Rev. José Mario O. Mandía
jmom.honlam.org
Today, we will study a man who had a great impact on European civilization and culture – Benedict of Nursia (or Norcia). A great part of what we know about Saint Benedict comes from Saint Gregory the Great’s Dialogues.
The time of Benedict saw the decay of morals, the invasion of the Germanic tribes, and the collapse of the Roman Empire. Saint Gregory wrote that St Benedict was a light that shone in those dark days. Pope Benedict XVI adds: “In fact, the Saint’s work and particularly his Rule were to prove heralds of an authentic spiritual leaven which, in the course of the centuries, far beyond the boundaries of his country and time, changed the face of Europe following the fall of the political unity created by the Roman Empire, inspiring a new spiritual and cultural unity, that of the Christian faith shared by the peoples of the Continent. This is how the reality we call ‘Europe’ came into being” (General Audience, 9 April 2008).
Saint Benedict was born around the year 480, and had a sister, Scholastica, who is also a well-known saint. His parents were well-to-do and sent him to study in Rome. He focused on rhetoric, on the art of speaking, but without any consequent training in virtue. Benedict observed how his companions pursued pleasure and nothing more. He was disillusioned by this and decided to leave Rome. Eventually, he lived as a hermit in Subiaco for three years in a cave. This cave is now an important part of a Benedictine Monastery called the ‘Sacro Speco’ (Holy Grotto).
“The period in Subiaco, a time of solitude with God, was a time of maturation for Benedict. It was here that he bore and overcame the three fundamental temptations of every human being: the temptation of self-affirmation and the desire to put oneself at the center, the temptation of sensuality and, lastly, the temptation of anger and revenge. In fact, Benedict was convinced that only after overcoming these temptations would he be able to say a useful word to others about their own situations of neediness. Thus, having tranquilized his soul, he could be in full control of the drive of his ego and thus create peace around him. Only then did he decide to found his first monasteries in the Valley of the Anio, near Subiaco” (General Audience, 9 April 2008).
Benedict’s interior battle was not easy. Sometimes, he employed heroic means to fight off temptation. “One day, during his time living in a cave above a lake as a hermit, the Devil presented Benedict’s imagination with a beautiful, tempting woman. Benedict resisted by rolling his body into a thorn bush until it was covered in scrapes. It is said through these body wounds, he cured the wounds of his soul” (“St Benedict of Nursia,” Catholic Online https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=556 )
For a time, other monks followed Benedict. But in 529, he left Subiaco and moved to Monte Cassino. There, he founded the monastery that set the standard for the Church’s monastic system. Monte Cassino was one big community of monks. His sister Scholastica settled near this monastery and lived a religious life. The Rule that Saint Benedict wrote continues to direct religious life after 15 centuries.
The Rule described the role of the Abbot. “The figure of the Abbot, which is described above all in Chapter II of the Rule with a profile of spiritual beauty and demanding commitment, can be considered a self-portrait of Benedict, since, as St Gregory the Great wrote, ‘the holy man could not teach otherwise than as he himself lived’ (cf. Dialogues II, 36). The Abbot must be at the same time a tender father and a strict teacher (cf. 2, 24), a true educator. Inflexible against vices, he is nevertheless called above all to imitate the tenderness of the Good Shepherd (27, 8), to ‘serve rather than to rule’ (64, 8) in order ‘to show them all what is good and holy by his deeds more than by his words’ and ‘illustrate the divine precepts by his example’ (2, 12). To be able to decide responsibly, the Abbot must also be a person who listens to ‘the brethren’s views’ (3, 2), because ‘the Lord often reveals to the youngest what is best’ (3, 3). This provision makes a Rule written almost 15 centuries ago surprisingly modern! A man with public responsibility even in small circles must always be a man who can listen and learn from what he hears” (General Audience, 9 April 2008).
Benedict gave utmost importance to prayer and to the lectio divina. Man’s prayer is nourished by the Word of God. That’s why Benedict and his monks spent four to six hours each day reading the Scriptures. This, however, did not make him lose sight of the importance of daily duties and man’s practical needs. Ora et labora – prayer and work go together. But the most important work, the ‘Work of God’, is the Divine Office. The Rule decreed: “Immediately upon hearing the signal for the Divine Office all work will cease.”
Benedict, founder of Western monasticism, died of a fever in Monte Cassino on 21 March 547.
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