Brief historical background on the time of Benedict and the Benedictine Influence

early Benedictines (What the Benedictines Did for us)

History of the monastery 1. The Benedictines enshrined work as a means to

 The monastery underwent several destruction and it glorify God, the Benedictines preserved ancient
was rebuilt several times texts. Virtually every ancient text that survived to the
 529  the monastery was founded eighth century has survived to today.
 577  destroyed by Lombard 2. The Benedictines were pioneers in all forms of
 883  invaded by Saracens agriculture.
 1394  earthquake  Many of the Europe farmlands once were
 1944  bombardment marshes or swamps that were very difficult
 1955  reconstruction to cultivate. However, when a monastery
was established in the area the monks took
 It was founded by St. Benedict around the year 529, it upon themselves to turn barren lands into
on the ruins of a pagan temple dedicated to Apollo. productive farmlands.
 "We owe the agricultural restoration of a
 It has been a Christian cultural centre since its origins great part of Europe to the monks," observes
one expert. "Wherever they came," adds
 It has undergone a lot of vicissitudes throughout the another, "they converted the wilderness into
centuries a cultivated country; they pursued the
breeding of cattle and agriculture, labored
 Around 577, it was destroyed by the Lombard but in with their own hands, drained morasses, and
the VII century it was rebuilt willingness to Pope cleared away forests.
Gregory II  Although they cleared forests that stood in
the way of human habitation and use, the
 In 883, the Saracens invaded the monastery, they monks were also careful to plant trees and
plundered and fired it. A lot of monks died in that conserve forests when possible.
circumstance
3. Industries
The Monastery in 1685  Benedictine monks developed
o Sweden's commerce in corn,
o Ireland's salmon fisheries, and
o Para, Italy's cheese making. "Please
pass the Parmesan cheese. Thank
you monks."
 They also improved
o cattle breeding
o It was the Benedictines
who first improved cattle
breeding by other than
random means.
 production of wine.
o The monks also pioneered
in the production of wine,
which they used both for
the celebration of Mass as
well as for ordinary
St. Benedict of Nursia 480-547 consumption, which the
• In the sixth century, St Benedict was one of many Rule of St. Benedict
Abbots who wrote a Rule for his monks. After living as permitted.
a hermit he had established monasteries at Subiaco  In 1531 Benedictine monks in the Abbey of
and Monte Cassino in Italy. Saint Hilaire near Carcassonne, in southern
• These were destroyed by the Barbarian invasions but France produced sparkling wine (champagne
a few manuscripts of his Rule survived and were is a sparkling wine).
carried by refugees to other Monasteries in Rome,  Although Dom Perignon (late 1600s) of Saint
North Italy and Gaul. Peter's Abbey, did not invent champagne, his
deserved fame as the father of champagne
comes from the fact that Dom Perignon did
 develop many of the modern techniques  This Rule for monks, sisters and nuns guides many
used in the effective production of people seeking to dwell with God. That was the goal
champagne, including the use of wire to hold to which St. Benedict aspired.
the cork in place. Pop!
The Spread of the Rule
4. Architecture • During the course of two centuries the use of the
 They contributed to the medieval church Rule.
architecture. • In this way, Saint Benedict came to be considered the
 Directed spring waters to Paris, taught whole founder of the Black Monks of the Middle Ages, called
regions the art of irrigation. from that time the ‘Order of St Benedict’ (OSB)
 expanded the use of waterpower devises
throughout Europe. 9. By the 1500s the Benedictines had given the Church
 Waterpower was used for crushing wheat, 24 popes, 200 cardinals, 7,000 archbishops, 15,000
sieving flour, fulling cloth and tanning. bishops, and 1,500 canonized saints
 For St. Benedict who lived in a time of cultural chaos
5. Inventions and wars, he was guided by a simple charge:
 A Benedictine monk made the first modern "prefer nothing to the love of Christ"
clock in about 996 AD.
 About 1200 AD a Benedictine monk built and
tested a glider that went 600 feet.
 The English Benedictines developed
advanced furnaces for the production of
metals — specifically the extraction of iron
from ore.
o Metallurgy skills – being leading
iron producers. Slag from furnaces
was used as fertiliser due to the
high phosphate content.

6. The Carolingan minuscule was established as the new

standard for writing
 When it came to using modern means of
communication virtually no one surpassed the
Benedictine monks — like Abbot Fredegise at Saint
Martin’s Abbey (early 800s AD) who helped develop
the Carolingian minuscule — a better form of writing.
Before the monks put there hooded heads to task,
Europe had many forms of scripts such as
ALL CAPITAL LETTERS AND NO PUNCTUATION
• After the work of Abbot Fredegise, Europe and its
future had a form of writing with lower case letters,
spaces between the words, and punctuation. These
advancements led to easy reading and writing — and
widespread learning — which helped build the new
civilization.

7. During centuries of upheaval, barbarian invasions,

and cultural collapse Benedictine monasteries
remained to be places of beauty and learning, as
focus on God often is. Amid chaos, they were places
of prayer, work, and reading. Those three Benedictine
characteristics helped build the greatest civilization
ever known.

8. The Rule of St. Benedict

 The Rule of St. Benedict has been called the most
important book in the development of European
civilization.