St. Benedict of Nursia

Who they were

Benedict was born at Nursia in central Italy and sent to Rome to study. He left, by the account of Gregory the Great written some fifty years after his death, because he found the city's life intolerable, and went to live alone in a cave at Subiaco for about three years.

He was eventually persuaded to lead a nearby community of monks. That went badly. Gregory records that they found his discipline unbearable and tried to poison him, and that the cup broke when he blessed it. He left and started again, and this time it took: twelve small monasteries around Subiaco, and later the foundation at Monte Cassino.

What he actually left was a document. The Rule of St. Benedict runs to about seventy-three short chapters and governs an entire way of living, from how to pray through the day to how much wine a monk may have and how to treat the guests who arrive. Its distinguishing quality is moderation. It repeatedly pulls back from severity, and describes itself as a rule for beginners.

That document became the standard for western monasticism for over a thousand years, and monasteries following it preserved a great deal of what survived of classical learning. Benedict was named a patron of Europe by Paul VI in 1964.

The Rule's opening word is listen, and its tone throughout is closer to a practical management document than to a work of mysticism. It legislates for the monk who oversleeps, the monk who grumbles, the one who cannot read, and the one who arrives late to prayer. It insists that the abbot consult the youngest members of the community, on the grounds that God often reveals what is better to the younger.

His sister Scholastica is remembered on 10 February. Gregory records a scene near the end of both their lives in which she asked him to stay talking through the night, he refused because the Rule required him to return, and she prayed, and a storm arrived so violently that he could not leave. She died three days later.

Monte Cassino was destroyed four times, most recently by Allied bombing in 1944, and rebuilt each time.

Why people turn to St. Benedict of Nursia

The invocation against evil comes from the medal, which is old and covered in initials standing for a Latin exorcism formula, including the line usually translated as begone Satan, never tempt me with your vanities. The medal is not a charm and the Church has never treated it as one; it is a prayer in metal, and the words are a request rather than a spell. The patronage of students and of Europe comes from the monasteries, which for centuries were where books were copied and where anyone learned anything.

How to ask their intercession

Ask him for protection, and for the more ordinary thing his Rule is actually about, which is a life with a shape to it. His medal is commonly worn or placed in a home. If you use one, use it as the prayer it is rather than as an object with power of its own.

A prayer to St. Benedict of Nursia

May the holy Cross be my light. Let not the dragon be my guide. Begone, Satan. Never tempt me with your vanities. What you offer me is evil. Drink the poison yourself.

The Vade Retro Satana formula inscribed on the Saint Benedict Medal, in traditional English translation. The Latin text is medieval; public domain.