Catechesis by Pope Benedict XVI on the figure of St. Benedict of Nursia at the general audience on 9 April 2008 in St. Peter's Square
Dear brothers and sisters!
Today I would like to talk about St Benedict, the founder of Western monasticism and also the patron saint of my pontificate. I will begin with a word from St Gregory the Great, who writes about St Benedict: "Not only the numerous miracles of the man of God became famous in the world, but also the word of his teaching shone brightly" (Dial. II, 36). The great pope wrote these words in the year 592; the holy monk had just died 50 years earlier and was still alive in the memory of the people and above all in the flourishing order he founded.
The life and work of St. Benedict of Nursia had a fundamental influence on the development of European civilisation and culture. The most important source on his life is the second book of the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great. It is not a biography in the classical sense. In accordance with the ideas of his time, he wanted to use the example of a specific person - St Benedict - to explain the ascent to the peaks of contemplation that can be realised by anyone who surrenders to God. He thus gives us a model of human life as an ascent to the pinnacle of perfection. In this book of dialogues, St. Gregory the Great also reports on many miracles that the saint had worked, and here too he does not simply want to recount something remarkable, but to show how God intervenes in the concrete situations of human life in an admonishing, helping and also punishing way. He wants to show that God is not a distant hypothesis placed at the origin of the world, but that he is present in the life of man, of every man.
This perspective of the "biographer" can also be explained in the light of the general context of his time: between the 5th and 6th centuries, the world was shaken by a terrible crisis of values and institutions caused by the collapse of the Roman Empire, the invasions of new peoples and the decline in morals. With the idea of St Benedict as a "shining star", Gregory wanted to point the way out of the "dark night of history" in this terrible situation, precisely here in this city of Rome (cf. John Paul II, Insegnamenti, II/1, 1979, p. 1158). In fact, the work of the Saint and, in a special way, his Rule proved to be the bearer of a true spiritual leaven that changed the course of the centuries far beyond the borders of his homeland and his time and the face of Europe, bringing forth, after the fall of the political unity created by the Roman Empire, a new spiritual and cultural unity, that of the Christian faith shared by the peoples of the continent. This is precisely how the reality we call "Europe" came into being.
The birth of St Benedict is dated around the year 480. According to St Gregory, he came "ex provincia Nursiae" - from the region of Nursia. His wealthy parents sent him to Rome for his studies. However, he did not stay in the Eternal City for long. Gregory suggests as a completely credible explanation for this the fact that the young Benedict was disgusted by the immorality of the lifestyle of many of his fellow students and did not want to fall prey to their same mistakes. He wanted to please God alone: "soli Deo placere desiderans" (II Dial., Prol 1). So Benedict left Rome before completing his studies and withdrew to the solitude of the mountains east of Rome. After an initial stay in the village of Effide (today's Affile), where he joined a "religious community" of monks for a time, he became a hermit in nearby Subiaco. There he lived for three years in complete solitude in a grotto, which since the early Middle Ages has formed the "heart" of a Benedictine monastery called "Sacro Speco". The time in Subiaco, a time of solitude with God, was a time of maturation for Benedict. There he had to endure and overcome the three basic temptations of every human being: the temptation of self-assertion and the desire to place oneself at the centre, the temptation of sensuality and finally the temptation of anger and revenge. It was Benedict's conviction that only after he had conquered these temptations would he have been able to speak to others in a way that was useful for their needs. Once he was at peace with his soul, he was then able to completely master the impulses of the ego in order to be a peacemaker for those around him. It was only then that he decided to found his first monasteries in the Anio valley near Subiaco
In 529, he left Subiaco to settle in Montecassino. Some have explained this move as an escape from the intrigues of an envious local churchman. However, this explanation has proved unconvincing, as the sudden death of the latter did not prompt Benedict to return (II Dial. 8). In reality, this decision was forced upon him because he had entered a new phase of his inner maturation and monastic experience. According to Gregory the Great, the departure from the remote valley of the Anio to Monte Cassio - a hill that dominates the vast surrounding plain and is thus visible from afar - takes on a symbolic form: the monastic life of seclusion has its raison d'être, but a monastery also has a public purpose in the life of the Church and society, it must give visibility to the faith as a vital force. When Benedict concluded his earthly life on 21 March 547, he did indeed leave behind a legacy with his Rule and the Benedictine family he founded, which has been fruitful over the centuries and still is today.
Throughout the second book of the Dialogues, Gregory explains how St Benedict's life was immersed in an atmosphere of prayer, the supporting foundation of his entire existence. Without prayer, there is no experience of God. Benedict's spirituality, however, was not an inwardness that was outside of reality. In the turmoil and confusion of his time, he lived under the gaze of God and thus never lost sight of the duties of daily life and people with their concrete needs. By seeing God, he understood the reality of man and his mission. In his Rule, he defines monastic life as "a school for the service of the Lord" (Prol. 45) and demands of his monks that "nothing should be preferred to divine service (that is, the Officium Divinum [Holy Service] and the Liturgy of the Hours)" (43:3). However, he emphasises that prayer is first and foremost listening (Prol. 9-11), which must then be translated into concrete action. "After all these words, the Lord expects us to respond every day to his divine admonitions with our actions", he says (Prol. 35). Thus the monk's life becomes a fruitful symbiosis between action and contemplation, "so that in everything God may be glorified" (57:9). In contrast to an easy and ego-centred self-realisation often praised today, the first and indispensable duty of the disciple of St. Benedict is the sincere search for God (58:7) on the path marked out by the humble and obedient Christ (5:13), whose love must be preferred to nothing (4:21; 72:11), and it is precisely in this way, in service to others, that he becomes a man of service and peace. In the exercise of obedience, which is realised with a faith animated by love (5:2), the monk conquers humility, to which the Rule devotes an entire chapter (7). In this way, man becomes more and more like Christ and achieves true self-realisation as a creature made in the image and likeness of God.
The obedience of the disciple must be matched by the wisdom of the abbot, who "represents the place of Christ" in the monastery (2:2; 63:13). His figure, which is outlined above all in the second chapter of the Rule with a profile of spiritual beauty and demanding commitment, can be seen as a self-portrait of Benedict, since - as Gregory the Great writes - "the holy man could not teach otherwise than as he lived" (Dial. II, 36). The abbot must be both a loving father and a strict master (2:24), a true educator. Unyielding to vices, however, he is called above all to imitate the loving kindness of the Good Shepherd and "to help more than to rule" (64:8), "to make visible all that is good and holy by his life more than by his speech" and "to illustrate God's instructions by his example" (2:12). To be able to decide responsibly, the abbot must also be a man who listens to "the advice of the brothers" (3:2), "because the Lord often reveals to a younger man what is better" (3:3). This instruction makes a rule written almost 15 centuries ago surprisingly modern! A person who is a public leader, even in small areas, must always be a person who knows how to listen and knows how to learn from what he hears.
St Benedict defines the Rule as a "simple rule as a beginning" (73.8); in reality, however, it offers useful instructions not only for monks, but also for all those who seek guidance on their path to God. Thanks to its balance, its humanity and its sober distinction between the essential and the secondary in spiritual life, it has been able to maintain its illuminating power to this day. By proclaiming St. Benedict the patron saint of Europe on 24 October 1964, Paul VI intended to recognise the saint's wonderful work in shaping civilisation and European culture through the Rule. Today, Europe - which has just emerged from a century deeply wounded by two world wars and the collapse of great ideologies that have revealed themselves as tragic utopias - is in search of its identity. To create a new and lasting unity, the political, economic and legal instruments are certainly important; but it is necessary to awaken an ethical and spiritual renewal that draws on the Christian roots of the continent, otherwise Europe cannot be rebuilt. Without this lifeblood, man remains exposed to the danger of succumbing to the old temptation of wanting to redeem himself - a utopia which in various ways in 20th century Europe has caused, as Pope John Paul II observed, "an unparalleled regression in the tortured history of mankind" (Insegnamenti, XIII/1, 1990, p. 58). In our search for true progress, let us also listen to the Rule of St Benedict today as a light for our path. The great monk remains a true master in whose school we can learn the art of living true humanism.
