St. Benedict of Aniane

St. Benedict of Aniane was born about 747, the son of a Frankish nobleman, and served as a courtier and soldier under the kings Pepin and Charlemagne before a brush with death turned his heart to God. Renouncing the world, he embraced the monastic life with great fervor, and after seeking an extreme austerity, came to see the wisdom and balance of the Rule of St. Benedict of Nursia, of which he became the great champion.

Founding a monastery at Aniane in southern Gaul, he grew into the foremost monastic reformer of his age, and under the Emperor Louis the Pious he was given authority to bring uniformity and discipline to the monasteries of the whole Carolingian Empire. At the councils of Aachen about 816 and 817 he set forth the observances that would standardize Benedictine life across the realm, and his labors did much to shape Western monasticism for centuries. A learned man, he also compiled collections of monastic rules. He died in 821, and is venerated as a saint, his memory kept on 11 February.