Skip to main content

THE DEATH OF SAINT BENEDICT - 21 MARCH

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN MARCH

Saints celebrated on the 21st March

WELCOME!

THE DEATH OF SAINT BENEDICT

Saint Benedict of Nursia, Abbot, founded numerous monasteries, and on the summit of Monte Cassino (in the Samnite country, south-east of Rome) he erected that new settlement which became a source of rich blessings for all generations to come, and produced so many saints. Here stood an old temple and a grove dedicated to Apollo, which were still frequented by people of that region. The sight of the pagan abominations kindled his zeal; he preached the gospel and by the power of his preaching and miracles brought many to conversion. He smashed the idol, felled the grove and built on the ruins of the idol temple two prayer houses or chapels, invoking Saint John and Saint Martin. This is the origin of the famous monastery of Monte-Cassino (Mons-Cassinus), for which our saint laid the foundation stone in A.D. 529 at the age of 48.

Benedict was not versed in the worldly sciences, but he possessed the inward anointing of the Spirit by which he was initiated into the mysteries of the kingdom of God. This is particularly evident in the rules of his order, which he wrote at Monte Cassino and which are based on silence, prayer, humility and obedience. A spirit of wisdom and perspicacity blows in it, Gregory the Great was so amazed that he had no hesitation in preferring this Rule to all the others. They were gradually accepted and followed by all the monks of the West.

When Saint Benedict's life was drawing to a close, he still sent Placidus and several companions to Sicily to found another monastery; and dispatched Maurus on a mission to Gaul or France. After his sister Saint Scholastica (February 10) had passed on, his days on earth were also numbered. Six days before his death, which he prophesied, he had his resting place dug, and scarcely was the grave finished when a fever seized him. On the sixth day of his illness, he asked to be carried to the church to pray and to receive the sacraments. 

Afterwards, he gave his disciples a few more admonitions, prayed, and quietly gave up the ghost on a Saturday, March 21, probably in the year 534 at the age of 63; of those years had spent 14 at Monte Cassino. Two of the brethren saw his soul ascending towards heaven along a long path lit with flaming lamps and covered with most magnificent robes. Countless miracles, both during his life and after his death, showed the sanctity of his life.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 1, Augsburg, pp. 429-33 - 🎨 Death of Saint Benedict, from an Italian illuminated manuscript)

Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints - Sources and Abbreviations

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable Feast of the Death of Saint Benedict may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Sources of these articles (in the original German): books.google.co.uk, de-academic.com, zeno.org, openlibrary.org




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

WELCOME

  Please pick your saints: January - Saints by date  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17   18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29    30    31   February - Saints by date  1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17 18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29   March - Saints by date: 1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17   18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29    30    31   April - Saints by date: 1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17   18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29    30   May - Saints by date: 1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9    10    11    12    13    14    15    16    17   18    19    20    21    22    23    24    25    26    27    28    29    30   

ST JOHN BERCHMANS, RELIGIOUS - 13 AUGUST

  ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST Saints celebrated on the 13th of August WELCOME! SAINT JOHN BERCHMANS, RELIGIOUS   (Patron Saint of Altar Servers.) The eldest boy of a poor cordwainer, in a small Belgian town, John was ever a dutiful, prayerful, and studious child. Our Lord called him when but young to leave his father and his father’s house, to serve Him in the Society of Jesus.  And because he was so good a son, it cost his father much to give him up to God; but he was too good a Christian to refuse outright.  HE WAS SENT TO ROME John had hardly taken his religious vows when he was sent to the centre of Christendom, the holy city of Rome. His modesty, his purity, shone out as great virtue always does; and the young laymen who attended the lectures would come to gaze upon his beautiful and holy face, and go away the better for the sight. GREAT VIRTUE Three short years, and his last sickness found him sighing for heaven, and three days before the great feast of Mary’s Assumption in 1

ST LAURA OF CORDOBA, WIDOW AND MARTYR - 19 OCTOBER

  WELCOME! SAINT LAURA OF CORDOBA, WIDOW AND MARTYR   Laura, a widow and martyr of Cordoba in Spain, is mentioned in the Spanish martyrology of Tamajode Salazar, who refers to Luitprand, where it says the following: St Laura is said to have been of a noble family, and  according to the wishes of her parents she married an equally noble man and gave birth to two daughters.  After the death of her husband and her daughters, she went to the monastery of St Aurea, named St-Maria de Cuteclara, and after her martyrdom led the same for nine years as her successor.  After she had made wonderful progress in all virtues, she was finally summoned to renounce the faith before a Saracen judge. But since she remained steadfast, she was first beaten very cruelly and then thrown into a bath of boiling pitch, where she remained in praise of God for three hours and then flew to heaven on October 19, 864.   St Laura is of the 48 Martyrs of Cordoba. PRAYER: Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that we who