Saint Benedict of Nursia

Italian monk

• Born: c. 480
• Birthplace: Nursia, Umbria, kingdom of the Lombards (now in Italy)
• Died: c. 547
• Place of death: Monte Cassino, Campania (now in Italy)

During fifty years of his life, Saint Benedict took the Greek pattern for the monastic life and adapted it for systematic use in the Latin church; the resulting Benedictine Rule became the model for all subsequent monastic movements.

Early Life

Although the dates of his life are in doubt, it appears that Saint Benedict of Nursia (NUR-shee-uh) was born while Simplicius was bishop of Rome and Odoacer was king of Italy. Benedict's parents, according to ancient tradition, were Euproprius and Abundantia, people of rather high social standing. It is possible that Benedict's father was a town councilman or a magistrate.

The only primary source for the study of Benedict's life is the Dialogi (sixth century; The Dialogues of Saint Gregory, Surnamed the Great, 1608) by Gregory the Great, pope from 590 to 604. This source relates practically nothing about Benedict's parents, but it does contain something about his sister Scholastica and his nurse. Tradition says that Benedict and his sister were twins. Gregory reported that the two loved each other dearly and that both, from an early age, wanted to serve God. The nurse's name may have been Cyrilla, for that is what early biographers of Benedict called her. There is, unfortunately, no reliable information about the home life of these two future saints, but Gregory indicates that Benedict and Scholastica had no interest in worldly pursuits.

Benedict received what Gregory called a liberal education in Rome. This indicates that he attended a Latin grammar school, where he was offended by the evil conduct of other students. He finally decided to discontinue his education and to adopt an ascetic life as the way to God. At about age seventeen, he forsook family, school, and possessions to become a monk. The exact circumstances surrounding this decision are not known, but he left Rome in search of a way to practice piety.

Life's Work

By renouncing worldly pleasures, Benedict committed himself to a monastic life that was to last about fifty years. He joined monks at Enfide, east of Rome, but he remained there for only a short time. For the next three years, he lived secluded in a cave near Subiaco, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) from Rome, a barren place where Emperor Nero had once maintained a villa.

Life in the hermitage was difficult just as Benedict wished, for he sought to win God's favor by rigorous self-denial. He suffered severe temptations at times, despite the isolation of his residence, and at one point, he became so inflamed with lust that he almost abandoned asceticism. The monk, however, defeated the temptation by leaping into a thicket of thorn bushes, from which he emerged bruised, cut, and bleeding but rid of his lust. He later reported that this experience had given him final victory over sexual desires.

When Benedict arrived at Subiaco, Romanus, a monk from the nearby house at Vicovaro, met him and led him to the cave that became his home for three years. Romanus and his associates eventually asked Benedict to become their abbot, and after much hesitation, he agreed. Although he disliked leaving his solitude, he saw an opportunity to lead a community of ascetics that was greatly in need of reform. Benedict sought to eliminate laxity and to restore faithful adherence to the principle of self-denial. His efforts aroused animosity from some monks, and they conspired to remove him. After some dissidents tried to poison him, the abbot left the community and resumed the life of a hermit.

His solitude did not, however, last long. Benedict was concerned for the souls who came to him for counsel, and he eventually organized them into twelve houses, which were united under his authority in an association of monasteries the first Benedictine institutions in history. The monks’ reputation for piety soon attracted adherents from Rome, who joined a movement that corresponded closely to the monastic pattern common in the Church of the East.

Benedict might have remained at Subiaco for the rest of his life had not a vicious plot destroyed his tranquillity. The saint's enemy was Florentius, a local priest of ungodly character who was embarrassed by the devout lives of Benedict and his monks. The cleric feigned friendship by sending the abbot a gift of food, which he had poisoned. When that effort failed, Florentius employed seven women to dance in the monastery garden to entice the monks. Benedict believed that the priest's hatred for him was the motive behind his machinations, so the abbot determined to leave Subiaco to protect his disciples from further attacks on their virtue. He explained to his brethren that God, by a direct revelation, had commanded him to depart, so his decision was irrevocable. Florentius did not, however, enjoy his triumph very long. As the hate-filled priest stood on a balcony watching Benedict leave Subiaco, the porch collapsed under him, and he was killed, which Gregory concluded was divine retribution.

With a small band of disciples, Benedict terminated his thirty-year ministry at Subiaco and traveled to Monte Cassino, about 80 miles (130 kilometers) south of Rome. This area had once been the site of altars and sacred groves for the worship of Apollo and other pagan gods. Some of the local peasants were still members of pagan cults when the monks arrived. Benedict demolished at least one altar in current use and cut down a sacred grove. He replaced the implements of paganism with chapels in honor of Saint Martin of Tours and Saint John the Baptist.

Although Benedict went to Monte Cassino to found a monastery for the practice of the ascetic life, he soon accepted an obligation to seek the conversion of pagans in the neighborhood, an endeavor that succeeded well. The most enduring feature of Benedict's work at Monte Cassino is, however, the monastic rule that ever since has borne his name. This is the only writing from the saint's own hand to survive.

The Benedictine Rule gradually became the standard for monastic practice throughout the Western church. It was not, however, entirely original with Saint Benedict. Later research has shown that it was preceded by the Regula magistri, an anonymous document from which Benedict borrowed heavily. The Benedictine Rule quotes from the Bible and the church fathers, especially Augustine, Jerome, Cyprian, and Leo. It reveals the author's familiarity with Eastern fathers such as Pachomius and Basil, who wrote rules for monks of Greek Christendom. Benedict's reliance on the Regula magistri and other sources shows that he did not consider himself an innovator or the founder of a new religious movement. He instead accepted the concepts of his predecessors and adapted them to his own needs and those of his disciples. The synthetic character of the Benedictine Rule was actually part of its strength, which may account for the broad acceptance it achieved.

It is rather interesting that, in composing his rule, Benedict drew extensively from the writings of two earlier monastic leaders who held contradictory doctrines of salvation. Saint Augustine (354-430) had produced a rule for monks of his diocese in North Africa, and Cassian (360-435) had done the same for those in southern Gaul. Augustine was the champion of salvation by grace alone, while Cassian contended that grace enabled people to perform works of righteousness that, if sufficiently meritorious, God would reward with salvation. Cassian's view, commonly called Semi-Pelagianism, became very popular in southern Gaul, but the Catholic Church condemned it as heresy at the Synod of Orange in 529. Condemnation did not, however, lead to the demise of Semi-Pelagianism, as the Benedictine Rule shows clearly. In the prologue to his rule, the abbot wrote:

Let us encompass ourselves with faith and . . . good works, and guided by the Gospel, tread the path He [Christ] has cleared for us. Thus may we deserve to see Him who has called us into His Kingdom. . . . If we wish to be sheltered in this Kingdom, it can be reached only through our good conduct.

Although Benedict affirmed that divine grace enables individuals to perform good works, it is evident that he regarded such works as meritorious toward salvation. In fact, Cassian and those who espoused his teaching saw clearly that the Augustinian belief that salvation is a free gift of grace undermines the entire philosophy of monasticism, something that the great bishop of Hippo had failed to perceive.

The Benedictine Rule prescribes a style of life intended to win salvation by self-denial. Benedict ordered that monks subscribe to vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience. He wanted his disciples to forsake individualism and to perform spiritual and physical good works in the community. He wanted monasteries to be self-sufficient so that monks would “not need to wander about outside, for this is not good for their souls.” He made the abbot master of the community, to whom the monks owed unqualified obedience. The rule is not all-inclusive but allows the abbot considerable latitude. It is more a compendium of principles than a code of precise precepts. The Frankish emperor Charlemagne (r. 768-814) promoted ecclesiastical reforms that featured observance of the Benedictine Rule, and the emperor's son Louis the Pious (r. 814-840) made it the standard for monastic houses in Germany and France. Although Benedict did not presume that his rule would gain universal acceptance in the Catholic Church, all later monastic characters have been chiefly modifications of his original work.

Benedict died at Monte Cassino, forty-six days after his sister Scholastica. Although he had shown no signs of illness, six days before he died, he told his followers to open his grave so that he could see the remains of Scholastica, with whom he was to be buried.

Pope Gregory believed that Benedict worked miracles and that he possessed the gift of prophecy. In The Dialogues of Saint Gregory, Surnamed the Great, therefore, miracle tales abound. Among them are wonders that correspond to events in the Bible, such as bringing water out of rocks, causing an iron blade to rise from the bottom of a lake, and enabling a disciple to walk on water. There is one account of the abbot restoring a dead person to life.

Significance

The significance of Benedict for the development of Latin Christendom can scarcely be exaggerated, even if one discounts the miracles that Gregory the Great attributed to him. Benedict's monks soon established a daughter house at Terracina, the first of many extensions eventually thirty-seven thousand others dotted the landscape of Christendom. Although he did not produce syllabi for scholarly activities, his order became famous for the learned writings of medieval authors such as Saint Bede the Venerable and Alcuin. When, by the tenth century, monasticism in general had declined, the Cluniacs and Cistercians arose to restore adherence to the Benedictine Rule.

In 1964, Pope Paul VI made Benedict patron saint of Europe. Although he was not the first Latin monk, he was surely the most influential, and the prevalence of the Semi-Pelagian doctrine of salvation in modern Catholicism bears witness to the pervasiveness of the ascetic world-and-life view that monks have, since his time, promoted. Benedict's motto was Ora Labora, Praise and Work.

Bibliography

Benedict, Saint. The Rule of Saint Benedict in English. Edited by Timothy Fry and Imogen Baker. New York: Vintage Books, 1998. Critically prepared text with very helpful biographical sketch of author.

Clark, Francis. The “Gregorian” Dialogues and the Origins of Benedictine Monasticism. Boston: Brill, 2003. An analysis of the writings of Gregory the Great on Saint Benedict and an investigation into the beginnings of Benedictine monasticism. Index.

Dreuille, Mayeul de. The Rule of Saint Benedict: A Commentary in Light of World Ascetic Traditions. New York: Newman Press, 2002. Dreuille examines the monastic rule developed by Saint Benedict and compares it with other ascetic practices. Bibliography and index.

Dudden, F. Homes. Gregory the Great, His Place in History and Thought. 2 vols. New York: Russell and Russell, 1967. Despite its age, this is still the major work on the subject; valuable for Gregory’s view of Benedict.

Gregory the Great. Life and Miracles of Saint Benedict: Book Two of the Dialogues. Translated by Odo J. Zimmerman and Benedict R. Avery. Reprint. 1949. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1980. The only surviving primary source on Benedict, in a readable translation.

Kardong, Terrence. Benedict’s Rule: A Translation and Commentary. Collegeville, Minn.: Liturgical Press, 1996. A translation of Saint Benedict’s work, with notes on the man and his writings. Bibliography and index.