(1) Grammatica

"There is no Benedictine life without literature. Not that literature
is an end, even a secondary end, of monastic life; but it is a
conditioning factor. In order to undertake one of the principal
occupations of the monk, it is necessary to know, to learn, and for
some, to teach *grammatica.*...And what does grammatica mean?
[It's the] art of grammar, which we call literature, is the science of
the things said by poets, historians, and orators; its principal
functions are: to write, to read, to understand, and to prove."
[Jean Leclercq, O.S.B., THE LOVE OF LEARNING AND THE
DESIRE FOR GOD: A STUDY OF MONASTIC CULTURE, Fordham
University Press, 1982, p. 17.]

Comment: I always enjoy reading this book by Jean Leclercq, one
of the great Benedictine scholars of our times. The book contains
a series of lectures given by Leclercq to monks at the Institute of
Monastic Studies at Sant' Anselmo in Rome more than fifty years ago.

What Dom Jean was talking about, when it comes to grammatica,
is probably nowadays what we might see in a "Liberal Studies."
program. Currently there are many major universities that offer a
Liberal Studies degree, whether at baccalaureate or graduate levels.

Of course contemporary grammatica goes beyond just the art
of grammar, though poets and historians are undoubtedly high
on its list.

As for myself, a professionally trained science and technology analyst,
once I retired I decided to take advantage of a Liberal Studies education
offered by one of my local universities. This program catered to adults,
to those especially in mid-career, as well as to folk like me who was
looking how to spend the rest of my life in a meaningful way.

These days grammatica has expanded into virtually all academic
disciplines--such as the Humanities, International Studies, and even
Science; and more than likely, in these Liberal Studies programs
the approach will be inter-disciplinary. Integral Learning has grown
by leaps-and-bounds, not only in Academe but also in Government
and the Corporate Sector.

Still monastic grammatica stressed something seriously important
to all these efforts in modern Liberal Studies. It was about becoming
a learned, broad-minded person. It was about becoming a careful
person, who honed his/her reasoning capacity, who learned how to
become more articulate in expressing what s/he learned. And, above
all, not to go off on an unproved tangent that could possibly do more
harm than good.

In a world such as ours today, we witness a lot of unproved
pronouncements that just take off and end, oft, in misery.
The Information Age, in which we live, has its pitfalls. But if
careful, prudent, learned, the Information Age has its benefits.

Therefore, maybe old as the hills, the monastic approach via
grammatica certainly provides a positive as we struggle to
be more careful, perhaps more controlled, when it comes to
living in this ever challenging world of ours.