**3. Ritual Practices of Oblates**

The second research question (2) reads: which monastic ritual practices do the oblates perform, and how do they experience these? Monks and nuns should at all times of the day enact their spirituality, as is stated in the Rule of St Benedict in his chapter on humility, one of the basic virtues of a monk's life: "A monk always manifests humility in his bearing no less than in his heart, so that it is evident at the Work of God, in the oratory, the monastery or the garden, on a journey or in the field, or anywhere else" (Fry 1980, vol. 7, p. 63). The ritual form-of-life shapes the attitude of monks and nuns, not only at particular moments or in specific places. Interestingly, this also applies to life outside the monastery ("on a journey"). Still, there are concrete, embodied practices that help to develop this attitude: "Whether he sits, walks or stands, his head must be bowed and his eyes cast down" (Fry 1980, vol. 7, p. 63). According to Casey, it is important to note that Benedict is "descriptive and not prescriptive" in these sentences. For him "humility is a habitual disposition which results from the repetition of the appropriate actions" (Casey 2001, p. 57). The right moral behaviour, according to this perspective, is exercised in ritual practices which help monks focus on the contemplative basis of their life.

There are basic practices that help to develop and maintain such an attitude, and also help avoid losing the symbolic impact that a ritual has on your life, namely prayer, reading and work (*ora*, *lege* et

<sup>4</sup> For more information, see the website of the abbey: www.willibrordsabdij.nl.

<sup>5</sup> For more information, see the website of the abbey: www.abdijvanegmond.nl.

<sup>6</sup> For more information, see the website of the abbey: www.benedictusberg.nl.

<sup>7</sup> Atlas.ti offers the possibility to compare groups of respondents with "Code Document Tables".

*labora*). Benedictine life is strongly characterised by seven daily prayer services, starting with Matins in the early morning and ending with Compline. They provide structure and form the angle of monastic life, as St Benedict says: "Indeed, nothing is to be preferred to the Work of God" (Fry 1980, vol. 43, p. 3). Around these services, monks are busy with the two other practices: "Idleness is the enemy of the soul. Therefore, the brothers should have specified periods for manual labour as well as for prayerful reading" (Fry 1980, vol. 48, p. 1). Reading and work are not merely functional; the soul benefits from both. This means that their benefits go well beyond merely gaining information or producing goods. All three practices can be interpreted as belonging to the ritual spectrum of monks (Quartier 2011a). Prayer happens in a liturgical way, but reading and work are also enacted with structure and meaning, the basic characteristics of ritual (Quartier 2017b, p. 95). Not all the oblates do professional work anymore, whilst the Dutch word for "labour" ("werk") mainly applies to employment. Therefore, it was decided to ask for "everyday practices" to invite the respondents to share their experience on what Benedict indicates as "manual labour".

The main source for understanding these practices in a monastic sense is the Rule of Saint Benedict, which becomes visible in the formation programme for candidate oblates. In the cases we observed, they take part in a programme consisting of several retreat days over a single year. The topics of these days are all taken from the Rule: humility, obedience, silence, prayer, reading, work. "Oblates receive a copy of the Rule in ceremony at the beginning of their noviciate, and we try to help them read and understand the Rule during that year," one of the oblate fathers explained during the preparation of the research presented here. Commentaries and studies on the Rule are used by the monk who presents the topics to the oblates for their preparation. This is why the focus is on the primary text of the Rule of St Benedict in this article. Where necessary, commentaries or earlier published examples are added (Quartier 2011a, 2019b).

Oblates make their own choices in reading about the Rule or taking part in additional courses. About half of them regularly follow the basic program of the monastery (retreat days), the remainder depend on personal preference. The three code groups that resulted from the analysis, corresponded with three core-topics from the Rule and demonstrated differences between groups of respondents.

Three background characteristics of the respondents demonstrated significant differences: their monastic background, their age and their church affiliation. For the questions discussed here, no significant differences were found with regard to gender and level of education. For that reason, these have not been included in the presentation. The first groups were about the monastic context and included respondents for St Willibrord, St Adelbert and St Benedict, as shown in the following table (Table 1). The percentages indicate the number of merged codes for each of the three abbeys that formed the monastic context of the research:


**Table 1.** Code groups and monastic context.

n = 53; numbers: relative number of merged quotes in %.

Care is required when interpreting these figures. They do not necessarily indicate (the level of) agreement and are by no means representative for the entire population of Dutch oblates. The only conclusion to be drawn is that experiencing Benedictine spirituality within everyday practices is mentioned most frequently by the respondents, followed by prayer, and finally by reading, which is mentioned least often. The differences between the groups of oblates from the three abbeys are not very great. The transfer of the ritual practices from the monasteries happens in the first place by implementing it into personal everyday practices, independent of the abbey oblates are affiliated to. These practices are mentioned even slightly more often than prayer. The accent in Benedict's Rule is the other way around: there, prayer is most imperative.

When it comes to the personal context of the respondents, the sample is divided into three groups. Those above the age of 70 mention the integration of their rituals in their daily life more often than the average respondents. Respondents below the age of 50 talk more often about their reading activity. Middle-aged oblates talk about prayer most often (Table 2).


**Table 2.** Code groups and personal context—age.

n = 53; numbers: relative number of merged quotes in %.

It is probably easier for oblates who have already retired to reflect on the symbolic meaning of their everyday practice than for those still busy with a job. They mention more often that they consciously make time for reading. The explicit activity might fit better into their daily schedule. Middle-aged oblates are perhaps more used to the habit of daily prayer than their younger brothers and sisters.

Besides the three age groups, the respondents were also divided into three groups concerning their church affiliation. Only two oblates had no formal church membership, but both were still engaged in Christian networks. Remarkably, the Protestant respondents talked much more often about prayer than the two other groups. The reason might be that Protestants who feel attracted by a Catholic monastery feel a stronger need for prayer than they find in their original denomination. The second remarkable detail is that the members of small ecclesial groups ("other") talk much more often about everyday practices as being a ritual than the other groups. The reason might be that these groups offer a stronger cohesion and penetrate more fields of life than larger churches (Table 3).

**Table 3.** Code groups and personal context—church affiliation.


n = 53; numbers: relative number of merged quotes in %.

This general overview already reveals that it is important for oblates to integrate ritually their form-of-life into their concrete situation, as their everyday practices are central in their answers, as well as being considered rituals. This also relates to their personal context, as age and church-affiliation play a role in several ways. The next paragraphs will look more closely at the three practices, searching for dimensions of what respondents say about prayer, reading and everyday practices and, once again, what the relation is to both the monastic context they are affiliated with and their personal context.
