July 11 is the Memorial of St. Benedict, Founder of Western Monasticism

[DemBones DemBones]

Actually, since he was Italian, St."Benedict" was named Benedetto, just as St. "Francis" was actually named Francesco. Benedetto and his twin sister, who became St. Scholastica, were born in Umbria in 480, in a town near Spoleto. He studied in Rome but didn't like la dolce vita of the time and left the city at the age of 19 or 20. At first Benedict just wanted to get away from the evils of big city life, not be a hermit. His father was a noble so he was even able to take a servant with him to Enfide, where he performed his first miracle, making an earthenware sifter broken by his servant whole again, as if it had never been broken. The miracle attracted so much attention that Benedict left his servant behind and went to Subiaco.

At this time he also chose a life of poverty and work. He met a monk, Romanus, from a nearby monastery and this monk gave him the cowl and encouraged him to live as a hermit. Benedict then lived in a ten foot deep cave on a mountainside above a lake for three years As his reputation for holiness grew, some monks invited him to replace their abbot who had died. That didn't work out well, though; the monks tried to poison Benedict because he was too strict with them! He returned to his cave at Subiaco and worked many miracles. Men came to study with him and he organized them into twelve small monasteries. Each monastery had a prior but Benedict was abbot over all twelve. Later, he moved to Monte Cassino and "built the monastery that was to be the birthplace of Western monasticism." He died there in 547 and was buried with his sister, St. Scholastica, who had died earlier, in the crypt at Monte Cassino. Before her death, St. Scholastica has established a community of nuns using her brother Benedict's "Rule."

St. Benedict, of course, is famous for having drawn up the Rule of St. Benedict, the Rule by which many monasteries have been governed over the centuries. The Rule was written for the monastery at Monte Cassino

". . . the Rule of St Benedict has proved so wise and balanced that it has served as the foundation of practically every attempt at communal living ever since. It recognises that people aim at perfection but often fall well short of it, and aims to be a “rule for beginners” in which even the least perfect and least able can grow in spiritual stature. To visit a Benedictine monastery of almost any kind is to find oneself spending time among a group of people who, by their strivings to live and grow together, have become more and more themselves, as God intended them, instead of being crushed into false uniformity by some idealistic and authoritarian regime."

"For those of us in the world, too, the Rule of St Benedict has much to say: it drags our eyes up to the stars but keeps our feet firmly on the ground; it calls us to perfection but keeps us sane."

The Benedictines (monks and nuns) have two mottoes: "Pax" and "Ora et Labora"



"Come, let us worship God, so wonderful in all His saints."

I got my information from several sources; the following is a good site if you'd like to read a short discussion of what the Benedictine Rule is about.

http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/02467b.htm

[DemBones DemBones]

1. Benedictine Trivia to help you celebrate!

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Brother Cadfael was a Benedictine monk, though I can't remember if it comes out in the books that Cadfael is Benedictine.

I would guess that it does. I just read it last night in researching Benedict. The same source also mentioned that "The Name of the Rose" is set in a Benedictine Abbey, though the monk-detective -- Sean Connery in the movie -- and his young traveling
companion are both Franciscans.



Ever wondered about Benedictine liqueur's connection to the Benedictines?


"The fabulous history of Benedictine began during the Renaissance when a Venetian monk at the Abbey of Fécamp , Dom Bernardo Vincelli, created an elixir from 27 plants & spices from the 4 corners of the globe. This elixir was highly regarded in the court of King François I, and the drink, which by now has become famous, was produced by the Benedictine monks up until the end of the 18th century."


The recipe was nearly lost forever during the French Revolution but. . .


"In 1863, Alexandre Le Grand, a
distant relation of the Fécamp notable,
came across the book of spells by
chance and discovered the secret
recipe. Straight away, he decided to
decipher it in order to re-create this
mysterious liqueur. His tenacity enabled
him eventually to do so. He modernised
the recipe and called it "Benedictine". "


In 1876, LeGrand built a Palace-Museum to house the distillery; Benedictine liqueur is still made there. You can see photos of the Palace-Museum, Alexander LeGrand, etc., plus recipes, etc., at the company's site:

http://www.benedictine.fr/anglais/