The unity makers

Monasticism too in its many components has played an important role in the building of Europe. The Benedictine monks, the Irish, the Byzantines have influenced the thought, the art, the sciences. From the Mediaeval cities taking inspiration from the construction of the monasteries to becoming a cultural landmark in theology, arts, pharmacology, psychology, philosophy, and so on. That’s one more reason to include, in the new European Constitution, a reference to the Christian roots of Europe. At a time the debate is taking off again – after the visit of German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the Vatican, who reassured the Pope of her commitment towards that – “Saint Benedict, monasticism and the Christian roots of Europe” were discussed at the course for theology students organised in late August by the Italian Bishops Conference in Subiaco where young Benedict (480-547) lived three years in complete loneliness. THE REFERENCE TO GOD. The historical and cultural importance of monasticism in Europe has been illustrated by father INNOCENZO GARGANO , prior of the Monastery of San Gregorio al Celio, Rome, who has his own opinion of the reference to Christianity in the European Constitution: “We must admit many are the factors that produced Europe – he explained to SIR – from the Christian roots to the classical, Jewish, Enlightenment, Islamic ones. So why not make it perfectly clear what the specifically Christian ones are, so that then we can open up to the other roots and contributions? That is, accepting pluralism while considering each component in its distinctive traits. At that point, we should be a bit more outward and speak again of our two fundamental principles of faith: the unity-trinity of God and the incarnation-death-resurrection of Christ, shared by the other Christian traditions. That at least there is a reference to God could be a step forward”. For the European Christian community, this would mean “recovering all of the cultural tradition of the great eastern and western patristics, which is currently just ignored, as if there was a sort of gap from the Greek and Latin tradition to the Enlightenment, placing one thousand five hundred years of history of ideas, cultural, spiritual, human history in brackets. And sadly this is what is happening today”. SAINT BENEDICT AND EUROPE. Saint Benedict has been chosen as the patron saint of Europe, because his Rule “influenced the development of European culture as well as the current debate about the foundation of the values, the institutions and the dignity of human beings in the way of looking at time, space, people, work”, explained the Abbot of Subiaco, Father MAURO MEACCI . Time, for instance, with the hours marked out by different activities, “becomes extremely real and is perceived as an asset to be made the most of, without any fatalistic conception”. Space instead “is not a random or chaotic extension but is determined as an absolute, i.e. every activity is carried out in a given place”. “One can never fully reckon the civilising and educational power of this laborious regularity, which from the monasteries will spread everywhere”, explained father Meacci. Then, the Benedictine Rule places emphasis on the figure of the monk and his “existential concreteness”, for example through the Abbot’s fatherly closeness, the care of the sick, of the old and the very young. But it is above all the concept of “a work that is serious, demanding, productive, inventive in its techniques” which would most affect the history of Europe. MONKS AND WORK, TIME, NATURE . As to work, “Saint Benedict’s lesson is an invitation to spiritualise one’s activity, not to think just of its material or economic side”, explained Father GIOVANNI SPINELLI , secretary of the Italian Benedictine History Centre, “not to make man a slave to machinery, due to an overuse of all that speeds up work, such as some mechanisation and technology systems”. “Work is not the only goal of our life – he recalled, thus referring back to Benedict XVI’s recent warning – Life must have its time of rest and entertainment because time, which is God’s gift, must not be so wildly used up for one’s economic interest”. PIERLUIGI LICCIARDELLO , from the International Society for the Study of the Latin Middle Ages, spoke instead of monasticism and nature: “At the dawn of monasticism, there is a double disregard for human nature (with the mortification of the flesh) and for the cosmos – he said -. But then more and more attention begins to be paid to man’s inner life and the deepest spirituality of the Gospel. In the XIII century, a new naturalism is rediscovered. The monk is completely plunged into nature, sometimes with an allegorical interpretation of it. With Franciscans, attention to nature becomes less intellectual, more instinctive and empathetic”.