Word: benedict
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1940-1949
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Austerity in Solitude. In this cave St. Benedict spent three years in solitary prayers, meditation and austerity. He dressed in the skins of the wild animals that once more began to multiply in Italy. Shepherds first coming upon St. Benedict mistook him for a wild beast. He preached to them, performed miracles, converted them to Christianity...
...monks of the local monastery begged St. Benedict to become their abbot. But they were dissolute, and when he tried to discipline them, they tried to poison him. He returned to his cave. But disciples followed...
...Benedict was the first to bring discipline and order to these monks. From among his disciples he formed twelve monasteries of twelve monks each (in memory of Christ and His twelve Apostles). St. Benedict lived in a 13th abbey with "a few, such as he thought would more profit and be better instructed by his presence...
When a hostile priest intrigued against him, St. Benedict and his small band of followers emigrated to Cassino. About 529 St. Benedict and his monks built the Abbey of Cassino with their own hands. The Abbey, on the summit of Monte Cassino, has been partially destroyed in four earlier wars. But St. Benedict's tower has been saved each time and incorporated into the rebuilt structures...
...this tower that the abbot wrote his famed work: the Rule of St. Benedict. This Rule shaped Western monasticism. The Rule brought order into the chaotic monasteries...