Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/851

BENEDICT. left her and retired to a deserted country lying on a lake, hence called Sublacum (now Subiaco). Here, in a cavern (which afterwards received the name of the Holy Grotto), he dwelt for three years, until his fame spread over the country, and multitudes came to see him. He was now appointed abbot of a neighboring monastery, but soon left it, as the morals of the half-wild monks were not severe enough for his taste. This, however, only excited a livelier interest in his character, and as he lived in a period when the migration and interfusion of races and nations were being rapidly carried on, he could not fail to draw crowds of wanderers about him. Wealthy Romans also placed their sons under his care, anxious that they should be trained for a spiritual life. Benedict was thus enabled to found twelve cloisters, over each of which he placed a superior. The barbarous Goths even were attracted to him, and were employed in the useful and civilizing practice of agriculture, gardening, etc. He now sought another retreat, and, along with a few followers, founded about 529 a monastery on Monte Cassino, afterwards one of the richest and most famous in Italy. Here he extirpated the lingering relics of paganism, and had his celebrated interview with Totila, King of the Goths, to whom he spoke frankly and sharply on his errors. In 515 he is said to have composed his Regula Monachorum, in which he aimed, among other things, at repressing the irregular and licentious life of the wandering monks by introducing stricter discipline and order. It eventually became the common rule of all Western monachism. The monasteries which Benedict founded were simply religious colleges, intended to develop a high spiritual character, which might beneficially influence the world. To the abbot was given supreme power, and he was told to acquit himself in all his relations with the wisdom of God, and of his Master. The discipline recommended by Saint Benedict is, nevertheless, milder than that of Oriental monachism with regard to food, clothing, etc.; but enjoins continual residence in the monastery, and, in addition to the usual religious exercises, directs that the monks shall employ themselves in manual labors, imparting instruction to youth, copying manuscripts for the library, etc. By this last injunction, Saint Benedict, though this was not directly intended, preserved many of the literary remains of antiquity; for the injunction, which he gave only with regard to religious books, was extended afterwards to many secular productions. It is remarkable that the founder of the most learned of all the monastic orders was himself so little of a scholar, that Saint Gregory the Great described him as being scienter nesciens, et sapienter indoctus — learnedly ignorant, and wisely unlearned. Saint Benedict died March 21, 543.

. For editions of his rule, consult: German, E. Wölflin, B. von Nursia und seine Mönchsregel (Leipzig, 1895); English, G. F. Henderson, Historical Documents of the Middle Ages, pp. 274-314 (London, 1892). In general, consult: E. Spreitzenhofer, Die historische Voraussetzungen der Regel des heiligen Benedict van Nursia (Vienna, 1895); and for his bibliography, F. C. Doyle, The Teachings of Saint Benedict (London, 1887); also his Life by Gregory the Great (Old English translation edited by P. W. Luck, London, 1880), and J. G. Waitzmann (Augsburg, 1835).

BENEDICT, or Witiza (750-821). A French monk, born in Languedoc. He entered the Benedictine Order in 774, and five years later founded a monastery on the banks of the river Anianus. He devoted himself chiefly to the task of restoring the original principles of the Order, and Louis le Débonnaire appointed him supervisor of all Frankish monasteries and decreed that the adoption of the rules advocated by Benedict should be binding upon the Benedictine Order throughout France. He was canonized upon his death in 821, the 12th of February being dedicated by the Roman Catholic Church to his memory.

BENEDICT BIS'COP (c. 629-690). An English ecclesiastic of the Seventh Century, who exercised a most important and beneficient influence on Anglo-Saxon civilization and learning. He was born about the year 629, of a noble Northumbrian family (his patronymic, according to Eddius, being Baducing), and until about his 25th year was a courtier of Oswiu, King of Northumbria. About that time he gave up his court life and accompanied Wilfrith to France, whence he went on to Rome (654), where he spent about ten years in study, and whence he seems to have returned soon after the Synod of Whitby in 664. In 665 he was in Rome a second time, being sent on a mission by Alchfrith, King of Northumbria. After a stay in Rome of a few months, he proceeded to Lérins, in Provence, where he became a monk, received the tonsure, and spent about two years, thus acquiring a knowledge of monastic discipline. He returned to Rome in 667, came to England with Theodore and Adrian, and was made abbot of the Monastery of Saint Peter (afterwards that of Saint Augustine) in Canterbury. This charge he resigned two years later and went to Rome for a third time, for the purpose of bringing home the literary treasures which he had already collected. He returned about 672, bringing with him a large collection of valuable books, and repaired to Northumbria, where King Ecgfrith gave him land near the mouth of the Wear, on which he founded the famous Monastery of Wearmouth. Workmen were brought from France to build and glaze the church and monastery, this being one of the earliest instances of the use of glass for windows in England. He also introduced from Gaul and Rome (which he visited again in 687) church utensils and vestments, relics, pictures, images, and again a vast number of books. He also brought with him John, arch-chanter of Saint Peter's, who introduced the Roman choral service. On his return from this visit to Rome, King Ecgfrith presented him with more land on the other side of the Wear, at a place called Jarrow, on which he built a second monastery, dependent on Wearmouth. Benedict made his fifth and last journey to Rome in 687, and, as on former occasions, came home laden with books and pictures, bringing with him also, according to Bede, two silk palls "of incomparable workmanship." Shortly after his return from Rome he was seized with palsy, under which he languished three years, dying on the 12th of January, 690. During his long illness, he often anxiously exhorted his monks to look care-