Who was Saint Benoît, patron saint of Europe?

Who was Saint Benoît de Nursie?

Benoît de Nursie, better known as Saint Benoît is one of the most famous west. He is considered the patriarch of Western monks. It is also the Saint-Patron of Europe.

Born in Umbria (current Italy), he was a young nobleman, sent to Rome for his studies. A city then filled with various temptations: politicians, carnal or intellectual. For him, what matters is “God alone”. He leaves to look for him in a cave, from a hermit. He meditates there, everything filled with holiness.

Monks then ask Saint Benoît to become their abbot, but refuse his will to reform and try to poison him. He returns to live as a hermit in his cave, where faithful disciples gradually join him. He founded a community there and wrote the Benedictine rule.

Driven out by jealousy, he moved to Mont-Cassin, where he founded the first Benedictine monastery. He died there the same year as his sister, Saint Scholastic. Their relics rest in Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, in the Loiret. Patron of Europe, Saint Benoît distributed the Christian faith with the cross, the book and the plow, bringing peace and progress to the whole continent, according to its Latin formula from the “ORA and Labora” (in French, “Pray and work”).

Prayer in Saint Benoît for Europe

“O Saint Patriarch, we invoke you.

Lift your paternal arms wide open to the Most Holy Trinity and pray for the world, for the Church, and especially for Europe, for your Europe of which you are the celestial boss:

In order for it to forget, does not refuse, does not reject the extraordinary treasure of the Christian faith which, for centuries has animated and fertilized the history and moral, civil, cultural, artistic progress of its different nations;

That, by the virtue of its Christian matrix, it is carrying and generating unity and peace among the peoples of the continent and those of the whole world;

That it guarantees to all its citizens serenity, peace, work, security, fundamental rights, such as those concerning religion, family life, marriage.

Amen. »»

Saint John Paul II

Why pray Saint Benoît?

Since the dawn of time, Christians implore the sky by the fervent intercession of Saint Benedict of Nursia. Particularly against evil and temptations, works of the demon. This patron saint of Europe had known, during his hermit life, to fight the devil’s attacks and to resist multiple temptations. By very effective prayers, Benoît protects those who invoke him. But before praying to him against evil, it is also possible to ask him to be issued from bad luck, to preserve us from the negative, and regain full confidence in Jesus.

When do we celebrate Saint Benoît?

Saint Benoît is celebrated by the church on July 11. Originally, this western monks patriarch was celebrated on March 21. As March 21 often fell into Lent, from the 8th century, the celebration was offset on July 11, the date of the translation of its relics in Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire (Loiret).

Why is Saint Benoît the Saint-Patron of Europe?

According to the wish of Pope Saint Paul VI, Saint Benoît de Nursie is the patron saint of Europe because “barely out of two wars and two tragic ideologies, (the continent) was looking for a new identity. (…) But we must find an ethical and spiritual renewal taken from the Christian roots of Europe. Without this vital lymph, the man remains exposed to the danger of succumbing to the old temptation to redeem himself (…) which caused an unprecedented decline in an already tormented human history “