it, traduite et expliquee par M.
de Rance, abbe de la Trappe, 2 vols. 4to. 1690, an excellent work
for those who are, bound to study, and imbibe the spirit of this
holy rule. It is reduced into meditations; which, as Calmet was
informed by Mabillon, was done by a Benedictin nun. We have also
Meditations on the Rule of St. Benedict, compiled by Dom. Morelle,
author of many other works of piety and devotion. We have also very
devout reflections on the prayers used in the religious profession
of this order, under the following title: Sentiments de Piete sur la
Profession religieuse, par un religieux Benedictin de la
Congregation de St. Maur. Dom. Berthelet, of the congregation of St.
Vannes, proves abstinence from flesh to have been anciently an
essential duty of the monastic state, by an express book, entitled,
Traite Historique et Moral de l'Abstinence de la Viande, 1731.
9. When the Lombards destroyed this famous abbey, in 580, St. Bennet,
the abbot, escaped with all his monks to Rome, carrying with him
only a copy of the Rule, written by St. Benedict himself, some of
the habits which he and his sister St. Scholastica had worn, and the
weight of the bread and measure of the wine which were the daily
allowance for every monk. Pope Pelagius II. lodged these fathers
near the Lateran church, where they built a monastery. In the
pontificate of Gregory II., about the year 720, they were conducted
back by abbot Petronax to Mount Cassino. This abbey was again ruined
by the Saracens in 884: also by the Normans in 1046, and by the
emperor Frederick II. in 1239. But was as often rebuilt. It is at
this day very stately, and the abbot exercises an eplscopal
jurisdiction over the town of San Germano, three little miles
distant, and over twenty-one other parishes. The regular abbot of
Saint Scholastica at Subiaco, is temporal and spiritual lord of
twenty-five villages. The Benedictins reckon in their order,
comprising all its branches and filiations, thirty-seven thousand
houses. As to the number of emperors, kings, queens, princes, and
princesses, who embraced this order, and that of saints, popes, and
writers of note, which it has given the church, see F. Helyot, Dom.
Mege, Calmet, and especially F. Ziegellaver, Hist. Liter. Ord. S.
Bened., 4 vol. folio, Aug. Vindel. An. 1754.

The monastic ord