the great Saint Benedict, who established the order of Benedictines at
Monte Cassino about 529; according to popular tradition, this holy woman
was esteemed as the foundress of nunneries in Europe. For the regulation
of the women's orders Saint Augustine formulated twenty-four rules,
which he prescribed should be read every week, and later Saint Benedict
revised them and extended them so that there were finally seventy-two
rules in addition to the Ten Commandments. The nuns were to obey their
superior implicitly, silence and humility were enjoined upon them, head
and eyes were to be kept lowered at all times, the hours for going to
bed and for rising were fixed, and there were minute regulations
regarding prayers, watches, and devotions. Furthermore, they were rarely
allowed to go out of their convents, they were to possess nothing of
their own, mirrors were not tolerated, being conducive to personal
vanity, and the luxury of a bath was granted only in case of sickness.

As with the ordinary rules of conduct, so the ordinary routine of daily
life in a nunnery corresponded to that of a monastery. Hour by hour,
there was the same periodical rotation of work and religious service,
with short intervals at fixed times for rest or food. The usual
occupation in the earliest times had to do with the carding and
spinning of wool, and Saint Jerome, with his characteristic
earnestness, advises the nuns to have the wool ever in their hands.
Saint Augustine gives us the picture of a party of nuns standing at the
door of their convent and handing out the woollen garments which they
have made for the old monks who are standing there waiting to receive
them, with food to give to the nuns in exchange. The simplicity of this
scene recalls the epitaph which is said to have been written in honor of
a Roman housewife who lived in the simple days of the Republic: "She
stayed at home and spun wool!" Somewhat later the nuns were called upon
to furnish the elegantly embroidered altar cloths which were used in the