All Saints of the Benedictine Order

Once again we come to a feast of All Saints. “But wait!” I hear you cry, “wasn’t that back on the first of November?”

Right you are! But today on the Benedictine calendar is the feast of All Saints of the Benedictine Order.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

(Hebrews 12:1-2)

In fact, many Orders (and some countries) have their own All Saints and All Souls days.

• The Augustinians remember all saints of the Order of Saint Augustine on November 13th and all their departed on November 14th.
• The Dominicans remember all saints of the Order of Preachers on November 7th and all their departed on November 8th.
• The Franciscans remember all saints of the Seraphic Order on November 29th and all their departed on November 24th.
• The Carmelites remember all saints of the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel on November 14th and all their departed on November 15th.
• The Jesuits remember all saints of the Society of Jesus on November 5th and all their departed on November 6th.
• The Benedictines and Cistercians remember all saints who followed the Rule of Saint Benedict on November 13th and all their departed on November 14th

So today is a day for us to rejoice in the lives, and to pray for the intercession, of Saint Benedict and the many other Benedictine saints.

And there are hundreds of them, from Saints Benedict and Scholastica in the sixth century, right up through Blesseds Columba Marmion and Alfredo Ildefonso Schuster in the twentieth.

I am particularly struck by the poetry of the Office Hymn for Monastic Lauds today, Salvete, cedri libani. Here is the English:

Hail, cedars tall of Lebanon;
Complete your growth, so well begun,
Ye sturdy slips the Order yields,
Transplanted in celestial fields.

The glory of the Trinity
Enfolds you now eternally;
The Virgin Mother’s favoring air
Breathes over you in zephyrs fair.

The choiring Seraphim advance
To circle you, and sweetly dance
Forever, in your sheltered nooks
Refreshed with pure eternal brooks.

O race renowned, of noblest birth,
Vouchsafe to help your sons on earth,
And strengthen us, your offshoots frail
Within this melancholy vale.

The Father and the Son we laud,
And Thee sweet Spirit, Breath of God;
With Whom our predecessors bright
Live joyous in eternal light. Amen.

And here is the beautiful, haunting Latin chant:

Thus inspired, let us imitate the example of this great cloud of witnesses in their dedication to the ideals of Ora et Labora.

We beseech Thee, O Lord,
grant that the example of the holy Monks
may stir us to a better life,
so that we may imitate the actions
of those whose solemnity we celebrate.

Through our Lord, Jesus Christ, Thy Son,
Who with Thee liveth and reigneth
in the unity of the Holy Ghost,
God, world without end.

Amen.

(Collect for All Saints of the Benedictine Order)