St. Benedict of Nursia
Patron of Europe, monks, students, farm workers, protection against poisoning
Saint Benedict (c. 480–547) is the father of Western monasticism. Born to a noble Umbrian family, he left his studies at Rome in disgust at the decadence of the age and lived three years as a hermit in the cave at Subiaco. From the disciples who gathered around him he founded twelve small monasteries before settling at Monte Cassino, where he wrote the Rule that bears his name. A masterpiece of 'discretion, the mother of virtues,' it ordered the day around prayer, work and lectio divina with such balance that for a thousand years it shaped every monastery of the Latin Church and, through them, the agriculture, music, art and learning of Europe. Paul VI proclaimed him patron of Europe in 1964.