During the fifth century, Italy and the entire Mediterranean area was being overrun by the half-civilized, pagan Arians. Consequently the Roman Empire was quickly falling back into barbarism, the Church was torn by conflict and in both the city and the countryside alike desolation and destruction abounded threatening the existence of both society as it was then known and the Church. Before the year 500 Benedict of Nursia (born about 480), the son of a noble of that region, was sent to Rome to continue his studies. We know little of his background except that he came from Umbria in north central Italy and that he had a sister Scholastica (traditionally spoken of as his twin) who had consecrated herself to God from childhood.

Sent to Rome to be educated, the young Benedict was revolted by the slack attitude of his fellow students. Benedict left Rome in disgust and made his way to Subiaco in the mountains where he met Romanus, a monk, who gave him a habit on hearing of Benedict’s desire to take up monastic life. For three years Benedict lived in an all but inaccessible cave with Romanus sharing his food with him, passing it to Benedict by means of a rope down over the lip of the cave.

During his time as a hermit in many came to seek his advice as the word spread of a holy man living in the mountains. Benedict fought many battles with temptations from both the devil and the flesh. Over time the wisdom Benedict gained through these experiences would be shared with us all in his famous Rule. There are numerous accounts of miracles Benedict worked including one where on being asked to take the office of abbot of a group of monks he instituted a strict regime of discipline that did not suit the formerly lax habits of the monastery. The monks tried to poison him but Benedict, making the sign of the cross over the cup from which he was to drink, saw the cup shatter thus rendering the poison useless as it spilt to the floor. Benedict quickly left the monastery as he could see that he was not accepted by the monks there.

It was about this time that many disciples began to gather around Benedict, attracted by his sanctity and by his miraculous powers. At last Benedict was able to bring together those who wished to share the monastic life, both men of the world who yearned to escape material concerns and the monks who had been living in solitude or in widely scattered communities, to make of them one flock, binding them by fraternal bonds, under one observance, in the permanent worship of God. Those who agreed to obey Benedict in this enterprise, he settled in twelve monasteries of twelve monks each. Although each monastery had its own prior, Benedict himself exercised general control over all of them from the monastery of St. Clement. Benedict had little or no time for monks who wandered from place to place unwilling to settle down to a life of fraternal obedience to a superior and community living. There was a place for hermits, but they too should remain in one place. Hence we gain insight into the Benedictine vow of stability.

As yet they had no written rule. According to one old record, they simply followed the example of Benedict's deeds. Romans and Barbarians, rich and poor, they all came to place themselves under a monk who made no distinction of rank or nation. Parents brought their young sons, for, in the prevailing chaos, the safest and happiest way of life seemed to be that of the monk. Gregory tells us of two noble Romans, Tertullus, a patrician, and Equitius, who came with their small sons, Placidus, a child of seven, and Maurus, a lad of twelve. They were the forerunners of the great hosts of boys, in succeeding centuries, who were to be educated in Benedictine schools. On these two aristocratic young Romans, especially on Maurus, who afterwards became his coadjutor, Benedict expended his utmost care.
One of Benedict's greatest accomplishments was to break down in his monasteries the ancient prejudice against manual work as something in itself degrading and servile. The Romans had for centuries made slaves of conquered peoples, who performed their menial tasks. Now times were changing. Benedict introduced the novel idea that labor was not only dignified and honorable but conducive to sanctity; it was therefore made compulsory for all who joined the order, nobles and plebeians alike. "He who works prays," (Ora et Labora) became the maxim which expressed the Benedictine attitude.

The town of Cassino, formerly an important place, had been destroyed by the Goths, and the remnant of its inhabitants, left without a priest, were relapsing into paganism; the once-fertile land had fallen out of cultivation. It was to this place that Benedict came around 520. From time to time the inhabitants would climb up through the woods to offer sacrifices in an ancient temple dedicated to Apollo, which stood on the crest of Monte Cassino. Benedict's first work, after a preliminary forty-day fast, was to preach to the people and win them back to the faith. With the help of these converts, he proceeded to overthrow the pagan temple and cut down the sacred grove. He built two oratories or chapels on the site; one he dedicated to St. John the Baptist and the other to St. Martin. Round about these sanctuaries new buildings were erected and older ones remodeled, until there rose, little by little, the tremendous pile which was to become the most famous abbey the world has known.

It was probably during this period that Benedict composed his famous Rule. Pope Gregory says that in it may be perceived "all his own manner of life and discipline, for the holy man could not possibly teach otherwise than as he lived." Although the Rule professes only to lay down a pattern of life for the monks at Monte Cassino, it served as a guide for the monks of the whole Western Empire. It is addressed to all who, renouncing their own will, take upon them "the strong and bright armor of obedience, to fight under our Lord Christ, our true king."

The monastery of Monte Cassino was destroyed by the Lombards about seventy years later. It was rebuilt and again destroyed, this time by the Saracens in 884; after its second restoration, it enjoyed a period of tranquility, and in the eleventh century attained its greatest influence. It suffered severely from aerial bombardment during the Allied advance northwards in World War II, but the rebuilding of damaged portions has already begun.

There are many stories of the miracles that Benedict worked. He who had foretold so many things was forewarned of his own death, and six days before the end bade his disciples dig a grave. As soon as this was done, Benedict was stricken with a fever, and on the sixth day, while the brethren supported him, he murmured a few words of prayer and died, standing, with hands uplifted towards Heaven. He was buried beside his sister Scholastica, on the site of the altar of Apollo which he had thrown down.

In art Benedict is commonly represented with King Totila, the king of the barbarian Goths who stood in awe of the holy man, or with his finger on his lips, holding the Rule, or with the opening words, "Ausculta, O fili," ("Listen, O son") proceeding from his mouth. The order which Benedict founded has spread over the earth. It was mainly responsible for the conversion of the Teutonic races, and has left its mark on the education, art, and literature of Europe. Within its cloisters, always marked by an atmosphere of industry and peace, were copied and recopied the great writings of the past, to be cherished and passed on to succeeding generations.

It is largely as a result of the monasticism fostered by Benedict that took root in the Irish isles that Europe was re-evangelized after the dark ages of the barbarian invasions came to an end. The vast body of learning protected by these monastic communities was brought back to Europe by the Irish evangelists, Columbanus and Columba to name but two of them. The monasteries they established soon became centers of learning and schools for the youth and ultimately developed into what we know today as universities. Some of the more famous ones no longer exist, Bobbio, Foggia and many more, but others are still well known today as the university towns of Milan, Oxford, Salamanca and so on.
It is arguable that European culture and civilization owes more to the life and heritage of Benedict than any other individual. We readily accept Western Civilization’s debt to the great Greeks philosophers, Plato and Aristotle et al. I believe the West is at least, if not more indebted to the teachings and inspiration of Benedict and his monks and in particular his Rule of Life. Perhaps it is time for us to reexamine and rediscover this legacy to see what it might be saying to us in the twenty first century?

Saint Benedict, Abbot, Founder of Western Monasticism. Taken from "Lives of Saints", Published by John J. Crawley & Co., Inc.