St Benedict of Nursia

Benedict was born into a rich family that taught him about God and living a holy life.  They sent him to Rome to get a good education, but he became very sad with all the sin that he saw happening in Rome.  He left Rome and became a hermit, living in a cave for three years and getting closer to Jesus.  Even though Benedict wanted to be alone with God a community of monks asked him to come and lead their Abbot, because they saw how holy he was. This didn’t last very long, because they didn’t like how Benedict wanted to live, they thought it was too hard.  They tried to poison Benedict, but God protected him and he left their community and went back to the cave.  Then God lead him to Monte Cassino where he converted the people there back to Jesus; destroying the pagan temple they had built there.  This is where Benedict built his most famous monastery and where he started the Benedictine order of monks.  Many men joined the monastery and became Benedictine monks, and this way of life spread throughout the world.  Even today there are many Benedictine brothers and priests around the world.  The monks work to bring people back to Jesus, help people live holy lives and help the poor around them.