Benedict held important posts in the Franciscan Order and gracefully
adjusted to other work when his terms of office were up.
His
parents were slaves brought from Africa to Messina, Sicily. Freed at
18, Benedict did farm work for a wage and soon saved enough to buy a
pair of oxen. He was very proud of those animals. In time he joined a
group of hermits around Palermo and was eventually recognized as their
leader. Because these hermits followed the Rule of St. Francis, Pope
Pius IV ordered them to join the First Order.
Benedict was
eventually novice master and then guardian of the friars in Palermo—
positions rarely held in those days by a brother. In fact, Benedict was
forced to accept his election as guardian. And when his term ended he
happily returned to his work in the friary kitchen.
Benedict
corrected the friars with humility and charity. Once he corrected a
novice and assigned him a penance only to learn that the novice was not
the guilty party. Benedict immediately knelt down before the novice and
asked his pardon.
In later life Benedict was not possessive of
the few things he used. He never referred to them as "mine" but always
called them "ours." His gifts for prayer and the guidance of souls
earned him throughout Sicily a reputation for holiness. Following the
example of St. Francis, Benedict kept seven 40-day fasts throughout the
year; he also slept only a few hours each night.
After Benedict’s
death, King Philip III of Spain paid for a special tomb for this holy
friar. Canonized in 1807, he is honored as a patron saint by
African-Americans.
Comment:
Among
Franciscans a position of leadership is limited in time. When the time
expires, former leaders sometimes have trouble adjusting to their new
position. The Church needs men and women ready to put their best
energies into leadership— but men and women who are gracefully willing
to go on to other work when their time of leadership is over.
Quote:"I
did not come to be served but to serve (see Matthew 20:28), says the
Lord. Those who are placed over others should glory in such an office
only as much as they would were they assigned the task of washing the
feet of the brothers. And the more they are upset about their office
being taken from them than they would be over the loss of the office of
[washing] feet, so much the more do they store up treasures to the
peril of their souls (see John 12:6)" (Francis of Assisi, Admonition IV).