St. Pachomius the Great

The father of communal monasticism. A conscript in the Roman army, he was fed by Christians at Thebes who expected nothing for it, and he resolved to serve their God. After years as a hermit he founded at Tabennisi a monastery where monks lived under one roof, one rule, one table and one superior, which is the form almost every monastery in the world has kept since. His Rule reached the West through the translation of St Jerome and stands behind the Rule of St Benedict. By his death nine monasteries and two convents followed it. Feast: May 15.