Who was Saint Benedict?
Benedict was born in Nursia, in Italy, and went to school in Rome. The city was so noisy and full of bad examples that he left to pray alone in a cave at Subiaco. A kind monk named Romanus lowered bread to him on a rope, ringing a little bell so Benedict would know it was there.
Other men came to learn from him, and Benedict built monasteries for them, the most famous at Monte Cassino. Saint Gregory the Great wrote that a raven used to come for crumbs, and one day carried away a poisoned loaf an enemy had sent him.
His Rule begins with the word “Listen”. Its spirit is often summed up as “pray and work”: praise God at set times every day, and do your work well. His twin sister, Saint Scholastica, also gave her life to God, and the two loved to talk about heaven together.
When is Saint Benedict’s feast day?
Saint Benedict’s feast day is July 11. It remembers the moving of his relics. The day he died, March 21, usually falls in Lent.
Clara tells the whole story at bedtime, in the Little Prayer Stories app.Get the app →
