Introduction

The original of this translation was written by the venerable restorer of the Benedictines in France, to propagate a devotion which had already become very popular in Italy and Germany. It is now brought out in an English form, in the hope that it may be the means of making the name of St. Benedict better known, and of spreading devotion to him in this age, which seems specially to need his spirit.

The following account of St. Benedict’s mission and life is extracted from Abbot Gudranger’s “ Liturgical Year .” 1

With what profound veneration ought we not to celebrate the name of this wonderful Saint, who as St. Gregory says, “ was filled with the spirit of all the just!” If we consider his virtues, we find nothing superior in the annals of perfection presented to our admiration by the Church. Love of God and man,

1 See English Translation. Lent, March 2 1st humility, the gift of prayer, dominion over the passions, form him into a masterpiece of the grace of the Holy Ghost. Miracles seem to constitute his life ; he cures the sick, commands the elements, casts out devils, and raises the dead to life. The spirit of prophecy unfolds futurity to him; and the most intimate thoughts of men are not too distant for the eye of his mind to scan. These superhuman qualifications are heightened by a sweet majesty, a serene gravity, and a tender charity, which shine in every page of his wonderful life; it is one of his holiest children who wrote it — St. Gregory the Great. It is this holy Pope and doctor who had the honour of telling posterity all the wonders which God vouchsafed to work in His servant Benedict.

Yes, posterity had a right to know the life and virtues of a man whose salutary influence upon the Church and society has been so observable during the ages of the Christian era. To describe the influence exercised by the spirit of St. Benedict, we should have to transcribe the annals of all the nations of the Western Church, from the seventh century down to our own times. Benedict is the Father of Europe. By his Benedictines, numerous as the stars of heaven, and as the sands of the sea-shore, he rescued the last remnants of Roman vigour from the total annihilation threatened by the invasion of barbarians; he presided over the establishment of the public and private laws of those nations which grew out of the ruins of the Roman Empire ; he carried the Gospel and civilization into England, Germany, and the northern countries, including Sclavonia; and to conclude, he saved the precious deposit of the arts and sciences from the tempest which would have swept them from the world, and would have left mankind a prey to a gloomy and fatal ignorance.

And Benedict did all this by that little book which we call his " Rule.” This admirable code of Christian perfection and prudence disciplined the countless legions of religious by whom the holy Patriarch achieved all these prodigies. During the ages which preceded the promulgation of this “ Rule ” — so wonderful in its simple eloquence — the monastic life in the Western Church had produced some few saintly men, but there was nothing to justify the hope that this kind of life would become, even more than it had been in the East, the principal means of the Christian regeneration and civilization of so many nations. But before this “ Rule ” all other rules, one* by one, disappeared as the stars fade away when the sun rises. The West was peopled with monasteries, and from these monasteries flowed upon Europe all those blessings which have made it the privileged quarter of the globe.

An incredible number of saints, both men and women, who look up to Benedict as their Father, purify and sanctify the world, which had not yet emerged from the state of semi-barbarism. A long series of Popes, who had once been novices in the Benedictine cloister, preside over the destinies of this new world, and form for it a new legislation, which, being based exclusively on the moral law, is to avert the threatening prevalence of brutal despotism. Bishops innumerable, trained in the same school of Benedict, consolidate this moral legislation in the provinces and cities over which they are appointed. The Apostles of twenty barbarous nations confront their fierce and savage tribes, and, with the Gospel in one hand, and the “ Rule ” of their Holy Father in the other, lead them into the fold of Christ. For many centuries the learned men, the doctors of the Church, and the instructors of youth, belong, almost exclusively, to the Order of the Great Patriarch, who, by the labours of his children, pours forth on the people the purest beauty of light and truth. This choir of heroes in every virtue, of popes, of bishops, of apostles, of holy doctors, proclaiming themselves his disciples, and joining with the universal Church in glorifying that God whose holiness and power shine forth so brightly in the life and actions of Benedict — what a corona , what an aureola of glory for one saint to have !

St. Benedict was born 1 of a noble family at Nursia . 2

1 a.d. 480.

• About fifty miles east of Rome, in the province of Umbria.

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He was sent to Rome that he might receive a liberal education; but not long after he withdrew to a place called Subiaco, and there hid himself in a very deep cave, that he might give himself entirely to Jesus Christ. He passed three years in that retirement, unknown to all save to a monk, by name Romanus, who supplied him with the necessaries of life. The devil having one day excited him to a violent temptation of impurity, he rolled himself amidst prickly brambles and extinguished within himself the desire of carnal pleasure by the pain he thus endured. The fame of his sanctity, however, became known beyond the limits of his hiding-place, and certain monks put themselves under his guidance. He sharply rebuked them for their wicked lives : which rebuke so irritated them that they resolved to put poison in his drink. Having made the sign of the cross over the cup as they proffered it to him, it broke, and, leaving that monastery, he returned to his solitude.

But whereas many daily came to him, beseeching him to take them as his disciples, he built twelve monasteries, and drew up the most admirable rules for their government. He afterwards went to Monte Cassino , 1 where he destroyed an image of Apollo, which was still adored in those parts ; and having pulled down the altar and burned the groves, he built a chapel in that same place, 1 Seventy miles south-west of Rome.

in honour of St. Martin, and another in honour of St. John . 1 He instructed the inhabitants in the Christian religion. Day by day did Benedict advance in the grace of God, so that he even foretold, in a spirit of prophecy, what was to take place. Totila, the King of the Goths, having heard of this, and being anxious to know if it were the truth, went to visit him ; but first he sent his sword-bearer, who was to pretend that he was the king, and who, for this end, was dressed in royal robes and accompanied by a royal retinue. As soon as Benedict saw him, he said, “ Put off, my son, put off this dress, for it is not thine.” But he foretold to Totila that he would reach Rome, cross the sea, and die at the end of nine years.

Several months before he departed from this life, he foretold to his disciples the day on which he should die. Six days previous to his death he ordered them to open the sepulchre wherein he wished to be buried. On the sixth day he desired to be carried to the church ; and there, having received the Eucharist, with his eyes raised in prayer towards heaven, and supported in the arms of his disciples, he breathed forth his soul . 2 Two monks saw it ascending to heaven, adorned with a most precious robe, and surrounded by shining lights. They also saw a most beautiful and venerable man, who stood above the saint’s head, and they heard him speak thus: 1 St. John the Baptist. * A.D. 543.

u This is the way whereby Benedict, the beloved of the Lord, ascended to heaven.”

There is an ancient tradition, which says that God revealed to St. Benedict that his Order should not disappear from the world’s stage until the Last Day ; and that, in the fierce times preceding the Judgment, it should prove a support to the Church and strengthen many in the faith. Some think we have entered upon the last days. Certain it is that the sons of the holy patriarch are increasing in number and influence. Perhaps the reason is, that the evils of an age resembling in many points those times for which St. Benedict laboured and prayed, call once more for the spirit and example of the great Patriarch.

There is no way more common of making known a saint, of inspiring the faithful with his spirit, and of drawing down his protection, than by medals bearing his effigy and struck in his honour. This method of preaching devotion to St. Benedict has been peculiarly successful in the Church for some centuries. God has blessed it by singular favours granted in the most varied circumstances of life, and in the most distant countries. Moved by these tokens of Divine favour, the Church has approved of the medal of St. Benedict, and in the form of blessing prays God, by the intercession of St. Benedict, to give those who wear it health of body and mind, to protect them from the frauds and snares of the demons, to grant them His grace and indulgence, to preserve them, amid the dangers of the times, stainless and pure in His sight, and through the sufferings of Jesus Christ to bring them safely to the heavenly country.

J. B. M.

St. Edmund’s, Douai,

Lent 1880.

When using the Medal for any pious purpose , the following prayer may be said : —

May the intercession of the Blessed Patriarch and Abbot Benedict render Thee, O Lord, merciful unto us ; that what our own unworthiness cannot obtain we may receive through his powerful patronage : Through Christ our Lord.