From the desk of the Tar Heel disciple:
March 9, 2026 (#81)
The Legacy of St. Benedict-Part I: The Feasts
For many centuries, the Catholic Church has celebrated the feast day of Saint Benedict of Nursia, who died on March 21, about 547 AD, in keeping with the ancient tradition of the Church to mark the feast day of a saint on the day of their passing from this world. There is some evidence that another day was also observed in some places in commemoration of this pivotal figure on July 11. There Is textual evidence from the 8th century that there was a commemoration in the Gallic liturgy of the birth of Benedict (about 480 AD) on this summer date.[1] Presuming that to be true, it would mean that Benedict enjoyed two feasts, at least in some regions of Europe, one in commemoration of his birth and one commemorating his death, a liturgical privilege only otherwise accorded to the Lord Jesus, the Blessed Mother, and Saint John the Baptist. This would give some indication of the high esteem and veneration in which he has been held over the centuries.
In 1964, Pope St. Paul VI proclaimed St. Benedict the patron saint of Europe, and in 2005, Joseph Ratzinger took the papal name “Benedict XVI," explaining his own reverence and admiration for the man widely recognized as the “Father of Western Monasticism,” and whom the new pope saw as having “exercised a fundamental influence on the development of European civilization and culture…." (In 1980, Pope St. John Paul declared Saints Cyril and Methodius to be co-patrons of Europe, and in 2000, the Year of the Great Jubilee, the same pontiff added Saints Catherine of Siena, Bridget of Sweden, and Edith Stein to that group.)
In 1969, the revised General Roman Calendar moved the feast of Saint Benedict from March 21 to July 11, thus assuring that the celebration of this saint would never be eclipsed by the observance of Lent. However, many thousands of Benedictine monasteries, convents, and other institutions continue to maintain the March 21st celebration as well as the modern summer date. And of course, those who celebrate the traditional Latin liturgy according to the 1962 Missal continue to observe the March feast day.
Reading materials on St. Benedict and related devotional items can be found at:
https://inhisname.com/search?options%5Bprefix%5D=last&q=St.+Benedict
[1] There is also a scholarly postulation that the July 11th date commemorates the translation (transferring) of Benedict's relics from the place of his death, Montecassino in Italy, to a monastery in Fleury, France, a fact which the monks of the Italian monastery had long since disputed. After the American bombing of that famous monastery during World War II, during the time of rebuilding, the Benedictines there claimed that they found the relics in place, buried together with those of his sister, Saint Scholastica, as they had always believed.
