Benedict of Nursia founds Monte Cassino
Benedict of Nursia founded a monastery on the hill of Monte Cassino between Rome and Naples and wrote for it the Rule that became the model for Western monasticism.
- Date
- between 529 and 530exact date unknown: an interval is given
- Place
- Monte Cassinotoday: Abbey of Montecassino, Cassino, Lazio, Italy · Western and Central Europe
- Participants
- Benedict of Nursia
- Threads
- Early medieval Europe (500–1000)
- Also known as
- Abbey of Monte Cassino; Аббатство Монтекассино; Rule of Saint Benedict
Almost everything known about Benedict comes from the Dialogues of Pope Gregory the Great, written about half a century later. According to Gregory, after years as a hermit and abbot at Subiaco, Benedict moved south and settled on the site of a pagan sanctuary above the town of Casinum; tradition dates the foundation to 529, modern works to about 529–530. The Rule he composed for his monks balanced prayer, reading and manual labour under the authority of an abbot and was notable for its moderation.
The first monastery was sacked by the Lombards around 580 and the monks fled to Rome; the community was restored only in the early 8th century. By then the Rule of Saint Benedict was spreading across Western Europe, and under Charlemagne and Louis the Pious it became the standard rule for the monasteries of the Frankish realm.
Connections
Related events
- Founding of Cluny Abbeybetween 909 and 910 · Western and Central EuropeThe Cluniac reform was a return to the strict observance of the Rule of Saint Benedict
Adjacent events in the thread
- Corpus Juris Civilis7 April 529 – 16 November 534 · Balkans and Anatolia
Meanwhile in the world
Other regions, within 25 years of this event
Eastern Europe
- Early Slavic cultures: Prague-Korchak, Penkovka and Kolochinc. 450 – c. 700
- Kyi, Shchek and Khoryv: the legendary founding of Kyivbetween 500 and 700
Balkans and Anatolia
- Corpus Juris Civilis7 April 529 – 16 November 534
- Construction of Hagia Sophia23 February 532 – 27 December 537
- Plague of Justinian541–549
- Jordanes and Procopius describe the Sclaveni and the Antesbetween 550 and 554
Africa
- Vandalic WarJune 533 – March 534
The same period
Sources
- Wikipedia (English): Monte Cassino
- Wikipedia (English): Rule of Saint Benedict
- Wikipedia (Russian): Монтекассино
- Wikipedia (Russian): Устав святого Бенедикта
- Dunn M. The Emergence of Monasticism: From the Desert Fathers to the Early Middle Ages. — Oxford: Blackwell, 2000.
- Wikidata: Q334051