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 It is
unfortunate that no contemporary biography was written of a man who has
exercised measureless influence on monasticism in the West. Benedict is well
recognized in the later Dialogues of St. Gregory, but these are sketches to
illustrate miraculous elements of his career.
Benedict was born of a distinguished family in central Italy, studied at
Rome and early in life was drawn to the monastic life. At first he became a
hermit, leaving a depressing world—pagan armies on the march, the Church
torn by schism, people suffering from war, morality at a low ebb.
He soon realized that he could not live a hidden life in a small town any
better than in a large city, so he withdrew to a cave high in the mountains
for three years. Some monks chose him as their leader for a while, but found
his strictness not to their taste. Still, the shift from hermit to community
life had begun for him. He had an idea of gathering various families of
monks into one “Grand Monastery” to give them the benefit of unity,
fraternity, permanent worship in one house. Finally he began to build what
was to become one of the most famous monasteries in the world—Monte Cassino,
commanding three narrow valleys running toward the mountain.
The Rule that gradually developed prescribed a life of liturgical prayer,
study, manual labor and living together in community under a common father
(abbot). Benedictine asceticism is known for its moderation, and Benedictine
charity has always shown concern for the people in the surrounding
countryside. In 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 represented by two branches: the Benedictine
Federation and the Cistercians.
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