Saint Benedict, was an Italian monk, writer, and theologian, born in Nursia (modern day Norcia) in Umbria on 2 March 480. He was sent to Rome to study, but was disappointed by academic life within a large city and escaped to Enfide (modern day Affile), in the Simbruini mountains, some 65km east of Rome. Here Benedict met a monk who’s isolated monastery was situated on a mountainside above the village, and who invited Benedict to take the monk's habit and become a hermit, which Benedict did, for three years.

During these three years of solitude, broken only by occasional communications with the outside world, Benedict grew in mind and character, in knowledge of himself and of his fellow man, while at the same time becoming not only known to, but respected by, those around him. He went on to found 12 monasteries in the vicinity of neighbouring town, Subiaco, before moving south-east to Monte Cassino.

At Monte Cassino he produced his life’s greatest work, the Rule of St Benedict, which consisted of a set of rules for his monks to follow. The Rule is said to possess a unique spirit of balance, moderation and reasonableness, which was why most religious communities founded in the Middle Ages chose to adopt it. To this day, the Rule of St Benedict remains the most common and influential Rule used by monastic order, some 1500 years after its writing.

Benedict died of a fever at Monte Cassino on 21 March 547. He was named patron protector of Europe by Pope Paul VI in 1964 and in 1980 Pope John Paul II declared him to be co-patron of Europe, together with Saints Cyril and Methodius. Here in Spain, on the island of Tenerife, Benedict is regarded as the patron saint of fields & farmers and an annual romeria is held in his honour.

The picture of St Benedict above is part of a depiction in the Benedetto Portinari Triptych, by Hans Memling - Web Gallery of Art: Image Info about artwork, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12211505