Benedict, St.

Benedict, St., the founder of Western monachism, was born of a wealthy family at Nursia, near Spoleto, in 480 A.D. At an early age he was sent to the schools of Rome, but soon grew dissatisfied with the sterile character of the instruction dispensed. The world to the boy seemed full of distractions, impurities, and ignorance; it was difficult to resist, by the ordinary safeguards of virtue, the colossal evils with which men were environed; only, therefore, in the devotions of religion, in the holy silence of solitary meditation, did Benedict see a safe refuge from the sins of the time, and the possibility of realising a spiritual strength which would enable him to stem the flood of corruption. He resolved to leave the city, and betake himself to some deep solitude where the murmur of the world would be inaudible, and alone in the rocky wilderness wrestle with his own nature, until he had conquered it and laid it a sacrifice on the altar of God. In pursuance of this resolution, when he had only reached the age of fourteen, he departed from Rome, accompanied for the first 25 miles by the nurse whom his parents had sent with him as an attendant. He then left her, and retired to a deserted country lying on a lake, hence called Sublaqueum (now Subiaco). Here, in a cavern (which afterwards received the name of the Holy Grotto), he dwelt for three years, until his fame spread over the country, and multitudes came to see him. He was now appointed abbot of a neighbouring monastery, observing, or rather neglecting, the oriental rule; but soon left it, as the morals of the half-wild monks were not severe enough. This, however, only excited a livelier interest in his character, and as he lived in a period when the migration and interfusion of races and nations were being rapidly carried on, he could not fail to draw crowds of wanderers about him. Wealthy Romans also placed their sons under his care, anxious that they should be trained for a spiritual life. Benedict was thus enabled to found twelve monasteries, over each of which he placed a superior. The savage Goths even were attracted to him, and employed in the useful and civilising practice of agriculture, gardening, &c. He now sought another retreat, and, along with a few followers, founded a monastery on Monte Cassino, near Naples, afterwards one of the richest and most famous in Italy. Here he extirpated the lingering relics of paganism, and had his celebrated interview with Totila, king of the Goths, to whom he spoke frankly and sharply on his errors. In 515 he is said to have composed his Regula Monachorum, in which he aimed, among other things, at repressing the irregular and licentious life of the wandering monks, by introducing stricter discipline and order. It eventually became the common rule of all Western monachism. The monasteries which Benedict founded were simply religious colleges, intended to develop a high spiritual character, which might beneficially influence the world. To the abbot was given supreme power, and he was told to acquit himself in all his relations with the wisdom of God and of St Benedict. The discipline recommended is milder than that of oriental monachism with regard to food, clothing, &c.; but enjoins continual residence in the monastery, and, in addition to the usual religious exercises, directs that the monks shall employ themselves in manual labours, imparting instruction to youth, copying manuscripts for the library, &c. By this last injunction, Benedict, though this was not directly intended, preserved many of the literary remains of antiquity; for the injunction, which he gave only with regard to religious books, was extended afterwards to many secular productions. It is remarkable that the founder of the most learned of all the monastic orders was himself so little of a scholar that St Gregory the Great described him as being 'scienter nesciens, et sapienter indoctus'—learnedly ignorant, and wisely unlearned. St Benedict died March 21, 543.