Benedictines still live in community, they still uphold as a primary duty the Divine Office of the Church, the vows are just as rigid as in former days, labor is incessant, obedience is absolute, the family life a striking characteristic. What relaxations in daily routine are now permitted are such as the Holy Rule explicitly contemplated, even suggested, when superiors should think fit.
In a word, not one single essential element is wanting, and if the labors of individuals in the same community are strangely varied, such a feature is, in truth, wholly Benedictine, for St. Benedict assigned to his disciples no one special work, and monastic history has ever borne this out.
Modern conditions, it is true, have somewhat limited Benedictine activity to education, literary work, and apostolic duties, but no one can fail to see the immense range of labor such a program necessarily presents.
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Saint Benedict