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that result of his labours, men of all creeds unite in reverencing the name of S. Benedict" (Imperial Dict. of Universal Biography). In addition to the cares of religion and letters, manual labour of all kinds came within the Benedictine scope. "We owe the agricultural restoration of great part of Europe to the monks," says Hallam. They were, according to Guizot, "the agriculturists of Europe; they cleared it on a large scale"; they drained morasses, made roads, and built bridges. With monasteries of men grew also those for women, like that presided over by his sister S. Scholastica. "In them the gentle arts were cultivated and women found a refuge from the rude violence of turbulent ages." See Cardinal Newman's essays, "The Mission of St Benedict" and "The Benedictine Centuries."

32. Simplicianus was a venerable old man, the fame of whose sanctity and prudence had reached Augustine;