Saint Gregory the Great

Saint Benedict of Nursia (a province in northern Italy) was the founder of communal monasticism in western Europe. Although he began his religious career living as a hermit in the mountains of northern Italy, he later established a monastery where monks could live together in work and prayer, each following a set of common rules. In his lifetime, Benedict enjoyed an extraordinary reputation for piety and goodness. Soon after his death (around 550), his memory took on a larger-than-life distinction as legends attributing miracles to him—including raising the dead—began spreading throughout Christian Europe. Gregory the Great, a sixth-century pope who himself was later canonized a saint, captured these legends in a work entitled The Dialogues. It was Gregory's hope that the stories about Benedict would help spread the monastic ideal of work and prayer...