A short History

In about the year 500 he decided to leave the city and go out into the hills, where he lived a life of prayer. He found a cave at Subiaco, where he lived as a hermit. A local Christian brought him food, which he lowered into the cave in a basket. Gradually people came to hear of Benedict, and because they admired his holy way of life they joined him in a community.

Benedict was the Abbot, or leader of this group of monks. In time, however, some of the monks grew tired of Benedict's strict way of life, and they tried to poison him. He went back to his life in a cave. Later, he founded twelve monasteries of twelve monks each, and put an Abbot in charge of each monastery. There were still some people in the locality who were jealous of Benedict, so about the year 525 he moved to Monte Cassino, a hill to the south of Rome, where he founded a new monastery in 529.