St Benedict
Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Benedict. St. Benedict was born during the year 480 into a very distinguished family who lived in central Italy. While St. Benedict was studying in Rome, he was drawn to monasticism. Firstly, St. Benedict felt the calling to become a hermit, and he decided to leave a depressing world with pagan armies on the march, the Church had been torn by schism, people were suffering from war, and morality was low.
After some time St. Benedict had realized that he was not called to live a hidden life in a very small area. Therefore he decided to withdraw to a cave that was located high in the mountains for close to three years. Some monks had chosen St. Benedict to be their leader for a while, but after some time they did not like his strictness. After some time, St. Benedict had gained the idea of gathering various families of monks into one “Grand Monastery” which would allow them to receive the benefit of unity, fraternity, and permanent worship in one house. Eventually, after some time, St. Benedict took action and he began to build what was to become one of the most famous monasteries in the world which is Monte Cassino. Monte Cassino commands three narrow valleys running toward the mountains north of Naples.
After some time, a rule had gradually developed a life of liturgical prayer, study, manual labor, and living together in community under a common abbot. The Benedictine asceticism is actually known for its moderation, and Benedictine charity has always tried to help people in the surrounding countryside. During the course of the Middle Ages, all monasticism in the West was gradually brought under the Rule of St. Benedict.
Today the Benedictine family is still in existence and it is represented by two branches: the Benedictine Federation which encompassing the men and women of the Order of St. Benedict; and also the Cistercians, which includes men and women of the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance.
St. Benedict passed away on March 21, 547 from a fever. St. Benedict’s feast day is celebrated on July 11. St. Benedict is the patron saint of Europe, kidney disease,
monastics, poisoning and schoolchildren.
Prayer to St. Benedict
St. Benedict help us to want to build a community of love, care, mercy and charity among all of our family, friends, neighbors and those who have done wrong to us, so that we may be able to spread Jesus’ love and mercy and so that we may bring others to Him.
Amen
St. Benedict pray for us
St. Joseph pray for us
May we continue to strengthen our journey to sainthood and keep others in our prayers.
Works cited:
Information (read from, not taken):
Franciscan media. “Saint Benedict. ”Saint Benedict | Franciscan Media. Accessed July 11, 2021.
Images:
Saint Benedict. July 11, 2021. Saint Benedict benedictines - Google Search.