St. Benedict of Nursia’s Easter

From the Dialogues (Bk II Ch I) of Pope St. Gregory the Great: But Benedict, desiring rather the miseries of the world than the praises of men: rather to be wearied with labor for God’s sake, than to be exalted with transitory commendation: fled privately from his nurse, and went into a desert place called [...]

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Our Father Among the Saints, Benedict of Nursia, Father of Monks

Troparion Tone 1 By thine ascetical struggles, O Godbearing Benedict,/ thou didst prove true to thy name./ For thou wast the son of benediction, and didst become a model and rule/ to all who emulate thy life and cry:/ Glory to Him Who has strengthened thee; glory to Him Who has crowned thee;/ glory to [...]

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Medal of St Benedict

As mentioned in my previous post, I purchased a St Benedict medal when in Rome in the summer of ’98. The following is some information about the medal: One side of the medal bears an image of St. Benedict, holding a cross in the right hand and the Holy Rule in the left. On the [...]

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Meeting St. Benedict

I first became aware of St. Benedict during my time at a Protestant Bible college, specifically during spring semester of 1990. I was in a period of my life where I began to search for the historic Church, and a period of spiritual struggle when I became extremely dissatsified with the way of life my [...]

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On Patron Saints and Leaving Academia

While I have previously here remarked on the fact that both my patrons saints left academia to pursue monastic vocations, it took the jest of a friend and co-worker to cause me to wonder if my leaving academia more than two years ago was, in fact, perhaps inevitable. Since, after all, both my patron saints [...]

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The Third Kind of Monks

From St. Benedict’s Rule: The third kind of monks, a detestable kind, are the sarabaites. These, not having been tested, as gold in the furnace, by any rule or by the lessons of experience, are as soft as lead. In their works they still keep faith with the world, so that their tonsure marks them [...]

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The Promise of Grace

For as we advance in the religious life [conversationis] and in faith, our hearts expand [dilatato corde] and we run in the way of God’s commandments with unspeakable sweetness of love [inenarrabili dilectionis dulcedine]. The Rule of St Benedict Prologue 49 This of course is written for the monks under the Rule of our holy [...]

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St Benedict, Stability, Discontentedness and the Goodness of God

Fourth and finally, there are the monks called gyrovagues, who spend their entire lives drifting from region to region, staying as guests for three or four days in different monasteries. Always on the move, they never settle down, and are slaves to their own wills and gross appetites. In every way they are worse than [...]

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Good Zeal and Life Together

Just as there is an evil zeal of bitterness which separates from God and leads to hell, so there is a good zeal which separates from vices and leads to God and to life everlasting. This zeal, therefore, the monks should practice with the most fervent love. Thus they should anticipate one another in honor; [...]

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St Benedict Returns to All Saints . . . and Brings Some Friends

You may remember a prayer request from more than two years ago, in which I noted that our parish’s relics had been stolen the previous week. Those relics were never recovered. One of them was of one of my patron saints, St. Benedict of Nursia. Well, a recent gift from Fr David Lynch’s family to [...]

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