March 30: St John Climacus

Today the Roman Martyrology celebrates the death of St John Climacus (c525-606) and Orthodox monk who was a near contemporary of St Benedict, and wrote an important and influential work of spiritual instruction, The Ladder of Divine Ascent.

You can read a nice article on his life over at the excellent Catholic Herald.

Lent Office hymns - Vespers: Audi benigne conditor

March 25: The Feast of the Annunciation, Class I

The Gospel of the Lent feria is Matthew 21: 33-46 - a man left his vineyard in the care of tenants, but when he sent his servants to collect the fruit, they killed them, and the son of the vineyard owner.

March 24: Thursday in the second week of Lent

The Gospel today is Luke 16: 19-31, the story of Dives and Lazarus:

"There was a rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.   And at his gate lay a poor man named Laz'arus, full of sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table; moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried; and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Laz'arus in his bosom.

And he called out, `Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Laz'arus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame.' But Abraham said, `Son, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Laz'arus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.'

And he said, `Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' But Abraham said, `They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.' And he said, `No, father Abraham; but if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' He said to him, `If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead.'"

March 21: Feast of St Benedict, Class I

Today is the feast of St Benedict (480-543), founder of the Order of St Benedict, pictured in the fresco above from the Church of his birthplace, Norcia, with his twin sister St Scholastica to the right of the Virgin and child.

Pope Paul VI named St Benedict patron of Europe in 1964, saying that: “It is much appropriate that we celebrate St. Benedict, the abbot, as the announcer of peace, creator of unity, teacher of social traditions, and especially, herald of the Christian faith, and the founder of the monastic lifestyle in the West.”

And more recently, Pope Benedict XVI chose his own name in part because:

"The name "Benedict" also calls to mind the extraordinary figure of the great "Patriarch of Western Monasticism", St Benedict of Norcia, Co-Patron of Europe...The gradual expansion of the Benedictine Order that he founded had an enormous influence on the spread of Christianity across the Continent. St Benedict is therefore deeply venerated, also in Germany and particularly in Bavaria, my birthplace; he is a fundamental reference point for European unity and a powerful reminder of the indispensable Christian roots of his culture and civilization.

We are familiar with the recommendation that this Father of Western Monasticism left to his monks in his Rule: "Prefer nothing to the love of Christ" (Rule 72: 11; cf. 4: 21). At the beginning of my service as Successor of Peter, I ask St Benedict to help us keep Christ firmly at the heart of our lives."

The death of St Benedict

Over the last several days, to mark the Novena leading up to the feast day, I've been running a series on the Life of the Saint, drawn from St Gregory's Life of St Benedict (Dialogues Book II).  Today I want to conclude with St Gregory's description of the saint's holy death and birth into heaven, which gives rise to the feast that we celebrate today.

St Benedict was granted the privilege of knowing when he was going to die:

"The same year in which he departed this life, he told the day of his holy death to his monks, some of which did live daily with him, and some dwelt far off, willing those that were present to keep it secret, and telling them that were absent by what token they should know that he was dead. Six days before he left this world, he gave order to have his sepulchre opened, and forthwith falling into an ague, he began with burning heat to wax faint..."

And so arranged to be taken to the monastery chapel to receive viaticum, and to be held up in prayer by his monks for his final hour (picture above by Br Stephen O. Cist from the hood of the Fort Augustus Cope):

"and when as the sickness daily increased, upon the sixth day he commanded his monks to carry him into the oratory, where he did arm himself with receiving the body and blood of our Saviour Christ; and having his weak body holden up betwixt the hands of his disciples, he stood with his own lifted up to heaven, and as he was in that manner praying, he gave up the ghost."

A vision of his path to heaven

St Gregory also records that two monks were granted a vision of St Benedict's passing into heaven:

"Upon which day two monks, one being in his cell, and the other far distant, had concerning him one and the self-same vision: for they saw all the way from the holy man's cell, towards the east even up to heaven, hung and adorned with tapestry, and shining with an infinite number of lamps, at the top whereof a man, reverently attired, stood and demanded if they knew who passed that way, to whom they answered saying, that they knew not.

Then he spake thus unto them: "This is the way," quoth he, "by which the beloved servant of God, Benedict, is ascended up to heaven."

And by this means, as his monks that were present knew of the death of the holy man, so likewise they which were absent, by the token which he foretold them, had intelligence of the same thing."

Burial at Montecassino 

St Gregory records that the saint was buried at Montecassino:

"Buried he was in the oratory of St. John Baptist which himself built, when he overthrew the altar of Apollo; who also in that cave in which he first dwelled, even to this very time, worketh miracles, if the faith of them that pray requireth the same."

 
The quotations from the Life I've been using come from the edition by Edmund G. Gardner (1911), originally transcribed for the St Pachomius Orthodox Library and made available by CCEL.  And you can download a copy of the Latin here.
 
Happy feast day!

Commemoration of the Lent feria

The Lent day Gospel alluded to in the commemorations at Lauds and Vespers is John 8:21-29, Our Lord foretells his coming death.

Novena to St Benedict Day 9: The spread of Benedictine monasticism

Yesterday's post focused on the construction of Monte Cassino; today I want to look at some of the incidents that relate to the spread of Benedictine monasticism.  And tomorrow on the feast itself I will conclude the series with the section of the Life on the death of St Benedict.

St Benedict's monastic foundations (1) - Subiaco

We have already seen that St Benedict left behind one group of monasteries at Subiaco.  We know that the monasteries there survived, providing a source of Benedictine continuity near to Rome until attacks by the Saracens in 828-829 and 876-877 (through it was restored again after that).  Indeed, St Gregory says that the current abbot of Subiaco was one of his sources for the Life, and also relates that miracles continued to occur at Subiaco:

"Buried he was in the oratory of St. John Baptist which himself built, when he overthrew the altar of Apollo; who also in that cave in which he first dwelled, even to this very time, worketh miracles, if the faith of them that pray requireth the same. For the thing which I mean now to rehearse fell out lately. A certain woman falling mad, lost the use of reason so far, that she walked up and down, day and night, in mountains and valleys, in woods and fields, and rested only in that place where extreme weariness enforced her to stay. Upon a day it so fell out, that albeit she wandered at random, yet she missed not the right way: for she came to the cave of the blessed man Benedict: and not knowing anything, in she went, and reposed herself there that night, and rising up in the morning, she departed as sound in sense and well in her wits, as though she had never been distracted in her whole life, and so continued always after, even to her dying day."

St Benedict's foundations (2) - Gaul

Tradition also holds that St Benedict made several other foundations within his life time.  St Maurus (in the painting above by Hans Memling with SS Christopher and Giles), of whom the Life records several incidents, and describes him as something of a co-adjutor to St Benedict, was originally left behind at Subiaco.  But St Maurus seems to have eventually moved to Montecassino, and from there, according to a tradition subsequently recorded in the Life of St Maurus, was sent to found the monastery of Glanfeuil in France not long before St Benedict died.  While the claim is disputed by modern historians, it certainly explains the otherwise puzzling spread of Benedictine monasticism in Gaul in the seventh century, to monasteries such as Altaripa in the diocese of Albi (circa 627), Fleury (circa 640) and the conversion of the Monastery of Lerins to Benedictine spirituality some time before 665, when the Englishman Benedict Biscop studied there.

Monastic foundations (3) - The destruction of Monte Cassino

Monte Cassino itself was to have a rather more tumultuous fate: over its history, it has been razed to the ground several times (the picture above shows it after World War II), but each time eventually rebuilt. 

In the Life, St Gregory records that St Benedict had a vision of its first destruction:

"A certain noble man called Theoprobus was by the good counsel of holy Benedict converted: who, for his virtue and merit of life, was very intrinsical and familiar with him. This man upon a day, coming into his cell, found him weeping very bitterly. And having expected a good while, and yet not seeing him to make an end (for the man of God used not in his prayers to weep, but rather to be sad), he demanded the cause of that his so great heaviness, to whom he answered straightway, saying: "All this Abbey which I have built, and all such things as I have made ready for my brethren, are by the judgment of almighty God delivered to the gentiles, to be spoiled and overthrown: and scarce could I obtain of God to have their lives spared, that should then live in it."

And indeed, thirty three years after the death of St Benedict, Montecassino was destroyed by the invading Lombards.  The monks though, as St Benedict had been promised, survived unscathed:

"His words Theoprobus then heard, but we see them to be proved most true, who know that very Abbey to be now suppressed by the Lombards. For not long since, in the night time, when the monks were asleep, they entered in, and spoiled all things, but yet not one man could they retain there, and so almighty God fulfilled what he promised to his faithful servant: for though he gave them the house and all the goods, yet did he preserve their lives. In which thing I see that Benedict imitated St. Paul: whose ship though it lost all the goods, yet, for his comfort, he had the lives of all that were in his company bestowed upon him, so that no one man was cast away."

Monastic Foundations (4)  - St John's Lateran

The destruction of Montecassino was, of course, to prove providential for the spread of the Order, a case of God bringing good out of evil.  St Benedict's monks moved to Rome, ending up at St John's Lateran.  And there, they met the young St Gregory, and thus provided the main sources for his Life of St Benedict:

"All the notable things and acts of his life I could not learn; but those few, which I mind now to report, I had by the relation of four of his disciples: to wit, of Constantinus, a most rare and reverent man, who was next Abbot after him; of Valentinianus, who many years had the charge of the Lateran Abbey; of Simplicius, who was the third General of his order; and lastly of Honoratus, who is now Abbot of that monastery in which he first began his holy life [ie Subiaco]."

The traditional view is that it was this interaction that prompted St Gregory around this time to turn his family home into a monastery and become a monk.  Subsequently, as Pope, St Gregory was to prove a vigorous promoter of the monastic life, not least through his authorship of the Life and dispatch of monks to evangelize England, and who in turn led the Benedictine re-evangelization of France and Germany. No wonder then, that St Gregory is often regarded as a second founder of the Benedictine Order.

Still, it is the Rule of St Benedict above all, as St Gregory relates, that has been so critical to the shape of Western monasticism:

"...yet I would not have you to be ignorant, but that the man of God amongst so many miracles, for which he was so famous in the world, was also sufficiently learned in divinity: for he wrote a rule for his monks, both excellent for discretion and also eloquent for the style. Of whose life and conversation, if any be curious to know further, he may in the institution of that rule understand all his manner of life and discipline: for the holy man could not otherwise teach, than himself lived."

St Benedict's monastic foundations (5) - Terracina

It seems appropriate to end this novena series, however, with one last monastic foundation story from St Gregory's Life of St Benedict, relating to the Monastery of Terracina.  There are several dimensions to this story which one might meditate on: the role of a layman in making the monastery possible; and the importance of the physical infrastructure of the monastery for example.  But the most important, I think, is the suggestion that the saint's physical presence was not needed to guide a new foundation: all that is needed is for his spiritual sons and daughters to be open to his vision, as he himself was to God:

"At another time he was desired by a certain virtuous man, to build an Abbey for his monks upon his ground, not far from the city of Taracina. The holy man was content, and appointed an Abbot and Prior, with divers monks under them: and when they were departing, he promised that, upon such a day, he would come and shew them in what place the oratory should be made, and where the refectory should stand, and all the other necessary rooms: and so they, taking his blessing, went their way; and against the day appointed, which they greatly expected, they made all such things ready as were necessary to entertain him, and those that should come in his company.

But the very night before, the man of God in sleep appeared to the Abbot and the Prior, and particularly described unto them where each place and office was to be builded. And when they were both risen, they conferred together what either of them had seen in their sleep: but yet not giving full credit to that vision, they expected the man of God himself in person, according to his promise.

But when they saw that he came not, they returned back unto him very sorrowfully, saying: "We expected, father, that you should have come according to promise, and told us where each place should have been built, which yet you did not." To whom he answered: "Why say you so, good brethren? Did not I come as I promised you?" And when they asked at what time it was: "Why," quoth he, "did not I appear to either of you in your sleep, and appointed how and where every place was to be builded? Go your way, and according to that platform which you then saw, build up the abbey." At which word they much marvelled, and returning back, they caused it to be builded in such sort as they had been taught of him by revelation."

And of course, don't forget to say the Novena Prayer.

Novena to St Benedict Day 8: The construction of a monastery

Yesterday's post dealt with St Benedict's providential decision to move to Monte Cassino.  Today I want to look at some of what St Gregory's tells us of the physical and spiritual construction of the monastery there.

 The importance of Monte Cassino

Pius XII, in the Encyclical Letter Fulgens Radiator notes in relation to Monte Cassino that:

"It was here that Benedict brought the monastic life to that degree of perfection to which he had long aspired by prayer, meditation and practice.

The special and chief task that seemed to have been given to him in the designs of God's providence was not so much to impose on the West the manner of life of the monks of the East, as to adapt that life and accommodate it to the genius, needs and conditions of Italy and the rest of Europe.

Thus to the placid asceticism which flowered so well in the monasteries of the East, he added laborious and tireless activity which allows the monks "to give to others the fruit of contemplation", and not only to produce crops from uncultivated land, but also to cultivate spiritual fruit through their exhausting apostolate."

The task of constructing the monastery was challenging.

The evangelization of Monte Cassino

St Benedict first had to convert the locals from paganism (the temple of Apollo right is a reconstruction of the temple of Delphi in Athens):

"For the town, which is called Cassino, standeth upon the side of an high mountain, which containeth, as it were in the lap thereof, the foresaid town, and afterward so riseth in height the space of three miles, that the top thereof seemeth to touch the very heavens: in this place there was an ancient chapel in which the foolish and simple country people, according to the custom of the old gentiles, worshipped the god Apollo. Round about it likewise upon all sides, there were woods for the service of the devils, in which even to that very time, the mad multitude of infidels did offer most wicked sacrifice."

St Gregory records - and archaeological excavations undertaken at Monte Cassino after World War II confirm - that the saint took as his patrons two saints who had both combined periods of the strictly contemplative life and periods of active evangelization in their lives, namely St John the Baptist and the great missionary-monk-bishop St Martin of Tours.

And St Benedict evidently adopted St Martin's very un-PC tactic - of replacing old pagan temples with monasteries and churches - as his own:

"The man of God coming thither, beat in pieces the idol, overthrew the altar, set fire to the woods, and in the temple of Apollo, he built the oratory of St. Martin, and where the altar of the same Apollo was, he made an oratory of St. John: and by his continual preaching, he brought the people dwelling in those parts to embrace the faith of Christ."

The physical building

The second challenge was the building of the new monastery.  St Gregory reports that the devil was so angered by the success of the saint that he appeared in person to go head to head with him.  The devil's shouts were so loud that the brethren could hear, though not see, him too.

The devil also sought to obstruct the building process, preventing the monks from moving a large rock, until the saint countered the attack with his prayers.  When they dug below the rock on St Benedict's instructions, they found a bronze idol underneath which created an illusion that the kitchen was on fire until St Benedict countered it. 

But the most serious incident involved the (temporary) death of one of the young monks, brought back to life miraculously by the saint (illustration below by Don Lorenzo Monaco):

"Again, as the monks were making of a certain wall somewhat higher, because that was requisite, the man of God in the meantime was in his cell at his prayers. To whom the old enemy appeared in an insulting manner, telling him, that he was now going to his monks, that were a-working: whereof the man of God, in all haste, gave them warning, wishing them to look unto themselves, because the devil was at that time coming amongst them.

The message was scarce delivered, when as the wicked spirit overthrew the new wall which they were a building, and with the fall slew a little young child, a monk, who was the son of a certain courtier. At which pitiful chance all were passing sorry and exceedingly grieved, not so much for the loss of the wall, as for the death of their brother: and in all haste they sent this heavy news to the venerable man Benedict; who commanded them to bring unto him the young boy, mangled and maimed as he was, which they did, but yet they could not carry him any otherwise than in a sack: for the stones of the wall had not only broken his limbs, but also his very bones.

Being in that manner brought unto the man of God, he bad them to lay him in his cell, and in that place upon which he used to pray; and then, putting them all forth, he shut the door, and fell more instantly to his prayers than he used at other times. And O strange miracle! for the very same hour he made him sound, and as lively as ever he was before; and sent him again to his former work, that he also might help the monks to make an end of that wall, of whose death the old serpent thought he should have insulted over Benedict, and greatly triumphed."

Spiritual construction of the monastery

The Life of St Benedict also narrates a series of events that illustrate the spiritual growth of the monastery and its influence through the charisms granted to St Benedict.  Many of the stories relate St Benedict's ability to know miraculously what his monks were doing - particularly in cases of infractions of the Rule!  But these incidents also paint a picture of a monastery deeply integrated in the life of the society of the time.  There are stories involving visiting monks; of the monks acting as chaplains to nearby nuns; of aiding individuals and the local community for example.

But given that it is currently Lent, it is perhaps appropriate to end today's post with a story that should surely inspire modern day Oblates to greater fervour when it comes to our Lenten fast!:

"A brother also of Valentinian the monk, of whom I made mention before, was a layman, but devout and religious: who used every year, as well to desire the prayers of God's servant, as also to visit his natural brother, to travel from his own house to the Abbey: and his manner was, not to eat anything all that day before he came thither.

Being therefore upon a time in his journey, he lighted into the company of another that carried meat about him to eat by the way: who, after the day was well spent, spake unto him in this manner: "Come, brother," quoth he, "let us refresh ourselves, that we faint not in our journey": to whom he answered: "God forbid: for eat I will not by any means, seeing I am now going to the venerable father Benedict, and my custom is to fast until I see him."

The other, upon this answer, said no more for the space of an hour. But afterward, having travelled a little further again he was in hand with him to eat something: yet then likewise he utterly refused, because he meant to go through fasting as he was.

His companion was content, and so went forward with him, without taking anything himself. But when they had now gone very far, and were well wearied with long travelling, at length they came unto a meadow, where there was a fountain, and all such other pleasant things as use to refresh men's bodies.

Then his companion said to him again: "Behold here is water, a green meadow, and a very sweet place, in which we may refresh ourselves and rest a little, that we may be the better able to dispatch the rest of our journey." Which kind words bewitching his ears, and the pleasant place flattering his eyes, content he was to yield unto the motion, and so they fell to their meat together: and coming afterward in the evening to the Abbey, they brought him to the venerable father Benedict, of whom he desired his blessing.

Then the holy man objected against him what he had done in the way, speaking to him in this manner: "How fell it out, brother," quoth he, "that the devil talking to you, by means of your companion, could not at the first nor second time persuade you: but yet he did at the third, and made you do what best pleased him?" The good man, hearing these words, fell down at his feet, confessing the fault of his frailty; was grieved, and so much the more ashamed of his sin, because he perceived that though he were absent, that yet he did offend in the sight of that venerable father."

More tomorrow.  And of course, don't forget to say the Novena prayer...