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Augustine Zhao Rong and Chinese martyrs – Commentary on 1 John 5:1-5; Ps 125; John 12:24-26 Read Augustine Zhao Rong and Chinese martyrs – Readings »

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The Chinese Martyrs is the overall name given to a large number of Christians, specifically Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox, who were killed in China during the 19th and early 20th centuries. They are celebrated as martyrs by their respective churches. Most were Chinese laypeople, but others were missionaries from various countries. Many of them died during the Boxer Rebellion.

The Roman Catholic Church recognizes 120 Catholics who died between 1648 and 1930 as its “Martyrs in China”. Of the group, 87 were Chinese laypeople and 33 were missionaries; 86 died during the Boxer Rebellion in 1900.

The ‘Boxer’ movement to persecute Catholics and expel foreigners from China began after the coup d’état of 1898 when the Dowager Empress Ci Xi imprisoned her nephew, the young Emperor Guangxu. China had signed a treaty with France in 1858 that allowed Catholic missionaries to re-enter China and the Church steadily flourished. Some people were hostile to Catholics because they did not take part in the public festivals honouring China’s deities. The anti-Catholic and anti-foreign bias boiled over at the end of the century when a quasi-religious movement known as Yihe tuan began a systematic movement to destroy the Church. The English gave them the name by which they are best known, the Boxers, because strenuous gung fu training was part of their preparation. During the violence of the Boxer Rebellion approximately 30,000 Catholics were put to death.

Four of the martyrs were Jesuit priests: Leon Mangin, Paul Denn, Rémy Isoré and Modeste Andlauer. Modeste Andlauer and Rémy Isoré were the first Jesuits to die in the rebellion. Killed as well were Mary Zhu Wu, who died defending the priests, and a teenage girl, Anna Wang. They all died when Boxers attacked the missions at Wuyi and Majiazhuang.

Remi Isoré was born in Bambecque in the diocese of Lille on 22 July, 1852. He began studies for the diocesan priesthood, but decided to join the Jesuits before he was ordained. He entered the novitiate at Saint-Acheul in 1875 and was sent to China in 1882. After four more years of training, he was ordained a priest.

Modeste Andlauer was born in Rosheim, in the diocese of Strasbourg, in 1847. He entered the Jesuits in 1872 and was ordained priest in France before setting out for China in 1882.

When the Boxer Rebellion began, Isoré was stationed in Weixian, in the Zhili district of Tianjin. He had left his mission for a rest break at another Jesuit community when news arrived that Boxers were present near Weixian. Isoré did not want to leave his people alone in this moment of danger, so he attempted to return to his own mission. When he got to the village of Wuyi, where Andlaeur was stationed, Isoré noticed the Boxer insignia on the village gate, indicating that they were inside. The Boxers had come to free some companions who had been captured and imprisoned there since the previous winter.

Isoré decided to stay with his brother Jesuit. The next afternoon the two Jesuits heard swords pounding on the door of their residence. They went into an adjoining chapel and locked the door behind them, but the Boxers easily broke through the outer door and then the chapel door. They found the two priests kneeling on the floor in prayer and attacked them with lances, killing them immediately. Then they beheaded them and displayed their heads on the village gates as a brutal warning of what awaited Christians who did not return to their ancestral religion.

Leon Mangin was born in Verny, in the diocese of Metz, on 31 July, 1857. He entered the Jesuits in 1875 and arrived in China in 1882. He studied theology and the Chinese language and was ordained in 1886. He arrived in Zhujiahe in 1900, when the Boxer Rebellion was already under way. When he arrived, the number of inhabitants in the area swelled from 400 to almost 3,000 because of the threat of attacks. The French Jesuit fortified the town as well as he could and stockpiled supplies. He also asked Paul Denn, another French Jesuit, to leave a nearby village and join him. Denn had worked as a bank clerk before entering the Jesuits to become a missionary. He was ordained in China in 1880.

The Boxers attacked the fortified village on 15 July, 1900, but the villagers were able to drive them back. Another attack the following day was also unsuccessful, but then 2,000 soldiers of the imperial army interrupted their journey to Beijing to reinforce the Boxers. When Mangin saw the size of the attacking group, he knew the village was doomed. Some people were able to slip away at night, but the two Jesuits chose to remain with their flock.

The attackers constructed towers that enabled them to scale the barricades, and on the morning of July 20 they fought their way into the village. The two Jesuit pastors gathered women and children into the church and led them in prayer, preparing them for what was to come. The few men left alive staggered into the chapel shortly before the Boxers broke down the church doors and confronted the assembled Catholics. They gave people one last chance to renounce their faith, but only a few did so. Then the shooting began. Denn intoned the Confiteor and Mangin pronounced the words of absolution. They were among the first to be killed, and then the attackers fired into the congregation and slashed at people with swords, before setting fire to the church roof. Their bones remained in place until 1901 when they were collected and placed in coffins, and then buried in the new church erected on the same site.

Along with their fellow martyrs, all four priests were canonized as saints by Pope John Paul II on 1 October 2000.

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Commentary on John 8:1-11

There are some doubts as to whether this story about a woman accused of adultery really belongs to John’s Gospel. Some would say the style is more reminiscent of Luke, and one can easily imagine it fitting into his Gospel.

The scene takes place on the Mount of Olives, just outside the walls of Jerusalem. It is the only mention of this area in the Gospels apart from the accounts of the agony in the garden. Yet, it is likely that Jesus and his disciples would have gone there from time to time.

There is no question, at any stage in the story, that the woman was guilty as charged. Of course, we might like to ask what happened to the man. It takes two to commit adultery (unless it is in the secrecy of the mind). And which of them was the married partner? Both of them? Or was it only the man?

But in a society which was very concerned about legitimacy and the continuation of the family line, the burden of integrity was on the wife. “Extramarital” affairs of the husband were taken far less seriously. In the thinking of this time, children arising out of such a liaison were the woman’s problem, and did not affect the ‘purity’ of the family line.

What is also highly distasteful in this scene is that the woman is dragged in by the scribes and Pharisees as a pawn in a game they are playing with Jesus. It is an example of the many such ‘plants’ that the religious leaders brought in front of Jesus in the Gospel stories.

The Pharisees challenge him saying:

Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. Now what do you say?

It is a little like the question about paying taxes to Caesar. Whatever Jesus is likely to say, he will convict himself out of his own mouth.

In fact, the Law specified death, but not the manner of execution for adulterers. However Deuteronomy prescribes stoning for a betrothed virgin caught in adultery (recognize that if it were not for Joseph, this could have been the fate of Mary when she was found with child). It was also the prerogative of witnesses to the adultery to throw the first stones (see Deut 17:7)—hence, Jesus’ invitation to his accusers.

If Jesus says she should be forgiven, then he is in violation of the Law—if he says she should be punished, then he contradicts his own teaching about mercy and compassion for the sinner. Jesus cleverly throws the ball back in their court:

Let anyone among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.

In a strange expression of humility, they do not reply. They are reduced to silence and one by one, beginning with the eldest, they leave.

Eventually Jesus and the woman are left alone, and note that Jesus has no embarrassment in being alone in the presence of a convicted adulterer (“the sick are those who need a physician”):

Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, sir.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way, and from now on do not sin again.”

Does this mean that Jesus condones adultery? Not at all. But he sees in the woman the seeds of repentance and the potential for conversion. Jesus looks always at the present and the future—never at the past.

Looking at this story, we can first look forward with confidence to the same compassion from Jesus for our sinfulness. But we also need to have the honesty of the Pharisees, who did not dare punish the woman because they acknowledged that they too were sinners.

How often have we unhesitatingly sat in judgment on someone for wrongs they have done, with never a thought of our own culpability—picking specks out of others’ eyes, while there are planks in our own?

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Ignatius of Loyola (original name Inigo), born in 1491, was the youngest of eleven children of a Basque nobleman and was destined to become a soldier. During a battle against the French he was wounded at the siege of Pamplona in 1521. His broken leg was badly set and, very conscious of his appearance, he insisted that it be broken again and re-set.

However, the surgery was not well done and Ignatius was left with a limp for the rest of his life. During his long period of convalescence he was not able to get books about the knightly romances he craved and had to settle for a book about the life of Christ and stories of saints, the only books available in the family castle. However, these books had a deep effect on him, and the heroism he now dreamed of was that of saints like Francis of Assisi and Dominic. He pledged his loyalty to the Mother of God by visiting her shrine at the Benedictine monastery of Montserrat in Catalonia and then began a year of prayer and penance in the cave at Manresa not far away. Here he experienced both desolation and consolation and began to learn the causes for each. This led to the compiling of his classic, the Spiritual Exercises. In 1523, he fulfilled a dream by making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, begging his way like many before him. However, the Franciscans there persuaded him to give up his intention of converting Muslims, and he returned to Spain without a clear plan of what to do next.

He decided that he needed to do some studies if he was to be an effective evangeliser. He began, at the age of 30, by sitting down with schoolboys to learn Latin. He went on to Barcelona, Alcala, Salamanca and finally to the University of Paris. In Paris he studied philosophy for three years and graduated in 1534 as a master of arts. All this time he led a life of austerity and, though still a layman, gave spiritual direction, especially to women. In Spain he spent some time in prison, suspected of heresy.

As a student in Paris he gathered six disciples, to whom he gave the Spiritual Exercises. They then made vows of poverty, chastity and obedience at the Chapel of St Denis in Montmartre, promising to serve the Church either by preaching the gospel in the Holy Land, or else at the exclusive service of the pope. In 1537, they met in Venice, but were unable to continue on to the Holy Land, so they went on to Rome to ask the pope to recognise them as a religious community.

They were now all priests and had made an extra vow of special obedience to the pope. Their main priorities were the education of the young and going on missionary enterprises. They also were the first religious congregation to drop the communal recitation of the Divine Office so as to increase their freedom and mobility for apostolic works. In 1540, the new congregation, with the name Society of Jesus, got papal approval. Ignatius was unanimously, though against his will, elected as the first General and would hold the post for the rest of his life.

He would also remain in Rome from where he directed the works of the Society. Other works he personally was involved in were houses for converted Jews and shelters for prostitutes. Given that so many members were scattered to so many places and often working on their own, obedience to the aims of the Society became very important for maintaining unity. It also explains the long letters which members on the missions regularly sent back to Rome to report on what they were doing. Among the most famous of these were the letters of St Francis Xavier and of the missionaries working in China and North America.

A tighter organisation was also called for because of the crisis situation caused in Europe by the Reformation. Peter Canisius was one of the leaders of the Counter-Reformation, as were the many schools started by the Society. In missionary work, Francis Xavier was the pioneer with an astonishing career. He was followed by missionaries in India, China, Ethiopia, Latin America and North America. Spiritual direction, which was to complete rather than replace the work of parish priests, was undertaken by the Society. Ignatius, who had been plagued by chronic stomach problems due to the austere excesses in his younger years, died suddenly on 31 July, 1556. By then the Jesuits numbered over 1,000 members in nine European provinces, besides those working in foreign missions.

He was canonized with Francis Xavier on 12 March, 1622 and declared Patron of Spiritual Exercises and Retreats by Pope Pius XI.

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Martha and Mary were sisters who lived with their brother Lazarus in Bethany, a town not far from Jerusalem. Jesus seems to have been a regular visitor and, on one occasion, he gently reproved Martha for her complaint that her sister Mary was not helping her in the preparation of the meal. The words of Jesus in this passage are proffered by some as indicating the excellence of the contemplative life (represented by Mary) over the cares of the active life (represented by Martha), although there is not universal agreement on this interpretation.

In the Gospel of John, Martha also appears on the occasion of the miracle of Lazarus’ return to life, when the expression of her faith in Jesus and his divine power was the occasion for his great statement:

I am the resurrection and the life.

John also records that Jesus was again in their house six days before his last Passover and that Martha was serving the meal. Basically, these three events are all that we really know about Martha.

But as in the case of many Gospel personalities, legends grew up around Martha and her family. Mary, too, in some of these legends was identified with Mary Magdalene, an interpretation not normally supported by modern commentators. There was a medieval legend that Martha, Mary Magdalene and Lazarus were responsible for the evangelisation of the district of Provence in France. Martha’s remains were said to have been discovered and put in a shrine at Tarascon in 1187.

Pictures of Martha reflect both the Gospel stories and the legends. She is invoked as the patron of housewives and lay sisters in religious congregations. She is shown with a ladle, a broom, or a bunch of keys.

Martha is also represented with a dragon, which she was supposed to have tamed at Tarascon by sprinkling it with holy water. She then wrapped her sash around its neck before bringing it to Arles where it was killed. She is also represented in scenes of the raising of Lazarus, for example, in the Romanesque sculpture at Chichester Cathedral in England.

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James and his brother John were sons of Zebedee and, together with Peter, were among the inner circle of Jesus’ twelve disciples. The family seems to have been of a slightly higher social level than the ordinary fisherman as we are told that Zebedee had hired men to help with the fishing (Mark 1:20). James and John were, with Peter and Andrew, among the first four to be called to follow Jesus.

They also had the special privilege, along with Peter, to be witnesses of the Transfiguration (see Matt 17:1, Mark 9:2, Luke 9:28), to be present at the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law (Mark 1:29) and the raising of the daughter of Jairus (Mark 5:37, Luke 8:51). After the Last Supper, it was these three who were called to watch and pray with Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matt 26:37, Mark 14:33).

Jesus gave the name Boanerges, or “sons of thunder” to James and John (Mark 3:17), perhaps indicating they were somewhat headstrong and impulsive. On one occasion, recounted by Luke (9:54), when Jesus and his disciples were refused hospitality by Samaritan villagers, James and John suggested Jesus call down fire from heaven on the offenders. On another occasion, they went behind the backs of their companions, and asked for the two best places in the Kingdom. On both occasions, they showed they had yet little real understanding of the Way of Jesus.

All that changed, of course, with the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus. James would have been among the disciples when Jesus appeared to them after the resurrection and gave them their mission to continue his work. James would also have been present when the Spirit of Jesus was given to the disciples, after which they set aside all their former fears and boldly proclaimed the gospel.

About the year 44 AD, and at the time of the Passover, Acts tells us that:

About that time King Herod laid violent hands upon some who belonged to the church. (Acts 12:1)

He seems to have done this as a sign of support for the Pharisees. One of the first victims was James, the brother of John.

King Herod Agrippa I was the grandson of Herod the Great, who had tried to kill Jesus after his birth (Matt 2:16-18) and a nephew of Herod Antipas, who executed John the Baptist (Mark 6:14-29) and spoke with Jesus on Good Friday (Luke 23:6-12). He was also the father of Herod Agrippa II, who heard the defence of Paul before Roman Governor Festus (Acts 25:23-27).

James was the first of the Twelve to suffer martyrdom and the only one whose death is recorded in the New Testament. By tradition all of the Apostles were martyred, but the evidence in many cases is based on legend.

James is often called ‘the Greater’, to distinguish him from the other James, son of Alphaeus. There is a very strong tradition that he went as a missionary to Spain and that, after his death, he was buried in Spain at the town of Compostela, in Galicia (some say the name, Compostela, is a corruption of ‘apostle’, but for others it comes from campus stellarum, or ‘field of stars’). Compostela became a major place of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages and was a rallying point for Spaniards trying to drive out the Moors who had occupied a large part of the country. “Santiago de Compostela!” was one of their battle cries. (The Spanish form of “James” is “Diego” or “Iago”. ‘James’ and ‘Jacob’ are forms of the same name.) The pilgrimage to the grave of the Saint, known as the “Way of St James”, has become a highly popular pilgrimage for Western European Catholics from the early Middle Ages onwards, thus making James one of the patron saints of pilgrimage.

The 12th-century Historia Compostellana, commissioned by bishop Diego Gelmírez, provides a summary of the legend of St James as it was believed at Compostela. Two propositions are central to it: first, that St James preached the gospel in Spain as well as in Palestine, and, second, that after his martyrdom at the hands of Herod Agrippa I his disciples carried his body by sea to Spain, where they landed at Padrón on the coast of Galicia, and took it inland for burial at Santiago de Compostela.

An even later tradition states that he miraculously appeared to fight for the Christian army at the battle of Clavijo during the re-conquest of Spain, and was henceforth called Matamoros (Moor-slayer).

James’s emblem was the scallop shell (or cockle shell), and pilgrims to his shrine often wore it as a symbol on their hats or clothes. The French for a scallop is coquille St Jacques, which means “cockle (or mollusk) of St James”. The German word for a scallop is Jakobsmuschel, which means “mussel (or clam) of St James”; the Dutch word is Jacobsschelp, meaning “shell of St James”.

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Bridget, born in 1303, and one of eight children, was the daughter of Birger Persson, governor and provincial judge (Lagman) of Uppland, and of Ingeborg Bengtsdotter. Her father was one of the wealthiest landholders of the country.

Both parents were marked by their deep piety. St Ingrid, whose death had occurred about 20 years before Bridget was born, was a near relative of the family. Bridget received careful religious formation and, from the age of seven, showed herself to be deeply religious. In addition to her formation, she was also influenced by an aunt who took the place of Bridget’s mother after she died. As a result, Bridget developed her strength of will in later life.

In 1316, at the age of 13, she was married to Ulf Gudmarsson, who was then 18 years of age. She had a great influence over her husband and the happy marriage was blessed with eight children, among them St Catherine of Sweden. Because of her saintly life and charitable work, Bridget’s name soon became widely known. She knew several learned and devout theologians, among them Nicolaus Hermanni, later Bishop of Linköping, Matthias, canon of Linköping, her confessor, Peter, Prior of Alvastrâ, and Peter Magister, her confessor after Matthias. We later find her at the court of King Magnus Eriksson, over whom she gradually had great influence.

Between 1341 and 1343, she made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella with her husband. On the way home, her husband became ill, but recovered sufficiently to be able to complete the journey. Shortly afterwards, however, he died in the year 1344 in the Cistercian monastery of Alvastrâ in East Gothland.

Subsequently, Bridget devoted herself entirely to an ascetical life and to religious works. The visions which she claimed to have had from her early childhood now became more frequent and definite. She believed that Christ himself appeared to her. She wrote down the revelations she received, and they were widely known during the Middle Ages.

Bridget next founded a new religious congregation, the Brigittines, or Order of St Saviour, whose chief monastery, at Vadstena, was richly endowed by King Magnus and his queen in 1346. To get official approval of her institute and to widen the sphere of activity for her mission to raise the morals of the people, she went to Rome in 1349. In August 1370, Pope Urban V confirmed the rule of her congregation. She stayed on in Rome until her death, except for some pilgrimages, including one to the Holy Land in 1373.

Bridget strongly urged Pope Urban to return to Rome from exile in Avignon, but her greatest influence in Rome was by the example she gave in urging people to live a better life. She died on 23 July, 1373, and was originally buried at San Lorenzo in Panisperna before being moved to the monastery at Vadstena in Sweden.

She was canonized by Pope Boniface IX on 7 October, 1391, and this was confirmed by the Council of Constance in 1415. Together with Saints Benedict, Cyril and Methodius, Catherine of Siena, and Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), Bridget was declared a Patron of Europe by Pope John Paul II in 1999.

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Mary Magdalene (also called Magdalen) is one of the most significant characters in the Gospel narratives. We first meet her in Luke’s Gospel (8:2) where we are told that Jesus and the Twelve were accompanied in their preaching of the Good News by some women. It is said that these women had been “cured of evil spirits and infirmities”. Among them was Mary, called Magdalene, “from whom seven demons had gone out”. The location of Magdala is not certain, but it could have been near Tiberias in northern Palestine.

The next time we meet Mary Magdalene is during the crucifixion of Jesus on Calvary. There were “also women looking on from a distance”, keeping vigil there, and among them was Mary Magdalene (Matt 27:56; Mark 15:40; John 19:25). After the burial of Jesus, Mary Magdalene with “the other Mary” remained sitting there, facing the tomb (Matt 27:61; Mark 15:47). Then, early on the Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene, with the same woman, went to see the tomb (Matt 28:1; Mark 16:1). Luke has Mary Magdalene with several women going to the tomb, and adds that they then went back to the disciples to tell of a dialogue with angels who had told them Jesus was risen.

However, in John’s Gospel, Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb on her own early on Sunday morning (John 20:1-3). Then, after Peter and the ‘Beloved Disciple’ have gone to the tomb to investigate the women’s report, Mary Magdalene remains there by herself and the Risen Jesus appears to her. After this, she goes back to the disciples and tells them that she has seen the Lord (John 20:11-18). We do not hear of her after that.

Over the centuries Mary Magdalene was sometimes identified with Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, and also with the sinful woman who went into the house of Simon and anointed Jesus’ feet with ointment. These identifications were first proposed by Gregory the Great, but have since been rejected by scholars. However, they were often depicted by artists.

Other legends, too, were added to the Gospel account. For instance, Mary Magdalene was said to have gone to Ephesus with Jesus’ Mother and John the Apostle. She was even said to have been the fiancée of John, until Jesus called him. There was even a claim that her tomb had been seen in Ephesus in the 8th century.

The town of Vezelay, in France, was claiming to have her relics from the 11th century and there was even a story that she, her sister Martha, and Lazarus had spread the gospel in Provence. Mary Magdalene was said to have lived as a hermit in the Maritime Alps before dying at Saint Maximin. These stories were widely believed, but get little credence from modern scholars.

In art, Mary Magdalene is usually represented with the emblem of a pot of ointment, or shown in scenes of the Crucifixion and Resurrection. In England, there were 187 churches dedicated to her and both Oxford and Cambridge universities have colleges named after her. Mary Magdalene is patron both of repentant sinners and of the contemplative life. Together with her close relationship to Jesus, this explains her great popularity over the centuries.

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Bonaventure, the son of a medical doctor, was born in 1221 at Bagnoreggio, near Orvieto. He became a Franciscan in 1243. His intellectual gifts were soon recognized and he was sent to Paris to study under Alexander of Hales. In 1248, he received his licence to teach, and in 1253 he became Master of the Franciscan School at Paris.

As a theologian he is regarded as being more in the line of St Augustine in contrast to his more Aristotelian contemporary, the Dominican Thomas Aquinas. He emphasised a more ‘feeling’ approach than a purely rational one in speaking of divine mysteries. His main theological teaching is contained in his commentary on the Sententiae of Peter the Lombard. One point on which he differed with Aquinas was his assertion that the creation of the world in time could be shown by human reason. He also wrote important treatises on mystical theology. His Itinerarium mentis ad Deum (The Journey of the Mind to God) became an enduring classic.

In 1257, at the early age of 36, he was elected Minister-General of the Franciscan Order. He has been called, with some justification, its second founder. The Franciscans were coming under criticism at the time as a result of a huge increase in numbers and poor organisation (sadly attributed to Francis of Assisi), with the resulting divisions into factions, each one claiming to be faithful to the Founder.

While strongly defending the ideals of Francis, Bonaventure insisted, against Francis, on the need for study, on having libraries and proper buildings. He approved of the Friars studying and teaching in universities. He saw the Franciscan role as complementing the work of the diocesan clergy through preaching and spiritual direction. The clergy of the day were often poorly educated and lacking in spirituality.

Within the Franciscans he urged a middle way. He opposed the so-called ‘Spirituals’ who promoted material poverty above all as being the true teaching of Francis. At the same time, his own ideals of a simple life of frugal poverty, hard work and detachment from the rich, as well as from riches, were a reality in his own life. He wrote a Life of Francis, which was approved by the Chapter of 1266 as the only officially authorised version.

As Minister-General he visited Italy, France, Germany, and England. In 1265, he was nominated Archbishop of York by Pope Clement IV, but declined the honour. However, in 1273, he was made Cardinal-Bishop of Albano by Pope Gregory X, with a command not to refuse. When the papal messengers called on him, he was washing dishes in the Mugello friary (near Florence) and asked them to wait until he had finished.

He played a prominent role in the Council of Lyons which was called to bring about a reunion with the Eastern churches; Thomas Aquinas died on his way to the same council. A temporary reunion of the churches was achieved, and Bonaventure preached at the Mass of reconciliation. However, he did not live to see Constantinople repudiate the reunion.

He died on 15 July, 1274, at the age of fifty-two. His achievements in theology and administration should not allow one to forget dominant traits noted by his contemporaries: a gentle courtesy, compassion, and accessibility. Bonaventure was canonised by Pope Sixtus IV in 1482 and declared a Doctor of the Church in 1588. He is often called the Seraphic Doctor.

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Benedict of Nursia (circa 480—547), known as the Father of Western monasticism, had a huge influence in his own time and in succeeding centuries. His monks were a source of stability in the highly disordered state of Europe following the collapse of the Roman Empire and the invasions of the northern tribes (e.g. Vandals, Huns); they laid the ground for the emergence of the cultural wealth of the Renaissance from the 12th century onwards.

Benedict was born about 480, the son of a Roman noble from Nursia (modern Norcia, in Umbria), and it is believed he was a twin of St Scholastica. Little certain is known about his life, as the only source is from Gregory the Great’s Dialogues, Book II. It has been described as “the biography of the greatest monk, written by the greatest Pope, himself also a monk”. It is more a spiritual portrait than a factual biography.

Benedict began studies in Rome, but left before completing them to become a hermit in Subiaco. Over a period of three years in solitude, Benedict matured both in mind and character, in knowledge of himself and of his fellow-man. At the same time he became deeply respected by people in the neighbourhood, so that when the abbot of a nearby monastery died, the monks begged him to be their abbot. Although he did not agree with their lifestyle, he finally accepted.

However, it did not work out—so much so that the monks tried to poison him, and he went back to his hermit’s cave. The legend is that they tried to poison his drink, but when he blessed the cup, it shattered. They then tried to kill him with poisoned bread, but when he blessed it, a raven came and snatched it away. Many other miracles were attributed to him, and many people came to him for direction. He built 12 monasteries, each with a superior and 12 monks. He himself lived in a 13th with some whom he thought were more promising. Benedict, however, was the father or abbot of all the groups.

Benedict later left for Monte Cassino, near Naples, where he drew up the final version of his Rule. This contained much of the traditional monastic teaching of earlier monks like Cassian, Basil and probably also the so-called Rule of the Master, though much modified by Benedict. His vision was a life characterized by prudence and moderation rather than severe asceticism and lived within a framework of authority, obedience, stability, and community life. ‘Stability’ meant that a monk would generally stay permanently in the monastery which he had joined. It was a way of life which was complete, well-ordered and practical. The monk’s day was taken up with liturgical prayer, complemented by sacred reading and manual work of various kinds which took care of the community’s needs.

Benedict was not a priest, and there is no evidence that he intended to found a religious order. His principal goal and achievement was to write a Rule or way of life. Today’s Order of St Benedict (OSB) is of later origin and not a ‘religious order’ as commonly understood, but rather a confederation of congregations into which the traditionally independent Benedictine abbeys have affiliated themselves for the purpose of representing their mutual interests—without however losing any of their autonomy. Benedict’s own personality is reflected in his description of the kind of person the abbot should be: wise, discreet, flexible, learned in the law of God, but also a spiritual father to his community. Gregory’s Dialogues spoke of him as having second sight and miraculous powers.

Because of its inner qualities and the endorsement it received from secular rulers and other founders of religious institutes, Benedict’s Rule became the standard monastic code in the early Middle Ages. Because of its flexibility, it could be adapted to the different needs of society in different places. In a world of civil turmoil with the break-up of the Roman Empire, it was the monasteries which became centres of learning, agriculture, hospitality, and medicine in a way which Benedict himself could never have imagined.

The best known symbols connected with Benedict are a broken cup (containing poison) and a raven. He is also shown wearing a monastic cowl and holding either the Rule or a rod for corporal punishment. Benedict spent the rest of his life realising the ideal of monasticism contained in his rule.

He died at Monte Cassino, Italy, according to tradition, on 21 March, 547. He was named patron protector of Europe by Pope Paul VI in 1964. His feast day, previously 21 March, was moved in 1969 to 11 July, a date on which his feast had been celebrated in several places. Together with Saints Cyril and Methodius, Catherine of Siena, Bridget of Sweden, and Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein), Benedict was declared a Patron of Europe by Pope John Paul II in 1999.