Vivificat! on St. Benedict

Theophilus honors his patron today. 'Tis the feast of St. Benedict. Witness his praise here. Top of the list: Benedict's order saved civilization as we know it. Here's how:

If the two main threads of Western Civilization are Jerusalem and Athens, we also need to accept the fact that it was Rome, the Rome of the Popes, who brought these two threads together to knit our culture and our civilization. But this knowledge was not preserved in Rome alone, but was distributed to every monastery in Europe and beyond who followed St. Benedict's Monastic Rule. Each monastery became a focus of civilization and a place for the preservation of knowledge. It was St. Benedict's monks the one's who forged our sciences, art, and religion and who kept them for future generations. May he intercede for all of us and nurture all his spiritual children, particularly those of us who have decided to follow his God-inspired Rule according to our state in life.

Read the whole thing.