Benedict and his twin sister Scholastica were born in Italy in 480 to Roman nobles. The more he learned about God the less he liked living around other people, especially Romans, so he left everything and went to the woods to live as a hermit. After three years, Benedict was asked by some monks to be their abbot. He warned them that his rules would be difficult to follow, but they pleaded and he took the job. Some of the lazier monks found Benedict so tough that they tried unsuccessfully to kill him with poison… twice. He performed many miracles, cast out demons, could read consciences, founded the monastery at Monte Cassino and 11 others, and developed the Benedictine Rule that is still followed today.
CHALLENGE
St. Benedict is considered the father of Western Monasticism, and at one point over 40,000 monasteries followed the Benedictine Rule. The foundation of Benedictine spirituality is humility, and lack of humility shows up in our lives as stress, frustration, conflict, disappointment, and low self-esteem. Today, learn how to grow in humility: read the lighthearted book, Humility Rules by Fr. Augustine Wetta.
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