“To give the signal for the Work of God, whether by day or by night, is the responsibility of the Abbot.”

But Benedict was by no means the founder of the monastic movement. For at least a couple of hundred years before Benedict there was a tradition of devout people dedicating themselves to lives of prayer and meditation either as hermits or in small groups away from the main population. What Benedict did was to draw on those existing traditions and compile - in a coherent and practical way - principles and rules by which a religious community could function through a balanced regime of prayer, study and work.

It was according to this rule of St. Benedict that New Minster and Hyde Abbey operated for almost 600 years. The key features of the rule were;

• Monks took vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. There was an understanding that monks would remain largely stable in the same monastic house and would accept absolutely the authority of the abbot. However the abbot would consult with the monks, especially the senior monks, on important or difficult matters. (Despite the ‘poverty’ of individual monks at Hyde Abbey the institution itself became very wealthy enabling it to provide rich hospitality to visiting dignitaries. The Abbot of Hyde became a powerful person in his own right with national status as a formal witness to acts of state).

“If anyone is found to have anything which was not given to him by the Abbot, he is to undergo the severest punishment and that this vice of personal ownership maybe totally eliminated, everything necessary should be given by the Abbot.”

• A sequence of regular prayer – the saying of the ‘Divine Office’ - throughout the day which all monks were required to attend in the abbey hcurch. Prayer was the means for attaining union with God and it was structured into distinct stages – Matins, Lauds, Prime, Tierce, Sext, None, Vespers, and Complin – which provided a clear framework for the day stretching from before sunrise through the morning, afternoon and into late evening. St. Benedict laid down in detail the prayers and bible readings for each session according to the day of the week and the season. (Evidence from bishops’ inspections at Hyde Abbey suggest that at various periods in its history the observation of Divine Office became slack among some monks).

“As soon as the signal for the Divine Office is heard, the brethren must leave whatever they have been engaged in doing and hasten with all speed but with dignity, so that foolishness finds no stimulus. Nothing, therefore, is to be given preference over the word of God.”

• That clear guidelines were given for all aspects of life from what kind of clothes and shoes the monks should wear to the amount of food and drink they should consume. The general rule was that they should be modest and simple in all respects (There was no allowance made in the rule for keeping heads warm at night in church – Hyde Abbey applied for permission from Rome to be allowed to wear woollen caps during the cold north European winters).

“It is sufficient for a monk to have two tunics and two cowls, to allow for wear at night and for washing: more than that is superfluous and should be taken away.”

• An emphasis on quietness, humility and silence after ‘complin’ so as to maintain an atmosphere of serious dedication to the worship of God as well as instructions on how the monks should sleep and arrangements in the dormitory.

“At all times monks ought to strive to keep silence but particularly so during the hours of the night….. as for loose talk, idle words and talk that stimulate laughter, we condemn this with a permanent ban in all places.”

• instructions on how discipline should be maintained and what should be done when people break the rules.

“The brother who is guilty of a very serious fault is to be suspended from sharing in the meals and also from the oratory. None of the brethren may associate with him in companionship or conversation.”