The Chrodegang Rules

Since its earliest days, the Christian Church sought to draw up rules by which its members could live together in religious communities. Whilst those of Augustine (c.400 AD) and Benedict (c.530 AD) provided detailed guidance for monastic life, it took another two centuries for equivalent rules for secular clergy to become accepted on a wide scale. The earliest surviving set of comprehensive rules for canons are those written in the mid-eighth century by St Chrodegang (c.712-766), Bishop of Metz.