Saint Benedict was a son of a Roman noble and also had a twin sister named Scholastica. He studied in Rome and focused on rhetoric, or the art of persuasive speaking. He was troubled by seeing fellow students, who had wealth and power, subject themselves to vices that would derail their upbringing. He left and started a life of solitude. He started twelve communities, or monasteries,but the rules he imposed for living the monastic life proved too difficult for many. He then started one monastery with rules that still serve as the foundation for religious rules in Western Christendom. “The Rule of Saint Benedict” is used today by many monasteries to govern daily life and administration of the monastery.
