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Benedict of Nursia ((イタリア語:San Benedetto da Norcia)) (c. 480 – 543 or 547) is a Christian saint, honoured by the Catholic Church and the Anglican Church as the patron saint of Europe and students. Benedict founded twelve communities for monks at Subiaco, Italy (about to the east of Rome), before moving to Monte Cassino in the mountains of southern Italy. The Order of St Benedict is of later origin and, moreover, not an "order" as commonly understood but merely a confederation of autonomous congregations. Benedict's main achievement is his "Rule of Saint Benedict", containing precepts for his monks. It is heavily influenced by the writings of John Cassian, and shows strong affinity with the Rule of the Master. But it also has a unique spirit of balance, moderation and reasonableness (ἐπιείκεια, ''epieikeia''), and this persuaded most religious communities founded throughout the Middle Ages to adopt it. As a result, his Rule became one of the most influential religious rules in Western Christendom. For this reason, Benedict is often called the founder of western monasticism. ==Biography== Apart from a short poem attributed to Mark of Monte Cassino, the only ancient account of Benedict is found in the second volume of Pope Gregory I's four-book ''Dialogues'', thought to have been written in 593.〔 The authenticity of this work has been hotly disputed, especially by Dr Francis Clarke in his two volume work ''The Pseudo-Gregorian Dialogues''. Book Two consists of a prologue and thirty-eight succinct chapters.〔''Life and Miracles of St. Benedict'' (''Book II, Dialogues''), translated by Odo John Zimmerman, O.S.B. and Benedict R. Avery, O.S.B. (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1980), p. iv.〕 Gregory’s account of this saint’s life is not, however, a biography in the modern sense of the word. It provides instead a spiritual portrait of the gentle, disciplined abbot. In a letter to Bishop Maximilian of Syracuse, Gregory states his intention for his ''Dialogues'', saying they are a kind of ''floretum'' (an ''anthology'', literally, 'flowers') of the most striking miracles of Italian holy men.〔See Ildephonso Schuster, ''Saint Benedict and His Times'', Gregory J. Roettger, trans. (London: B. Herder, 1951), p. 2.〕 Gregory did not set out to write a chronological, historically anchored story of St. Benedict, but he did base his anecdotes on direct testimony. To establish his authority, Gregory explains that his information came from what he considered the best sources: a handful of Benedict’s disciples who lived with the saint and witnessed his various miracles. These followers, he says, are Constantinus, who succeeded Benedict as Abbot of Monte Cassino; Valentinianus; Simplicius; and Honoratus, who was abbot of Subiaco when St Gregory wrote his ''Dialogues''. In Gregory's day, history was not recognised as an independent field of study; it was a branch of grammar or rhetoric, and ''historia'' (defined as 'story') summed up the approach of the learned when they wrote what was, at that time, considered 'history.'〔See Deborah Mauskopf Deliyannis, editor, ''Historiography in the Middle Ages'' (Boston: Brill, 2003), pp. 1–2.〕 Gregory’s ''Dialogues'' Book Two, then, an authentic medieval hagiography cast as a conversation between the Pope and his deacon Peter, is designed to teach spiritual lessons.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Benedict of Nursia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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