Trouble In A Monastery

Gregorius: Non longe autem monasterium fuit, cuius congregationis Pater defunctus est, omnisque ex illo congregatio ad eumdem venerabilem Benedictum venit, et magnis precibus ut eis praeesse deberet, petiit. Qui diu negando distulit, suis illorumque fratrum moribus se convenire non posse praedixit: sed victus quandoque precibus assensum dedit. Cumque in eodem monasterio regularis vitae custodiam teneret, nullique ut prius per actus illicitos in dexteram laevamque partem deflectere a conversationis itinere liceret; suscepti fratres insane saevientes semetipsos prius accusare coeperunt, quia hunc sibi praeesse poposcerant: quorum scilicet tortitudo in norma eius rectitudinis offendebat. Cumque sibi sub eo conspicerent illicita non licere, et se dolerent assueta relinquere, durumque esset quod in mente veteri cogebantur nova meditari, sicut pravis moribus semper gravis est vita bonorum, tractare de eius morte aliqui conati sunt, qui inito consilio venenum vino miscuerunt. Et cum vas vitreum, in quo ille pestifer potus habebatur, recumbenti Patri, ex more monasterii, ad benedicendum fuisset oblatum, extensa manu Benedictus signum crucis edidit, et vas quod longius tenebatur, eodem signo rupit: sicque confractum est, ac si in illo vase mortis, pro cruce lapidem dedisset. Intellexit protinus vir Dei, quia potum mortis habuerat, quod portare non potuit signum vitae: atque illico surrexit, et vultu placido, mente tranquilla convocatos fratres allocutus est, dicens: Misereatur vestri, fratres, omnipotens Deus; quare in me facere ista voluistis? Nunquid non prius dixi vobis, quia vestris ac meis moribus minime conveniret? Ite, et iuxta vestros mores Patrem vobis quaerite, quia posthac me habere minime potestis. Tuncque ad locum dilectae solitudinis rediit, et solus in superni spectatoris oculis habitavit secum. Petrus. Minus patenter intelligo, quidnam sit, Habitavit secum. Gregorius. Si sanctus vir contra se unanimiter conspirantes, suaeque conversationi longe dissimiles, coactos diu sub se tenere voluisset, fortassis sui vigoris usum et modum tranquillitatis excederet , atque a contemplationis lumine suae mentis oculum declinasset. Dumque quotidie illorum incorrectione fatigatus minus curaret sua, et se forsitan relinqueret, et illos non inveniret. Nam quoties per cogitationis motum nimium extra nos ducimur, et nos sumus, et nobiscum non sumus, quia nosmetipsos minime videntes, per alia vagamur. An illum secum fuisse dicimus, qui in longinquam regionem abiit, portionem quam acceperat consumpsit, et uni in ea civium adhaesit, porcos pavit, quos et manducare siliquas viderit, et esuriret, qui tamen cum postmodum coepit cogitare bona quae perdidit, scriptum de illo est: In se reversus dixit: Quanti mercenarii in domo patris mei abundant panibus! Si igitur secum fuit, unde ad se rediit? Hunc ergo venerabilem virum secum habitasse dixerim, quia in sua semper custodia circumspectus, ante oculos Conditoris se semper aspiciens, se semper examinans, extra se mentis suae oculum non divulgavit . Vita Sancti Benedicti Ex libro II Dialogorum S Gregorii Magni excerpta, caput III Migne PL 66 134-135

Gregory: Not far from where Benedict was there was a monastery, the abbot of which had died, and the whole congregation came to the venerable man, and with great pleas sought that he should lead them. For a long time he refused, saying that their ways and the ways of their brothers did not harmonise with his, but eventually he was won over by their entreaties and assented. And when in that monastery he took charge of the oversight of the rule of life there, so that none of them could, as they used to do before, through unlawful acts, turn aside either to the left or right from the way of holy conduct, the monks having become aware of it, in a wild rage, began to accuse themselves of ever having asked him to be set over them, for by the straightness of his rule he offended their crookedness. And when they perceived that they could not live under him unlawfully, they grieved to abandon their customs and found it hard to be forced with old minds to meditate on new things, and as the life of the good is always a burden to those of depraved ways, some began to devise how they might encompass his death, and taking counsel together, they mixed poison in his wine, and when, according to the custom of the monastery, the glass with the poison was offered to the abbot that he bless it, Benedict, stretching forth his hand, made the sign of the cross, and the glass which was held far off, broke, as if he had cast a stone at it in place of the cross. And that man of God immediately understood that the glass had in it the drink of death, which could not bear the sign of life, and then rising, with peaceful face and tranquil mind, gathering the monks together he spoke to them, saying, 'May almighty God have mercy on you, brothers; why do wish to do this to me? Did I not say to you that your ways and my ways hardly harmonised at all? Go, and for your ways seek a father for yourself, because after this you can no more have me with you.' Then he returned to his place of delightful solitude and alone in the supernal sight of heaven he dwelt with himself. Peter: I am far from understanding what it means to say that 'he dwelt with himself.' Gregory: If the holy man, against those who conspired against him, whose ways were far dissimilar, had chosen to continue his rule, then perhaps he would have worn away his customary devotion and peacefulness, and the eye of his mind would have fallen away from the light of contemplation, and wearied by their daily strayings he would have had less care for himself, and perhaps lost himself and not found them. For as much as by disturbance of thought we are led away from ourselves, though we are ourselves we are not with ourselves, because with scant consideration for ourselves we wander amongst other things. For shall we say that he was with himself who went off into a far country and consumed the portion he had received, and came to serve one in that city, guarding his swine, he who would have eaten the husks he saw and hungered for, who then after he begin to ponder the goods which he had lost, as it is written, 'returning to himself,' said, 'How many hired men in my father's house abound with bread!' 1 So if he was with himself, how did he return to himself? This then I meant when I say that the venerable man dwelt with himself, because he was always keeping careful watch on himself, always seeing himself before the eyes of his Creator, always examining himself, not wandering far from the eye of his own soul. Pope Saint Gregory the Great,The Life Of Saint Benedict, from the Dialogues, Chap 3 1 Lk 15.11-17