Thoughts to live by: St. Benedict, Abbot

11 July — 14th Week in Ordinary Time

Readings: Eph. 2:19-22; Ps. 117:1, 2; Jn. 20:24-29

Some Notes on St. Benedict:

1. St. Benedict was born in Nursia, near Spoleto, Italy, c. 480. He died at Monte Cassino in 547 at the age of 67. His only authentic character sketch is that contained in the 2nd book of St. Gregory's "Dialogues." Benedict was the son of a Roman noble of Nursia. St. Scholastica was his twin sister. His boyhood was spent in Rome with his parents.

In about 500 AD, he gave up his books to look for a place of solitude. He took a servant with him and settled in Enfide (the modern Affile).

2. When his solitude was disturbed after his first miracle of restoring to perfect condition an earthenware vessel, accidentally broken by his servant, he fled to Subiaco. He wanted to be truly poor and to live by his own work. After receiving advice and a monk's habit from Romanus who lived in a nearby monastery located above a cave on a Subiaco mountain, Benedict became a hermit.

3. He lived for three years in the cave. Through prayer, meditation and solitude, he grew in the knowledge and love of God. Reluctantly, he consented to be an Abbot of a nearby monastery, but the members could not accept his strict discipline and tried to poison him. So, he returned to his cave.

4. His miracles became more frequent and the simplicity of his holy ascetical life attracted many disciples. He built 12 monasteries for them, each with 12 monks, but remained the father or Abbot of all. With the monasteries were schools for children.

5. Around 530 AD, he drew out a Rule for the monasteries and for nuns who wanted to follow his monastic style of life. The Rule eventually became the norm and guide for monasteries. Surprisingly, the Rule was not for clerics but for lay people who wished to live the Gospel as fully as possible. The lay-origin character of the Rule remains, even though Benedictine monks are now generally clerics.

6. The Rule emphasizes prayer, work, simplicity and hospitality.

The Benedictines take no explicit vow of poverty. They only profess Obedience according to the Rule, in which the vows of poverty and chastity are implicit. Possessions are held in common. Community life is paramount. Public prayer binds the community together. Benedict did not legislate anything on private prayer, but described it as praying "with tears and fervor of heart," "with purity of heart."

The mode of life secured by the Rule leads naturally to higher states of prayer, built on the foundations of obedience and work. "Ora et labora" — this sums up the principal themes of Benedict's Rule.

7. The life at Subiaco and the character of St. Benedict attracted many people to the new monasteries, but at the cost of jealousy and persecution by some priests. So Benedict left Subiaco and went to Monte Cassino. There he destroyed old pagan idols and altars, and built new oratories. By his "preaching he brought the people to embrace the faith of Christ." He thus transformed a once pagan center into a center of Christian faith.

8. He built the famous monastery of Monte Cassino and kept all his monks in this one monastery unlike Subiaco. The monastery became the protector of the poor. Benedict himself was sought for advice by abbots, nobles, bishops, and lay people. And the monks took up any work as necessity demanded, teaching, doing agriculture, practising the arts, caring for souls, and studying, while being obedient to community life and prayer.

9. To his gifts of the Spirit was added the gift of prophecy. His prophecy in 453 AD to Totila, king of the Goths, that he would die in the 10th year of his reign came true.

10. Three days before her death, his sister, Scholastica, begged him to stay for the night during one of his regular visits, but he begged off. Thereupon, Scholastica prayed and suddenly rain poured down and Benedict had to stay. Three days later, Benedict beheld her sister's soul in the form of a dove departing for heaven from her body. He imparted the news of her death to his monks. Her corpse was brought to the monastery to be buried.

11. About this time, Benedict saw "God Himself and in God all that is below him," according to Pope Urban VIII and St. Gregory. His death on 21 March 547 was predicted by him six days before it happened. He was buried in the same grave as his sister, St. Scholastica.

12. Because of the impact and influence of St. Benedict's Rule on monks, nuns, and monasteries, he is regarded as the Father of Western Monasticism. In 1964, Saint Pope Paul VI declared St. Benedict co-patron of Europe, along with Sts. Cyril and Methodius.

13. Prayer:

O God, you made the Abbot St. Benedict an outstanding master of the school of divine service. Grant, we pray, that we may put nothing before love of you and may hasten with loving heart in the way of your command, through Christ our Lord. Amen (Collect for today's Holy Mass).

Prayers, best wishes, God bless!