This 275th volume of the Cistercian Studies Series for Cistercian Publications paradoxically includes no Cistercian authors among its 32 selections of excerpts from, roughly, the first millennium of Benedictine monastic history (other than the directives taken from the papal decree Summi Magistri Dignatio mandating reforms of the so-called “Black” Benedictines, issued in the fourteenth century by the second Cistercian pope, Benedict XII). This is actually far from the first volume in this admirably flexible if somewhat mistitled series to consist of non-Cistercian material, such as the three-volume translation of the Letters of St. Anselm, or the pair of volumes of Lives of the Monastic Reformers (none of them Cistercian) assembled and translated by the same editorial trio responsible for this collection. The reader is informed by Fr. Feiss that exclusion of Cistercians was done at the suggestion of the editorial board of the series, who pointed out that “writings by Cistercians . . . are already well represented in their publications” (xliii). The resulting anthology is a fascinating, eclectic collection of texts, “chosen,” as Fr. Feiss also notes, “somewhat randomly” (xliii) rather than according to some tightly systematic master plan, thus exhibiting the truly impressive range of Benedictine writing in time, geography, genre and even, in the latest selections, language – much of which is unfamiliar to all but specialists – while some more prominent authors and/or works are rather unaccountably omitted.

The volume opens with a Preface by E. Rozanne Elder, former editorial director of Cistercian Publications, providing a concise but comprehensive survey of medieval Benedictine history, which does give due attention to the Cistercians, along with other figures and movements not represented in the anthology itself (xv-xxxv); this is followed by Fr. Feiss’ Introduction (xli-lix), which takes a more thematic approach, considering issues of authority, organization, the inculcation of virtues, relations with the secular world, form and content of monastic theology (and touching briefly but charmingly along the way on the Abbey of Shrewsbury featured in Ellis Peters’ well-known series of mysteries, including a helpful distinction between the actual historical figures of the monastery’s abbots and prior and the fictional detective Cadfael and his brother monks [xlii]).   

The selections themselves, each with a substantial introduction, are grouped into four parts. All but ten of these are translated and/or introduced by Feiss or Ronald Pepin (the role of the third co-editor, Maureen O’Brien, evidently being on the organizational end), with ten additional contributors recruited for the remainder of the material. The opening section, “Foundations” (1-32), as might be expected, is comprised of excerpts from the Rule of Benedict itself and from Gregory the Great’s Life of Benedict. Section II, “The Benedictine Centuries” (33-181), includes nine items spanning the period from the early eighth through the late tenth century, featuring major figures (Venerable Bede, Benedict of Aniane) along with lesser-known and communal or anonymous sources (e.g. Walafrid Strabo, Abbo of Fleury, The Book of Nunnaminster). The third part, “The Long Twelfth Century (1050-1215)” (183-468), containing fourteen selections, likewise combines such famous figures as Peter Abelard and Hildegard of Bingen with important but somewhat less familiar authors such as John of Fécamp and Peter of Celle, quite obscure monks like Rudolph of La Chaise-Dieu and Julian of Vézelay, and anonymous productions like the Chronicle of  Petershausen. In the final section, “Later Middle Ages (1215-1550)” (469-603), of the authors of the seven selections probably only the English Benedictine poet John Lydgate and the prolific sixteenth-century spiritual writer Louis de Blois (Blosius) have much name-recognition beyond scholarly circles (the extra twenty years in the section title, compared with the title of the book itself, accommodate the latter figure, who became abbot of his monastery in 1530 – at the age of 24! – but did all his writing subsequently, until his death in 1566).                    

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the collection is the sheer variety of types of composition. There are of course commentaries on the Rule and other texts focused on monastic regulations and reforms (Benedict of Aniane; Supplex Libellus; Book of Nunnaminster; Hildemar of Corbie; Benedict XII; Melk Reforms; Louis de Blois) along with instruction for secular clerics (Ranulph Higden); there are numerous hagiographies of rather well-known and quite obscure saints (Bede; Abbo; Rudolph; Life of Christina of Markyate; Gonzalo de Berceo; Raymond Féraud). There are examples of scriptural commentary (Haimo of Auxerre), meditative works and prayers (John of Fécamp; Peter of Celle), sermons (Julian; John Trithemius), letters (Servatus Lupus; Abelard), visionary reports (Hildegard; Adam of Eynsham), hymns (Abelard), history (Chronicle of Petershausen), instructions on the making and use of stained glass, and a quite comprehensive survey of twelfth-century monastic developments by a contemporary (Robert of Torigni). There are also satires: the anonymous poem Quid Deceat Monachum that inculcates proper behavior of monks by illustrating the opposite, and the Speculum Stultorum of Nigel of Canterbury (or Nigel Wireker as he was traditionally known) that details the adventures of Burnellus the Ass as he first seeks a longer tail and eventually decides to found his own religious order when none of the existing ones will accept him! There is a poem on gardens by Walafrid Strabo from the ninth century and a substantial selection of verse by Lydgate, Chaucer’s fifteenth-century successor, who is often treated in a less positive manner than he is here.           

Despite this abundance, certain lacunae are also evident. Only three of the selections are by or about women, due largely to the paucity of available sources, of course. While a representative example of monastic chronicle is included, more sweeping historical works such as those by the distinguished twelfth-century Benedictine historians Orderic Vitalis or William of Malmesbury are not represented; one might also have expected more hymnody, a major and lasting Benedictine contribution to ecclesial life. From the earlier period, Ambrose Autpert, who has been called “probably the most original theologian in the Latin world in the eighth century” (Thomas Merton) does not appear, and while two disciples (Walafrid Strabo and Servatus Lupus) of Rhabanus Maurus, the outstanding Benedictine figure of the following century, are included, there is nothing by the master himself. Arguably the most significant Benedictine figure between Benedict himself and the present, Anselm of Canterbury, contributes a three-page “Prayer for Friends” as an “epigraph” (without an introduction) immediately after the Table of Contents, but is omitted from the text proper because his work is so widely available that according to Feiss it would be “somewhat redundant” (207) to include him – yet certainly no more redundant than the excerpts from the Rule and Gregory’s Life; the “Meditation on Human Redemption,” for instance, could have been an appropriate selection. Perhaps an even stranger omission is any material directly connected to the most important Benedictine movement of the Middle Ages, centered on the Abbey of Cluny – no writings by or about any of the five consecutive abbot-saints of Cluny are found here, nor anything written by the last great Cluniac figure, Abbot Peter the Venerable, contemporary and correspondent of St. Bernard and a prolific and influential writer in his own right.

It should be recalled, however, that the anthology is entitled A Benedictine Reader, not The Benedictine Reader, a reminder that no claims to comprehensiveness are being made. What has been provided is a richly rewarding selection that will surely broaden and deepen any reader’s knowledge and appreciation of the Benedictine tradition as it developed from the end of antiquity through the dawn of the modern era.