This article applies the concept of total institution to the monastic order of Saint Benedict due to its rules and theologically based ethics. It is a longitudinal research that scanned changes in the monastery administration from 1994 through 2004. The findings include some actions to deal with institutional questions, to elicit social traits accounting for its affiliations with the Brazilian elite and the generation of a new model for internal administration and for actions in the community as well. The order of Saint Benedict, founded in the sixth century ACE, is perceived as a unique and paradoxical form of “total institution”.
Medieval Order; total institution; birth stage; organizational change; paradoxes