester Abbey, martyred during the English Reformation (Dissolution of the Monasteries), beatified on 13 May 1895
* Mark Barkworth (c. 1572 - 27 February 1601), martyred during the English Reformation, beatified on 15 December 1929
* George Gervase (c. 1571 - 11 April 1608), martyred during the English Reformation, beatified on 15 December 1929
* William (Maurus) Scott (c. 1579 - 30 May 1612), martyred during the English Reformation, beatified on 15 December 1929
* Philip Powell (Morgan) (2 February 1594 – 30 June 1646), martyred during the English Reformation, beatified on 15 December 1929
* Thomas Pickering (c. 1621 - 9 May 1679), martyred during the English Reformation as a victim of Titus Oates' "Popish Plot", beatified on 15 December 1929
* Louis Barreau de la Touche (6 June 1758 – 2 September 1792), martyr of the French Revolution, beatified on 17 October 1926
* Ambroise-Augustin Chevreux (13 February 1728 – 2 September 1792), martyr of the French Revolution, beatified on 17 October 1926
* René-Julien Massey (c. 1732 – 2 September 1792), martyr of the French Revolution, beatified on 17 October 1926
* Claude Richard (19 May 1741 - 9 August 1794), martyr of the French Revolution, beatified on 1 October 1995
* Louis-Francois Lebrun (4 April 1744 - 20 August 1794), martyr of the French Revolution, beatified on 1 October 1995
* Giuseppe Benedetto Dusmet (15 August 1818 - 14 April 1894), Archbishop of Catania and Cardinal, beatified on 25 September 1988
* Tommaso (Placido) Riccardi (24 June 1844 - 25 March 1915), priest, beatified on 5 December 1954
* Joseph (Columba) Marmion (1 April 1858 - 30 January 1923), Irish priest, beatified on 3 September 2000
* Abel Ángel (Mauro) Palazuelos Maruri and 17 Companions (died between 26 July to 28 August 1936), Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War from El Pueyo, beatified on 13 October 2013
* José Antón Gómez and 3 Companions (died between 25 September to 31 December 1936), Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War from Madrid, beatified on 29 October 2016
* Jaume (Bernat) Vendrell Olivella and 19 Companions, (died between 25 July 1936 to 15 February 1937), Martyrs of the Spanish Civil War from the Archdiocese of Tarragona, beatified on 13 October 2013
* Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster (18 January 1880 – 30 August 1954), Cardinal Archbishop of Milan, beatified on 12 May 1996
Female Blesseds
* Irmgard of Chiemsee (c. 831 or 833 – 16 July 866), nun, beatified on 17 July 1929
* Gisela of Hungary (c. 985 – 7 May 1065), the first queen consort of Hungary by marriage to Saint Stephen I of Hungary, beatified on 11 July 1975.
* Beatrice I d'Este (c. 1192 – 10 May 1226), nun, beatified on 19 November 1763
* Beatrice II d'Este (c. 1230 – 18 January 1262), nun, beatified on 23 July 1774
* Giuliana di Collalto (c. 1186 – 1 September 1262), nun, beatified on 30 May 1753
* Giustina Francucci Bezzoli (c. 1260 - 12 March 1319), professed religious, beatified on 14 January 1891
* Eustochio (Lucrezia) Bellini di Padova (c. 1444 - 13 February 1469), professed religious, beatified on 22 March 1760
* Giovanni Maria Bonomo (15 August 1606 - 1 March 1670), professed religious, beatified on 9 June 1783
* Rosalie du Verdier de la Sorniere (12 August 1745 - 27 January 1794), martyr of the French Revolution from the Benedictine Nuns of Our Lady of Calvary, beatified on 19 February 1984
* Suzanne-Agathe (Marie Rose) Deloye (4 February 1741 - 6 July 1794), martyr of the French Revolution, beatified on 10 May 1925
* Gertrude (Maria Luisa Angelica) Prosperi (19 August 1799 - 13 September 1847), professed religious, beatified on 12 November 2012
* Maria Adeodata Pisani (29 December 1806 - 25 February 1855), professed religious, beatified on 9 May 2001
* Anna Felicia (Maria Fortunata) Viti (10 February 1827 - 20 November 1922), professed religious, beatified on 8 October 1967
* Colomba Gabriel (3 May 1858 - 24 September 1926), Ukrainian founder of the Benedictine Sisters of Charity, beatified on 16 May 1993
* Maria della Trinità (Itala Mela) (28 August 1904 – 29 April 1957), virgin and oblate of the order, beatified on 10 June 2017
* Hanna Helena Chrzanowska (7 October 1902 – 29 April 1973), nurse and oblate of the order, beatified on 28 April 2018

## Other Notable Benedictines
### Popes

* Pope Sylvester II (c. 946–1003, r. 999–1003)
* Pope Paschal II (d. 1118, r. 1099–1118)
* Pope Gelasius II (d. 1119, r. 1118–19)
* Pope Clement VI (1291–1352, r. 1342–52)
* Pope Pius VII (1742–1823, r. 1800–23); Servant of God
* Pope Gregory XVI (1765–1846, r. 1831–46)

### Founders of abbeys and congregations and prominent reformers

* Robert of Molesme (c. 1028 – 1111)
* Alberic of Cîteaux (d. 1109)
* Stephen Harding (d. 1134)
* Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153)
* Laurent Bénard (1573–1620)
* Prosper Guéranger (1805–1875)
* Jean-Baptiste Muard (1809–1854)
* Boniface Wimmer (1809–1887)
* Maurus Wolter (1825–1890)
* Martin Marty (1834–1896)
* Andreas Amrhein (1844–1927)
* Lambert Beauduin (1873–1960)
* Anscar Vonier (1875–1938) supervised the reconstruction of Buckfast Abbey

### Scholars, historians, and spiritual writers

* Jonas of Bobbio (600–659)
* Guido of Arezzo (991–1050)
* Paul the Deacon (c. 720 – 99)
* Eadmer (c. 1060 – c. 1126)
* Florence of Worcester (d. 1118)
* Symeon of Durham (d. 1130)
* Jocelyn de Brakelond (d. 1211)
* Matthew Paris (c. 1200 – 1259)
* William of Malmesbury (c. 1095 – c. 1143)
* Gervase of Canterbury (c. 1141 – c. 1210)
* Roger of Wendover (d. 1236)
* Peter the Deacon (d. 1140)
* Adam Easton (d. 1397)
* Honoré Bonet (c. 1340 – c. 1410)
* John Lydgate (c. 1370 – c. 1451)
* John Whethamstede (d. 1465)
* Johannes Trithemius (1462–1516)
* Louis de Blois (1506–66)
* Benedict van Haeften (1588–1648)
* Augustine Baker (1575–1641)
* Anthony Batt (d. 1651)
* Jean Mabillon (1632–1707)
* Mariano Armellino (1657–1737)
* Antoine Augustin Calmet (1672–1757)
* Magnoald Ziegelbauer (1689–1750)
* Marquard Herrgott (1694–1762)
* Pietro Luigi Galletti (1724–1790)
* Luigi Tosti (1811–97)
* Saint Oliver Plunkett, archbishop and martyrJean Baptiste François Pitra (1812–89)
* Oswald William Moosmuller (1842–1901)
* Suitbert Bäumer (1845–94)
* Francis Aidan Gasquet (1846–1929)
* Fernand Cabrol (1855–1937)
* Germain Morin (1861–1946)
* Henri Quentin (1872–1935)
* John Chapman (1865–1933)
* Cuthbert Butler (1858–1934)

### Maurists

Members of the Congregation of Saint Maur, a prerevolutionary French congregation of Benedictines known for their scholarship:
* Nicolas-Hugues Ménard (1585–1644)
* Luc d'Achery (1609–85)
* Antoine-Joseph Mège (1625–91)
* Thierry Ruinart (1657–1709)
* François Lamy (1636–1711)
* Pierre Coustant (1654–1721)
* Edmond Martène (1654–1739)
* Ursin Durand (1682–1771)
* Bernard de Montfaucon (1655–1741)
* René-Prosper Tassin (1697–1777)

### Bishops and martyrs

* Abbot Suger (c. 1081 – 1151)
* Sigebert Buckley (c. 1520 – c. 1610)
* Gabriel Gifford (1554–1629)
* Philip Michael Ellis (1652–1726)
* Charles Walmesley (1722–97)
* William Placid Morris (1794–1872)
* John Polding (1794–1877)
* William Bernard Ullathorne (1806–89)
* Roger Vaughan (1834–83)
* Guglielmo Sanfelice d'Acquavilla (1834–1897)
* Joseph Pothier (1835–1923)
* John Cuthbert Hedley (1837–1915)
* Domenico Serafini (1852–1918)
* Placidus Nkalanga (1918–2015)

### Twentieth century

* Lambert Beauduin (1873–1960)
* Bede Griffiths (1906–1993)
* Paul Augustin Mayer (1911–2010)
* Hans Hermann Groër (1919–2003)
* Basil Hume (1923–1999)
* Willigis Jäger (1925–2020)
* Rembert Weakland (1927–2022)
* Daniel M. Buechlein (1938–2018)
* Jerome Hanus (1940-)
* Anselm Grün (1945–)
* Knut Ansgar Nelson (1906–1990)

### Benedictine Dames

* Alice Henley (died 1470)
* Magdalena Mortęska (1554–1631)
* Catherine Gascoigne (1601–1676)
* Gertrude More (1606–1633)
* Barbara Constable (1617–1674)
* Adèle Garnier [fr] (1838–1924)
* Laurentia McLachlan (1866–1953)
* Margit Slachta (or Schlachta, 1884–1974)
* Werburg Welch (1898–1990)
* Felicitas Corrigan (1908–2003)
* Hildelith Cumming (1909–1990)
* Mary Boulding (1929–2009)
* Joan Chittister (1936–)
* Thomas Welder (1940–2020)
* Noella Marcellino (1951–)
* Teresa Forcades (1966–)

### Oblates

Benedictine Oblates endeavor to embrace the spirit of the Benedictine vow in their own life in the world. Oblates are affiliated with a particular monastery.
* Joris-Karl Huysmans (1848–1907)
* Jacques Maritain (1882–1973)
* Romano Guardini (1885–1968)
* Dorothy Day (1897–1980)
* Walker Percy (1916–1990)
* Kathleen Norris (1947– )