The Rise of the Benedictine Monastery

Around 500 AD, a young man called Benedict moved from nursery in central Italy to Rome to pursue his studies. He found life in Rome spiritually unsatisfying, so he left to live as a hermit for three years before joining several monastic communities. Benedict finally settled at Monte Cassino where he founded a monastery and established a set of rules for monastic life. These rules are an important part of our story because they mandated books and writing implements for all of the monks. The curriculum was largely designed to meet the needs of the Church, with the ultimate goal of teaching young men to read the Bible. But as Benedictine Monastery spread across Europe, their rise would fill the void, left