This week in Christian history: Anne Hutchinson heresy trial, St. Benedict, Spurgeon church

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, March 17, 2019

St. Benedict, creator of Benedictine Rule, dies - March 21, circa 547

St. Benedict of Nursia (c. 480 - c. 547), the creator of the Benedictine Rule. | Wikimedia Commons

This week marks the anniversary of what is traditionally believed to be the day that St. Benedict of Nursia, an influential western monastic, passed away.

Born to a wealthy Italian family, young Benedict was said to have been disgusted by the moral decay found throughout Rome at the time, leading him to seek a hermit’s life.

News of his monastic living led to him becoming popular and founding several monasteries, as well as establishing the influential Benedictine Rule.

“Benedict’s supreme achievement was to provide a succinct and complete directory for the government and the spiritual and material well-being of a monastery,” noted Britannica.

“Remarkable as is this careful and comprehensive arrangement, the spiritual and human counsel given generously throughout the Rule is uniquely noteworthy among all the monastic and religious rules of the Middle Ages.”