Section 02: Subiaco

The Subiaco years: the long solitude that made Benedict a monk before he was an abbot, and the first communities that gathered around him there. The two files cover, first, the cave in the gorge of the Anio — the three hidden years, the monk Romanus who fed him by a rope, and the great temptation overcome (Dialogues II.1–2) — and, second, the move from solitude to community: the disastrous abbacy at Vicovaro with its poisoned cup, and the founding of twelve small monasteries of disciples (Dialogues II.3–8), with the poisoned-cup and poisoned-bread episodes pinned to their chapters in Gregory.

Tradition: Pre-Schism Western (Latin) / Orthodox reception

Contents

File Topic
The Hermit Years The cave (Sacro Speco) at Subiaco; the monk Romanus who clothed and fed him; the three years unknown to men; the temptation of the flesh and the bramble-bush (Dialogues II.1–2); the discovery by shepherds and the end of the hidden life
The Twelve Monasteries The reluctant abbacy of the monks of Vicovaro and the poisoned cup shattered by the sign of the cross (Dialogues II.3); the disciples who gathered; the founding of twelve monasteries of twelve monks each (Dialogues II.3); Maurus and Placid; the jealous priest Florentius and the poisoned bread carried off by a raven (Dialogues II.8); the departure for Monte Cassino

How to Use

  • Read The Hermit Years for the foundation under everything that follows: the solitary ascetic combat that the later Rule presupposes when it calls the hermit’s the harder warfare (RB 1).
  • Read The Twelve Monasteries for the turn from solitude to the common life — and for two of the most famous episodes of the Dialogues, the poisoned cup and the poisoned bread, both reported here as what Gregory attests.
  • The move to Monte Cassino that closes the Subiaco period is taken up in Section 03.

Cross-References