[German Version]

(Regula Benedicti, RB) is a Latin monastic rule that is currently observed by approx. 35,000 women and men worldwide (Benedictines). Its beginnings were humble: abbot Benedict of Nursia (died c. 550) composed a rule for his monastery of Monte Cassino in which he reworked and shortened his model, the (anonymous) Master Rule (Regula Magistri, RM), by two-thirds. Initially, the Germanic veneration of Rome contributed to its diffusion (earliest evidence in southern Gaul around 625), later also the Carolingian reform that subordinated all monks to the RB (Benedict of An…