Saint Benedict of Nursia (c. 480-547) was sent to Rome to study, but the city was full of temptations. So Benedict retired as a hermit to a cave near the town of Subiaco and later founded the monastery of Monte Cassino. The essential rule of his School of Christ: "Prefer nothing to the love of God, walking with a free heart in the way of his commandments".
He is the father of the monks of the West. His Rule of Saint Benedict is not very long, with 73 short chapters and a prologue. He was proclaimed Patron Saint of Europe by Pope Paul VI in 1964, and Benedictine monasticism has influenced the entire Western Church.