Early beginnings considered the focus on
Christ the key to interpreting Scripture. Before the beginning of the
Western monastic communities, a key contribution to the foundation of
Lectio Divina came from
Origen in the 3rd century, with his view of "Scripture as a sacrament". In a letter to
Gregory of Neocaesarea Origen wrote: "[W]hen you devote yourself to the divine reading ... seek the meaning of divine words which is hidden from most people". Origen believed that
The Word (i.e.
Logos) was incarnate in Scripture and could therefore touch and teach readers and hearers. Origen taught that the reading of Scripture could help move beyond elementary thoughts and discover the higher wisdom hidden in the "Word of God". In Origen's approach, the major interpretive element of Scripture is
Christ. In his view all Scriptural texts are secondary to Christ and are only revelations in as much as they refer to Christ as
The Word of God. In this view, using Christ as the "interpretive key" unlocks the message in Scriptural texts. The "primordial role" of Origen in interpreting Scripture was acknowledged by Pope
Benedict XVI. Origen's methods were then learned by
Ambrose of Milan, who towards the end of the 4th century taught them to
Saint Augustine, thereby introducing them into the monastic traditions of the
Western Church thereafter. In the 4th century, as the
Desert Fathers began to seek God in the deserts of Palestine and Egypt, they produced early models of
Christian monastic life that persisted in the Eastern Church. These early communities gave rise to the tradition of a Christian life of "constant prayer" in a monastic setting. Although the desert monks gathered to hear Scripture recited in public, and would then recite those words privately in their cells, sometimes meditating on them; this was not yet fully what later became
Lectio Divina, since it did not necessarily involve a meditative step.
6th- to 12th-century monasticism After Origen,
Church Fathers such as
St. Ambrose,
St. Augustine, and St.
Hilary of Poitiers used the terms
Lectio Divina and
Lectio Sacra to refer to the reading of Scripture. According to
Jean Leclercq, OSB, the founders of the medieval tradition of
Lectio Divina were
Saint Benedict and
Pope Gregory I. However, the methods that they employed had precedents in the biblical period both in Hebrew and Greek. A text that combines these traditions is
Romans 10:8–10 where
Apostle Paul refers to the presence of God's word in the believer's "mouth or heart". It was the recitation of the biblical text that provided the rationale for
Lectio Divina. With the motto
Ora et labora ("Pray and work"), daily life in a Benedictine monastery consisted of three elements: liturgical prayer, manual labor and
Lectio Divina, a quiet prayerful reading of the Bible. This slow and thoughtful reading of
Scripture, and the ensuing pondering of its meaning, was their
meditation. This
spiritual practice is called "divine reading" or "spiritual reading"i.e.
lectio divina. Benedict wrote "Idleness is the enemy of the soul. Therefore, the brethren should have specified periods of manual labor as well as for prayerful reading [
lectio divina]." The
Rule of Saint Benedict (chapter #48) stipulated specific times and manners for
Lectio Divina. The entire community in a monastery was to take part in the readings during Sunday, except those who had other tasks to perform. Early in the 12th century, Saint
Bernard of Clairvaux was instrumental in re-emphasizing the importance of
Lectio Divina within the
Cistercian order. Bernard considered
Lectio Divina and contemplation guided by the Holy Spirit the keys to nourishing Christian spirituality.
Formalization during the late 12th century where
Ladder of the Monk was written by
Guigo II The progression from Bible reading, to meditation, to prayer, to loving regard for God, was first formally described by
Guigo II, a
Carthusian monk and prior of
Grande Chartreuse who died late in the 12th century. The Carthusian order follows its own Rule, called the Statutes, rather than the Rule of St Benedict. Guigo II's book
The Ladder of Monks is subtitled "a letter on the contemplative life" and is considered the first description of methodical prayer in the western mystical tradition. In Guigo's four stages one first reads, which leads to think about (i.e.
meditate on) the significance of the text; that process in turn leads the person to respond in prayer as the third stage. The fourth stage is when the prayer, in turn, points to the gift of quiet stillness in the presence of God, called
contemplation. Guigo named the four steps of this "ladder" of prayer with the
Latin terms , , , and . In the 13th century the
Carmelite Rule of St. Albert prescribed to Carmelites the daily prayerful pondering on the Word of God, namely to ruminate day and night the Divine Law.
Lectio Divina alongside the daily celebration of liturgy is to this day the pillar of prayer in Carmel.
Lectio Divina was practiced by
St. Dominic de Guzman, founder of the
Dominican order. In the 14th century,
Gerard of Zutphen built on "Guigo's Ladder" to write his major work
On Spiritual Ascents. Zutphen warned against considered meditation without reading of Scripture, and taught that the reading prepares the mind, so meditation will not fall into error. Similarly, he taught that meditation prepares the mind for contemplation.
16th century By the beginning of the 16th century, the methods of "methodical prayer" had reached Spain and St.
John of the Cross taught the four stages of
Guigo II to his monks. During the century,
Protestant Reformers such as
John Calvin continued to advocate the
Lectio Divina. In his annual Lenten addresses to the priests of the Diocese of Rome, Pope Benedict – mainly after the 2008 Synod of Bishops on the Bible – emphasized
Lectio Divina importance, as in 2012, when he used Ephesians 4:1–16 on a speech about certain problems facing the Church. Beforehand, he and
Pope John Paul II had used a question-and-answer format. "One condition for
Lectio Divina is that the mind and heart be illumined by the Holy Spirit, that is, by the same Spirit who inspired the Scriptures, and that they be approached with an attitude of 'reverential hearing'." Since the latter part of the 20th century, the popularity of
Lectio Divina has increased outside monastic circles and many lay Catholics, as well as some Protestants, practice it, at times keeping a "Lectio journal" in which they record their thoughts and contemplations after each session. The importance of
Lectio Divina is stressed in the
Anglican Communion as well. == The four movements of
Lectio Divina ==