Saint Benedict: Seeking Peace

By

Patricia Nikolina Clark

     In the year 480, twins were born to a childless couple in Nursia, Italy. The ecstatic parents named the boy Benedict (“the blessed one”) and the girl Scholastica (“the student”). As children, the twins romped together in the fields of their mountain village, always under the watchful eye of their beloved nurse, Cirilla.

     Those carefree days ended, however, when Benedict and his nurse were sent to Rome for Benedict’s education. Scholastica stayed behind to study at a local convent. Rome was crowded, noisy, and full of corruption. Benedict found that his fellow students preferred drunken parties to their studies. Afraid of being drawn into a sinful life, Benedict quit the University. He joined a religious community where men read Scripture daily, sang psalms, and supported themselves through hard manual work.

   Tradition tells us that Benedict performed his first miracle there. Nurse Cirilla, who still cooked for him, had borrowed a neighbor’s clay wheat sifter, which accidentally fell to the floor and broke. She was in tears.

     Benedict said, “Don’t cry, Cirilla. Here, let me have it.”

   He gathered the broken pieces, went to his room, and prayed fervently. Suddenly, he realized that the sifter was whole again. He turned it over, but could not even tell where it had been broken! Benedict showed it to Cirilla, who ran off to tell her neighbor. Soon the whole village knew about the miracle. They hung the restored sifter above the church door to remind all who entered of the power of prayer. Unwanted fame from the miracle drove Benedict to escape even farther from society. Leaving his nurse behind, he secretly hiked north to Subiaco. On the road, Benedict met a monk, Romanus, who asked what he was looking for.

      “I am seeking solitude,” said Benedict.  “A place to live alone and search for God.”

     The monk nodded. “I know of a cave hidden in the cliff below my monastery. There, you can live as a hermit.”

   Romanus gave Benedict a monk’s robe and promised to tell no one their secret. He became Benedict’s only link to the outside world. Each day, the monk secretly lowered bread in a basket on a rope to Benedict’s cave, attaching a bell to announce its arrival.

                                         

     One day some shepherd boys stumbled upon the hermit’s cave. Benedict’s shaggy appearance frightened them at first, but his kind voice and gentle ways soon calmed their fears. They began to visit often, sharing their simple meals and listening to his Bible stories.

     The shepherds told others about the holy man, and soon the path to the cave became worn from many visitors. His solitude gone, Benedict built a small monastery in the countryside for his followers using native stones and materials. More people came. Over the next ten years the monk built twelve more monasteries and became abbot over all of them.

     As more miracles were attributed to him, Benedict’s fame continued to grow. His little monasteries gained a reputation as places of peace, safety, and learning. Wealthy Roman families began sending their sons to Benedict for a Christian education.

     Benedict’s popularity infuriated a neighboring priest. Blinded by jealousy, the priest sent a loaf of poisoned bread to the monk as a gift. But Benedict’s pet crow, arriving for its daily handout, danced around the bread and refused to eat it. This alerted Benedict to the danger and saved his life!

     Saddened by the murderous plot, and wanting only peace, the 45-year-old Benedict left Subiaco. Taking a few monks with him, he established a larger monastery at Monte Cassino. He remained there as abbot for the rest of his life. And it was there that he wrote his famous “little rule” to guide the lives of his monks.

     At Monte Cassino, Benedict reunited with Scholastica. Now a nun, she lived in a nearby convent. From time to time, the twins would meet halfway between their monasteries and spend the day in “holy conversation.”

     In February of 547, they met for the last time. Perhaps sensing it was their final visit, Scholastica begged her brother to stay and continue talking into the night about “matters of heaven.” Benedict refused, saying that he couldn’t spend a night away from the monastery.

     Scholastica began to cry. She bowed her head, folded her hands, and prayed silently. Suddenly a violent storm descended with roaring thunder, lightning flashes, and torrential rain and hail.

     “Sister, what have you done?” cried Benedict.

     “I asked a favor of you,” Scholastica replied, “and you refused it. So I asked God, and he has granted it.”

     Recognizing the miracle her love had created, Benedict stayed. Scholastica died three days later. Tradition says that from the window of his cell, Benedict saw her soul rising toward heaven as a white dove. A month later, Benedict himself died. Buried together in Benedict’s tomb, the holy twins were united in death as they had been at birth.