Ora et Labora - Prayer and Work – summarizes the Benedictine monastic life: a balanced, discipline life of prayer and work in community. St. Benedict did not specify a particular apostolate for monks. Throughout the centuries, Benedictine monks have been engaged in liturgy, scholarship, education, the arts, and missionary and pastoral work.

Benedictine saints include St. Augustine of Canterbury; St. Boniface, the Apostle of Germany; St. Ansgar; St. Adalbert; St. Gregory the Great and St. Gregory VII, two outstanding popes; the Venerable Bede, who wrote the first history of England, and St. Anselm, philosopher and theologian.

Religious in general take the vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. However, Benedictine monks take the vows of obedience, conversion of life and stability. The last vow is distinctively Benedictine. By it, the monk binds himself to a particular monastic family for life. The stability of the monk insures the stability of community life.

When he wrote his Rule, St. Benedict did not have in mind an "order", that is, a widespread, centralized organization that we know today. He simply wrote a rule for monasteries. The Benedictine Order is actually a loose confederation of 26 congregations, which are in turn, federations of autonomous monasteries.