Benedict of Nursia
Subiaco, and Monte Cassino
Nine stops with Benedict — a rule written for beginners
Benedict of Nursia walked out of Rome without finishing his education, lived three years in a cave above the river Anio on bread let down to him on a rope, and was twice nearly killed by men who had asked for him. Everything he is remembered for came afterwards, and the thing itself is short. Seventy-three plain chapters, which he called a least rule, written for a beginning. It legislates for sleep and wine and lateness. It tells the abbot to arrange the house so that the strong still have something to want and the weak are not driven away. And it spends its strongest words — before all things and above all things — not on prayer, but on the care of the sick. The mountain he built on has been levelled four times, the last by Allied bombs in 1944, and the basilica over his birthplace at Norcia fell in the earthquake of 2016. The Rule has never needed rebuilding. Walk nine stops with him, from the road out of Rome to the morning he died standing, held up by other men's arms.
The nine days
Day 1 · The Leaving — He Walked Out of the Schools
Rome, about the year 500
Day 2 · The Rope — Three Years Fed From Above
Subiaco, the cave above the Anio
Day 3 · The Cup — The Community That Asked For Him
A monastery near Subiaco, traditionally Vicovaro
Day 4 · The Raven — He Gave the Bread to a Bird
Subiaco, before he left
Day 5 · The Mountain — He Cut Down the Grove
Monte Cassino, traditionally 529
Day 6 · The Rule — Nothing Harsh, Nothing Burdensome
Seventy-three chapters, written at Monte Cassino
Day 7 · The Sick — Before All Things and Above All Things
Chapter 36 of the Rule — the sick brothers
Day 8 · The Sister — The One Visit a Year
A house outside the gate of Monte Cassino
Day 9 · The Standing — Held Up by Their Hands
Monte Cassino, 21 March