St. Benedict's Ladder of Humility

Saint Benedict's Ladder of Humility, originally uploaded by Edith OSB.

The longest part of the Rule of Saint Benedict is Chapter 7 on Humility. He describes a ladder reaching to heaven, with twelve steps of humility. The spiritual seeker, by taking a lower place in humility, will ascend.

The sisters at Annunciation Monastery in Bismarck, ND commissioned this statue. St. Benedict is stepping DOWN to begin to use the ladder. His hand is on the seventh rung - perhaps the hardest, counting oneself lower and of less account than anyone else. --Sr. Edith