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Saint of the Quarter - Saint Benedict
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The Catholic Church is blessed to have members whose holiness and goodness are real-life examples of how to live. We're even more blessed to use them as intercessors and examples when something happens in our lives to take us down a path we either struggle with or didn't expect. That's right- we're talking about the saints!
This year join the Natick Catholic Community as we introduce Saint of the Quarter. Each quarter we'll dive into the life of a saint and participate in a service project to honor this saint and remember their works. We invite our parishioners to take part in this initiative and stay tuned for updates on how you can get more involved.
This quarter’s saint is Saint Benedict!
St Benedict is one of Europe's patron saints and the father of Western monasticism. Born in the 5th century, his feast day is July 11, which makes him a great candidate for our third quarter saint!
Benedict was born in Italy, the brother of another saint named Scholastica, and after years of studying literature and law in Rome, he chose monastic life. After having lived alone for several years as a hermit, he joined a religious community and became their abbot within a monastery.
Benedict is perhaps most known for his Rule for Religious Life, which he composed after he had come to see the difficulties and spiritual dangers of a solitary life. His Rule promotes best practices for a balanced monastic life spent wholly in community. Religious brothers and sisters who follow the Rule take vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and stability. Poverty means that communal (rather than private) ownership and use of property are practiced. The lifelong vow of chastity involves the free mature choice to remain unmarried and to abstain from sexual relationships. The primary love of religious life is dedicated to the love of God. Obedience promises willing acceptance of the authority of the abbot or abbess, the elected leader of the community. And stability is a special Benedictine vow which puts down spiritual roots for life for each monk or nun within his/her own monastery.
In the Rule St Benedict displayed a remarkable spirit of moderation. Attention was wisely given to each person's health and well-being. Monks and nuns were allowed clothes suited to the climate and season, sufficient food (with no specified fasting apart from the times observed by the Roman church), and enough sleep (7 1/2–8 hours). The monastic working day was divided into three roughly equal portions: five to six hours of liturgical and other prayer; five hours of manual work (whether domestic work, craft work, garden work, or fieldwork); and four hours for reading of the Scriptures and spiritual writings. This balance of prayer, work, and study is another of Benedict’s legacies. Many religious orders have successfully adapted the Benedictine Rule and implemented its spiritual wisdom within their own communities.
Natick is proud to have a local Catholic school named for this great saint, for whom this healthy balance was essential wisdom for life.
In honor and in the spirit of St Benedict, we prayerfully ask that you help with our service project this quarter.
Our Project
Part I
In the spirit of St. Benedict, we ask that you pray for vocations to the monastic life. If you are curious about this way of life, consider making a visit this summer to a local monastery. Our area has several opportunities to visit including the Trappist monks in Spencer, Trappistine nuns in Wrentham, Benedictine monks in Harvard (Still River), Hingham, and at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire. Most monasteries welcome visitors to attend their communal prayers.
Part II
Coming soon!
