monks. Our only authority for the facts of St Benedict's life is bk. ii
of St Gregory's _Dialogues_. St Gregory declares that he obtained his
information from four of St Benedict's disciples, whom he names; and
there can be no serious reason for doubting that it is possible to
reconstruct the outlines of St Benedict's career (see Hodgkin, _Italy
and her Invaders_, iv. 412). A precise chronology and a pedigree have
been supplied for Benedict, according to which he was born in 480, of
the great family of the Anicii; but all we know is what St Gregory tells
us, that he was born of good family in Nursia, near Spoleto in Umbria.
His birth must have occurred within a few years of the date assigned;
the only fixed chronological point is a visit of the Gothic king Totila
to him in 543, when Benedict was already established at Monte Cassino
and advanced in years (_Dial_. ii. 14, 15). He was sent by his parents
to frequent the Roman schools, but shocked by the prevailing
licentiousness he fled away. It has been usual to represent him as a
mere boy at this time, but of late years various considerations have
been pointed out which make it more likely that he was a young man. He
went to the mountainous districts of the Abruzzi, and at last came to
the ruins of Nero's palace and the artificial lake at Subiaco, 40 m.
from Rome. Among the rocks on the side of the valley opposite the palace
he found a cave in which he took up his abode, unknown to all except one
friend, Romanus, a monk of a neighbouring monastery, who clothed him in
the monastic habit and secretly supplied him with food. No one who has
seen the spot will doubt that the Sacro Speco is indeed the cave wherein
Benedict spent the three years of opening manhood in solitary prayer,
contemplation and austerity. After this period of formation his fame
began to spread abroad, and the monks of a neighbouring monastery
induced him to become their abbot; but their lives were irregular and
dissolute, and on his trying to put down abuses they attempted to
poison him. He returned to his cave, but disciples flocked to him, and
in time he formed twelve monasteries in the neighbourhood, placing
twelve monks in each, and himself retaining a general control over all.
In time patricians and senators from Rome entrusted their young sons to
his care, to be brought up as monks; in this manner came to him his two
best-known disciples, Maurus and Placidus. Driven from Subiaco by the
jealousy and molestations of a neighbouring priest, but leaving behind
him communities in his twelve monasteries, he himself, accompanied by a
small band of disciples, journeyed south until he came to Cassino, a
town halfway between Rome and Naples. Climbing the high mountain that
overhangs the town, he established on the summit the monastery with
which his name has ever since been associated, and which for centuries
was a chief centre of religious life for western Europe. He destroyed
the remnants of paganism that lingered on here, and by his preaching
gained the rustic population to Christianity. Few other facts of his
career are known: there is record of his founding a monastery at
Terracina; his death must have occurred soon after Totila's visit in
543.
_Rule of St Benedict._--In order to understand St Benedict's character
and spirit, and to discover the secret of the success of his institute,
it is necessary, as St Gregory says, to turn to his Rule. St Gregory's
characterization of the Rule as "conspicuous for its discretion" touches
the most essential quality. The relation of St Benedict's Rule to
earlier monastic rules, and of his institute to the prevailing monachism
of his day, is explained in the article MONASTICISM. Here it is enough
to say that nowadays it is commonly recognized by students that the
manner of life instituted by St Benedict was not intended to be, and as
a matter of fact was not, one of any great austerity, when judged by the
standard of his own day (see E.C. Butler, _Lausiac History of
Palladius_, part i. pp. 251-256). His monks were allowed proper clothes,
sufficient food, ample sleep. The only bodily austerities were the
abstinence from flesh meat and the unbroken fast till mid-day or even 3
P.M., but neither would appear so onerous in Italy even now, as to us in
northern climes. Midnight office was no part of St Benedict's Rule: the
time for rising for the night office varied from 1.30 to 3.0, according
to the season, and the monks had had unbroken sleep for 7-1/2 or even 8
hours, except in the hot weather, when in compensation they were allowed
the traditional Italian summer siesta after the mid-day meal. The
canonical office was chanted throughout, but the directly religious
duties of the day can hardly have taken more than 4 or 5 hours--perhaps
8 on Sundays. The remaining hours of the day were divided between work
and reading, in the proportion (on the average of the whole year) of
about 6 and 4 hours respectively. The "reading" in St Benedict's time
was probably confined to the Bible and the Fathers. The "work"
contemplated by St Benedict was ordinarily field work, as was natural in
view of the conditions of the time and best suited to the majority of
the monks; but the principle laid down is that the monks should do
whatever work is most useful. There were from the beginning young boys
in the monastery, who were educated by the monks according to the ideas
of the time. We have seen St Benedict evangelizing the pagan population
round Monte Cassino; and a considerable time each day is assigned to the
reading of the Fathers. Thus the germs of all the chief works carried on
by his monks in later ages were to be found in his own monastery.
The Rule consists of a prologue and 73 chapters. Though it has resisted
all attempts to reduce it to an ordered scheme, and probably was not
written on any set plan, still it is possible roughly to indicate its
contents: after the prologue and introductory chapter setting forth St
Benedict's intention, follow instructions to the abbot on the manner in
which he should govern his monastery (2,3); next comes the ascetical
portion of the Rule, on the chief monastic virtues (4-7); then the
regulations for the celebration of the canonical office, which St
Benedict calls "the Work of God" or "the divine work," his monks' first
duty, "of which nothing is to take precedence" (8-20); faults and
punishments (23-30); the cellarer and property of the monastery (31,
32); community of goods (33, 34); various officials and daily life (21,
22, 35-57); reception of monks (58-61); miscellaneous (62-73).
The most remarkable chapters, in which St Benedict's wisdom stands out
most conspicuously, are those on the abbot (2,3, 27,64). The abbot is to
govern the monastery with full and unquestioned patriarchal authority;
on important matters he must consult the whole community and hear what
each one, even the youngest, thinks; on matters of less weight he should
consult a few of the elder monks; but in either case the decision rests
entirely with him, and all are to acquiesce. He must, however, bear in
mind that he will have to render an account of all his decisions and to
answer for the souls of all his monks before the judgment seat of God.
Moreover, he has to govern in accordance with the Rule, and must
endeavour, while enforcing discipline and implanting virtues, not to
sadden or "overdrive" his monks, or give them cause for "just
murmuring." In these chapters pre-eminently appears that element of
"discretion," as St Gregory calls it, or humanism as it would now be
termed, which without doubt has been a chief cause of the success of the
Rule. There is as yet no satisfactory text of the Rule, either critical
or manual; the best manual text is Schmidt's _editio minor_ (Regensburg,
1892). Of the many commentaries the most valuable are those of Paulus
Diaconus (the earliest, c. 800), of Calmet and of Martene (Migne,
_Patrol. Lat._ lxvi.).
AUTHORITIES.--An old English translation of St Gregory's _Dialogues_
is reprinted in the Quarterly Series (Burns & Oates). On St Benedict's
life and Rule see Montalembert, _Monks of the West_, bk. iv.; Abbate
L. Tosti, _S. Benedetto_ (translated 1896); also Indexes to standard
general histories of the period; Thomas Hodgkin's _Italy and Her
Invaders_ and Gregorovius' _History of the City of Rome_ may be
specially mentioned. But by far the best summaries in English are
those contained in the relevant portions of F.H. Dudden's _Gregory the
Great_ (1905), i. 107-115, ii. 160-169; on the recent criticism of the
text and contents of the Rule, see Otto Zockler, _Askese und Monchtum_
(1897), 355-371; and E.C. Butler, articles in _Downside Review_,
December 1899, and _Journal of Theological Studies_, April 1902.
(E. C. B.)
BENEDICT, SIR JULIUS (1804-1885), musical composer, was born in
Stuttgart on the 27th of November 1804. He was the son of a Jewish
banker, and learnt composition from Hummel at Weimar and Weber at
Dresden; with the latter he enjoyed for three years an intimacy like
that of a son, and it was Weber who introduced him in Vienna to
Beethoven on the 5th of October 1823. In the same year he was appointed
Kapellmeister of the Karnthnerthor theatre at Vienna, and two years
later (in 1825) he became Kapellmeister of the San Carlo theatre at
Naples. Here his first opera, _Giacinta ed Ernesto_, was brought out in
1829, and another, written for his native city, _I Portoghesi in Goa_,
was given there in 1830; neither of these was a great success, and in
1834 he went to Paris, leaving it in 1835 at the suggestion of Malibran
for London, where he spent the remainder of his life. In 1836 he was
given the conductorship of an operatic enterprise at the Lyceum Theatre,
and brought out a short opera, _Un anno ed un giorno_, previously given
in Naples. In 1838 he became conductor of the English opera at Drury
Lane during the period of Balfe's great popularity; his own operas
produced there were _The Gipsy's Warning_ (1838), _The Bride of Venice_
(1843), and _The Crusaders_ (1846). In 1848 he conducted Mendelssohn's
_Elijah_ at Exeter Hall, for the first appearance of Jenny Lind in
oratorio, and in 1850 he went to America as the accompanist on that
singer's tour. On his return in 1852 he became musical conductor under
Mapleson's management at Her Majesty's theatre (and afterwards at Drury
Lane), and in the same year conductor of the Harmonic Union. Benedict
wrote recitatives for the production of an Italian version of Weber's
_Oberon_ in 1860. In the same year was produced his beautiful cantata
_Undine_ at the Norwich festival, in which Clara Novello appeared in
public for the last time. His best-known opera, _The Lily of Killarney_,
written on the subject of Dion Boucicault's play _Colleen Bawn_ to a
libretto by Oxenford, was produced at Covent Garden in 1862. His
operetta, _The Bride of Song_, was brought out there in 1864. _St
Cecilia_, an oratorio, was performed at the Norwich festival in 1886;
_St Peter_ at the Birmingham festival of 1870; _Graziella_, a cantata,
was given at the Birmingham festival of 1882, and in August 1883 was
produced in operatic form at the Crystal Palace. Here also a symphony by
him was given in 1873. Benedict conducted every Norwich festival from
1845 to 1878 inclusive, and the Liverpool Philharmonic Society's
concerts from 1876 to 1880. He was the regular accompanist at the Monday
Popular Concerts in London from their start, and with few exceptions
acted as conductor of these concerts. He contributed an interesting life
of Weber to the series of biographies of "Great Musicians." In 1871 he
was knighted, and in 1874 was made knight commander of the orders of
Franz Joseph (Austria) and Frederick (Wurttemberg). He died in London on
the 5th of June 1885.
BENEDICT BISCOP (628?-690), also known as BISCOP BADUCING, English
churchman, was born of a good Northumbrian family and was for a time a
thegn of King Oswiu. He then went abroad and after a second journey to
Rome (he made five altogether) lived as a monk at Lerins (665-667). It
was under his conduct that Theodore of Tarsus came from Rome to
Canterbury in 669, and in the same year Benedict was appointed abbot of
St Peter's, Canterbury. Five years later he built the monastery of St
Peter at Wearmouth, on land granted him by Ecgfrith of Northumbria, and
endowed it with an excellent library. A papal letter in 678 exempted the
monastery from external control, and in 682 Benedict erected a sister
foundation (St Paul) at Jarrow. He died on the 12th of January 690,
leaving a high reputation for piety and culture. Saxon architecture owes
nearly everything to his initiative, and Bede was one of his pupils.
BENEDICTINE, a liqueur manufactured at Fecamp, France. The composition
is a trade secret, but, according to Konig, the following are among the
substances used in the manufacture of imitations of the genuine article:
fresh lemon peel, cardamoms, hyssop tops, angelica, peppermint, thyme,
cinnamon, nutmegs, cloves and arnica flowers. (See FECAMP.)
BENEDICTINES, or BLACK MONKS, monks living according to the Rule of St
Benedict (q.v.) of Nursia. Subiaco in the Abruzzi was the cradle of the
Benedictines, and in that neighbourhood St Benedict established twelve
monasteries. Afterwards giving up the direction of these, he migrated to
Monte Cassino and there established the monastery which became the
centre whence his Rule and institute spread. From Monte Cassino he
founded a monastery at Terracina. These fourteen are the only
monasteries of which we have any knowledge as being founded before St
Benedict's death; for the mission of St Placidus to Sicily must
certainly be regarded as mere romance, nor does there seem to be any
solid reason for viewing more favourably the mission of St Maurus to
Gaul. There is some ground for believing that it was the third abbot of
Monte Cassino who began to spread a knowledge of the Rule beyond the
circle of St Benedict's own foundations. About 580-590 Monte Cassino was
sacked by the Lombards, and the community came to Rome and was
established in a monastery attached to the Lateran Basilica, in the
centre of the ecclesiastical world. It is now commonly recognized by
scholars that when Gregory the Great became a monk and turned his palace
on the Caelian Hill into a monastery, the monastic life there carried
out was fundamentally based on the Benedictine Rule (see F.H. Dudden,
_Gregory the Great_, i. 108). From this monastery went forth St
Augustine and his companions on their mission to England in 596,
carrying their monachism with them; thus England was the first country
out of Italy in which Benedictine life was firmly planted. In the course
of the 7th century Benedictine life was gradually introduced in Gaul,
and in the 8th it was carried into the Germanic lands from England. It
is doubtful whether in Spain there were Benedictine monasteries,
properly so called, until a later period. In many parts the Benedictine
Rule met the much stricter Irish Rule of Columbanus, introduced by the
Irish missionaries on the continent, and after brief periods, first of
conflict and then of fusion, it gradually absorbed and supplanted it;
thus during the 8th century it became, out of Ireland and other purely
Celtic lands, the only rule and form of monastic life throughout western
Europe,--so completely that Charlemagne once asked if there ever had
been any other monastic rule.
What may be called the inner side of Benedictine life and history is
treated in the article MONASTICISM; here it is possible to deal only
with the broad facts of the external history. The chief external works
achieved for western Europe by the Benedictines during the early middle
ages may be summed up under the following heads.
1. _The Conversion of the Teutonic Races._--The tendency of modern
historical scholarship justifies the maintenance of the tradition that
St Augustine and his forty companions were the first great Benedictine
apostles and missioners. Through their efforts Christianity was firmly
planted in various parts of England; and after the conversion of the
country it was English Benedictines--Wilfrid, Willibrord, Swithbert,
Willehad--who evangelized Friesland and Holland; and another, Winfrid or
Boniface, who, with his fellow-monks Willibald and others, evangelized
the greater part of central Germany and founded and organized the German
church. It was Anschar, a monk of Corbie, who first preached to the
Scandinavians, and other Benedictines were apostles to Poles, Prussians
and other Slavonic peoples. The conversion of the Teutonic races may
properly be called the work of the Benedictines.
2. _The Civilization of north-western Europe._--As the result of their
missionary enterprises the Benedictines penetrated into all these lands
and established monasteries, so that by the 10th or 11th century
Benedictine houses existed in great numbers throughout the whole of
Latin Christendom except Ireland. These monasteries became centres of
civilizing influences by the method of presenting object-lessons in
organized work, in agriculture, in farming, in the arts and trades, and
also in well-ordered life. The unconscious method by which such great
results were brought about has been well described by J.S. Brewer
(_Preface_ to Works of Giraldus Cambrensis, Rolls Series, iv.) and F.A.
Gasquet.
3. _Education._--Boys were educated in Benedictine houses from the
beginning, but at first they were destined to be monks. The monasteries,
however, played a great part in the educational side of the Carolingian
revival; and certainly from that date schools for boys destined to live
and work in the world were commonly attached to Benedictine monasteries.
From that day to this education has been among the recognized and
principal works of Benedictines.
4. _Letters and Learning._--This side of Benedictine life is most
typically represented by the Venerable Bede, the gentle and learned
scholar of the early middle ages. In those times the monasteries were
the only places of security and rest in western Europe, the only places
where letters could in any measure be cultivated. It was in the
monasteries that the writings of Latin antiquity, both classical and
ecclesiastical, were transcribed and preserved.
In a gigantic system embracing hundreds of monasteries and thousands of
monks, and spread over all the countries of western Europe, without any
organic bond between the different houses, and exposed to all the
vicissitudes of the wars and conquests of those wild times, to say that
the monks often fell short of the ideal of their state, and sometimes
short of the Christian, and even the moral standard, is but to say that
monks are men. Failures there have been many, and scandals not a few in
Benedictine history; but it may be said with truth that there does not
appear to have been ever a period of widespread or universal corruption,
however much at times and in places primitive love may have waxed cold.
And when such declensions occurred, they soon called forth efforts at
reform and revival; indeed these constantly recurring reform-movements
are one of the most striking features of Benedictine history, and the
great proof of the vitality of the institute throughout the ages.
The first of these movements arose during the Carolingian revival (c.
800), and is associated with the name of Benedict of Aniane. Under the
auspices of Charlemagne and Louis the Pious he initiated a scheme for
federating into one great order, with himself as abbot general, all the
monasteries of Charles's empire, and for enforcing throughout a rigid
uniformity in observance. For this purpose a synod of abbots was
assembled at Aix-la-Chapelle in 817, and a series of 80 _Capitula_
passed, regulating the life of the monasteries. The scheme as a whole
was short-lived and did not survive its originator; but the _Capitula_
were commonly recognized as supplying a useful and much-needed
supplement to St Benedict's Rule on points not sufficiently provided for
therein. Accordingly these _Capitula_ exercised a wide influence among
Benedictines even outside the empire. And Benedict of Aniane's ideas of
organization found embodiment a century later in the order of Cluny
(910), which for a time overshadowed the great body of mere Benedictines
(see CLUNY). Here it will suffice to say that the most distinctive
features of the Cluny system were (1) a notable increase and
prolongation of the church services, which came to take up the greater
part of the working day; (2) a strongly centralized government, whereby
the houses of the order in their hundreds were strictly subject to the
abbot of Cluny.
Though forming a distinct and separate organism Cluny claimed to be, and
was recognized as, a body of Benedictine houses; but from that time
onwards arose a number of independent bodies, or "orders," which took
the Benedictine Rule as the basis of their life. The more important of
these were: in the 11th and 12th centuries, the orders of Camaldulians,
Vallombrosians, Fontevrault and the Cistercians, and in the 13th and
14th the Silvestrines, Celestines and Olivetans (see separate articles).
The general tendency of these Benedictine offshoots was in the direction
of greater austerity of life than was practised by the Black Monks or
contemplated by St Benedict's Rule--some of them were semi-eremitical;
the most important by far were the Cistercians, whose ground-idea was to
reproduce exactly the life of St Benedict's own monastery. These various
orders were also organized and governed according to the system of
centralized authority devised by St Pachomius (see MONASTICISM) and
brought into vogue by Cluny in the West. What has here to be traced is
the history of the great body of Benedictine monasteries that held aloof
from these separatist movements.
For the first four or five centuries of Benedictine history there was no
organic bond between any of the monasteries; each house formed an
independent autonomous family, managing its own affairs and subject to
no external authority or control except that of the bishop of the
diocese. But the influence of Cluny, even on monasteries that did not
enter into its organism, was enormous; many adopted Cluny customs and
practices and moulded their life and spirit after the model it set; and
many such monasteries became in turn centres of revival and reform in
many lands, so that during the 10th and 11th centuries arose free unions
of monasteries based on a common observance derived from a central
abbey. Fleury and Hirsau are well-known examples. Basing themselves on
St Gregory's counsel to St Augustine, Dunstan, Aethelwold and Oswald
adopted from the observance of foreign monasteries, and notably Fleury
and Ghent, what was suitable for the restoration of English monachism,
and so produced the _Concordia Regularis_, interesting as the first
serious attempt to bring about uniformity of observance among the
monasteries of an entire nation. In the course of the 12th century
sporadic and limited unions of Black Monk monasteries arose in different
parts. But notwithstanding all these movements, the majority of the
great Black Monk abbeys continued to the end of the 12th century in
their primeval isolation. But in the year 1215, at the fourth Lateran
council, were made regulations destined profoundly to modify Benedictine
polity and history. It was decreed that the Benedictine houses of each
ecclesiastical province should henceforth be federated for the purposes
of mutual help and the maintenance of discipline, and that for these
ends the abbots should every third year meet in a provincial chapter (or
synod), in order to pass laws binding on all and to appoint visitors
who, in addition to the bishops, should canonically visit the
monasteries and report on their condition in spirituals and temporals to
the ensuing chapter. The English monks took the lead in carrying out
this legislation, and in 1218 the first chapter of the province of
Canterbury was held at Oxford, and up to the dissolution under Henry
VIII. the triennial chapters took place with wonderful regularity.
Fitful attempts were made elsewhere to carry out the decrees, and in
1336 Benedict XII. by the bull _Benedictina_ tried to give further
development to the system and to secure its general observance. The
organization of the Benedictine houses into provinces or chapters under
this legislation interfered in the least possible degree with the
Benedictine tradition of mutual independence of the houses; the
provinces were loose federations of autonomous houses, the legislative
power of the chapter and the canonical visitations being the only forms
of external interference. The English Benedictines never advanced
farther along the path of centralization; up to their destruction this
polity remained in operation among them, and proved itself by its
results to be well adapted to the conditions of the Benedictine Rule and
life.
In other lands things did not on the whole go so well, and many causes
at work during the later middle ages tended to bring about relaxation in
the Benedictine houses; above all the vicious system of commendatory
abbots, rife everywhere except in England. And so in the period of the
reforming councils of Constance and Basel the state of the religious
orders was seriously taken in hand, and in response to the public demand
for reforming the Church, "in head and members," reform movements were
set on foot, as among others, so among the Benedictines of various parts
of Europe. These movements issued in the congregational system which is
the present polity among Benedictines. In the German lands, where the
most typical congregation was the Bursfeld Union (1446), which finally
embraced over 100 monasteries throughout Germany, the system was kept on
the lines of the Lateran decree and the bull _Benedictina_, and received
only some further developments in the direction of greater organization;
but in Italy the congregation of S. Justina at Padua (1421), afterwards
called the Cassinese, departed altogether from the old lines, setting up
a highly centralized government, after the model of the Italian
republics, whereby the autonomy of the monasteries was destroyed, and
they were subjected to the authority of a central governing board. With
various modifications or restrictions this latter system was imported
into all the Latin lands, into Spain and Portugal, and thence into
Brazil, and into Lorraine and France, where the celebrated congregation
of St Maur (see MAURISTS) was formed early in the 17th century. During
this century the Benedictine houses in many parts of Catholic Europe
united themselves into congregations, usually characterized by an
austerity that was due to the Tridentine reform movement.
In England the Benedictines had, from every point of view, flourished
exceedingly. At the time of the Dissolution there were nearly 300 Black
Benedictine houses, great and small, men and women, including most of
the chief religious houses of the land (for lists see tables and maps in
Gasquet's _English Monastic Life_, and _Catholic Dictionary_, art.
"Benedictines"). It is now hardly necessary to say that the grave
charges brought against the monks are no longer credited by serious
historians (Gasquet, _Henry VIII. and the Monasteries_; J. Gairdner,
Prefaces to the relevant volumes of _Calendars of State Papers of Henry
VIII._). In Mary's reign some of the surviving monks were brought
together, and Westminster Abbey was restored. Of the monks professed
there during this momentary revival, one, Sigebert Buckley, lived on
into the reign of James I.; and being the only survivor of the
Benedictines of England, he in 1607 invested with the English habit and
affiliated to Westminster Abbey and to the English congregation two
English priests, already Benedictines in the Italian congregation. By
this act the old English Benedictine line was perpetuated; and in 1619 a
number of English monks professed in Spain were aggregated by pontifical
act to these representatives of the old English Benedictines, and thus
was constituted the present English Benedictine congregation. Three or
four monasteries of the revived English Benedictines were established on
the continent at the beginning of the 17th century, and remained there
till driven back to England by the French Revolution.
The Reformation and the religious wars spread havoc among the
Benedictines in many parts of northern Europe; and as a consequence, in
part of the rule of Joseph II. of Austria, in part of the French
Revolution, nearly every Benedictine monastery in Europe was
suppressed--it is said that in the early years of the 19th century
scarcely thirty in all survived. But the latter half of the century
witnessed a series of remarkable revivals, and first in Bavaria, under
the influence of Louis I. The French congregation (which does not enjoy
continuity with the Maurists) was inaugurated by Dom Gueranger in 1833,
and the German congregation of Beuron in 1863. Two vigorous
congregations have arisen in the United States. These are all new
creations since 1830. In Italy, Spain, Portugal and Brazil only a few
monasteries survive the various revolutions, and in a crippled state;
but signs are not wanting of renewed life: St Benedict's own monasteries
of Subiaco and Monte Cassino are relatively flourishing. In Austria,
Hungary and Switzerland there are some thirty great abbeys, most of
which have had a continued existence since the middle ages. The English
congregation is composed of three large abbeys (Downside, Ampleforth and
Woolhampton), a cathedral priory (Hereford) and a nunnery (Stanbrook
Abbey, Worcester); there are besides in England three or four abbeys
belonging to foreign congregations, and several nunneries subject to the
bishops. Each congregation has its president, who is merely a president,
with limited powers, and not a general superior like the Provincials of
other orders; so that the primitive Benedictine principle of each
monastery being self-contained and autonomous is preserved. Similarly
each congregation is independent and self-governing, there being no
superior-general or central authority, as in other orders. Leo XIII.
established an international Benedictine College in Rome for theological
studies, and conferred on its abbot the title of "Abbot Primate," with
precedence among Black Monk abbots. He is only _primus inter pares_, and
exercises no kind of superiority over the other abbots or congregations.
Thus the Benedictine polity may be described as a number of autonomous
federations of autonomous monasteries. The individual monks, too, belong
not to the order or the congregation, but each to the monastery in which
he became a monk. The chief external work of the Benedictines at the
present day is secondary education; there are 114 secondary schools or
_gymnasia_ attached to the abbeys, wherein the monks teach over 12,000
boys; and many of the nunneries have girls' schools. In certain
countries (among them England) where there is a dearth of secular
priests, Benedictines undertake parochial work.
The statistics of the order (1905) show that of Black Benedictines there
are over 4000 choir-monks and nearly 2000 lay brothers--figures that
have more than doubled since 1880. If the Cistercians and lesser
offshoots of the order be added, the sum total of choir-monks and lay
brothers exceeds 11,000.
In conclusion a word must be said on the Benedictine nuns. From the
beginning the number of women living the Benedictine life has not fallen
far short of that of the men. St Gregory describes St Benedict's sister
Scholastica as a nun (_sanctimonialis_), and she is looked upon as the
foundress of Benedictine nuns. As the institute spread to other lands
nunneries arose on all sides, and nowhere were the Benedictine nuns more
numerous or more remarkable than in England, from Saxon times to the
Reformation. A strong type of womanhood is revealed in the
correspondence of St Boniface with various Saxon Benedictine nuns, some
in England and some who accompanied him to the continent and there
established great convents. In the early times the Benedictine nuns were
not strictly enclosed, and could, when occasion called for it, freely go
out of their convent walls to perform any special work: on the other
hand, they did not resemble the modern active congregations of women,
whose ordinary work lies outside the convent. It has to be said that in
the course of the middle ages, especially the later middle ages, grave
disorders arose in many convents; and this doubtless led, in the reform
movements initiated by the councils of Constance and Basel, and later of
Trent, to the introduction of strict enclosure in Benedictine convents,
which now is the almost universal practice. At the present day there are
of Black Benedictine nuns 262 convents with 7000 nuns, the large
majority being directly subject to the diocesan bishops; if the
Cistercians and others be included, there are 387 convents with nearly
11,000 nuns. In England there are a dozen Benedictine nunneries.
AUTHORITIES--The chief general authority for Benedictine history up to
the middle of the 12th century is Mabillon's _Annales_, in 6 vols.
folio; for the later period no such general work exists, but the
various countries, congregations or even abbeys have to be taken
separately. Montalembert's _Monks of the West_ gives the early history
very fully; the later history, to the beginning of the 18th century,
may be found in Helyot, _Hist. des ordres religieux_, v. and vi.
(1792). A useful sketch, with references to the best literature, is in
Max Heimbucher, _Orden und Kongregationen_ (1896), i. SS 17-28; see
also the article "Benedictinerorden" in Wetzer u. Welter,
_Kirchenlexicon_ (2nd ed.), and "Benedikt von Nursia und der
Benediktinerorden," in Herzog-Hauck, _Realencyklopadie_ (3rd ed.). For
England see Ethelred Taunton, _English Black Monks_ (1897); and for
the modern history (19th century) the series entitled "Succisa
Virescit" in the _Downside Review_, 1880 onwards, by J.G. Dolan. On
the inner spirit and working of the institute see F.A. Gasquet,
_Sketch of Monastic Constitutional History_ (being the preface to the
2nd ed., 1895, of the trans. of Montalembert) and _English Monastic
Life_ (1904); and Newman's two essays on the Benedictines, among the
_Historical Sketches_. On Benedictine nuns much will be found in the
above-mentioned authorities, and also in Lina Eckenstein, _Woman in
Monasticism_ (1896). On Benedictines and the Arts see F.H. Kraus,
_Geschichte der christlichen Kunst_ (Freiburg-i-B., 1896-1897).
(E. C. B.)
BENEDICTION (Lat. _benedictio_, from _benedicere_, to bless), generally,
the utterance of a blessing or of a devout wish for the prosperity and
happiness of a person or enterprise. In the usage of the Catholic
Church, both East and West, though the benediction as defined above has
its place as between one Christian and another, it has also a special
place in the sacramental system in virtue of the special powers of
blessing vested in the priesthood. Sacerdotal benedictions are not
indeed sacraments--means of grace ordained by Christ himself,--but
sacramentals (_sacramenta minora_) ordained by the authority of the
Church and exercised by the priests, as the plenipotentiaries of God, in
virtue of the powers conferred on them at their ordination; "that
whatever they bless may be blessed, and whatever they consecrate may be
consecrated." The power to bless in this ecclesiastical sense is
reserved to priests alone; the blessing of the paschal candle on Holy
Saturday by the deacon being the one exception that proves the rule, for
he uses for the purpose grains of incense previously blessed by the
priest at the altar. But though by some the benediction has thus been
brought into connexion with the supreme means of grace, the sacrifice of
the Mass, the blessing does not in itself confer grace and does not act
on its recipients _ex opere operato_. It must not be supposed, however,
that the Catholic idea of a sacerdotal blessing has anything of the
vague character associated with a benediction by Protestants. Both by
Catholics and by Protestants blessings may be applied to things
inanimate as well as animate; but while in the reformed Churches this
involves no more than an appeal to God for a special blessing, or a
solemn "setting apart" of persons or objects for sacred purposes, in the
Catholic idea it implies a special power, conferred by God, of the
priests over the invisible forces of evil. It thus stands in the closest
relation to the rite of exorcism, of which it is the complement.
According to Catholic doctrine, the Fall involved the subjection, not
only of man, but of all things animate and inanimate, to the influence
of evil spirits; in support of which St Paul's epistles to the Romans
(viii.) and to Timothy (1 Tim. iv. 4-5) are quoted. This belief is, of
course, not specifically Christian; it has been held at all times and
everywhere by men of the most various races and creeds; and, if there be
any validity in the contention that that is true which has been held
_semper, ubique, et ab omnibus_, no fact is better established. In
general it may be said, then, that whereas exorcism is practised in
order to cast out devils already in possession, benediction is the
formula by which they are prevented from entering in. Protestants have
condemned these formulae as so much magic, and in this modern science
tends to agree with them; but to orthodox Protestants at least Catholics
have a perfect right to reply that, in taking this line, they are but
repeating the accusation brought by the Pharisees against Christ, viz.
that he cast out devils "by Beelzebub, prince of the devils."
Though, however, the discomfiture of malignant spirits still plays an
important part in the Catholic doctrine of benedictions, this has on the
whole tended to become subordinated to other benefits. This is but
natural; for, though the progress of knowledge has not disproved the
existence of devils, it has greatly limited the supposed range of their
activities. According to Father Patrick Morrisroe, dean and professor of
liturgy at Maynooth, the efficacy of benedictions is fourfold: (1) the
excitation of pious emotions and affections of the heart, and by their
means the remission of venial sins and of the temporal punishments due
for these; (2) freedom from the power of evil spirits; (3) preservation
and restoration of bodily health; (4) various other benefits, temporal
and spiritual. Benedictions, moreover, are twofold: (a) invocative, i.e.
those invoking the divine benignity for persons and things without
changing their condition, e.g. children or food; (b) constitutive, i.e.
those which give to persons or things an indelible religious character,
i.e. monks and nuns, or the furniture of the altar. The second of these
brings the act of benediction into contact with the principle of
consecration (q.v.); for by the formal blessing by the duly constituted
authority persons, places and things are consecrated, i.e. reserved to
sacred uses and preserved from the contaminating influence of evil
spirits. Thus graveyards are consecrated, i.e. solemnly blessed in order
that the powers of evil may not disturb the bodies of the faithful
departed; thus, too, the blessing of bells gives them a special power
against evil demons.
Though the giving of blessings as a sacerdotal function is proper to the
whole order of priests, particular benedictions have, by ecclesiastical
authority, been reserved for the bishops, who may, however, delegate
some of them; i.e. the benediction of abbots, of priests at their
ordination, of virgins taking the veil, of churches, cemeteries,
oratories, and of all articles for use in connexion with the altar
(chalices, patens, vestments, &c.), of military colours, of soldiers and
of their arms. The holy oil is also blessed by bishops in the Roman
Catholic Church; in the Greek Church, on the other hand, the oil for the
chrism at baptism is blessed by the priest. To the pope alone is
reserved the blessing of the pallium, the golden rose, the "Agnus-Dei"
and royal swords; he alone, too, can issue blessings that involve some
days' indulgence. The ceremonies prescribed for the various benedictions
are set forth in the _Rituale Romanum_ (tit. viii.). In general it is
laid down (cap. i.) that the priest, in benedictions outside the Mass,
shall be vested in surplice and stole, and shall give the blessing
standing and bare-headed. Certain prayers are said before each
benediction, after which he sprinkles the person or thing to be blessed
with holy water and, where prescribed, censes them. He is attended by a
minister with a vase of holy water, an _aspergillum_ and a copy of the
_Rituale_ or missal. In all benedictions the sign of the cross is made.
In the blessing of the holy water (cap. ii.), the essential instrument
of all benedictions, the object is dearly to establish its potency
against evil spirits. First the "creature of salt" is exorcized, "that
... thou mayest be to all who take thee health of body and soul; that
wherever thou art sprinkled every phantasy and wickedness and wile of
diabolic deceit may flee and leave that place, and every unclean
spirit"; a prayer to God for the blessing of the salt follows; then the
"creature of water" is exorcized, "that thou mayest become exorcized
water for the purpose of putting to flight every power of the enemy,
that thou mayest avail to uproot and expel this enemy with all his
apostate angels, by the virtue of the same our Lord Jesus Christ, &c.";
and again a prayer to God follows that the water may "become a creature
in the service of His mysteries, for the driving out of demons, &c." In
the formulae of blessings that follow, the special efficacy against
devils is implied by the aspersion with holy water; the benedictions
themselves are usually merely invocative of the divine protection or
assistance, though, e.g., in the form for blessing sick animals the
priest prays that "all diabolic power in them may be destroyed, and that
they may be ill no longer." It is to be remarked that the "laying on of
hands," which in the Old and the New Testament alike is the usual "form"
of blessing, is not used in liturgical benedictions, the priest being
directed merely to extend his right hand towards the person to be
blessed. The appendix _de Benedictionibus_ to the _Rituale Romanum_
contains formulae, often of much simple beauty, for blessing all manner
of persons and things, from the congregation as a whole and sick men and
women, to railways, ships, blast-furnaces, lime-kilns, articles of food,
medicine and medical bandages and all manner of domestic animals.
The _Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament_, commonly called simply
"Benediction" (Fr. _salut_, Ger. _Segen_), is one of the most popular of
the services of the Roman Catholic Church. It is usually held in the
afternoon or evening, sometimes at the conclusion of Vespers, Compline
or the Stations of the Cross, and consists in the singing of certain
hymns and canticles, more particularly the _O salutaris hostia_ and the
_Tantum ergo_, before the host, which is exposed on the altar in a
monstrance and surrounded by not less than ten lighted candles. Often
litanies and hymns to the Virgin are added. At the conclusion the
priest, his shoulders wrapped in the humeral veil, takes the monstrance
and with it makes the sign of the cross over the kneeling congregation,
whence the name Benediction. The service, the details of which vary in
different countries, is of comparatively modern origin. Father Thurston
traces it to a combination in the 16th and 17th centuries of customs
that had their origin in the 13th, i.e. certain gild services in honour
of the Blessed Virgin, and the growing habit, resulting naturally from
the doctrine of transubstantiation, of ascribing a supreme virtue to the
act of looking on the Holy Sacrament.
In the reformed Churches the word "benediction" is technically confined
to the blessing with which the priest or minister dismisses the
congregation at the close of the service.
See the article "Benediktionen," by E.C. Achelis in Herzog-Hauck,
_Realencyklopadie_ (Leipzig, 1897); _The Catholic Encyclopaedia_
(London and New York, 1908) s. "Blessing," by P. Morrisroe, and
"Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament," by Herbert Thurston, S.J.; in
all of which further authorities are cited.
BENEDICTUS, the hymn of Zacharias (Luke i. 68 sqq.), so called from the
opening word of the Latin version. The hymn has been used in Christian
worship since at least the 9th century, and was adopted into the
Anglican Order of Morning Prayer from the Roman service of matin-lauds.
In the Prayer-Book of 1549 there was no alternative to the _Benedictus_;
it was to be used "throughout the whole year." In 1552 the _Jubilate_
was inserted without any restriction as to how often it should take the
place of the _Benedictus_. Such restriction is clearly implied in the
words "except when that (Benedictus) shall happen to be read in the
chapter for the day, or for the Gospel on Saint John Baptist's day,"
which were inserted in 1662. The rubric of 1532 had this curious
wording: "And after the Second Lesson shall be used and said, Benedictus
in English, as followeth."
The name is also given to a part of the Roman Catholic mass service
beginning _Benedictus qui venit_.
BENEDICTUS ABBAS (d. 1194), abbot of Peterborough, whose name is
accidentally connected with the _Gesta Henrici Regis Secundi_, one of
the most valuable of English 12th-century chronicles. He first makes his
appearance in 1174, as the chancellor of Archbishop Richard, the
successor of Becket in the primacy. In 1175 Benedictus became prior of
Holy Trinity, Canterbury; in 1177 he received from Henry II. the abbacy
of Peterborough, which he held until his death. As abbot he
distinguished himself by his activity in building, in administering the
finances of his house and in collecting a library. He is described in
the _Chronicon Petroburgense_ as "blessed both in name and deed." He
belonged to the circle of Becket's admirers, and wrote two works dealing
with the martyrdom and the miracles of his hero. Fragments of the former
work have come down to us in the compilation known as the _Quadrilogus_,
which is printed in the fourth volume of J.C. Robertson's _Materials for
the History of Thomas Becket_ (Rolls series); the miracles are extant
in their entirety, and are printed in the second volume of the same
collection. Benedictus has been credited with the authorship of the
_Gesta Henrici_ on the ground that his name appears in the title of the
oldest manuscript. We have, however, conclusive evidence that Benedictus
merely caused this work to be transcribed for the Peterborough library.
It is only through the force of custom that the work is still
occasionally cited under the name of Benedictus. The question of
authorship has been discussed by Sir T.D. Hardy, Bishop Stubbs and
Professor Liebermann; but the results of the discussion are negative.
Stubbs conjecturally identified the first part of the _Gesta_
(1170-1177) with the _Liber Tricolumnis_, a register of contemporary
events kept by Richard Fitz Neal (q.v.), the treasurer of Henry II. and
author of the _Dialogus de Scaccario_; the latter part (1177-1192) was
by the same authority ascribed to Roger of Hoveden, who makes large use
of the _Gesta_ in his own chronicle, copying them with few alterations
beyond the addition of some documents. This theory, so far as concerns
the _Liber Tricolumnis_, is rejected by Liebermann and the most recent
editors of the _Dialogus_ (A. Hughes, C.G. Crump and C. Johnson, Oxford,
1902). We can only say that the _Gesta_ are the work of a well-informed
contemporary who appears to have been closely connected with the court
and is inclined on all occasions to take the side of Henry II. The
author confines himself to the external history of events, and his tone
is strictly impersonal. He incorporates some official documents, and in
many places obviously derives his information from others which he does
not quote. There is a break in his work at the year 1177, where the
earliest manuscript ends; but the reasons which have been given to prove
that the authorship changes at this point are inconclusive. The work
begins at Christmas 1169, and concludes in 1192; it is thus in form a
fragment, covering portions of the reign of Henry II. and Richard I.
See W. Stubbs' _Gesta regis Henrici Secundi Benedicti abbatis_ (2
vols., Rolls series, 1867), and particularly the preface to the first
volume; F. Liebermann in _Einleitung in den Dialogus de Scaccario_
(Gottingen, 1875); in _Ostenglische Geschichtsquellen_ (Hanover,
1892); and in Pertz's _Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores_,
vol. xxvii. pp. 82, 83; also the introduction to the _Dialogus de
Scaccario_ in the Oxford edition of 1902. (H. W. C. D.)
BENEDIX, JULIUS RODERICH (1811-1873), German dramatist and librettist,
was born at Leipzig on the 21st of January 1811, and was educated at the
Thomasschule at Leipzig. He joined the stage in 1831, his first
engagement being with the travelling company of H.E. Bethmann in Dessau,
Cothen, Bernburg and Meiningen. Subsequently he was tenor in several
theatres in Westphalia and on the Rhine, and became manager of the
theatre at Wesel, where he produced a comedy, _Das bemooste Haupt_
(1841), which met with great success. After an engagement in Cologne, he
managed the new theatre at Elberfeld (1844-1845) and in 1849 was
appointed teacher on the staff of the Rhenish school of music in
Cologne. In 1855 he was appointed intendant of the municipal theatre in
Frankfort-On-Main, but retired in 1861, and died in Leipzig on the 26th
of September 1873. Benedix's comedies, the scenes of which are mostly
laid in upper middle-class life, still enjoy some popularity; the
best-known are: _Dr Wespe; Die Hochzeitsreise; Der Vetter; Das
Gefangnis; Das Lugen; Ein Lustspiel; Der Storenfried; Die Dienstboten;
Aschenbrodel; Die zartlichen Verwandten_. The chief characteristics of
his farces are a clear plot and bright, easy and natural dialogue. Among
his more serious works are: _Bilder aus dem Schauspielerleben_ (Leipzig,
1847); _Der mundliche Vortrag_ (Leipzig, 1859-1860); _Das Wesen des
deutschen Rhythmus_ (Leipzig, 1862) and, posthumously, _Die
Shakespearomanie_ (1873), in which he attacks the extreme adoration of
the British poet.
Benedix's _Gesammelte dramatische Werke_ appeared in 27 vols.
(Leipzig, 1846-1875); a selection under the title _Volkstheater_ in 20
vols. (Leipzig, 1882); and a collection of smaller comedies as
_Haustheater_ in 2 vols. (both ed., Leipzig, 1891); see Benedix's
autobiography in the _Gartenlaube_ for 1871.
BENEFICE (Lat. _beneficium_, benefit), a term first applied under the
Roman empire to portions of land, the usufruct of which was granted by
the emperors to their soldiers or others for life, as a reward or
_beneficium_ for past services, and as a retainer for future services. A
list of all such _beneficia_ was recorded in the _Book of Benefices
(Liber Beneficiorum_), which was kept by the principal registrar of
benefices (_Primiscrinius Beneficiorum_). In imitation of the practice
observed under the Roman empire, the term came to be applied under the
feudal system to portions of land granted by a lord to his vassal for
the maintenance of the latter on condition of his rendering military
service; and such grants were originally for life only, and the land
reverted to the lord on the death of the vassal. In a similar manner
grants of land, or of the profits of land, appear to have been made by
the bishops to their clergy for life, on the ground of some
extraordinary merit on the part of the grantee. The validity of such
grants was first formally recognized by the council of Orleans, A.D.
511, which forbade, however, under any circumstances, the alienation
from the bishoprics of any lands so granted. The next following council
of Orleans, 533, broke in upon this principle, by declaring that a
bishop could not reclaim from his clergy any grants made to them by his
predecessor, excepting in cases of misconduct. This innovation on the
ancient practice was confirmed by the subsequent council of Lyons, 566,
and from this period these grants ceased to be regarded as personal, and
their substance became annexed to the churches,--in other words, they
were henceforth enjoyed _jure tituli_, and no longer _jure personali_.
How and when the term _beneficia_ came to be applied to these episcopal
grants is uncertain, but they are designated by that term in a canon of
the council of Mainz, 813.
The term benefice, according to the canon law, implies always an
ecclesiastical office, _propter quod beneficium datur_, but it does not
always imply a cure of souls. It has been defined to be the right which
a clerk has to enjoy certain ecclesiastical revenues on condition of
discharging certain services prescribed by the canons, or by usage, or
by the conditions under which his office has been founded. These
services might be those of a secular priest with cure of souls, or they
might be those of a regular priest, a member of a religious order,
without cure of souls; but in every case a benefice implied three
things: (1) An obligation to discharge the duties of an office, which is
altogether spiritual; (2) The right to enjoy the fruits attached to that
office, which is the benefice itself; (3) The fruits themselves, which
are the temporalities. By keeping these distinctions in view, the right
of patronage in the case of secular benefices becomes intelligible,
being in fact the right, which was originally vested in the donor of the
temporalities, to present to the bishop a clerk to be admitted, if found
fit by the bishop, to the office to which those temporalities are
annexed. Nomination or presentation on the part of the patron of the
benefice is thus the first requisite in order that a clerk should become
legally entitled to a benefice. The next requisite is that he should be
admitted by the bishop as a fit person for the spiritual office to which
the benefice is annexed, and the bishop is the judge of the sufficiency
of the clerk to be so admitted. By the early constitutions of the Church
of England a bishop was allowed a space of two months to inquire and
inform himself of the sufficiency of every presentee, but by the
ninety-fifth of the canons of 1604 that interval has been abridged to
twenty-eight days, within which the bishop must admit or reject the
clerk. If the bishop rejects the clerk within that time he is liable to
a _duplex querela_ in the ecclesiastical courts, or to a _quare impedit_
in the common law courts, and the bishop must then certify the reasons
of his refusal. In cases where the patron is himself a clerk in orders,
and wishes to be admitted to the benefice, he must proceed by way of
petition instead of by deed of presentation, reciting that the benefice
is in his own patronage, and petitioning the bishop to examine him and
admit him. Upon the bishop having satisfied himself of the sufficiency
of the clerk, he proceeds to institute him to the spiritual office to
which the benefice is annexed, but, before such institution can take
place, the clerk is required to make a declaration of assent to the
Thirty-nine Articles of Religion and to the Book of Common Prayer
according to a form prescribed in the Clerical Subscription Act 1865, to
make a declaration against simony in accordance with that act, and to
take and subscribe the oath of allegiance according to the form in the
Promissory Oaths Act 1868. The bishop, by the act of institution,
commits to the clerk the cure of souls attached to the office to which
the benefice is annexed. In cases where the bishop himself is patron of
the benefice, no presentation or petition is required to be tendered by
the clerk, but the bishop having satisfied himself of the sufficiency of
the clerk, collates him to the benefice and office. It is not necessary
that the bishop himself should personally institute or collate a clerk;
he may issue a fiat to his vicar-general, or to a special commissary for
that purpose. After the bishop or his commissary has instituted the
presentee, he issues a mandate under seal, addressed to the archdeacon
or some other neighbouring clergyman, authorizing him to induct the
clerk into his benefice,--in other words, to put him into legal
possession of the temporalities, which is done by some outward form, and
for the most part by delivery of the bell-rope to the clerk, who
thereupon tolls the bell. This form of induction is required to give the
clerk a legal title to his _beneficium_, although his admission to the
office by institution is sufficient to vacate any other benefice which
he may already possess.
By a decree of the Lateran council of 1215, which was enforced in
England, no clerk can hold two benefices with cure of souls, and if a
beneficed clerk shall take a second benefice with cure of souls, he
vacates _ipso facto_ his first benefice. Dispensations, however, could
be easily obtained from Rome, before the reformation of the Church of
England, to enable a clerk to hold several ecclesiastical dignities or
benefices at the same time, and by the Peterpence, Dispensations, &c.
Act 1534, the power to grant such dispensations, which had been
exercised previously by the court of Rome, was transferred to the
archbishop of Canterbury, certain ecclesiastical persons having been
declared by a previous statute (1529) to be entitled to such
dispensations. The system of pluralities carried with it, as a necessary
consequence, systematic non-residence on the part of many incumbents,
and delegation of their spiritual duties in respect of their cures of
souls to assistant curates. The evils attendant on this system were
found to be so great that the Pluralities Act 1838 was passed to abridge
the holding of benefices in plurality, and it was enacted that no person
should hold under any circumstances more than two benefices, and this
privilege was made subject to the restriction that his benefices were
within ten statute miles of each other. By the Pluralities Act 1850, the
restriction was further narrowed, so that no spiritual person could hold
two benefices except the churches of such benefices were within three
miles of each other by the nearest road, and the annual value of one of
such benefices did not exceed L100. By this statute the term benefice is
defined to mean benefice with cure of souls and no other, and therein to
comprehend all parishes, perpetual curacies, donatives, endowed public
chapels, parochial chapelries and chapelries or districts belonging or
reputed to belong, or annexed or reputed to be annexed, to any church or
chapel. The Pluralities Acts Amendment Act 1885, however, enacted that,
by dispensation from the archbishop, two benefices could be held
together, the churches of which are within four miles of each other, and
the annual value of one of which does not exceed L200.
All benefices except those under the clear annual value of L50 pay their
first fruits (one year's profits) and tenths (of yearly profits) to
Queen Anne's Bounty for the augmentation of the maintenance of the
poorer clergy. Their profits during vacation belong to the next
incumbent. Tithe rent charge attached to a benefice is relieved from
payment of one-half of the agricultural rates assessed thereon.
Benefices may be exchanged by agreement between incumbents with the
consent of the ordinary, and they may, with the consent of the patron
and ordinary, be united or dissolved after being united. They may also
be charged with the repayment of money laid out for their permanent
advantage, and be augmented wholly by the medium of Queen Anne's Bounty.
A benefice is avoided or vacated--(1) by death; (2) by resignation, if
the bishop is willing to accept the resignation: by the Incumbents'
Resignation Act 1871, Amendment Act 1887, any clergyman who has been an
incumbent of one benefice continuously for seven years, and is
incapacitated by permanent mental or bodily infirmities from fulfilling
his duties, may, if the bishop thinks fit, have a commission appointed
to consider the fitness of his resigning; and if the commission report
in favour of his resigning, he may, with the consent of the patron (or,
if that is refused, with the consent of the archbishop) resign the cure
of souls into the bishop's hands, and have assigned to him, out of the
benefice, a retiring-pension not exceeding one-third of its annual
value, which is recoverable as a debt from his successor; (3) by
cession, upon the clerk being instituted to another benefice or some
other preferment incompatible with it; (4) by deprivation and sentence
of an ecclesiastical court; under the Clergy Discipline Act 1892, an
incumbent who has been convicted of offences against the law of
bastardy, or against whom judgment has been given in a divorce or
matrimonial cause, is deprived, and on being found guilty in the
consistory court of immorality or ecclesiastical offences (not in
respect of doctrine or ritual), he may be deprived or suspended or
declared incapable of preferment; (5) by act of law in consequence of
simony; (6) by default of the clerk in neglecting to read publicly in
the church the Book of Common Prayer, and to declare his assent thereto
within two months after his induction, pursuant to an act of 1662.
See also ADVOWSON; GLEBE; INCUMBENT; VICAR; also Phillimore, _Eccles.
Law_; Cripps, _Law of Church and Clergy_.
BENEFICIARY (from Lat. _beneficium_, a benefit), in law, one who holds a
benefice; one who is beneficially entitled to, or interested in,
property, i.e. entitled to it for his own benefit, and not merely
holding it for others, as does an executor or trustee. In this latter
sense it is nearly equivalent to _cestui que trust_, a term which it is
gradually superseding in modern law.
BENEKE, FRIEDRICH EDUARD (1798-1854), German psychologist, was born at
Berlin on the 17th of February 1798, studied at the universities of
Halle and Berlin, and served as a volunteer in the war of 1815. After
studying theology under Schleiermacher and De Wette, he turned to pure
philosophy, studying particularly English writers and the German
modifiers of Kantianism, such as Jacobi, Fries and Schopenhauer. In 1820
he published his _Erkenntnisslehre_, his _Erfahrungsseelenlehre als
Grundlage alles Wissens_, and his inaugural dissertation _De Veris
Philosophiae Initiis_. His marked opposition to the philosophy of Hegel,
then dominant in Berlin, was shown more clearly in the short tract,
_Neue Grundlegung zur Metaphysik_ (1822), intended to be the programme
for his lectures as privat-docent, and in the able treatise,
_Grundlegung zur Physlk der Sitten_ (1822), written, in direct
antagonism to Kant's _Metaphysic of Ethics_, to deduce ethical
principles from a basis of empirical feeling. In 1822 his lectures were
prohibited at Berlin, according to his own belief through the influence
of Hegel with the Prussian authorities, who also prevented him from
obtaining a chair from the Saxon government. He retired to Gottingen,
lectured there for some years, and was then allowed to return to Berlin.
In 1832 he received an appointment as _professor extraordinarius_ in the
university, which he continued to hold till his death. On the 1st of
March 1854 he disappeared, and more than two years later his remains
were found in the canal near Charlottenburg. There was some suspicion
that he had committed suicide in a fit of mental depression.
The distinctive peculiarity of Beneke's system consists, first, in the
firmness with which he maintained that in empirical psychology is to be
found the basis of all philosophy; and secondly, in his rigid treatment
of mental phenomena by the genetic method. According to him, the
perfected mind is a development from simple elements, and the first
problem of philosophy is the determination of these elements and of the
processes by which the development takes place. In his _Neue
Psychologie_, (essays iii., viii. and ix.), he defined his position with
regard to his predecessors and contemporaries, and both there and in the
introduction to his _Lehrbuch_ signalized as the two great stages in the
progress of psychology the negation of innate ideas by Locke, and of
faculties, in the ordinary acceptation of the term, by Herbart. The
next step was his own; he insisted that psychology must be treated as
one of the natural sciences. As is the case with them, its content is
given by experience alone, and differs from theirs only in being the
object of the internal as opposed to the external sense. But by this
Beneke in no wise meant a psychology founded on physiology. These two
sciences, in his opinion, had quite distinct provinces and gave no
mutual assistance. Just as little help is to be expected from the
science of the body as from mathematics and metaphysics, both of which
had been pressed by Herbart into the service of psychology. The true
method of study is that applied with so much success in the physical
sciences--critical examination of the given experience, and reference of
it to ultimate causes, which may not be themselves perceived, but are
nevertheless hypotheses necessary to account for the facts. (See on
method, _Neue Psych._, essay i.)
Starting from the two assumptions that there is nothing, or at least
no formed product, innate in the mind, and that definite faculties do
not originally exist, and from the fact that our minds nevertheless
actually have a definite content and definite modes of action, Beneke
proceeds to state somewhat dogmatically his scientifically verifiable
hypotheses as to the primitive condition of the soul and the laws
according to which it develops. Originally the soul is possessed of or
is an immense variety of powers, faculties or forces (conceptions
which Beneke, in opposition to Herbart, holds to be metaphysically
justifiable), differing from one another only in tenacity, vivacity,
receptivity and grouping. These primitive immaterial forces, so
closely united as to form but one being (essence), acquire
definiteness or form through the action upon them of _stimuli_ or
excitants from the outer world. This action of external impressions
which are appropriated by the internal powers is the first fundamental
process in the genesis of the completed mind. If the union of
impression and faculty be sufficiently strong, consciousness (not
_self_-consciousness) arises, and definite sensations and perceptions
begin to be formed. These primitive sensations, however, are not to be
identified with the sensations of the special senses, for each of
these senses is a system of many powers which have grown into a
definite unity, have been educated by experience. From ordinary
experience it must be concluded that a second fundamental process is
incessantly going on, viz. the formation of new powers, which takes
place principally during sleep. The third and most important process
results from the fact that the combination between stimulus and power
may be weak or strong; if weak, then the two elements are said to be
movable, and they may flow over from one to another of the already
formed psychical products. Any formed faculty does not cease to exist
on the removal of its stimulus; in virtue of its fundamental property,
_tenacity_, it sinks back as a trace (_Spur_) into unconsciousness,
whence it may be recalled by the application to it of another
stimulus, or by the attraction towards it of some of the movable
elements or newly-formed original powers. These traces and the flowing
over of the movable elements are the most important conceptions in
Beneke's psychology; by means of them he gives a rationale of
reproduction and association, and strives to show that all the formed
faculties are simply developments from traces of earlier processes.
Lastly, similar forms, according to the degree of their similarity,
attract one another or tend to form closer combinations.
All psychical phenomena are explicable by the relation of impression
and power, and by the flow of movable elements; the whole process of
mental development is nothing but the result of the action and
interaction of the above simple laws. In general this growth may be
said to take the direction of rendering more and more definite by
repetition and attraction of like to like the originally indefinite
activities of the primary faculties. Thus the sensations of the
special senses are gradually formed from the primary sensuous feelings
(_sinnliche Empfindungen_); concepts are formed from intuitions of
individuals by the attraction of the common elements, and the
consequent flow towards them of movable forms. Judgment is the
springing into consciousness of a concept alongside of an intuition,
or of a higher concept alongside of a lower. Reasoning is merely a
more complex judgment. Nor are there special faculties of judging or
reasoning. The understanding is simply the mass of concepts lying in
the background of unconsciousness, ready to be called up and to flow
with force towards anything closely connected with them. Even memory
is not a special faculty; it is simply the fundamental property of
tenacity possessed by the original faculties. The very distinction
between the great classes, Knowledge, Feeling and Will, may be
referred to elementary differences in the original relations of
faculty and impression.
This is the groundwork of Beneke's philosophy. It should be carefully
compared with the association psychology of modern British thinkers,
most of whose results and processes will be found there worked into a
comprehensive system (see ASSOCIATION OF IDEAS). In logic, metaphysics
and ethics Beneke's speculations are naturally dependent on his
psychology.
The special value of Beneke's works, as has been already said,
consists in the many specimens of acute psychological analysis
scattered throughout them. As a complete explanation of psychical
facts, the theory seems defective. The original hypotheses, peculiar
to Beneke, on which the whole depends, are hastily assumed and rest on
a clumsy mechanical metaphor. As is the case with all empirical
theories of mental development, the higher categories or notions,
which are apparently shown to result from the simple elements, are
really presupposed at every step. Particularly unsatisfactory is the
account of consciousness, which is said to arise from the union of
impression and faculty. The necessity of consciousness for any mental
action whatsoever is apparently granted, but the conditions involved
in it are never discussed or mentioned. The same defect appears in the
account of ethical judgment; no amount of empirical fact can ever
yield the notion of absolute duty. His results have found acceptance
mainly with practical teachers. Undoubtedly his minute analysis of
temperament and careful exposition of the means whereby the young,
unformed mind may be trained are of infinite value; but the truth of
many of his doctrines on these points lends no support to the
fundamental hypotheses, from which, indeed, they might be almost
entirely severed.
Beneke was a most prolific writer, and besides the works mentioned
above, published large treatises in the several departments of
philosophy, both pure and as applied to education and ordinary life. A
complete list of his writings will be found in the appendix to
Dressler's edition of the _Lehrbuch der Psychologie als
Naturwissenschaft_ (1861). The chief are:--_Psychologische Skizzen_
(1825, 1827); _Lehrbuch der Psychologie_ (1832); _Metaphysik und
Religionsphilosophie_ (1840); _Die neue Psychologie_ (1845);
_Pragmatische Psychologie oder Seelenlehre in der Anwendung auf das
Leben_ (1832).
Among German writers, who, though not professed followers of Beneke,
have been largely influenced by him, may be mentioned Ueberweg and
Karl Fortlage (1806-1881). In England, perhaps, the only writer who
shows traces of acquaintance with his works is J.D. Morell (_Introd.
to Mental Philosophy_). The most eminent members of the school are
J.G. Dressler (whose _Beneke oder Seelenlehre als Naturwissenschaft_
is an admirable exposition), Fried. Dittes and G. Raue. The compendium
by the last-named author passed through four editions in Germany, and
has been translated into French, Flemish and English. The English
translation, _Elements of Psychology_ (1871), gives a lucid and
succinct view of the whole system.
Among more recent works on Beneke are O.E. Hummel, _Die
Unterrichtslehre Benekes_ (Leipzig, 1885); on his ethical theory,
C.H.Th. Kuhn, _Die Sittenlehre F.E. Benekes_ (1892); Joh. Friedrich,
_F.E. Beneke_ (Wiesbaden, 1898, with biography and list of works);
Otto Gramzow, _F.E. Benekes Leben und Philos._ (Bern, 1899, with full
bibliography); on his theory of knowledge, H. Renner, _Benekes
Erkenninistheorie_ (Halle, 1902); on his metaphysics, _Die Metaphysik
Benekes_, by A. Wandschneider (Berlin, 1903); Brandt, _Beneke, the Man
and His Philosophy_ (New York, 1895); Falckenberg, _Hist. of Phil._
(Eng. trans., 1895); and H. Hoffding, _Hist. of Mod. Phil._ vol. ii.
(Eng. trans., 1900). (R. Ad.)
BENETT, ETHELDRED (1776-1845), one of the earliest of English women
geologists, the second daughter of Thomas Benett, of Pyt House near
Tisbury, was born in 1776. Later she resided at Norton House, near
Warminster, in Wiltshire, and for more than a quarter of a century
devoted herself to collecting and studying the fossils of her native
county. She contributed "A Catalogue of the Organic Remains of the
County of Wilts" to Sir R.C. Hoare's _County History_, and a limited
number of copies of this work were printed as a separate volume (1831)
and privately distributed. She died on the 11th of January 1845.
BENEVENTO, a town and archiepiscopal see of Campania, Italy, capital of
the province of Benevento, 60 m. by rail and 32 m. direct N.E. of
Naples, situated on a hill 400 ft. above sea-level at the confluence of
the Calore and Sabbato. Pop. (1901) town, 17,227; commune, 24,137. It
occupies the site of the ancient Beneventum, originally Maleventum or
Maluentum, supposed in the imperial period to have been founded by
Diomedes. It was the chief town of the Samnites, who took refuge here
after their defeat by the Romans in 314 B.C. It appears not to have
fallen into the hands of the latter until Pyrrhus's absence in Sicily,
but served them as a base of operations in the last campaign against him
in 275 B.C. A Latin colony was planted there in 268 B.C., and it was
then that the name was changed for the sake of the omen, and probably
then that the Via Appia was extended from Capua to Beneventum. It
remained in the hands of the Romans during both the Punic and the Social
Wars, and was a fortress of importance to them. The position is strong,
being protected by the two rivers mentioned, and the medieval
fortifications, which are nearly 2 m. in length, probably follow the
ancient line, which was razed to the ground by Totila in A.D. 542.
After the Social War it became a _municipium_ and under Augustus a
colony. Being a meeting point of six main roads,[1] it was much visited
by travellers. Its importance is vouched for by the many remains of
antiquity which it possesses, of which the most famous is the triumphal
arch erected in honour of Trajan by the senate and people of Rome in
A.D. 114, with important reliefs relating to its history (E. Petersen in
_Romische Mitteilungen_, 1892, 241; A. von Domaszewzki in _Jahreshefte
des Osterreich. archaologischen Instituts_, ii., 1899, 173). There are
also considerable remains of the ancient theatre, a large
_cryptoporticus_ 197 ft. long known as the ruins of Santi Quaranta, and
probably an emporium (according to Meomartini, the portion preserved is
only a fraction of the whole, which once measured 1791 ft. in length)
and an ancient brick arch (called the Arco del Sacramento), while below
the town is the Ponte Lebroso, a bridge of the Via Appia over the
Sabbato, and along the road to Avellino are remains of _thermae_. Many
inscriptions and ancient fragments may be seen built into the houses; in
front of the Madonna delle Grazie is a bull in red Egyptian granite, and
in the Piazza Papiniano the fragments of two Egyptian obelisks erected
in A.D. 88 in front of the temple of Isis in honour of Domitian. In 1903
the foundations of this temple were discovered close to the Arch of
Trajan, and many fragments of fine sculptures in both the Egyptian and
the Greco-Roman style belonging to it were found. They had apparently
been used as the foundation of a portion of the city wall, reconstructed
in A.D. 663 under the fear of an attack by Constans, the Byzantine
emperor, the temple having been destroyed under the influence of the
bishop, St Barbatus, to provide the necessary material (A. Meomartini,
O. Marucchi and L. Savignoni in _Notizie degli Scavi_, 1904, 107 sqq.).
Not long after it had been sacked by Totila Benevento became the seat of
a powerful Lombard duchy and continued to be independent until 1053,
when the emperor Henry III. ceded it to Leo IX. in exchange for the
bishopric of Bamberg; and it continued to be a papal possession until
1806, when Napoleon granted it to Talleyrand with the title of prince.
In 1815 it returned to the papacy, but was united to Italy in 1860.
Manfred lost his life in 1266 in battle with Charles of Anjou not far
from the town. Much damage has been done by earthquakes from time to
time. The church of S. Sofia, a circular edifice of about 760, now
modernized, the roof of which is supported by six ancient columns, is a
relic of the Lombard period; it has a fine cloister of the 12th century
constructed in part of fragments of earlier buildings; while the
cathedral with its fine arcaded facade and incomplete square campanile
(begun in 1279) dates from the 9th century and was rebuilt in 1114. The
bronze doors, adorned with bas-reliefs, are good; they may belong to the
beginning of the 13th century. The interior is in the form of a
basilica, the double aisles being borne by ancient columns, and contains
_ambones_ and a candelabrum of 1311, the former resting on columns
supported by lions, and decorated with reliefs and coloured marble
mosaic. The castle at the highest point of the town was erected in the
14th century.
Benevento is a station on the railway from Naples to Foggia, and has
branch lines to Campobasso and to Avellino.
See A. Meomartini, _Monumenti e opere d'Arte di Benevento_ (Benevento,
1899); T. Ashby, _Melanges de l'ecole francaise_, 1903, 416.
(T. As.)