Abstract

The Benedictine monk Jacques Dupont played an important role in the work of the Vatican II even though he was not an official peritus. The study shows his role in the context of the discussion on the chapter on sanctity and religious life of the schema De Ecclesia. Some bishops outlined the importance of the religious life in the church, in the name of the doctrine of the “evangelical counselsµ. Some other insisted on the biblical concept of the universal call to holiness. Dupont was searching for a via media, including the point of view of the monks. In December 1963 he prepared a memorandum for the revision of the chapter, that was discussed by some representatives of the benedictine monastery of France and Belgium. In this way originated a new version of the chapter that was taken as a base of discussion in the conciliar commission at the end of January 1964. Dupont’s proposals were not taken in their entirety but some of them survive in the text of Lumen gentium. The original text of the chapter is reproduced with some brief explanations of the same author.