The Monastic Rule As The Canon Education Law

After the demise of the Western Roman Empire,European public education institutions was destroyed and collapsed by barbarian invasion.From the sixth century onwards,the monastery is not only a religious holy place,but alsothe fortress protecting education from interrupting.Education appears in the monastery because of the monastic rule.The rule of St.Benedict laid the tradition of Western monastery education.The Carolingian church reform is a double innovation,which is both a religious legislative reform and an educational legislative reform.The Rule not only became a universal criterion for the religious life of Western monasteries,but also served as a code of conduct for medieval monastery schools——“the canon education law”.The first chapter is divided into two parts.The first part mainly discusses Benedict’s early study experience and his asceticexperience,which laid the theoretical foundation for his creation of the monastic rule.The second part discusses the spread of the Rule in Europe.Finally,The Rule was widely accepted by European monasteries and became the law of the western monastery system.The second chapter mainly discusses the sources of the Rule.Theoretically,Benedict is deeply affected by the East and West monasticisms,such as the rule of Pachomius,St.Basil,St.Augustine and so on,and the most closely important to it is the Rule of the Master.In practice,the social reality of the Western chaotic monastic life and turbulence is the practical motive push Benedict to create the rule.The birth of the Rule isnot only a law for the life of monasticism,but also a good "recipe" to solute the social conditions.The third chapter mainly analyzes the educational factors in the Rule.According to the Rule,monastery is "a school for the Lord’s service".The chanting,praying and writingare a monastery’s daily work.Monasticism is education.Not until the emergence of the monastery school makes the monastery not only the "Lord’s school",but also the "chosen people’s school".The fourth chapter focuses on the universal background and process of Benedict’s regulations.The two rulers of the Carolingian dynasty take the Rule as model and devoted themselves to church reform,which is also an education reform.It is thanks for the Carolingian reform that the rule of St Benedict is both a canon lawand a canon education lawin the perspective of the Middle Ages.