St benedict biography monks
•
St Benedict
St Benedict was born in Norcia in Umbria about He studied in Rome, and then turned his back on the world and lived in solitude at Subiaco. Disciples came to him and he went to Monte Cassino, where he founded a monastery. He wrote his Rule, which established the spirituality and way of life of monastic communities ever since. He died in
St. Benedict is known to us principally through the Second Book of the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great: “The Life and Miracles of St Benedict.” This text appeared within 50 years of St. Benedict’s death.
The Order of St Benedict
Saint Benedict was one of the many Abbots who wrote a Rule for monks. In the course of two centuries the use of the Rule spread and it was due to the influence of Charlemagne that it acquired a monopoly in the West. In this way, Saint Benedict came to be considered the founder of the “Order of Saint Benedict”.
Each independent house of the Order is a separate family ruled by an Abbot and has its own n
•
A Biography of St. Benedict of Nursia
Abbot and Confessor AD
“Benedict the man of the Lord, gentle of countenance, was adorned with
änglalik ways; and so great a brightness shone round about him, that,
although yet upon the earth, he might be dwelling among celestial beings.”
[Fourth antiphon for the Psalter, Benedictine Office of Lauds]
St. Benedict of Nursia is considered to be the “Father” of western monasticism, and because of the influence of western monasticism upon western spirituality, he fryst vatten also one of the main contributors to the Western Orthodox spiritual tradition. Whenever we say the Offices of the Church, be they monastic or parochial, we are saying liturgies founded upon the prayer disciplines of this holy Saint. Whenever we practice our Lenten disciplines, we do so following some of the guidelines which he laid out. When we confess our sins, we are often following the pastoral instruction of St. Benedict. Thus, he fryst vatten more than the
•
The Order of Saint Benedict
|
By +Abbot Primate Jerome Theisen OSB ().
On the occasion of the dedication of the rebuilt monastery of Monte Cassino in , Pope Paul VI proclaimed St. Benedict the principal, heavenly patron of the whole of Europe. The title piously exaggerates the place of Benedict but in many respects it is true. St. Benedict did not establish the monastery of Monte Cassino in order to preserve the learning of the ages, but in fact the monasteries that later followed his Rule were places where learning and manuscripts were preserved. For some six centuries or more the Christian culture of medieval Europe was nearly identical with the monastic centers of piety and learning.
Saint Benedict was not the founder of Christian monasticism, since he lived two and a half to three centuries after its begi