From the moment a monk entered the monastery, life was very different from life in the outside world. A monk gave up many personal freedoms and often had to suppress his own needs and desires to live in harmony with the group and the monastic rules. A monk's days were highly structured and focused on prayer and work. In most cases, he was expected to spend his entire life inside the monastery walls and to obey its leaders. Benedict regarded the virtue of obedience as closely related to humility; in his Rule, he wrote that "the first grade of humility is obedience without delay."

A Cloistered Existence

The Rule of St. Benedict stated that monks should have little contact with the outside world. Benedict said that the monastery would contain and provide everything the monks needed "so that the brothers need never go outside...