Benedictine

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For other uses, see Benedictine (disambiguation).

A Benedictine is a person who follows the Rule of St Benedict. Such a person may live the Consecrated Life (that is, as a monk or nun according to Church Law) or not (for example, as an oblate).

While all the various communities of the Order of Saint Benedict, founded in the sixth century, are within the Catholic Church, other communities bearing his name, though historically unrelated can be found in the Anglican Communion and other Christian religious denominations as well. Anglican Benedictines trace their earliest foundations to the nineteenth century Oxford Movement.

For the main articles on the Benedictine way of religious living, see Rule of St Benedict, Benedictine Confederation, Order of Saint Benedict, Benedictine Sisters, and Oblates of Saint Benedict.

Outside a monastic context, "Benedictine" may also refer to a follower of another Benedict, especially a Saint Benedict or a Pope Benedict. "Benedictine" is also used as a more general adjective; thus, the papacy of a particular Pope Benedict may be called the "Benedictine era".

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