The Society for Monastic Studies (S.M.S.) was set up in 1962 on the initiative of some monks who were specialists in monastic culture. Their purpose was to formalise an activity they had been promoting since 1958 – namely, the annual Week of Monastic Studies, which had a marked scientific character, and came to bring together specialists from all over the world, who were not only monks but also priests, members of other religious Orders and lay people.
            Thus the specific aim of the S.M.S. was to further research on monastic topics, and to divulge it in this Week of Studies, which was held annually until 1968.
            And right from the beginning there was also the wish to revive the religious spirit and to make the monastic ideal better known.
            An important medium at the time was the magazine “YERMO: Cuadernos de historia y de espiritualidade monásticas”. This was published from 1963 until 1980.
                       

The S.M.S. proved to be a lively organisation, and soon new concerns arose under the influence of the Second Vatican Council. New needs were sensed, and the S.M.S. realised that its role was no longer merely to convene technical or scientific meetings, but to help analyse the present and look forward into the future by the light of history.
            This forward-looking attitude was ratified in its 1964 General Assembly, where it was stated that the S.M.S. would not concentrate exclusively on past history, but would open itself to the study of all aspects of the monastic tradition in the light of modern criteria and modern procedures both in the Church and the world. And great stress was laid on the participation of lay people, for it would make it possible to see the issues from a different, more interesting and up-to-date perspective.          

 

The 1974 Assembly took the same line, pointing out that, from then on, more attention should be given to the issues that monastic life was facing in the present. But this – they insisted – did not mean that historical research should be abandoned altogether, for history was regarded as a permanent teacher of new ways for the modern times.
            In its eagerness to be an effective channel, and respond to the needs of the moment, the 1980 Assembly came up with a new significant resolution, stating: “in our days it is necessary to put the stress on spirituality, without overlooking history”. As a result of this, from 1984 onwards, monasteries of nuns reached unprecedented levels of participation.
          

 

  The S.M.S. kept on working in search of a balanced approach, and so the 2005 General Assembly reasserted the need to move forward along the same lines that had given shape to the S.M.S. and the Week of Monastic Studies, rejecting any exclusive leanings either towards the scientific or towards the spiritual.
            It is clear then that the S.M.S.’ desire is to respond to the challenges of the present, deeply rooted in its origins, but looking to the future, so as to be able to go on giving the communities, the Church and the world, by every possible means available, what they may be asking of the monastic life for the peculiarity of its character and richness.