21 March 547 A.D. Benedict of Nursia Dies at Mt. Cassino, Italy
21 March 547 A.D. Benedict
of Nursia Dies at Mt. Cassino, Italy
Graves, Dan. “Monastic Innovator,
Benedict of Nursia.” Christianity.com. Jun
2007. http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/301-600/monastic-innovator-benedict-of-nursia-11629712.html. Accessed 20 Mar 2015.
For God's sake he deliberately chose the hardships
of life and the weariness of labor." So wrote Pope Gregory I about
Benedict of Nursia. Benedict, it seems, was born into a well-to-do family in
sixth century Italy. At a young age, appalled at the degeneracy of Rome, he
renounced wealth, the love of women, the bustle of the city and the promise of
power in order to seek God. He took with him only the servant who had nursed
him as a child. Later, he left even her behind when he sought to escape the
notoriety of a miracle he had worked.
Benedict settled in a cave below a monastery in the
mountains. For three years, he remained in this place, praying, meditating and
maturing in thought. The monks brought him food at set times. When their abbot
died, they pleaded with Benedict to take his place. Benedict hesitated. He knew
these monks did not live as he would like. He would not be a good match for
them. But their pleas prevailed over his hesitation. Soon both sides regretted
the new arrangement. The lukewarm monks tried to poison Benedict. He went back
to his cave.
His saintly character and miracles attracted
followers. Eventually Benedict opened several small monasteries in the valley
and wrote his rule for monastic life. This rule, as the Catholic
Encyclopedia notes, "...holds the first place among monastic
legislative codes, and was by far the most important factor in the organization
and spread of monasticism in the West."
Benedict's rule saw work as a means to godliness.
It emphasized prayer and practicing God's presence, provided a simple form of
government and called on the monks to live with as few goods as possible.
The rule, while recognizing the importance of love
for God, seemed to expect salvation through self-denial and pious practices more than
through Christ, although at one point Benedict pointed the monks to the
ultimate goal of sharing in the sufferings of Christ. "But as we advance
in the religious life and faith, we shall run the way of God's commandments
with expanded hearts and unspeakable sweetness of love; so that, never
departing from His guidance, and persevering in the monastery in His doctrine
till death, we may by patience share in the sufferings of Christ, and be found
worthy to be co-heirs with Him of His kingdom."
Near the end of his life, Benedict had a vision in
which he saw God's glory. The whole world seemed to be gathered under a beam of
heavenly light.
Benedict also foresaw his own death. Six days
before he died, he ordered his tomb opened. After that, he fell into a shaking
fever and became weak. Then, "...upon the sixth day, he commanded his
monks to carry him into the oratory, where he did arm himself, receiving the
body and blood of our Savior Christ; and having his weak body held up between
the hands of his disciples, he stood with his own hands lifted up to heaven;
and as he was in that manner praying, he gave up the ghost." Tradition
says that he died at Monte Cassino on this day, March 21, 547. However, the
dates of his life remain unclear.
Pope Gregory I's life overlapped Benedict's. He
admired the monastic founder and helped to spread the Benedictine movement
through Europe. It became an essential feature of the Middle Ages. In 1965 Pope
Paul VI proclaimed Benedict the patron saint of Europe.
Bibliography:
Ford, Hugh Edmund. "St. Benedict of
Nursia." The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York:
Robert Appleton, 1914.
Verheyen, Rev. Boniface, translator. The
Holy Rule of St. Benedict. http://www.kansasmonks.org/RuleOfStBenedict.html
Last updated June, 2007
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