St. Benedict

Their story

Benedict was born around 480 in Nursia, in central Italy, and according to tradition was the twin brother of St. Scholastica. He was sent to Rome to study, but he was so troubled by the immoral lives of the people around him that he left the city and went to live alone in a cave at Subiaco, in the hills east of Rome. For three years he lived there in prayer, supplied with bread by a monk who lowered it to him on a rope. Word of his holiness spread, and a group of monks asked him to be their abbot. When his strict ways displeased them, they tried to poison his wine, but when Benedict blessed the cup, it shattered. He left them, and others came to him. He founded twelve small monasteries around Subiaco, and around 529 he moved to Monte Cassino, south of Rome, where he built the great monastery where he spent the rest of his life. There Benedict wrote his Rule, a wise and gentle guide for monks. It begins with the word "Listen" and teaches a balanced life of prayer and work, community and obedience, summed up in the phrase "pray and work." It asks that every guest be welcomed as Christ himself. Benedict died around 547, standing in the chapel, supported by his monks, just after receiving Holy Communion. His Rule shaped monasteries across Europe for centuries, preserving learning and faith, and he is a patron of Europe.