Benedict of Nursia July 11

He was the son of a Roman nobleman from Nursia, modern Norcia, in Umbria. A tradition Bede accepts makes him a twin of his sister Scholastica. If 480 is accepted as his birth year, the year he abandoned his studies and left home would be around 500. Gregory's account makes it impossible to assume he was younger than 20 at the time.

Benedict was sent to Rome to study, but was disappointed with the life he found there. He does not seem to have left Rome with the intention of becoming a hermit, but only to find a place away from the life of the big city. He took his old nurse with him as a servant, and they settled in Enfide. Enfide, which Subiaco tradition identifies with modern Affile, lies in the Simbruini Mountains, about forty miles from Rome and two miles from Subiaco.

At a short distance from Enfide is the entrance to a narrow and dark valley, penetrating the mountains and leading directly to Subiaco. The path continues to climb, and the side of the ravine, over which it runs, becomes steeper, until a cave is reached above which the mountain now rises almost perpendicularly; while to the right it drops away in a rapid descent to the spot where, in the time of Benedict, 150 m. below, lay the blue waters of a lake. The cave has a large opening of a triangular shape and is about ten feet deep.

On his way back from Enfidus, Benedict met a monk, Romanus of Subiaco, whose monastery was on the mountain above the cliff overlooking the cave. Romanus had discussed with Benedict the purpose that had brought him to Subiaco, and had given him the monk's habit. On his advice, Benedict became a hermit and lived for three years, unbeknownst to men, in this cave above the lake.

Gregory tells us little about these years. He now speaks of Benedict not as a youth (puer), but as a man (vir) of God. Romanus, Gregory tells us, served Benedict in every way possible. The monk apparently visited him frequently and, on fixed days, brought him food.

During these three years of solitude, interrupted only by occasional communications with the outside world and by visits from Romanus, Benedict matured both in mind and character, in the knowledge of himself and his neighbor, and at the same time he became not simply known, but assured the respect of those around him; so much so that on the death of the abbot of a nearby monastery (identified by some with Vicovaro), the community came to him and begged him to become its abbot.

Benedict was familiar with the life and discipline of the monastery, and knew that "their ways were different from his own and therefore they would never agree together: yet at last, overcome by their supplications, he gave his consent" (ibid., 3).

The experiment failed; the monks tried to poison him. legend says that they first tried to poison his drink. He prayed a blessing over the cup and it broke. So, he left the group and returned to his cave in Subiaco. There lived nearby a priest named Florentius who, driven by envy, tried to ruin him. He tried to poison him with poisoned bread. When he prayed a blessing over the bread, a crow flew in and carried the bread away.

From this time on, his miracles seem to have become frequent, and many people, attracted by his holiness and character, came to Subiaco to be under his guidance. Having failed by sending him poisoned bread, Florentius tried to seduce his monks with some prostitutes. To avoid further temptation, around 530, Benedict left Subiaco. He founded 12 monasteries in the vicinity of Subiaco and, finally, in 530, he founded the great Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino, which stands on a hill between Rome and Naples.

During the invasion of Italy, Totila, King of the Goths, ordered a general to wear his royal robes and see if Benedict would discover the truth. Benedict immediately detected the impersonation, and Totila came to pay homage.

Benedict wrote the Rule in 516 for monks living in community under the authority of an abbot. The Rule comprises seventy-three short chapters. Its wisdom is twofold: spiritual (how to live a Christocentric life on earth) and administrative (how to effectively run a monastery). More than half of the chapters describe how to be obedient and humble, and what to do when a member of the community is not. About a quarter regulates the work of God ("opus Dei"). A tenth describes how and by whom the monastery is to be run.