Today is All Saints Day, the day on the Church calendar on which we celebrate the great cloud of witnesses that have gone before us.
How much do you know about the history of the saints?
For All Saints Day, we offer the following history of the church in twenty biographies , of one saint from each century from the first century to the twentieth century. (It’s too early to choose a saint to celebrate from the twenty-first century.) With each we offer a brief snippet of their lives, and a biography of each, most of which can be downloaded for FREE. Many of these saints lives and work intersect with those who went before them, and what emerges as we dig into these stories is a fuller and richer history of God’s presence and work among the people of God throughout the full span of our history.
Sixth Century:
Benedict of NursiaSt. Benedict of Nursia (c. 2 March 480 – c. 21 March 547 AD) is a Christian saint venerated in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, the Anglican Communion and Old Catholic Churches. He is a patron saint of Europe. Benedict founded twelve communities for monks at Subiaco, Lazio, Italy (about 40 miles (64 km) to the east of Rome), before moving to Monte Cassino in the mountains of southern Italy. The Order of Saint Benedict is of later origin and, moreover, not an “order” as commonly understood but merely a confederation of autonomous congregations. Benedict’s main achievement, his “Rule of Saint Benedict”, contains a set of rules for his monks to follow. Heavily influenced by the writings of John Cassian, it shows strong affinity with the Rule of the Master. But it also has a unique spirit of balance, moderation and reasonableness , and this persuaded most Christian religious communities founded throughout the Middle Ages to adopt it. As a result, his Rule became one of the most influential religious rules in Western Christendom. For this reason, Giuseppe Carletti regarded Benedict as the founder of Western Christian monasticism. (via Wikipedia) Our Reading List on |
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