PersonAD 480 – AD 547

Benedict of Nursia

Also called: Saint Benedict

Italian monk who founded Monte Cassino and wrote the Rule of Saint Benedict, the framework of Western monastic life

Born to a noble family at Nursia in central Italy, he studied in Rome but, disillusioned with the city’s decadence, lived as a hermit in a cave at Subiaco. As followers gathered he founded several monasteries, later moving to Monte Cassino. His life is known from the Dialogues of Pope Gregory I. His Rule stressed moderation and community life rather than extreme asceticism. In 1964 he was proclaimed patron saint of Europe.

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1 related event

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AD 529Founding of the Benedictine Ordercreator
Around 529 Benedict founded a monastery at Monte Cassino in Italy and wrote a rule stressing poverty, chastity, obedience and work, which became the model for Western monasticism.

Themes this person appears in

Medieval Europe and ByzantiumAD 476 – 1077
From the fall of Rome in the West to Canossa — the feudal West built by the Franks and the papacy, Byzantium as heir of Rome, and a church divided east and west