"To put nothing before the love of Christ" (R.B. ch.4)

For our knowledge of Benedict we rely on the legendary account by Pope St.Gregory the Great - The Dialogues, written in 590 - and the impressions we gain of his character from the Rule of St.Benedict.

Benedict was born in 480 in Nursia, now Norcia, about seventy miles north-east of Rome. This was a time of economic, political and social turmoil as the Roman Empire crumbled away. Disgusted by the moral decadence he saw around him as a young student in Rome, he fled to the countryside.

Although Benedict sought obscurity, his exceptional spiritual power excited wonder. To avoid attention, he withdrew to the solitude of a mountain cave at Subiaco, some fifty miles east of Rome. After being supported in his solitary life by a local monk, he was persuaded against his better judgement to become the Abbot (superior) of a local monastery. But Benedict was an exacting leader and some monks rebelled and tried to poison him. Benedict decided it was time to return to his cave.

Nevertheless, young men still flocked to him in such numbers that twelve small monasteries were founded. Further jealousy and opposition prompted Benedict to move to Monte Cassino, south of Rime. Here he established one large community, and it was for this that he wrote his Rule, in the years before his death in 547.

A classically scholarly monk

The Rule of Benedict

The Rule is for "Cenobites who live in monasteries, serving under a rule and an abbot" (R.B. ch.1). In this one sentence can be glimpsed the three Benedictine vows: Stability - the monk joins and stays in one particular community: Obedience - the monk places himself under a superior and listens to the call of God and the needs of others: Conversion to Monastic Life - the monk engages in a lifelong search for God through a communal life of prayer, work, sharing of possessions and celibacy.

Benedict did not see the monastic life as an easy option. In chapter 58 of the Rule, he says that anyone wishing to join should not be given easy entrance. It must be seen "if the novice is really seeking God, if he is eager for the Work of God (community prayer and spiritual reading/study), for obedience, for trials and let him be clearly warned of the hardship and the roughness of the road to God". The process of becoming a full member of the monastery takes at least four years.

The virtues most esteemed in the Rule are humility, obedience, perseverance and a love of silence. Yet Benedict has no illusions about monks - some may be "lazy, loose living and negligent." It is the grace of God which matures them in the rhythm of daily life, and so in God's time "as they progress in their monastic life and their faith, the heart expands and they run along the way of God's commandments with a delight of love that cannot be described." (Prologue)