RELIGIOUS LIFE
COURTESY OF BENEDICTINE SISTERS OF PERPETUAL ADORATION
Benedictines believe in balance by
Sister Maria Victoria Cutaia, O.S.B. is the vocation director of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, whose monastery is located between a cornfield and a cow pasture next to Clyde, Missouri.
REGULAR PRAYER times spread throughout the day are the pattern of life at most Benedictine monasteries. The author, Sister Maria Victoria Cutaia, O.S.B. (far right), prays with her sisters.
Sister Maria Victoria Cutaia, O.S.B.
Benedictines emphasize a balance of work and prayer. And they are firm believers in rolling out the welcome mat to one and all.
T
HE BENEDICTINE way of life got its start centuries ago with the sixthcentury equivalent of a blockbuster. Benedict of Nursia, who led an Italian monastery, wrote the groundbreaking Rule for Monasteries, commonly called the Rule of St. Benedict, around 530. That makes the Rule almost 1,500 years old—quite a legacy considering that this set of rules is still used. The Rule was first used in monasteries of men and women in Italy, including the monastery run by Benedict’s sister, Saint Scholastica. It spread rapidly all over
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