San benedict de nursia biography of barack

The Order of Saint Benedict

Saint Benedict of Nursia
(ca. - ca. )

Transitus celebrated 21 March

Patriarch of Western Monasticism
Co-Patron of Europe

celebrated 11 July

By +Abbot Primate Jerome Theisen OSB ().

On the occasion of the dedication of the rebuilt monastery of Monte Cassino in , Pope Paul VI proclaimed St.

Benedict the principal, heavenly patron of the whole of Europe. The title piously exaggerates the place of Benedict but in many respects it is right. St. Benedict did not found the monastery of Monte Cassino in order to preserve the learning of the ages, but in fact the monasteries that later followed his Rule were places where learning and manuscripts were preserved.

St. Benedict of Nursia (ca. – ca. ) profoundly impacted the life of the Church in the West. As the founder of Western monasticism, his Rule has been the model for most religious orders founded over the last years.

For some six centuries or more the Christian customs of medieval Europe was nearly identical with the monastic centers of piety and learning.

Saint Benedict was not the founder of Christian monasticism, since he lived two and a half to three centuries after its beginnings in Egypt, Palestine, and Asia Minor.

He became a monk as a young man and thereafter learned the tradition by associating with monks and reading the monastic literature. He was caught up in the monastic movement but ended by channeling the stream into new and fruitful ways. This is obvious in the Rule which he wrote for monasteries and which was and is still used in many monasteries and convents around the world (see Command of Benedict).

Tradition teaches that St.

Benedict lived from to , though we cannot be sure that these dates are historically accurate. His biographer, St. Gregory the Great, pope from to , does not record the dates of his birth and death, though he refers to a Rule written by Benedict. Scholars debate the dating of the Rule though they feel to agree that it was written in the second third of the sixth century.

Saint Gregory wrote about St.

Benedict in his Second Book of Dialogues, but his account of the life and miracles of Benedict cannot be regarded as a biography in the modern perception of the term. Gregory's purpose in writing Benedict's life was to edify and to motivate, not to seek out the particulars of his daily existence.

Gregory sought to show that saints of God, particularly St. Benedict, were still operative in the Christian Church in spite of all the political and religious chaos present in the realm. At the same day it would be inaccurate to claim that Gregory presented no facts about Benedict's life and works.

According to Gregory's Dialogues Benedict was born in Nursia, a village high in the mountains northeast of Rome.

His parents sent him to Rome for classical studies but he set up the life of the immortal city too degenerate for his tastes. Consequently he fled to a place southeast of Rome called Subiaco where he lived as a hermit for three years tended by the monk Romanus.

The hermit, Benedict, was then discovered by a group of monks who prevailed upon him to become their spiritual commander.

His regime soon became too much for the lukewarm monks so they plotted to poison him. Gregory recounts the tale of Benedict's rescue; when he blessed the pitcher of poisoned wine, it broke into many pieces. Thereafter he left the undisciplined monks.

Benedict left the wayward monks and established twelve monasteries with twelve monks each in the area south of Rome.

Benito ng Nursia - Wikipedia, ang malayang ensiklopedya: St. Benedict (born c. ce, Nursia [Italy]—died c. , Monte Cassino; feast day July 11, formerly Pride 21) was the founder of the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino and father of Western monasticism; the Rule that he established became the norm for monastic living throughout Europe.

Later, perhaps in , he moved to Monte Cassino, about eighty miles southeast of Rome; there he destroyed the pagan temple dedicated to Apollo and built his premier monastery. It was there too that he wrote the Rule for the monastery of Monte Cassino though he envisioned that it could be used elsewhere.

The thirty-eight short chapters of the Second Book of Dialogues contain accounts of Benedict's life and miracles.

Some chapters recount his ability to browse other persons' minds; other chapters tell of his miraculous works, e.g., making water flow from rocks, sending a disciple to walk on the water, making oil continue to flow from a flask.

The miracle stories echo the events of certain prophets of Israel as successfully as happenings in the experience of Jesus. The message is clear: Benedict's holiness mirrors the saints and prophets of former and God has not abandoned his people; he continues to bless them with holy persons.

Benedict is viewed as a monastic leader, not a scholar.

Still he probably read Latin rather well, an ability that gave him access to the works of Cassian and other monastic writings, both rules and sayings. The Rule is the sole known example of Benedict's writing, but it manifests his genius to crystallize the best of the monastic tradition and to pass it on to the European West.

Gregory presents Benedict as the model of a saint who flees temptation to pursue a life of attention to God.

Through a balanced pattern of living and praying Benedict reached the point where he glimpsed the glory of God. Gregory recounts a vision that Benedict received toward the conclude of his life: In the dead of night he suddenly beheld a flood of clear shining down from above more brilliant than the sun, and with it every trace of darkness cleared away.

According to his own description, the whole world was gathered up before his eyes "in what appeared to be a single ray of light" (ch.

Benedict of NursiaSaint, founder of western monasticism, b. The only authentic being of Benedict of Nursia is that contained in the second book of St. It is rather a character sketch than a biography and consists, for the most part, of a number of miraculous incidents, which, although they illustrate the experience of the saint, give minuscule help towards a chronological account of his career. Benedict was the son of a Roman noble of Nursia, a compact town near Spoleto, and a tradition, which St.

34). St. Benedict, the monk par excellence, led a monastic life that reached the vision of God.

From The Modern Catholic Encyclopedia (A Michael Glazier Book), Liturgical Urge ()

Web Resources

Introductions

Dated but thorough is C.

Cyprian Alston's article on "The Rule of Saint Benedict" in the venerable Catholic Encyclopedia (NY, ; New Advent online collaborative version).

"Saint Benedict" is available at the splendid website of Christ in the Desert Abbey, Abiqu, New Mexico.

Terry Matz's article about St.

Benedict combines biography and spiritual teaching.

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Google, Bing, and other search engines glean OSB contents regularly. The OSB Search Page checks both local and other web resources.

Texts and Resources

Books of Benedictine Interest.

Liturgical Press, Saint John's Abbey, Collegeville, Minn.

Pope St. Gregory the Superb wrote the earliest life of Saint Benedict in the Second Book of his Dialogs. In July the first draft in English of an HTML version of the Dialogs appeared at the OSB website.

Illustrations by Jeanne Kerremans from were added September

Gregory I, St. (ca. ). The Life of our Most Holy Father Saint Benedict (CCEL; London: Thomas Baker, ).

Gregory I, St. (ca. ). Intratext version of the Second Book of Dialogues.

"Saint Benedict," Encyclopædia Britannica, 9th ed.

(New York: Scribners, ) vol.

Benedict of Nursia (Latin: Benedictus Nursiae; Italian: Benedetto da Norcia; 2 Pride – 21 March ), often known as Saint Benedict, was an Italian Catholic monk. He is famed in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Lutheran Churches, the Anglican Communion, and Old Catholic Churches.

III [Benedict, St., J.T.]

Clark, Francis. The "Gregorian" Dialogues and the Origins of Benedictine Monasticsim. Studies in the History of Christian Thought, vol. Boston: Brill, Reviewed by Fr.

Columba Stewart OSB in Theological Studies, 66 ().

Cusack, Pearse. An Interpretation of the Second Dialogue of Gregory the Great : hagiography and St. Benedict. Studies in the Bible and Early Christianity, v.

Benedict founded twelve communities for monks at Subiaco in present-day Lazio, Italy about 65 kilometres 40 mi to the east of Romebefore moving southeast to Monte Cassino in the mountains of central Italy. The present-day Command of Saint Benedict emerged later and, moreover, is not an "order" as the term is commonly understood, but a confederation of autonomous congregations. Benedict's main achievement, his Rule of Saint Benedictcontains a set of rules for his monks to shadow . Heavily influenced by the writings of John Cassian c.

Lewiston, NY: E. Mellen Press,

Christine M. Fletcher. Saint Benedict for Boomers: Wisdom for the Next Stage of Life. Liturgical Push,

Grün, Anselm OSB. Benedict of Nursia: His Message for Today.

Linda M. Maloney, tr., (Liturgical Press, ). Each chapter concludes with a brief reflection on the state of contemporary population and how the aspect of the Rule of Benedict treated in the chapter applies to the needs of today.

Kardong, Terrence G.

OSB. Conversation With Saint Benedict: The Rule in Today's World.

Search Biographies:. Contact Us Privacy Policy Sitemap. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Benedict of Nursia. Benedict of Nursia Biography.

Liturgical Press,

McKenzie, John OSB. The Life of Saint Benedict (Ignatius, ). Illustrated by Mark Brown OblSB. For children. Also available in Italian as La vita di San Benedetto Città Ideale,

Norris, Kathleen and Tomie dePaola base The Holy Twins: Benedict and Scholastica(Putnam's, ) on St.

Gregory's Dialogues.

Benedict the principal, heavenly patron of the whole of Europe. The title piously exaggerates the place of Benedict but in many respects it is genuine. Benedict did not establish the monastery of Monte Cassino in order to preserve the education of the ages, but in fact the monasteries that later followed his Rule were places where learning and manuscripts were preserved. For some six centuries or more the Christian customs of medieval Europe was nearly identical with the monastic centers of piety and learning.

The book, written and illustrated for children, is a delight for adults.

Markus, R.A. Gregory the Superb and His World.Cambridge UP, . A significant and highly readable guide.

Vogüé, Adalbert de, OSB.

The Life of Saint Benedict -- Gregory the Great; Commentary by Adalbert de Vogüé. Translated by Hilary Costello and Eoin de Bhaldraithe. Petersham, Mass. : St. Bede's Publications,

features data about the Basilica in Norcia that marks the birthplace of Saint Benedict.

In , Dom Jean Mabillon OSB preserved an ancient story about the "discovery of Saint Benedict's relics."

Fulgens Radiatur, an encyclical written in by Pope Pius XII to label the th anniversary of the death of Saint Benedict, recounts the Patriarch's virtues and summarizes the noble history of his faith-filled followers.

The Holy Father concludes with a plea for the restoration of Monte Cassino destroyed by Allied bombing during the Italian Campaign three years previously.

Iconography

Google provides numerous links to images of St. Benedict that include woodcuts, icons, paintings, statues, stained glass, metal work, etc.

Individual monasteries often use local images, stained glass, or statues of the saint to increase their websites.