the death of St. Benedict

Today is the Feast Day of the Benedictine congregation's founder, St. Benedict of Nursia (c.480-547).

An Italian Saint, Benedict was the founder of twelve monastic communities, the most well-known being his first at Monte Cassino in the mountains of southern Italy.

He likely did not intend to found a religious order — the Order of St. Benedict originated much later as “a confederation of congregations into which the traditionally independent Benedictine abbeys have affiliated themselves for the purpose of representing their mutual interests, without losing any of their autonomy.”

In dealing with the number of people coming to the monastery, he wrote a “Rule of Life” referred to as the Rule of St. Benedict, which “became one of the most influential religious rules in Western Christendom.

For this reason Benedict is often called ‘the founder of western Christian monasticism.’” The Roman Catholic Church canonized him in 1220.

It is unfortunate that no contemporary biography was written of a man who has exercised the greatest influence on monasticism in the West. St. Benedict is well recognized in the later Dialogues of St. Gregory, but these are sketches to illustrate miraculous elements of his career.

St. Benedict was born of a distinguished family in central Italy, studied at Rome and early in life was drawn to the monastic life. At first he became a hermit, leaving a depressing world—pagan armies on the march, the Church torn by schism, people suffering from war, morality at a low ebb.
He soon realized that he could not live a hidden life in a small town any better than in a large city, so he withdrew to a cave high in the mountains for three years. Some monks chose him as their leader for a while, but found his strictness not to their taste. Still, the shift from hermit to community life had begun for him. He had an idea of gathering various families of monks into one “Grand Monastery” to give them the benefit of unity, fraternity, permanent worship in one house.

Finally he began to build what was to become one of the most famous monasteries in the world—Monte Cassino, commanding three narrow valleys running toward the mountains north of Naples.

The Rule that gradually developed prescribed a life of liturgical prayer, study, manual labor and living together in community under a common father (abbot).

Benedictine asceticism is known for its moderation, and Benedictine charity has always shown concern for the people in the surrounding countryside.

In the course of the Middle Ages, all monasticism in the West was gradually brought under the Rule of St. Benedict.

At present, numerous Benedictine congregations all over thwe world follow his Holy Rule in their own respective congregations.