Benedict is generally considered the father of Western monasticism. He was born around 480, at Nursia in central Italy, and was educated at Rome. Rome at this time was in the midst of considerable political and social instability. Benedict’s disapproval of the manners and morals of his society led him to a vocation of ascetic renunciation. He withdrew to a hillside cave above Lake Subiaco,about forty miles west of Rome, where there was already at…