If you are familiar
with the Dialogues of St. Gregory,
you would not be surprised at the long list of patronages with which St.
Benedict is associated. St. Benedict is patron of: [some for, some against]
v Cavers,
spelunkers and speleologists
v Temptations
and nettle rash
v Those
who have broken their employer’s belongings
v Agricultural
workers and farmers
v Against
poison and witchcraft
v Europe
I
must have missed some stories, for I found myself wondering how fevers, gall
stones, kidney disease, and erysipelas got on the list. The others were more
familiar.
At
the end of the list above is Europe. Pope Paul VI officially pronounced St.
Benedict Patron of Europe in 1964, stating that it had been the wish of Pius
XII and John XXIII as well. “We also give our full assent to this movement that
tends toward the attainment of European unity.” With the splintering of that
unity in recent days, perhaps we might pray to St. Benedict for healing. Our
intercession might properly extend to the healing of bonds between all nations,
peoples and races.
St. Benedict and his followers are
credited with bringing the dawn of a new era to Europe by means of the cross,
the book and the plow. The cross, the law of Christ, for Benedict “lent
consistency and growth to the ordering of public and private life.” Spiritual
unity resulted from the practice of liturgical and ritual prayer. The book, a
symbol of culture, “saved the tradition of the ancients” and “restored the cult
of knowledge”. Cultivation of the fields and similar initiatives “transformed
wastelands into fertile fields and gracious gardens” and by uniting prayer with
manual labor, Benedict “ennobled and elevated human work.” It is not difficult
to see how St. Benedict might be invoked for environmental efforts,
sustainability, just recompense for employment and the dignity of manual labor.
Our
closing prayer for this feast on July 11 states “We who follow his Rule delight in the
rich tradition we have inherited. Raise up in our day women and men who prefer
nothing to the love of Christ…Through the intercession of Benedict, may our
ancient heritage continue to flourish.”
Sr. Christa Kreinbrink, OSB
Dear Sister, thank you for this good reminder of how much we owe to the great saint. It is good to remember that in those early days East and West were one family, so that Benedict is a great saint for the Orthodox as well as Rome and the Protestants. I read that there are Benedictine foundations still surviving within the Orthodox tradition as well as being part of the Protestant tradition. What a lesson is there! A community of Christian faith in unity, under the guidance of the great saint. I rejoice in European unity and recognize my civilization and culture there, remembering that there were Anglo-Saxon Benedictine saints who left Devon and carried Christ to their pagan cousins in Germany, where the faith flourished. Great father of Europe, Holy Saint Benedict, pray that the nations of Europe be brought closer in unity and that your love for God through Christ and His Mother be stronger in us to heal our divisions, amen. Pray also for strength and prosperity for OSB, amen
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