Today is the memorial of St. Benedict, patron of Europe. (and of many other things)
(Pope Benedict begins his summer vacation today – coincidence or celebration – you decide)
(More photos of the Pope’s arrival in Les Combes here. and then here, from Catholic Press Photo.)
Modern interest in St. Benedict, his impact, and his Rule really took off in 1980, which was the 1500th anniversary of his birth. Over the past two decades in the U.S., there have been an enormous number of books aimed at helping the lay person incorporate the wisdom of the Rule of St. Benedict into daily life, beginning, of course, with Kathleen Norris’ The Cloister Walk. You can read aboutSt. Benedict’s Rule for Business Success, or Benedict for Buddhists, for example.
For my money, two of the more graceful and useful modern applications of the Rule have been written by Dwight Longenecker, author of Listen My Son: St. Benedict for Fathers and St. Benedict and St. Therese: The Little Rule and the Little Way
Mike Aquilina has a good introductory post on St. Benedict and his spiritual family.
Finally, to bring us into the modern era, here’s The Roaming Roman – she spent Corpus Christi weekend in Norcia, the birthplace of Benedict and his sister Scholastica. Lovely photos, including some of the traditional petal art that provides stopping points for the Corpus Christi procession:
From the Office of Readings today: (Which in turn, is taken from the Rule)
Just as there exists an evil fervour, a bitter spirit, which divides us from God and leads us to hell, so there is a good fervour which sets us apart from evil inclinations and leads us toward God and eternal life. Monks should put this fervour into practice with an overflowing love: that is, they should surpass each other in mutual esteem, accept their weaknesses, either of body or of behaviour, with the utmost patience; and vie with each other in acceding to requests. No one should follow what he considers to be good for himself, but rather what seems good for another. They should display brotherly love in a chaste manner; fear God in a spirit of love; revere their abbot with a genuine and submissive affection. Let them put Christ before all else; and may he lead us all to everlasting life.
From Pope Benedict’s first General Audience, in April 2005:
The name "Benedict" also calls to mind the extraordinary figure of the great "Patriarch of Western Monasticism", St Benedict of Norcia, Co-Patron of Europe together with Sts Cyril and Methodius, and the women Saints, Bridget of Sweden, Catherine of Siena and Edith Stein. The gradual expansion of the Benedictine Order that he founded had an enormous influence on the spread of Christianity across the Continent. St Benedict is therefore deeply venerated, also in Germany and particularly in Bavaria, my birthplace; he is a fundamental reference point for European unity and a powerful reminder of the indispensable Christian roots of his culture and civilization.
We are familiar with the recommendation that this Father of Western Monasticism left to his monks in his Rule: "Prefer nothing to the love of Christ" (Rule 72: 11; cf. 4: 21). At the beginning of my service as Successor of Peter, I ask St Benedict to help us keep Christ firmly at the heart of our lives. May Christ always have pride of place in our thoughts and in all our activities!
On April 1, 2005, then Cardinal Ratzinger accepted an award from a conference being held at the Monastery of St. Scholastica in Subiaco, Italy (Subiaco was the location of Benedict’s first hermitage). In his acceptance address he said:
Above all, that of which we are in need at this moment in history are men who, through an enlightened and lived faith, render God credible in this world. The negative testimony of Christians who speak about God and live against him, has darkened God’s image and opened the door to disbelief. We need men who have their gaze directed to God, to understand true humanity. We need men whose intellects are enlightened by the light of God, and whose hearts God opens, so that their intellects can speak to the intellects of others, and so that their hearts are able to open up to the hearts of others.
Only through men who have been touched by God, can God come near to men. We need men like Benedict of Norcia, who at a time of dissipation and decadence, plunged into the most profound solitude, succeeding, after all the purifications he had to suffer, to ascend again to the light, to return and to found Montecasino, the city on the mountain that, with so many ruins, gathered together the forces from which a new world was formed.
In this way Benedict, like Abraham, became the father of many nations. The recommendations to his monks presented at the end of his "Rule" are guidelines that show us also the way that leads on high, beyond the crisis and the ruins.
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