"We wish this rule to be read often in the community,
so that none can offer the excuse of ignorance" (RB 66, 8).

Today, women monastics outnumber men by more than two to one. Thus, the even-numbered chapters below have been adapted for a women's community. The odd-numbered chapters are for a men's community such as Saint Benedict would have known. Mr. J. Frank Henderson edits a website that provides information about the history, dissemination and use of the Rule of Benedict adapted for and by women. Several contemporary scholarly and literary translations of the Rule into English exist, but the Leonard Doyle translation used here is familiar to generations of US and other English-speaking monastics from its widespread and long term use in refectories and chapter rooms.

Daily Readings from the Rule of Benedict

• Readings for January 1-10 + May 2-11 + September 1-10
  Prologue - 2:10
• Readings for January 11-20 + May 12-21 + September 11-20
  Chapters 2:11 - 4:61
• Readings for January 21-31 + May 22-30 + September 21-30
  Chapters 4.62 - 7:34
• Readings for February 1-10 + June 2-11 + and October 2-11
  Chapters 7:35 - 8
• Readings for February 11-20 + June 12-21 + and October 12-21
  Chapters 9 - 17
• Readings for February 21-28 [29] + June 22-30 + and October 22-31
  Chapters 18 - 23
• Readings for March 1-15 + July 1-15 + October 31-November 14
  Chapters 24 - 36
• Readings for March 16-31 + July 16-31 + November 15-30
  Chapters 37 - 43; Chapters 44 - 49
• Readings for April 1-10 + August 1-10 + December 1-10
  Chapters 50 - 57
• Readings for April 11-20 + August 11-20 + December 11-20
  Chapters 58 - 64.1
• Readings for April 21-May 1 + August 21-30 + December 21-31
  Chapters 64.2 - 73

Selections above from Saint Benedict's Rule for Monasteries, translated from the Latin by Leonard J. Doyle OblSB, of Saint John's Abbey, (© Copyright 1948, 2001, by the Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, MN 56321). Adapted for use here with the division into sense lines of the first edition that was republished in 2001 to mark the 75th anniversary of Liturgical Press. Doyle's translation is available in both hardcover and paperback editions.

Benedict's Rule: A Translation and Commentary by Terrence G. Kardong, O.S.B. is the first line-by-line exegesis of the entire Rule of Benedict written originally in English. This full commentary -- predominately literary and historical criticism -- is based on and includes a Latin text of Regula Benedicti (Liturgical Press). Hardcover, 664 pp., 6 x 9, ISBN 0-8146-2325-5, $59.95.

RB 1980 in Latin and English with Notes is a modern, scholarly translation ed. by Timothy Fry, OSB (Liturgical Press, 1981), 672 p., $39.95. The translation by itself is also available in paperback, $2.95.
 

Rule of Benedict: Bibliographic Index

Includes manuscripts, books, editions, translations, etc. arranged chronologically by publication. S. Aquinata Boeckmann's "Bibliography for Students of the Rule of Benedict" is a comprehensive, classified list of books and articles that is updated with regularity.

More Bibliographica Benedictina

MnPALS is an on-line catalog that includes three Benedictine libraries in Minnesota whose collections are rich in monastic holdings.

OSB Index | Rule: Index | About the Rule of Benedict