As the fame of Benedict's sanctity spread, more and more people began coming to his cave for spiritual advice. In time a group of sincere disciples gathered around him, and he ultimately banded them into twelve monasteries, each with twelve monks and an abbot. Once again there was an attempt to kill Benedict, this time by a local priest who brought the abbot a loaf of poisoned bread. On this occasion Benedict sensed something amiss and had his pet raven carry the loaf away.
About the year 529, Benedict left the monasteries at Subiaco in charge of others and set off with several companions for Monte Cassino, located on a mountain 80 miles south of Rome. Taking possession of an abandoned fortress on top of the mountain, he proceeded to destroy the pagan shrines established there and replaced them with two Christian chapels. It was at Monte Cassino that Benedict lived the rest of his life, wrote his Rule for Monks (hereafter abbreviated RB), and acquired a reputation as an outstanding man of God who could work wonders. He advised secular leaders, calmed invaders, showed care for the poor, sent out monks to preach, and made a new foundation at Terracina, the first of a long series of monasteries that would eventually grow out of Monte Cassino.
Toward the end of his life, the abbot had a noteworthy encounter with his sister Scholastica, who headed a group of nuns near Cassino. Benedict had to abandon plans to return to his monastery for the night when his sister's prayers brought about a heavy rain storm. As a result, the pair were able to engage in a long spiritual conversation that apparently prepared them for death. Shortly after the encounter, Benedict had a vision of Scholastica's entry into heaven. Then as his own death approached, he looked out of his window to see the whole world gathered in a single beam of light, whereby, as St. Gregory comments, Benedict's spirit was enlarged to embrace all things in Christ. After foreseeing his own death, Abbot Benedict died at Monte Cassino about the year 547.
Benedict was well aware of the pervasiveness of those self-centered tendencies, and his radical zeal for God is balanced by his loving concern for the individual monk with all his weaknesses. The saint knew that the brothers suffered from a variety of deficiencies and that all had need of forgiveness and mutual support on the journey to God. He also possessed keen insight into the great differences that existed among individual monks; some were obedient, docile, patient, and perceptive, while others were undisciplined, negligent, stubborn, slow to learn, and even disdainful and arrogant. The more wayward the monk, however, the greater his need for the loving attention of the Good Shepherd to seek him out and heal him (RB 27:8). It is the abbot who must fill the role of Christ in showing the utmost concern for straying sheep. Using every skill that a wise physician would apply to heal a sick person, the abbot must avoid harshness and see himself as an instrument of Christ's healing love in his commitment to nurture the development of souls in the community.
The Rule also shows that St. Benedict was thoroughly grounded in the tradition of the Church. Much of the Rule consists of quotations from or allusions to Sacred Scripture. The monks are urged to meditate extensively on Scripture as well as to read from the orthodox fathers of the early Church (RB 73:2-4). In writing the Rule, Benedict himself relied heavily on the already well-developed monastic tradition of the two previous centuries. He incorporated large sections of the Rule of the Master and also borrowed teachings from other great monastic authors, such as Basil, Augustine, Cassian, and Caesarius of Arles. However, Benedict also did something new. He blended the wisdom of the past in such a way as to respond to the conditions of sixth-century Italy, and he gave the Rule enough flexibility to be adapted to the social and cultural circumstances of the Church for many centuries to come.
Benedict's Rule includes both spiritual teaching (mostly in RB 1-7, 72-73 and the Prologue) and practical regulations for the ordering of daily life in the monastery (mostly RB 8-71). He knew that both sound doctrine and disciplined practice were essential to authentic monastic life. For Benedict and the other ancient monastic leaders, monasticism was simply the Christian life lived in an especially intensive way in community as a response to God's persistent invitations. Thus he called his document a "little rule for beginners." On the other hand, because of the passionate faith, the gentle compassion, and the invaluable practical wisdom embodied in the Rule, Benedict's way of monastic life became a tradition in itself which spread throughout the world and which has shaped Western civilization for the past 14 centuries.
During the life of St. Benedict circumstances in Italy were turbulent because of the collapse of the Roman Empire and the repeated invasions by foreign tribes. The turbulence continued after Benedict's death. In fact, his monastery at Monte Cassino was destroyed by the Lombards about 581 A.D. and remained abandoned until it was refounded in 720. However, the Rule itself began to spread from Italy through much of continental Europe and the British Isles. During the first several centuries of its existence, the Rule was frequently adopted in combination with other monastic rules. In almost every case, the Rule of Benedict eventually became the only norm of these monasteries, apparently because it compensated for the deficiencies of the other rules and rendered them unnecessary. For example, in England the Rule at first encountered a flourishing Celtic monasticism but then gradually replaced it. By the eighth century England was sending missionaries abroad, and Benedictines like St. Boniface and St. Willibrord brought both Christianity and the Rule to Germany and other parts of the Frankish Empire. Charlemagne (768-814) established the Benedictine way even more firmly in Europe by decreeing that the Rule of St. Benedict was to be the standard for all monasteries of his empire.
During the often unsettled conditions of the Middle Ages, Benedictine monasteries became centers where the arts and sciences flourished, good liturgy was nurtured, scholarship was prized and ancient literature was preserved. Especially during the tenth through the twelfth centuries, monastic houses multiplied and thrived as oases of learning and spiritual life. Although some Benedictine communities succumbed to laxity and the abuses of the times, there were reforms such as those at Cluny and Citeaux that gave new vigor to monastic life under the Rule.
Beginning in the twelfth century, new religious orders emerged to respond to the changing needs of Church and society so that monks and nuns of St. Benedict were no longer the exclusive representatives of religious life. During the Protestant Reformation hundreds of European monasteries were forced to close their doors, while some in Catholic areas were renewed in the spirit of Catholic reforms. Then, during the late 1700's and early 1800's, all but a handful of Benedictine houses were swept away by the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. In the 1820's, however, enlightened Catholic rulers sought to reestablish the monasteries, which they realized had contributed so extensively to the faith and culture of Christian Europe. By 1900 Benedictine monastic life was once again well established in Europe, although not without the threats and restrictions of anti-Catholic governments.
Among the Catholic rulers of the 1820's was King Ludwig I of Bavaria. In 1830 he reestablished the ancient Abbey of St. Michael in Metten, Bavaria. One of its monks, Fr. Boniface Wimmer, formerly a diocesan priest, discerned a call to initiate monastic life in the United States, with the purpose of serving the German immigrant population. After much contention with authorities, Fr. Boniface received permission to leave for America, and on the trip across the Atlantic he brought with him 18 candidates for monastic life. In October, 1846, these men arrived in the area of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and founded the first Benedictine monastery in North America; they soon also established the college and seminary that came to be associated with the abbey. Before his death in 1887, Abbot Boniface had made numerous foundations throughout the United States, many of which became independent monasteries. Since 1855, Saint Vincent has been the motherhouse of the American-Cassinese Congregation, which is largely the heritage of Boniface Wimmer's vision and tireless efforts. As of 1995, the congregation consists of 21 independent abbeys in Canada, Mexico, and the United States, as well as a number of dependent priories located as far away as Brazil, Taiwan, and Japan. Vowed to monastic life in the houses of this congregation are over 1200 monks, who continue to adhere to the wisdom of a Rule written for a very different age and culture over 1450 years ago.
To enter into such a life of continual surrender to God, Oblates must come to understand that the Rule is not so much a set of "rules" as a book of Christian wisdom, a time-tested interweaving of values and norms for living an intensely Christian life in community with others. Oblates come to see the Rule as a practical guide of life that disposes them more and more to heed the call to sanctity in the ordinary things of life. "Preferring nothing to Christ" becomes their motto in all circumstances, so that together with the monks of the Archabbey, they allow God to expand their hearts in Christ's love, however painful that process may be. In this age of confusion and instability, the Rule provides Christians with a much-needed norm and a concrete way for discipleship. In this age of individualism, affiliation with the Archabbey as an Oblate provides fellowship, mutual support, and loving communion with monks and other Oblates in our common striving for the everlasting life for which God has so lovingly destined us all.