What We Learn From The Cellarer In a Benedictine Monastery

Our last post updated the distractions and disruptions that could derail us as we go about our work. And so we continue to look to St. Benedict's Rule for ways to vigorously counter these. Doing so we hope to establish a level of calm and peace to provide stability in our workplace. Today we'll see what we can learn from the Cellerar in a Benedictine monastery that can help us in our endeavor.

The Cellarer is the guy who's in charge of the "stuff" of the monastery. He's careful and well-organized in his handling and distribution of items for the monks' use. There's a lot for us to learn from this gent. St. Benedict provides a detailed description of the ideal candidate.

"As cellarer of the monastery let there be chosen out of the community a man who is prudent, of mature character, temperate, not a great eater, not proud, not headstrong, no rough-spoken, not lazy, not wasteful, but a God-fearing man who may be like a father to the whole community."  

So right away, we see how St. Benedict understands human nature and character. He knows the kind of guy who will do well with this responsibility - and it's a big one. Besides prudence, the guy's got to have the right "people skills." He's dealing with the whole hosts of monks - and depending on the size of the monastery, it could be a dozen or a lot more. Each has his own personality. Note the comparisons to a father. A father of a sizable family needs to take the personality of each child under consideration in his dealings with them. So too the cellarer.

All of these characteristics would sit well with any of us in our various roles and capacities on the job. We would do well to develop such characteristics if we fall short of any of these.

"Let him have charge of everything; let him do nothing without the abbot's orders, but keep to his instructions. Let him not hex the brethren. If any brother happen to make an unreasonable demand, he should not vex him with a contemptuous denial, but reasonably and humbly refuse the improper request."

The buck stops with this guy. He's in charge. He takes direction form his boss, the abbot. But after that, it's all on him. And that includes dealing with the monks. The abbot doesn't want this guy coming to him when a monk gets a bit unreasonable. If a request for this or that must be denied, it's got to be done such that there's no offense given to the unreasonable monk.

Those of us who have held management positions in larger organizations can attest to the "buck stops here" principle. Our boss doesn't want us coming to him or her every time we have problems. If we manage an employee who's unreasonable in some way, it's up to us to handle the matter. In handling such matters, we too need to treat people in a manner that's not going to offend - even whey their behavior is off track. Reason and humility will be essential in this endeavor.

The business needs to run smoothly; but running roughshod over the folks working in it isn't the way to assure smooth sailing.

"Let him keep guard over his own soul..."

Note how it's not only better for the business to be mature and reasonable toward your charges. It's also better for the soul - whether of the cellarer or for us. The eternal life of our soul always comes first. If we can learn something from the cellarer in a monastery, we not only can improve how we work, but we will make steady progress towards eternal happiness when, some day, our work in this world is done.

We'll continue with St. Benedict's description of the character and strengths a cellarer needs. We should find more there to help us as employees, managers, and business owners. We'll find more to enrich our spiritual life as well. All of which will lend itself to building stability in our workplace.