BENEDIGHT, BENEIT (saint). Benedict of Nursia, c. A.D. 480-c. 546, was the founder of Western monasticism. He founded abbeys at Subiaco and Monte Cassino, where he wrote the most celebrated monastic rule, the Regula monachorum or Regula magistri. First introduced at Monte Cassino, it subsequently became the rule for all Western monasteries. It prescribes a regimen of study, manual labor, and prayer. Benedict died at Monte Cassino. Gregory the Great, in Book II of his Dialogues, devotes the whole book to a life of St. Benedict.

The Monk, Dan Piers, finds that St. Benedict's rule is rather severe, Gen Prol 172-176. Gregory relates that the monks at Vicovaro, who were somewhat wayward, asked Benedict to be their abbot. When he imposed discipline, they tried to kill him with poisoned wine (Dialogiae, II.iii, PL 66: 125-204). The superstitious carpenter recites a charm called a "night-spell," using Benedict's name, MillT 3483-3486. The meaning of the charm is not at all clear. [Maure]

Benedight, the ME development of Latin Benedictus, occurs in final rhyming position, MillT 3483; Beneit, the French variant, occurs in final rhyming position, Gen Prol 173.