A rule for our time

“Pacis Nuntius” (messenger of peace): with these words begins Paul VI’s document of 24 October 1964, proclaiming Benedict as “Patron of Europe”. Without doubt this – the message of peace – is at the same time one of the most characteristic features of the Rule of the Saint of Norcia and one of the boons of which our world most has a need. In the Prologue of Benedict’s Rule we read this verse of Psalm 33: “Seek peace and pursue it”. Pursuing peace means trying to achieve unity to live in peace with oneself, with others and, hence, with God. In another passage of the Rule, in its chapter on the “instruments of good works”, St. Benedict emphasises the importance of peace, but in relation to forgiveness. Peace is only possible when people are prepared to forgive each other, but without exchanging a false peace. If this is true for the life of individuals, it is no less true for the life of nations. So can the fifteen centuries of European history that have elapsed since the birth of St. Benedict explain the reason why this title of Patron of Europe was given to him? The Benedictines did not christianise a still pagan European by themselves alone, but their role was preponderant. That is paradoxical, if we consider that Benedict composed his Rule for men whose whole life was supposed to be consecrated to prayer, within the walls of a monastery, in silence, in solitude and in separation from the world. The sons of St. Benedict were the creators of one of those fundamental values that we find expressed in the Rule: unity. Unity within the community, unity between the various communities, unity in Christianity, which they helped to form, conserve and transmit. Looking back today, we need, however, to add two fundamental values that are contained in the Rule and have a notable resonance in our time, in particular for Europe. First, respect for the person: “In the monastery, the Abbot shall avoid any form of partiality… The Abbot therefore shall exercise equal charity for all”. In this way, every claimed justification of discrimination, whether on grounds of race or class, often the source of division and injustice, is eliminated. This unity does not only permit diversity between its members, but presupposes and encourages it. With healthy realism Benedict taught his disciples to accept everyone as they are, with their gifts and their charisms and prescribed that “each should receive according to his need”. This is the virtue commonly designated by the Latin term discre­tio , which can be translated as prudence and which St. Benedict called the “mother of all the virtues”. Extending our discourse, we may say that the Rule highlights what is often signally lacking in Western civilization: modesty of life, being satisfied with what is essential, sharing with others and acceptance. Peace, unity, respect for the person, modesty and sharing: these are all things that regulate a life that includes a spiritual dimension and that therefore has a meaning. Without doubt it is this sum of values that enables us to say that St. Benedict, as Patron of Europe, is really a model to bear in mind, not only for the Old Continent, but for all five continents and for the same universal reasons.