The son of a member of the Roman nobility, he was born at Nursia, near Spoleto, about the year 480. While still quite young, he left Rome, giving up his studies and career in the world and retired to a place called Subiaco, where he lived as a hermit, receiving the monastic habit from Romanus, monk of a neighboring monastery. After three years of eremitical life, was made abbot of Vicovaro, but the monks, finding his way of life too strict, strove to poison him. He left them and founded, first, twelve monasteries at Subiaco, and later the great Abbey of Monte Cassino where he wrote the Holy Rule. He died in 543. Continue reading →