Saint Benedict, fathe of Western monasticism

Saint Benedict of Nursia, who quickly became known as a miracle-worker, chose a mountain retreat in Subiaco to lead the life of a hermit. His reputation for holiness was such that he was joined there by almost 150 men who wanted to learn from him. He wrote a rule which, after his death, became a reference for monastic life throughout Europe. The life and work of Saint Benedict, who is venerated by Catholics and Orthodox alike, represent a major turning point in the history of Christianity.

Saint Benedict delivering his Rule to Saint Maur and other monks of his order, France, Saint-Gilles monastery, Nîmes, 1129 / © CC0/wikimedia

Reasons to believe:

The immense, worldwide legacy of Saint Benedict, patriarch of Western monks, stands in sharp contrast with his humble and retired lifestyle.

Pope Gregory I recounted the life and miracles performed by Saint Benedict in Book II of The Dialogues. This work was written in 592, barely fifty years after the saint's death, when many people who had known him were still alive. It says of Saint Benedict: "The man of God, among so many miracles for which he was so famous in the world, was also sufficiently learned in divinity. He wrote a rule for his monks, both excellent for discretion and also eloquent for its style." (Dialogues, book II, chap. 36).

The Rule of Saint Benedict, even though it isn't the first or the last monastic rule, has represented the standard of monastic way of life from the 9th century to the present day. The Benedictine spirituality gave rise to the greatest religious families in European history: the Cluniacs (1,500 monasteries around 1100 AD, 840 today) and the Cistertians (currently more than 200 monasteries).

From the time of Saint Benedict onwards, monks played an essential role in every aspect of European civilization, for over a thousand years: religion, philosophy, art, music, literature, economics, architecture, medicine, science, philology, etc.

The monasteries following the Rule of Saint Benedict spearheaded the establishment of Christianity and produced many saints, popes, bishops, and doctors of the Church.

The Benedictines have also played a pioneering role for over 800 years, and are responsible for some of the greatest libraries in history. In particular, our knowledge of the Greco-Roman world has largely been handed down to us by the Benedictine monasteries.

Summary:

Born to a noble family in modern-day Italy in 480, in the ancient city of Nursia (now Norcia), about 100 kilometres north-east of Rome (Lazio, Italy), Benedict was sent to Rome to study the humanities or law. However, he soon became upset by the immorality of society in Rome and at the age of 14 left the city. Wishing to withdraw from the the world, he lived briefly with a group of monks, then as a hermit, in order to "please God alone".

He first walked 80 kilometres to the village of Enfide (now Affile). There he performed his first miracle: the repair of an irreparably broken object. This event attracted the attention of many people, who soon regarded him as a miracle worker. But for the young man, this was not the main thing: he believed that God could be served in everyday labor, so he now retired to a cave in the rocks above the village of Subiaco.

There, he was assisted by the monk Romanus, who brought him food. Benedict's cave at Subiaco later became known as the Sacro Speco (Sacred Cave). Romanus was the saint's first disciple. The two religious lived at a close distance for three years, organising their days and nights in contemplative prayer. Prayer, Bible reading and finding food was the first pattern of the Benedictine life

Benedict was soon joined by men eager to listen to him. As the months went by, new followers joined the group and soon there were almost 150 monks forming small communities. This was the embryo of the organisation of Benedictine monasteries. Benedict divided the monks into 12 autonomous communities, each made up of 12 monks. He called these "schools of the Lord's service", as Benedictine abbeys are still called today. The rule he drew up explained that the position of abbot (from the Aramaic abbas, "father") - which he himself occupied - was to be in imitation of the Lord Jesus leading the apostolic group.

Famous for its miracles and enjoying incredible growth, the community's reputation spread far beyond the Subiaco region. To guarantee his monks peace and quiet, Benedict transferred the community to Monte Cassino, 120 kilometres south of Rome, on the site of a former pagan temple dedicated to Apollo, which he replaced with buildings and a small oratory dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours. The abbey of Monte Cassino was to become the beacon of European monasticism, not during Benedict's lifetime, but beginning with the Carolingian empire (9th century). Charlemagne standardised monastic life throughout his empire by imposing the Rule of Saint Benedict as the norm for monasteries.

How can we explain the extraordinary worldwide success of this small rule written in the 6th century? First of all, the Rule of St Benedict is less a statutory text than a spiritual treatise. Benedict's goal was simple: to organise life so as to serve Christ in the best possible way. To do this, he did not invent a new formula, but took as his unsurpassable model the community of Christ's first apostles. Additionally, he did not create his rule from scratch; on the contrary, he integrated and synthesised previous rules of the Eastern and Western fathers of monasticism: Saint Augustine, Saint Martin, Saint Basil the Great, John Cassian, and others... As Pope Gregory the Great wrote, Benedict was "filled with the spirit of all the just".

The Benedictine rule is primarily aimed at transmitting a wisdom based on the life of Jesus and also the Palestinian, Egyptian and Byzantine monasticism that existed since the 2nd century, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. He didn't attempt to invent the way of the contemplative life but to discover it and adapt the apostolic practices to his time. The main of the rule is to live in the spirit of the Gospel. The rule subordinates everything to the search for God, through obedience, poverty, humility, and the work of the monks.

The miracles performed by Saint Benedict were also intended to bring people closer to God: he dispelled a diabolical illusion that the monks had mistaken for a fire; he healed a young monk who had been crushed under crumbling wall. In the same way, Benedict was at times mysteriously made aware of secret or distant things, not for the sake of his own curiosity, but always to strenghten the faith of others: he confronted one of them who had neglected the vow of chastity and had not confessed his sins; another who had stolen money; and yet another who had not made a sincere confession.

Benedict prophesied to the Ostrogoth ruler Totila the length of his reign; he predicted the destruction of Monte Cassino in 589 by the Lombards, and even the day of his own death: Six days before his death, he asked his brothers to open the tomb where he would be buried. When the day came, on March 21, 547, two monks had a vision of a path of light leading from the saint's cell up to heaven. A few weeks earlier, on February 10, his sister, Saint Scholastica, had preceded him in death. Three days later, Benedict was in his cell. Looking up to the sky, he saw his sister’s soul leave her body in the form of a dove, and fly up to heaven.

Saint Benedict's rule is not only an important cultural heritage but also a model of balance of prayer, work, and study, and of moderation. For example, it makes of asceticism not an end in itself but a spiritual tool. The rule spread throughout Gaul from 575-580 and, in 663, the Council of Autun ordered that it should henceforth be the only monastic constitution. By the early 8th century, prestigious Benedictine abbeys had already been established in France and Germany. From the reign of Pepin the Short, the rule became definitively established throughout Europe.

The humble Benedict became the patriarch of Western monks. The great evangelisers of the time were inspired by his spirituality. In 813, the Council of Mainz established his Rule as an official document of the Carolingian Empire. Between 768 and 855, 471 Benedictine monasteries were built across Europe. It was the beginning of a unique success story of historic proportions.

Patrick Sbalchiero

Beyond reasons to believe:

It is impossible to fully understand Christian culture without taking into account the immense legacy of the Benedictine Order.

Going further:

Rule of Saint Benedict (written around 530), 1949 Edition, translated by Rev. Boniface Verheyen, OSB of St. Benedict's Abbey, Atchison, Kansas

More information:

Second Book of the Dialogues by Saint Gregory I
Citadel of God: A Novel of Saint Benedict, by Louis de Wohl
Man of Blessing: A Life of St. Benedict Carmen Acevedo Butcher (Paraclete Press)
Benedict XVI, " General Audience: Saint Benedict of Nursia ", April 9, 2008.