The BENEDICTINE EXPERIENCE
at The Bishop's Ranch, Healdsburg, California
Icon Cards and Gifts
St. Benedict (c.480-c.547) was born in Nursia, in northern Italy. Raised in a Christian family, all he wanted was to serve God.
In due course he traveled to Rome for his education, but was utterly appalled by the decadence, cynicism and corruption he found there.
He then retreated to a cave in a deep valley west of Rome where he lived in prayerful solitude, seeking Christ.
Stories of his holiness soon attracted others and after three years he was coaxed from the solitary life to be a leader for a demoralized monastic movement in chaotic times not unlike our own. As the Roman Empire disintegrated, those who sought the monastic life tended to be either wild and undisciplined or struggling under excessively severe, ascetic regimens.
Benedict offered a better way. He crafted a rule remarkable in its time, and to the present day, for being comprehensive, compassionate, and redolent with common sense. He founded a dozen communities, the largest and most famous of which is Monte Cassino near Naples. Throughout Europe, the hundreds of monasteries following the Rule of St. Benedict were stable centers of learning, commerce, and good governance that became the network on which medieval and modern Europe were built.
The late Pope John Paul II named St. Benedict "Patron of Europe", and his successor Benedict XVI regards him as a model to follow, on many levels.
The Friends of St. Benedict (www.benedictfriend.org/) is an ecumenical, nonprofit organization located in Washington, DC which sponsors many Benedictine Experience retreats all over the USA. All proceeds from the sale of these products will help support this increasingly timely and important spiritual work.
All the icons used in this store were created by Lucia Robinson Dugliss, and have been displayed at various times in the Chapel at the Bishop's Ranch, in Healdsburg, CA, where this particular July "Benedictine Experience" takes place.
