Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - “Today I wanted to speak about Saint Benedict, founder of Western monasticism and the patron of my pontificate”: with these words, the Holy Father Benedict XVI began his catechesis during the General Audience on Wednesday, April 9, in St. Peter’s Square. “In his life and work, Saint Benedict of Nursia had a fundamental influence on the development of European culture and civilization,” the Pope pointed out, recalling that “the most important biographical source on his life is the second book of Dialogues by Saint Gregory the Great. It is not a biographical work in the classic sense of the term. In accord with the ideas of his time, he wished to offer the model of a man who ascends into the heights of contemplation, reached by those who abandon themselves to God.”
In Saint Benedict’s time, “the world was in turmoil from a great crisis in values and institutions, caused by the fall of the Roman Empire, the invasions of other peoples, and for the decadence of the culture.” The Saint’s work and Rule, especially, are bearers of a “genuine spiritual turmoil” that, following the collapse of the political unity created by the Roman Empire, gave way to a new spiritual and cultural unity, “that of Christian faith, shared among the people of the Continent. This is how the Europe we know today was born.”
Saint Benedict was born around the year 480 AD, in the region of Nursia. His parents sent him to study in Rome. However, appalled by the lifestyle of many of his companions who lived in a disorderly manner, Benedict went to take retreat in the solitude of the mountains east of Rome, without having completed his studies. He lived in complete solitude in Subiaco for three years in a cave that, since the Middle Ages, has formed the “heart” of the Benedictine monastery “Sacro Speco.” “His time spent in Subiaco, a time of solitude with God, was for Benedict a great moment of growth in maturity,” the Pope said, recalling that it was there that Benedict endured and overcame “the three main temptations of every human being: the temptation to self-assertion and of making oneself the center; the temptation to sensuality; and lastly, the temptation to anger and revenge.” In 529, Benedict left Subiaco to live in Montecassino, a “height that dominates the surrounding plains and is visible from a distance.” This was a symbolic decision on the saint's part, because “monastic life has its raison d'etre in withdrawal and concealment, but a monastery also has a public role in the life of the Church and of society: it must offer the visibility of the faith as the strength for life.” On March 21, 547, Benedict concluded his earthly life.
With frequent references to Saint Gregory the Great, the Pope recalled that Saint Benedict’s life was “immersed in an atmosphere of prayer, the main foundation of his existence. Without prayer there is no experience of God.” However, “Benedict's spirituality was not an interior life divorced from reality. In the disquiet and confusion of his time, he lived under the gaze of God and with his own gaze fixed upon God, though without losing sight of his daily duties and the concrete needs of mankind. In his contemplation of God, he understood the reality of man and his mission.” In his Rule, in fact, he emphasizes the fact that, “prayer is primarily an act of listening that should later be translated into concrete action...In this way, the life of a monk becomes a fruitful harmony action and contemplation...The first and foremost commitment of a disciple of Saint Benedict is the sincere search for God (on the path marked by Christ, humble and obedient), with the unconditional love that, in service of others, transforms him into a man of service and peace.”
Benedict also describes the figure of the abbot in his Rule. The abbot “must be both a caring father and severe master, a true educator. He must resist all vices, and yet, he is called to imitate above all the tender compassion of the Good Shepherd...In order to make decisions with responsibility, the abbot must also listen to “the brothers’ counsel.”
Concluding the catechesis, the Holy Father said that the Benedictine Rule “not only offers useful indications for monks, but also for those in search of a guide on their journey towards God. Due to its moderation, humanity, and wise discernment between what is essential and what is secondary in the spiritual life, it has maintained its illuminating power up to today.”
Saint Benedict was declared Patron of Europe by Pope Paul VI, in recognition of “the amazing work performed by the saint through his Rule, in forming European culture and civilization. Today, Europe has just finished a century that was left deeply scarred by two World Wars and the fall of great ideologies that showed themselves to be tragic utopias, and it finds itself in search of its own identity. In order to create a new and lasting unity, political, economic and juridical measures are necessary, but it is also necessary to generate an ethical and spiritual renewal which draws on the continent's Christian roots. Otherwise, it will be impossible to rebuild Europe.” In search of true progress, the Pope encouraged the faithful to take up the Rule of St. Benedict today, “as a light on our path,” as “the great monk continues to be an authentic master in whose school we can learn the art of living an authentic humanism.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 10/4/2008; righe 68, parole 921)
