"The word vigil comes to us from the Latin word for 'watch.' Spoken of in the plural, vigils is the name given to the first liturgical service of a monk's day, a time when the community stands sentinel in the spiritual sense, displaying faith in the face of the dark night. Vigils begins in the wee hours, long before dawn, and lasts about forty-five minutes. . . . The period of time immediately following vigils is a continuation of what Trappists call the 'Grand Silence,' when they refrain from speaking. It begins with compline and lasts about twelve hours until the end of Mass the next morning;. . . Silence, as a monastic value, is less about rejecting speech and more about being attentive and learning to listen — a discipline that could benefit us all. It is not by accident that St. Benedict began his celebrated Rule with the imperative 'Listen,' not 'Be silent.' The difference is subtle but significant.
"Contrary to popular thinking, in fact, there is no formal 'vow of silence.' Silence is an important part of St. Benedict's Rule, one of the basic elements of the Benedictine way of life, and highly encouraged. But it is more of a value than a vow, more of a rule than a promise."
