St. Benedict lived from about 480 to 547 and is considered the founder of Western monasticism. He founded several monasteries, the last and most important of which is Monte Cassino, which the allies bombed heavily during WWII because they thought that the Germans were using it. He wrote a Rule for monks and monasteries, drawing on earlier rules from the Eastern Mediterranean area. This rule, considered highly practical and moderate in its requirements, came to be adopted by many subsequent monasteries. And as the monasteries were the principal places in Europe where the learning of classical antiquity was preserved and transmitted during the Middle Ages, Pope Paul VI proclaimed him patron saint of Europe in 1964.
Here a couple of excerpts from an address by Pope Benedict XVI at his weekly audience of April 9, 2008. The Pope took the name Benedict because of his belief in the continuing importance of the work of the saint for today's world.
Today, I would like to speak about Benedict, the Founder of Western Monasticism and also the Patron of my Pontificate. I begin with words that St Gregory the Great wrote about St Benedict: "The man of God who shone on this earth among so many miracles was just as brilliant in the eloquent exposition of his teaching" (cf. Dialogues II, 36). The great Pope wrote these words in 592 A.D. The holy monk, who had died barely 50 years earlier, lived on in people's memories and especially in the flourishing religious Order he had founded. St Benedict of Norcia, with his life and his work, had a fundamental influence on the development of European civilization and culture. The most important source on Benedict's life is the second book of St Gregory the Great's Dialogues.
The Abbot must be at the same time a tender father and a strict teacher (cf. 2, 24), a true educator. Inflexible against vices, he is nevertheless called above all to imitate the tenderness of the Good Shepherd (27, 8), to "serve rather than to rule" (64, 8) in order "to show them all what is good and holy by his deeds more than by his words" and "illustrate the divine precepts by his example" (2, 12). To be able to decide responsibly, the Abbot must also be a person who listens to "the brethren's views" (3, 2), because "the Lord often reveals to the youngest what is best" (3, 3). This provision makes a Rule written almost 15 centuries ago surprisingly modern! A man with public responsibility even in small circles must always be a man who can listen and learn from what he hears.
Benedict describes the Rule he wrote as "minimal, just an initial outline" (cf. 73, 8); in fact, however, he offers useful guidelines not only for monks but for all who seek guidance on their journey toward God. For its moderation, humanity and sober discernment between the essential and the secondary in spiritual life, his Rule has retained its illuminating power even to today. By proclaiming St Benedict Patron of Europe on 24 October 1964, Paul VI intended to recognize the marvellous work the Saint achieved with his Rule for the formation of the civilization and culture of Europe. Having recently emerged from a century that was deeply wounded by two World Wars and the collapse of the great ideologies, now revealed as tragic utopias, Europe today is in search of its own identity. Of course, in order to create new and lasting unity, political, economic and juridical instruments are important, but it is also necessary to awaken an ethical and spiritual renewal which draws on the Christian roots of the Continent, otherwise a new Europe cannot be built. Without this vital sap, man is exposed to the danger of succumbing to the ancient temptation of seeking to redeem himself by himself - a utopia which in different ways, in 20th-century Europe, as Pope John Paul II pointed out, has caused "a regression without precedent in the tormented history of humanity" (Address to the Pontifical Council for Culture, 12 January 1990). Today, in seeking true progress, let us also listen to the Rule of St Benedict as a guiding light on our journey. The great monk is still a true master at whose school we can learn to become proficient in true humanism.
His feast was generally observed for centuries on March 21, believed to be the date of his death. But since that date always falls within Lent and is thus unsuitable for great festivities, the date was changed to July 11, which had long been a secondary feast day of the saint. (Some monastic and local calendars may still use the March date, but the Roman calendar, followed by most of the Roman Catholic churches, has July 11.) Christians may wish to pray on this day for the "ethical and spiritual renewal which draws on the Christian roots of the Continent" which the Pope speaks of as necessary for the building of "a new Europe."
