Saint Benedict of Nursia

Saint Benedict of Nursia (born in Nursia, Italy c. 480 - died c. 547) was a founder of Christian monastic communities and a rule giver for monks living in community. His purpose may be gleaned from his Rule, namely that "Christ ... may bring us all together to life eternal" (RB 72.12). The Roman Catholic Church canonized him in 1220.

Benedict founded twelve communities for monks, the best known of which is his first monastery at Monte Cassino in the mountains of southern Italy. There is no evidence that he intended to found also a religious order. The Order of St Benedict is of modern origin and, moreover, not an "order" as commonly understood but merely a confederation of congregations into which the traditionally independent Benedictine abbeys have affiliated themselves for the purpose of representing their mutual interests, without however ceasing any of their autonomy.[1]

Benedict's main achievement is a "Rule" containing precepts for his monks, referred to as the Rule of Saint Benedict. It is heavily influenced by the writings of St John Cassian (ca. 360 - 433, one of the Desert Fathers) and shows strong affinity with the Rule of the Master. But it also has a unique spirit of balance, moderation, reasonableness (ерйейкейб, epieikeia), and this persuaded most communities founded throughout the Middle Ages, including communities of nuns, to adopt it. As a result the Rule of St Benedict became one of the most influential religious rules in Western Christendom. For this reason Benedict is often called "the founder of western Christian monasticism".

The only ancient account of Benedict is found in the second volume of St Gregory's four-book Dialogues, written in 593. Book Two consists of a prologue and thirty-eight succinct chapters. 19th-century Roman historian Thomas Hodgkin praised Gregory's life of St. Benedict as "the biography of the greatest monk, written by the greatest Pope, himself also a monk."[2]

Gregory's account of this saint's life is not, however, a biography in the modern sense of the word. It provides instead a genuine spiritual portrait of the gentle, disciplined abbot. In a letter to Bishop Maximilian of Syracuse, Gregory states his intention for his Dialogues, saying they are a kind of floretum (an anthology, literally, 'flowers') of the most striking miracles of Italian holy men.[3]

Gregory did not set out to write a chronological, historically-anchored story of St. Benedict, but he did base his anecdotes on direct testimony. To establish his authority, Gregory explains that his information came from the best sources: a handful of Benedict's disciples who lived with the saint and witnessed his various miracles. These followers, he says, are Constantinus, who succeeded Benedict as Abbot of Monte Cassino; Valentinianus; Simplicius;