Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino.
Used as a noun, the term denotes their members, the Benedictines. By extension it is sometimes applied to other adherents of the Benedictine spirituality, for example, "Oblates (secular)".
During the subsequent centuries many more Benedictine communities were founded, not only for monks but also for nuns, first throughout Europe and eventually also overseas. This led to the formation in modern times of the Order of St Benedict. In addition to those autonomous Benedictine communities, a number of independent monastic orders were founded on the rule of St Benedict, and so are also Benedictines in that sense. Such orders include the Congregation of Cluny, the Cistercians, and the Trappists. Benedictine communities are primarily found in the Catholic Church but several Benedictine communities exist within other Christian communities.
The current Abbot Primate of the Benedictine Confederation is Notker Wolf. The center of the Confederation is Sant' Anselmo in Rome where every four years the abbots of the Benedictine order from around the world meet for a Confederation Congress.
In the English Reformation all monasteries were dissolved and their lands confiscated by the Crown, forcing their Roman Catholic members to flee into exile on the Continent, although during the 19th century they were able to return to England, including to Selby Abbey in Yorkshire, one of the few great monastic churches to survive the Dissolution. Noteworthy, too, is St. Mildred's Priory, Isle of Thanet, Kent, built in 1027 on the site of an abbey founded in 670 by the daughter of the first Christian king of Kent. Currently the Priory is home to a community of Benedictine nuns. Since the Oxford Movement there has also been a flourishing of Benedictine monasticism in the Anglican Church and other Christian Churches. Some Anglican Benedictine Abbots are also welcomed guests of the Benedictine Abbot Primate in Rome at Abbatial gatherings.
