At 2 A. M., bells pierced the silence of the monastery at Monte Cassino in Italy. Monks rose from their hard mattresses, donned their shoes, and left their dormitory (sleeping area) for the chapel. There, they chanted psalms and heard readings from Scripture. This was the service called Matins, the first of eight periods of communal worship that marked their daily routine. For the rest of the day, the monks would read or copy religious texts or carry out other work-related chores inside and outside the monastery. The service known as Compline would finish the day. Then the monks would sleep until they were called to rise once again for Matins.

These men had joined together in a common search for God, and they lived in what their founder, now known as St. Benedict of Nursia, called "a school for the Lord's service...