The Benedictines, who were called fratres qui secundum Deum et b. Benedicti regulam vivunt up to the 13th century, led – as the Latin name says – a life according to the Benedictine Rule that the monk Benedict of Nursia had founded between 530 and 560 on the basis of existing rules for monks. From the 9th century, this rule had become the guideline for the monasteries in the Carolingian Empire. This only changed with the implementation of the Augustine Canon in the 11th century as well as the foundation of the Mendicant Order in the 13th century. The basis of the rule was the striving for a combination of prayer and work, as is expressed by the well-known motto ora et labora. Benedict described in 73 chapters how life within the monastic community should ideally function. Subjects were the monastic constitution, the doctrine of the virtues, service, punishment for misconduct, administration, election of Abbots, rights and duties as well as the acceptance of new members.

The new entrants to a Benedictine monastery were obliged to stabilitas loci (local stability), conversatio morum (conversion to a monastic way of life), paupertas sancta (poverty, i.e., waiver of personal possession), discretio (modesty) and oboedientia (obedience). In this community with structures similar to a family, the Abbot took over the role of the spiritual father and head of the monastery. He had monks at hand who served in different offices, such as the prior (representative of the Abbot), administrator (cellerarius), master of novices (magister novitiorum), choirmaster, guest master (hospitalarius), medical orderly, and the porter (ostiarius). The monks’ clothes, that mainly consisted of a tunica over which a richly pleated cowl and the Scapular (cloak) worn with hood, had to be black.

Their daily routine was not, according to day and night, divided into waking and sleeping time, but into periods of prayer. For the night prayers, the Vigiles, they were woken up between one and two o’clock in the morning; at dawn, the Morning Prayer (Lauds) followed. The day itself was preserved for study and work and was interrupted by the minor prayer times, Prime (approx. 6.00 am), Terce (approx. 9.00 am), Sext (approx. 12.00 pm) and None (approx. 3.00 pm). Meals were usually taken after Sext and after Vesper, which took place at approximately 6.00 pm. With Compline, the day ended and the night’s rest started. The prayers also served the salvation of the people outside the monastery and during the memorial prayer (memoria) for the deceased. According to Benedict, approximately eight hours were scheduled for rest, four hours for study and spiritual reading, three to four hours for prayer and six to eight hours for work.

Hildegard of Bingen and her nuns on the Rupertsberg also lived according to the Benedictine Rule, which was allowed to be used as a guideline by Abbots and Abbesses and could be added to by customs of the relevant time. That Hildegard saw and followed the rule in exactly this sense, is proven by a letter from her to the monastic community of Hunna in which she commented on 35 of the 73 chapters of the Regula S. Benedicti: „What is forbidden, is prohibited openly by the rule. (…) But what it remains silent about, is left to the discretion of Abbot and brothers.“ By this open interpretation, which she, for example, applied to the obligation of secrecy, sleeping hours or meals, she differed from the monastic reforms of her time, which considered everything that was not expressly permitted as forbidden. However, this did not mean that Hildegard’s leadership was slack or careless, because her Vita reveals that her nuns secretly complained about her high demands. It was especially important for Hildegard to be moderate in all areas; she strictly rejected extensive asceticism.