Benedict

ON BLESSED BENEDICT, HERMIT OF THE ORDER OF VALLOMBROSA, IN TUSCANY.

Benedict, Hermit of the Order of Vallombrosa, in Tuscany (B.)

[1] Arnold Wion celebrates Benedict, formed by the institutions of Vallombrosa and illustrious for a most holy solitary life, on this day as follows: "In the monastery of Coltibuono of St. Lawrence, The feast day of Blessed Benedict. the deposition of St. Benedict, a monk and hermit of the same place, of the Order of Vallombrosa; at whose holy death the bells gave a sign, destitute of human aid; and the snows, by an unheard-of miracle, melting of their own accord only in that part where the sacred body was being carried, furnished a path for the bearers; in whose mouth also, after a span of three hundred and twenty years, a lily was found, as if freshly sprung, whiter than snow." Menard celebrates nearly the same things, and Dorganius more briefly.

[2] Wion writes that he learned his feast day from the records of the Reverend Fathers of Vallombrosa in the territory of Bergamo. This gave Ferrarius the occasion to write: Where he lived. "In the territory of Bergamo, of the Blessed Benedict, Hermit of the Order of Vallombrosa." But the monastery of St. Lawrence of Coltibuono is situated not in the territory of Bergamo but in the diocese of Fiesole, Acts. as Eudosius Locatellus writes in the History of Vallombrosa, who in Book 2, chapter 14, recounts the deeds of Benedict, which we give here. Whether he was solemnly enrolled among the Blessed we have not ascertained. Locatellus himself calls him Blessed and writes that his body was translated about two hundred years earlier and placed more honorifically; as does Silvanus Razzi in the Lives of the Saints of Tuscany.

LIFE

From the Italian of Eudosius Locatellus.

Benedict, Hermit of the Order of Vallombrosa, in Tuscany (B.)

[1] In the time of Bernard, the seventh General of Vallombrosa, Benedict was illustrious for the holiness of his life as a monk in the monastery of St. Lawrence of Coltibuono; and just as the previously mentioned Blessed Peter, after spending some years innocently in the common life with the other brothers, Blessed Benedict lives a holy life in the forest: with the Abbot's permission he withdrew into a forest not far distant, to lead a solitary life. Here, having fashioned for himself a humble little hut, inflamed with the ardor of the Divine Spirit, he mortified his body with long vigils, frequent flagellations, and incredible abstinence.

[2] He revisits the monastery: If any necessity compelled him, he would from time to time revisit the monastery, especially on the days of Easter and other feasts customarily celebrated with outstanding devotion and ceremony, so that he might enjoy the spiritual fellowship and charity of the brothers. In the year in which he departed this life, when he had come there as usual around the Christmas holidays, he confessed his sins with a singular sense of piety and was fed with the sacred Eucharist; then, warned by a heavenly admonition that his end was near, He is warned of approaching death from heaven: he remained there until the solemnity of Epiphany, stimulating all by his outstanding exhortations and examples to holiness of life.

[3] At last, having returned to his beloved cell, with his knees fixed to the ground, as some report, He dies. and his hands raised to heaven, he breathed forth his soul. At that moment, the bells of the monastery, with no one ringing them, sounded of their own accord, the bells ringing of their own accord: in the manner and mode in which they are customarily rung to honor funerals. This prodigy did not deceive the Abbot and the monks, who immediately made their way to Benedict's dwelling and found him dead; and they composed the body, not without tears, to be carried thence to the monastery, where they would lay it in a devout tomb and perform the funeral rites.

[4] He is carried to the monastery, the snow miraculously melting: At that time, it being midwinter, the ground was covered with deep snow. But as soon as the bier was carried forth from the hut, by the will of God Almighty, who desired to attest the innocence and holiness of His servant by a wondrous testimony, the snows, dissolving and dispersing in an instant, provided the procession with an ample and convenient path. The body was first buried beside the church, He is buried: where the cloister is now seen; and not long afterward it was translated into the church. It is transferred elsewhere, his holiness divinely attested; Then indeed (lest anyone should doubt that his most holy soul was now enjoying the delights and rewards of heaven) a fresh lily was found in his mouth, exhaling a wondrous fragrance, while all who had seen and heard of the miracle were struck with astonishment and vied with one another in singing praises to the gracious Deity. Blessed Benedict died in the year 1107.

[5] Then, 323 years later, when the Abbot Paul de Monte Mignaio was administering the monastery of Coltibuono, who restored a great part of it, He is translated again. especially the cloister, the bones of Benedict were translated within the sacred church to a more honorable place. The body was found intact and sweetly fragrant, and with the greatest reverence, with many bishops, monks, and laypeople present and the Bishop granting authority, it was placed to the left of the altar within a chest enclosed within the wall.

(a) From whom Razzi drew his account.

(b) St. Bernard, from being General of the Order of Vallombrosa, became Bishop of Parma and Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church. He is venerated on December 4.

(c) It is situated in the County of Florence, as Razzi writes; in the diocese of Fiesole, as Locatellus says in the catalogue of monasteries of that Order -- not near Bergamo, as Ferrarius says above.

(d) Of whom the same Locatellus treated in the preceding chapter.

(e) Wion, Dorganius, and Menard are therefore mistaken, who write that this happened 320 years later.

(f) This should be understood of the bones -- that is, that none was missing, since he expressly says that the bones were translated, as does Razzi.