I'm standing here in subo Italy which is
about 40 mies East of Rome subo is a
very sacred place for the Benedict
family because to this place a very
young St Benedict came he'd been a
student in Rome and was so put off by
the sort of Rowdy immorality of the city
and mind you we're at the period right
after the Roman Empire had collapsed he
was so put off by all this that he set
out on his own teenager came to this
place and they still have the cave where
he lived for about three years it's now
kind of encased in a great monastic
Shrine but you can see the the part of
it and Benedict lived here for a time
and uh what's always struck me is is
anyone coming by this area back in those
days and if they'd heard there's a kid
living up in a cave on the hillside they
probably thought well the poor thing you
know he's he's lost his mind and yet
from that strange beginning
came the Benedict movement which in time
reil Europe the order lost at the end of
the Roman Empire was restored largely
through the Benedict movement who would
have guessed that this kid living in a
cave on the hillside was the seed from
which would come this sort of
reflowering of Western Civilization you
know in the fact that we still read
texts by Aristotle and Plato and Cicero
and Sophocles and escalus is due largely
to Patient Benedict and monks uh
transcribing these works from the
ancient world so you're just struck by
call it the Mustard Seed principle how
truly great things come from very small
Beginnings but here's something else as
I toured the shrine around that cave and
saw wonderful things there's these
frescos from the um 13th very early 14th
century that are very much like jot that
same period they're done in the jat
style they were beautifully restored a
short time ago but we have a portrait
there of um Pope Innocent III one of the
most important popes in history the Pope
in the early 13th century who calls the
fourth lading Council Who inaugurates
The Franciscan movement there's also a
wonderful portrait of Francis himself
and I find it totally credible that that
Francis would have come to a place like
this and there's a a portrait done a
fresco they say is done from life so
there he is and and and it's it's very
fresh looking still and you're struck by
that powerful figure it was commented
you know that what the Benedicts
gathered over many centuries the
franciscans and Dominicans in the
mendicant period scattered so the grain
that had been stored up by this great
contemplative tradition was then spread
by the mendicant uh and preaching orders
so you know I'm struck by call it the
sort of tidal quality of the church's
Life as a tide comes in it goes out
there's certain moments of the church's
life when we
regroup we
retrench we hunker down to
preserve Revelation to preserve the best
of the secular culture Etc and then
there's a moment when we go out in a
more missionary Spirit Benedict
represents in in this almost literal
sense because he hunkered down in this
cave but the whole Benedict and movement
represents that sort of patient
contemplative Act of hanging on to the
wealth of the tradition but then there
might be other moments in the church's
life when we go forth here's what
strikes me too as I look now at our own
time I came of age right after Vatican 2
when the tide was very much going out if
you want it was to go out to meet the
world it was to um get out of the
confines of the church and and be in
dialogue with the culture great great I
think that probably was called for at
that time but one begins to wonder at
least I do is there time for a certain
retrenchment now are we going through a
time to some degree of a civilizational
crisis not unlike the one that Benedict
faced when we too have to remember to
hunker down to hang on to what's good
and true beautiful and endurable in the
great tradition because a too open
attitude can lead to a loss of identity
so as I stand here in subo at this place
very sacred to the Benedict and family
as I'm within just a few yards really of
the cave where young young Benedict
hunker down can we take a renewed
inspiration from that and perhaps
rededicate ourselves to a study a
prayerful consideration of our great
Catholic tradition anyway just some
musings on this day as we continue our
filming tomorrow we go to Monte Casino
which is of course another place very
sacred to the Benedict and family where
the first really great Benedict and
Monastery was established and where
Benedict is uh is buried so hunkering
down going out the tide coming in the
tide going out is part of the rhythm of
the church's life