Originally, the medal was in the form of a cross and Catholic tradition teaches that Bruno of Egisheim-Dagsburg, the future Pope Leo IX, when he was a young Benedictine, nearly died of a snake bite. At his blessing, the cup of wine shattered and he commanded the two crows who always accompanied him to carry off the poisoned bread depositing it in a place where it couldn’t harm anyone. Mystically warned of the treachery, Benedict made the Sign of the Cross over the food and the plot was foiled. Some of the lazier, more dissolute monks wanted him out of the picture, so they conspired to poison his bread and wine. He agreed, but he warned them he would urge them to greater piety and asceticism if he took the job. Apparently, some monks sought out Benedict who had been living as a hermit in a cave for three years near Naples, Italy. That's right: the Catholic Church started the word’s first universities. Many of these schools ultimately become universities―the world’s first universities. Nearly all of these monasteries hosted monastery schools for youngsters. One hardly finds any mention of them in high school history books so thoroughly have secularists and anti-religionists remove all mentions of these hardy, pious monks from world history. It's a pity so many Westerners, including Catholics, are ignorant of all that Benedict and his merry band of followers, many of whom labored in holy obscurity, have done for Christendom. Hopefully you won't get trampled in their evangelical wake. Like kudzu, you simply drop monks off someplace and run. “Munich” is the German word for “monk.” “Monaco” on the French Riviera, is the Italian word for “monk.”Īs Christ is the vine, the Benedictines are the branches. It should be pointed out that many of Europe’s greatest cities started out as little more than ramshackle Benedictine monasteries. It was from these centers of great learning and prayer that monks and nuns went about their zealous work of evangelizing. The very presence of his monks in their monasteries became a stabilizing, civilizing factor no matter where they planted themselves. Most people, Catholics included, don't realize how indebted the Church, Europe and the world are to St.
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