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Benedict
was born in Italy in the sixteenth century to parents who were
slaves from Africa. They were eventually freed by their master
but Benedict remained as an employee of his former slave-owner.
He worked as a farmer and gained attention by the locals because
of the patience with which he endured cruel racial slanders.
He became intriqued with a group of Franciscan hermits and he
stripped himself of his clothes and possessions and joined them
in the woods, dressing himself only in palm leaves. When the
Pope decreed that all solitary hermits enter monasteries, Benedict
became a cook for St. Mary’s convent near Palermo. Despite
his illiteracy, he was promoted to Superior of the Church but
preferred his humble life as a cook and he returned to the kitchen
where he was able to promote his philosophy of eating as a sinless
pleasure. The simple kitchen worker became renowned as a holy
man and people from far and wide came to him as their confessor.
On his death bed he had a visitation by the Blessed Virgin and
Child and he was granted permission to hold baby Jesus in his
arms. His feast day is April 4. |
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| St.
Benedict
Patron St. of
African Americans |
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