New Rules: The Agrestius Affair and the Regula Benedicti

This chapter considers changes in Columbanian monastic practices that arose with growth and expansion. Agrestius, a renegade monk, accused the deceased Columbanus and his practices of being heretical, provoking the Synod of Mâcon in 626/627. While Agrestius’s attempt failed, the synod led to a modification in Columbanian practices. The severity of Columbanus’s legislation was modified by incorporating the Regula Benedicti with Columbanian practices. Through this “mixed rule,” the Regula Benedicti—the foundational text for Western monasticism—was disseminated throughout Merovingian Gaul. These modifications, initiated by the Frankish communities, marked a fundamental break with the monastic vision of Columbanus. Columbanus is seen as an autocratic abbot with a definite idea of how monastic life was to be regulated. The Regula Benedicti and the mixed rule are seen in the context of an attempt to modify the punitive nature of Columbanus’s monasticism. In response to this crisis, Jonas wrote his Vita Columbani.