Venerable Benedict of Nursia

Benedict was born in Nursia, Italy, around 480. As a young man he withdrew to a gorge in the Apennines for prayer and study, where disciples gradually gathered around him; he went on to found twelve small monastic communities at Subiaco, near Rome, before moving southeast to Monte Cassino, where he built his best-known monastery around 540.

There he composed his Rule, a set of guidelines for monastic life, partly inspired by earlier texts and marked by moderation and balance; this Rule later shaped Western monasticism and led to the formation of the Benedictine order. His life is known chiefly through the "Dialogues" of Pope Gregory I, which drew on the testimony of his disciples. He died at Monte Cassino in 547.