Saint Benedict
Feast day: July 11
Saint Benedict, who wrote a Rule of prayer and work, father of Western monks (11/07)
Who is he?
Saint Benedict is the father of the monks of the West. Monks are religious who live in a monastery and divide their day between prayer and work. The Rule he wrote has guided countless monasteries for almost 1,500 years.
Life story
Benedict was born around the year 480 in Nursia, Italy. His parents sent him to Rome to study. But when he saw many of his classmates living wild lives, far from God, he left the city.
He went into the mountains of Subiaco and lived alone in a cave to pray. According to the Dialogues of Saint Gregory the Great, a monk named Romanus knew where he was. Romanus would save part of his own bread, tie it to a rope and lower it down into the cave for him.
Little by little, people heard about his holy life and came asking to follow him. He founded several small monasteries around Subiaco. Around the year 529, he and his brothers went up Monte Cassino and founded a new monastery there.
There, he wrote a Rule for the monks. The Rule teaches them to live together in community, to obey, to be humble, to welcome guests as they would welcome Christ himself, and to divide the day between prayer, holy reading and work. He wrote the Rule in gentle words, asking nothing that is too hard.
Saint Scholastica, who according to tradition was his twin sister, also gave her life to God and lived as a nun nearby. He died at Monte Cassino around the year 547.
After his death, monasteries following his Rule spread all over Europe. The monks prayed, taught, copied books and cleared land for farming, and so the faith and culture were kept safe for many centuries. In 1964, Pope Paul VI named him patron saint of Europe.
Why is he a saint?
Saint Benedict put God above everything. He taught that nothing must be held dearer than Christ. He lived humbly, prayed and worked hard, and helped a great many people to live the same way.
A lesson for you
- Each morning when you wake up, offer the new day to God, then study hard and help with the housework.
- Welcome guests to your home cheerfully and politely.
- Keep a little quiet time each day to talk with God.
Identifying marks
- A broken cup with a small snake: according to the Dialogues of Saint Gregory the Great, someone put poison in his cup; he blessed it with the sign of the cross, and the cup shattered.
- A raven carrying a loaf of bread: according to the same book, a raven carried a poisoned loaf far away and saved his life.
- A book: the Rule he wrote for monks, which many monasteries still live by today.
- An abbot’s staff and a black habit: he is the father of the Benedictine monks.
- The Saint Benedict Medal (*): a medal with a cross and letters that ask God to protect us from evil.
(*) Only in some pictures and statues.
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