The Life of St Benedict

Saint Benedict also known as the "Black Saint" Excerpt: Dedication I cannot do better, O holy Patriarch, than dedicate to thee this Abridgment of the Life of Saint Benedict, thy Son, who now enjoys eternal happiness in the arms of his Father. I do this the more readily, since I need not recall thy glory, which shines from age to age, although we may celebrate it without incurring the reproach of flattery, which may usually be made against dedicatory epistles. It is true, nevertheless, that the merits of children who walk in their father's footsteps, and the glory they win, always redound to the father's greater honor. Our Saint is a striking proof of this. When we read that the countenance of Saint Benedict of Sanfratello became bright and shining when he was in prayer, during the night, we are immediately reminded of the wonderful brightness thou didst shed around thee, in so much, that the cell in which thou wast praying seemed all on fire, and the deceived beholders ran in haste to extinguish the flames. The same may be said of those fundamental virtues, by which our Saint walked in thy blessed footsteps, tinged with the blood of those seraphic wounds which had pierced his heart also. Thou wast accustomed, during prayer, to take refuge under the wings of Saint Michael the Archangel. Saint Benedict was faithful to the same practice. That we may not make too many comparisons, we shall content ourselves with recalling his veneration for the ecclesiastical hierarchy which he had drawn from thy Testament, in which thou dost say, speaking of the sacerdotal order: "It is my desire to fear the priests, to love and honor them as my superiors. I am unwilling to see any sin in them because in each I consider the Son of God, and regard them as my masters." What may render this Abridgment still more agreeable to thee, O venerable Father, is, that thy son Benedict zealously applied himself to imitate and honor thee perfectly; I, then, enter into his views by dedicating to thee this short account of his life, composed on the occasion of his canonization. There is, then, reason to hope that it will be agreeable to both father and child; happy shall I be, if I obtain hereby, from either, that protection which I, with all the reformed religious, implore, prostrate at thy feet. - F. Jacques, Postulator-General Approbation