By: Pam Piedfort

Do you have a broader picture of St. Benedict than what you gather in reading The Rule of St. Benedict? Do you know about the miracles attributed to him? Do you know the details of his three years living in the cave at Subiaco? If you know him only as he appears in The Rule, you are missing many dimensions of his life.

I was hooked on Carmen Acevedo Butcher’s book Man of Blessing: A Life of St. Benedict on page 2 of the Preface when Butcher was introducing herself. I perceived that I had led a very similar life to hers when she began describing her Evangelical church upbringing. I was zoomed 60 years back to my childhood reading her descriptions of strongly religious Vacation Bible Schools, Sword Drills (races to find a particular Bible verse before anyone else,) and Sunday dinners held in the fellowship hall with “fried chicken and green bean casseroles made of Campbell’s condensed cream-of-chicken soup and sprinkled with crunchy French Fried onions,” not to mention the dreaded Jello mold salads with all manner of items suspended in their giggly shape. Our parallel lives diverged around our college days when she began her path to becoming the distinguished scholar of Medieval Studies that she is today.

Her 2006 book reads almost like a novel with its colorful descriptions of people and places, imaginary dialogue between Benedict and others, and a liberal sprinkling of legend. I do not mean “like a novel” in a derogatory way, but in its readability and engagement; I read it in one sitting.

Based on Pope Gregory’s Dialogues, structured as a conversation between himself and Peter, a deacon, about “miracles, signs, wonders, and healings done by the holy men of sixth-century Italy,” we have the best historical and mystical information available about Benedict. Highly suited as a book study for COHI centers, Butcher’s book affords the multidimensional look we all need of the man who authored our founding philosophy.