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orn of Christian parents in Nursia, a small town in Umbria, in north central Italy, around the year 480, Benedict was sent to Rome to pursue his studies. However, the corruption of student life at that time induced him to break away from worldly life and take refuge in a grotto near Subiaco to seek God in solitude and prayer.
oon held to be a man of God, Benedict began to attract disciples whom he gathered into twelve small monasteries under his direction. Around the year 529, he had to leave Subiaco and with a few companions moved south until he reached Monte Cassino where he founded the famous monastery which will spread over the world during the following ages. There he wrote the Rule for monks. He died around the year 547.
When Benedict wrote his Rule, the monastic life was already three centuries old. He considered himself to be the follower and disciple of this tradition; but he drew up a synthesis of the many monastic ideals prevailing at the time. He gave us a rule sufficiently comprehensive to be adaptable for all in space and in time.
monastic rule is a written document which organizes the life of a monastic community, and is the fruit of experience and a long spiritual tradition.
Although haunted by a desire for the absolute, Benedict was a well-balanced man, attentive and solicitous of persons. He sought to encourage the beginner, to comfort the frail, and to invite the strong to surpass themselves. Thanks to this moderation and balance, he made monastic life more accessible, and for generations of monks and nuns his Rule has been a precious instrument in their quest for God.
n his Dialogues, Saint Gregory the Great (540-604) tells us that Benedict “wrote a rule for monks remarkable for its moderation and clarity of language”. This explains why it was to have such an influence throughout the centuries to the point of superseding almost all other rules. In the year 817, when a monastic reform was carried out, the Rule for monks was adopted by all the Carolingian monasteries as the norm; and this is why Benedict is entitled the “Patriarch of the monks of the West”.
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herefore, we intend to open a school of the Lord’s service; in which we hope we are demanding nothing harsh or burdensome. Still, if we go to a little severity, do not run away under sudden fear, for salvation always begins with strictness. In the degree we advance in good living and faith, our heart grows stronger and soon we are able to run in the way of God’s precepts with the unspeakable sweetness of love.
