St.Benedict of Nursia

St. Benedict of Nursia

July 11, holiday
Position: Abbot and patron saint of Europe
Death: 547
Patron: Europe; teachers, miners, copper engravers and speleologists—cave explorers (since 1957); students, agricultural workers, civil engineers, architects, and the dying; invoked against magic and in temptations; in fever and inflammation, poisoning, and stone disease; also for help in fulfilling religious duties.
Attributes: Benedictine, crutch, small snake or dragon, raven, bread, book, ball, cup, cracked bowl, sieve, thorns
CURRICULUM VITAE

He was an Italian from the Umbrian mountains. He studied briefly in Rome, revered the Virgin Mary and, with her help, kept his heart intact. He left everything and went into solitude. He became an exemplary teacher to the people who followed him. At first he founded small monasteries and later built the extensive monastery of Montecassino. He founded the Western religious movement and contributed to the preservation of classical culture. His advice for creating a spiritual balance in man is reminiscent of the sign of the cross rising above the plow. In the spirit of his rules, prayer was also work, and work was prayer.
CV FOR MEDITATION

FATHER OF WESTERN MONASTICS AND PATRON OF EUROPE
He was born around 480 in Nursia (Norica, near Perugia) in the Umbrian mountains in central Italy as a twin. He had a sister, Scholastica, who also later became a saint, whose memory is celebrated on February 10. Their mother, Abundancia, died in childbirth, and their father, Euprob, who belonged to the rural nobility, entrusted the children to a foster mother.

Due to his above-average intellectual abilities and the nobility of his family, he was sent to Rome to study law. He was satisfied with the school, but not with the morality of the Roman students. The moral side of these classmates led him to interrupt his studies and go east to the settlement of Affile in the hilly region near Subiaco. There, a small group of ascetics lived in prayer and self-denial, whose company suited him better. Nevertheless, he soon took refuge a little farther away, in a lonely cave near the Ania River in Subiaco, and began to live a harsh hermit’s life. He was soon beset by temptations from which solitude does not protect, and Benedict, in order to overcome sensual desires, sometimes threw himself into thorns. Even then, he had extraordinary experiences and miraculous abilities that accompanied him throughout his life. He tried to live in such solitude and concentration on God that he did not notice time. He only discovered that Easter had arrived during a chance meeting with a priest.

After three years of solitary life, he came into contact with a monk, who gave him a habit and who occasionally brought him food. His other guests were shepherds, and as news of his life spread, other visitors appeared. After the death of the superior of a nearby monastic community, the monks came to Benedict to urge him to take his place. With considerable hesitation, Benedict accepted and began to establish the order according to what he considered best. The monks, accustomed to a relatively simpler life, disliked the practice introduced by Benedict, and according to legend, one of them tried to poison him with poison mixed in wine. Benedict, as was his custom, made the sign of the cross over the drink, and at that moment the poisoned cup broke.

After this show of hostility, Benedict left the monks and continued his life in a cave above Subiaco. However, he did not close himself off from people and when young people who wanted to live according to his example of work and prayer sought him out, he received them. Twelve new small monastic communities were then established in the hills of Subiaco, which submitted to Benedict’s leadership.

In addition to the admiration of the nearby inhabitants, there was also the jealous hostility of a priest who tried to destroy Benedict’s work through intrigues. Probably for this reason, Benedict and some monks set off in a southeasterly direction and chose a suitable place for the future monastery, the ruins of the temple of Jupiter above the city of Cassino. Then he dedicated the pagan-marked area to the service of God and, together with his brothers, began to build the cradle of Benedictine monasticism for the glory of God.

They built the monastery on Montecassino Hill between 529 and 532 and made it a center from which a living faith and Christian culture later radiated throughout Europe.

After his life experiences, Benedict saw that a strict rule was necessary for monks to govern their communal life. He compiled the “Regula” for them, rules that justify his title “Father of Western Monasticism.”

The “Regula Benedicti” became the basis of all Benedictine monasteries in the West that adopted its model. The Order of St. Benedict also has later branches and offshoots. These include the Carthusians (who supplemented his order with Camaldolese regulations originating from the so-called White Benedictines), the Cistercians and the Celestines. Many houses according to the Benedictine order were also organized into several congregations.

Benedict, while working on the order, consistently drew on the Bible and established the basic rules of monastic life. He placed the main emphasis on consistency in the service of God, perfect obedience, humility, and diligent and conscientious work. He determined the main tasks to be a contemplative life, a common choir, work in spiritual administration, teaching students, and manual work, especially cultivating the land. Therefore, the Benedictine motto became “Ora et labora” (“Pray and work”). It denotes the search for God through prayer and through physical and mental work.

In drawing up the rule, Benedict considered both Eastern and Western traditions and personal experience. He also remembered the need to adapt to various circumstances to some extent while maintaining a clear organizational structure.

In the life of Benedict, we can observe how his ideal of monasticism developed. At first, he was influenced by Eastern models, such as Egyptian and Syrian hermits. To this was added the concept of monastic life, as understood by Basil the Great. Experience and charisma then led him to a type of life in which he combined the glorification of God with all-round service to people. This is the most beautiful and attractive thing about his order. He excluded from it a wandering life and isolated asceticism that does not look at the needs of other people, but focuses only on personal perfection. All this leads to the all-round usefulness of the Benedictine monasteries, the model of which was created at Montecassino. The noble titles later conferred on Benedict, as well as his elevation, are connected to all this.

After completing his monastery on Montecassino, Benedict helped his sister Scholastica establish the first Benedictine monastery beneath the same mountain. They met once a year in the courtyard between the two monasteries for advice and spiritual conversation. Three days after their last meeting, Benedict had a vision of his sister’s soul ascending to heaven in the form of a dove. He then had Scholastica’s body transferred to a tomb prepared for him in the Montecassino monastery. Soon after, on Holy Thursday, March 21, 547, while praying before the altar with outstretched hands, Benedict also died and was buried in the same tomb next to his sister. Above their grave is the main altar of the Montecassino basilica.

Benedict’s feast day has been celebrated on this day since the 8th century as the anniversary of the alleged transfer of his relics. Pope Pius XII called him the “father of Europe” and Pope Paul VI solemnly proclaimed him the patron saint of Europe on 24 October 1964. The title was also confirmed by John Paul II, who proclaimed other co-patrons.

It is interesting to note that by the eighteenth century, the Benedictine order had produced 42 popes, 200 cardinals, and almost 6,000 archbishops and bishops, as well as numerous saints and prominent scholars and writers.