Benedictine women

Benedictine woman in habit (without kukulle ), illustration in English Monastic Life , 1904

Benedictine nuns , abbreviation OSB , Latin Ordo Sancti Benedicti , are women religious who, according to the rule of St. Benedict live.

history

According to tradition, the Benedictine convents go back to St. Scholastica , the twin sister of St. Benedict of Nursia, and thus to the 6th century. Scholastica is mentioned in the Vita of St. Benedict mentioned as a consecrated virgin ; It cannot be deduced from this whether she lived in a monastery whose community lived according to the Benedictine Rule and is therefore considered a Benedictine.

Life form

Cloister of the Benedictine Sisters of the Convent of the Blessed Virgin in Petrópolis

Most of the Benedictines live as nuns in the enclosure . However, since the 20th century there have also been some non-cloistered communities whose members take on work outside the monastery, such as the Missionary Benedictines and the Venio community .

Congregations

Almost all Benedictine monasteries in German-speaking countries belong to congregations , such as the Beuron Congregation , the Federation of Bavarian Benedictine Abbeys , the Swiss Benedictine Federation of the Benedictine Sisters of the Holy Sacrament , the Benedictine Sisters of Adoration and the Benedictine Sisters of St. Lioba .

The German-speaking Benedictine nuns have also joined forces in the Association of Benedictine Convents in German-speaking countries, VBD .

The worldwide umbrella organization of Benedictine women is the Communio Internationalis Benedictinarum (CIB). It was founded under this name in 2001. The monasteries and congregations that are members of the CIB have a total of 13,725 nuns (as of 2014).

Benedictine women's communities in other denominations

There are also Benedictine or Benedictine-oriented women's communities in the Anglican and Protestant churches (e.g. Community Casteller Ring ).

Religious saints

• St. Walburga
• St. Hildegard von Bingen
• St. Lioba
• St. Adelheid von Vilich
• St. Edith of Wilton

See also

• List of Benedictine convents
• Cistercian women
• Trappist women
• Olivetan women

Web links

• Website of the Association of Benedictine Sisters in Germany
• Communio Internationalis Benedictinarum
• Website of the Confoederatio Benedictina Ordinis Sancti Benedicti

Footnotes

1. ^ Association of Benedictine convents in the German-speaking area. Retrieved January 23, 2019 . 
2. ↑ Jeremias Schröder : Nobody is an island. Monasteries between autonomy and networking . In: Erbe und Einsatz , Vol. 95 (2019), pp. 32–44, here p. 42.
3. ↑ Communio Internationalis Benedictinarum (Ed.): CIB Handbook , 3rd edition 2014, p. 6.
4. ^ The Communio Internationalis Benedictinarum - the CIB , Alliance Inter-Monastères, accessed on April 1, 2019.