The Death of St. Benedict (March 21)

On March 21, according to the Benedictine liturgical calendar, Benedictines celebrate a solemnity commemorating the death of St. Benedict in 546 A.D. The following account of this death is found in Book II of the Dialogues of St. Gregory the Great, a civil servant who became first a monk and then one of the Church’s great popes (540-604 A.D.)   

   

In the year that was to be his last, the man of God foretold the day of his holy death to a number of his disciples. In mentioning it to some who were with him in the monastery, he bound them to strict secrecy. Some others, however, who were stationed elsewhere he only informed of the special sign they would receive at the time of his death.

Six days before he died, he gave orders for his tomb to be opened. Almost immediately he was seized with a violent fever that rapidly wasted his remaining energy. Each day his condition grew worse until finally, on the sixth day, he had his disciples carry him into the chapel where he received the Body and Blood of our Lord to gain strength for his approaching end. Then, supporting his weakened body on the arms of his brethren, he stood with his hands raised to heaven and, as he prayed, breathed his last.

That day two monks, one of them at the monastery, the other some distance away, received the very same revelation.  They both saw a magnificent road covered with rich carpeting and glittering with thousands of lights. From his monastery it stretched eastward in a straight line until it reached up into heaven. And there in the brightness stood a man of majestic appearance, who asked them, "Do you know who passed this way?"

"No," they replied.

"This, he told them, is the road taken by blessed Benedict, the Lord's beloved, when he went to heaven."

Thus, while the brethren who were with Benedict witnessed his death, those who were absent knew about it through the sign he had promised them. His body was laid to rest in the Chapel of St. John the Baptist, which he had built to replace the altar of Apollo.

Reflection 

The death of St. Benedict, as depict ed by St. Gregory, is an icon of the holy man’s life.  He died in the community’s place of prayer, where he and his monks had sung the daily round of psalms and hymns which still grounds and frames Benedictine the Benedictine day.  St. Benedict himself spelled out the Hours and their contents in detail in a long segment of his Rule, indicating how important he thought it to be.  He receives Eucharistic communion in preparation for death.  The early Church, some centuries before Benedict, encouraged the martyrs thus to participate sacramentally in Christ’s death and resurrection so that they could then do so literally without faltering.  To this day, the Catholic Church requires its members to receive the Eucharist as Viaticum, “food for the journey,”  before death whenever circumstances permit.  The mystery of the Cross defines our Christian life, as we will very soon celebrate in the solemn liturgies of the Easter Triduum.  So does it define our death as holy passage into the life St. Benedict now lives in Christ, rather than as a plunge into the void.  St. Benedict then leans on the support of his community, among and for whom he has lived a long monastic life in Christ as prescribed by his Rule.  There he stands, arms raised to heaven in prayer, an image of Christ on the Cross, offering himself to the last as the great Intercessor for all humanity.  St. Gregory’s account concludes with the words the Gospels use of Jesus:  “he breathed his last.”  In this small, vivid icon, we see St. Benedict dying as he lived, one who took “the place of Christ” for his followers then and now.  What more stunning tribute could we who own St. Benedict as leader desire than this:  this man or woman lived as he/she had died—an increasingly faithful image of Jesus Christ? 

The Solemnity of St. Benedict is a day on which we might all ask ourselves how true that tribute would be of us as “as we progress in this way of life and in faith, [running] on the path of God’s commandments, our hearts overflowing with the inexpressible delight of love” (RB Prologue 49).  That would be a Lent well done!

©2013 Abbey of St. Walburga,  Virginia Dale CO 80536