Benedict was born in Italy in 480. While a student in Rome, dismayed by the immorality of the world around him, he decided to live in the hill country "hidden with Christ in God". As time passed, his holiness attracted followers for whom he ultimately established a community and, to help his disciples to seek God, he wrote what he called his "Rule for beginners". This was not the first monastic rule but Benedict took what had gone before and tempered a certain harshness with discretion and moderation in a manner so wise and far sighted that it has not only survived over the many centuries but became the very keystone of western monasticism.

He aimed at setting up "a school of the Lord's service" where all might be taught how to progress towards God in a life where prayer, manual work and spiritual reading combined to lead individuals constantly to seek God. Benedict's disciples were taught the necessity of practising obedience and humility, renouncing their own desires by living in community with the Abbot as father. One of his chief instructions to his followers was: "Let nothing be preferred to the work of God" - i.e. the daily choral performance of the Divine Office - the joyful exercise of praising God in the name of all his creatures, using the psalms and other parts of Sacred Scripture which are woven into a pattern of prayer and worship.

Read some extracts from the Rule of St Benedict

The Sacrifice of the Mass is the heart of the day and, with the Divine Office, forms the framework around which the rest of the monastic day takes shape. The basic timetable at Fernham is as follows:

Rise	5.40
Lauds	6.20
Breakfast	7.00
Terce, followed by Mass	8.20
Midday Office (Sext & None)	11.50
Dinner	12.15
Recreation	1.00 - 2.00
Vespers	5.00
Supper	6.00
Evening communal recreation	7.00
Compline	7.30
Office of Readings	8.15
Retire	between 9.00 & 10.00
Sundays:
Lauds	7.00
Terce, followed by Mass	9.05
Midday Office	12.00
Rest of day as weekday