SOURCE: "St. Benedict and His Foundation" in Benedictinism through Changing Centuries, translated by Leonard J. Doyle, St. John's Abbey Press, 1958, pp. 11-7.

In the following excerpt, originally published in German in 1950, Hilpisch comments on St. Benedict's life and the organization of his monastery at Monte Cassino.

Benedictine monachism, customarily called the Benedictine Order in later times, is the oldest monastic community of the Western Church, its origin dating all the way from Christian antiquity. Its founder, teacher and lawgiver, St. Benedict, was born about the year 480 in the Sabine mountains, in the old Italian province of Nursia. His parents belonged to the free, land-holding class, and were probably leading a retired life, far removed from the capital of the world empire, in a province whose people were famed for their austerity and tenacity. They were open-minded enough, however, to send their son Benedict to Rome at an early...