IdiomDaily LifeFrench

Un travail de bénédictin

Meaning: Painstaking, patient scholarly labor demanding enormous persistence.

Literally: A Benedictine's work

Example: “Restaurer cette tapisserie médiévale a été un travail de bénédictin.” — Restoring that medieval tapestry took painstaking, patient work.

Origin: From the Benedictine order's reputation for exhaustive erudition — above all the Maurist congregation, whose monks spent generations compiling monumental editions and chronologies. The phrase implies rigor and time rather than brilliance.

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