e near having serious collisions with
the authorities of the Church at Rome.

His preaching attracted the jealous attention of certain churchmen, but
as he was not a priest, the Pope refused to take notice of his supposed
heresies.

An effort was made to compel him to become a priest, but Benedict
refused on the plea that he was not worthy. The fact was, however, that
he did not wish to be bound by the rules of the Church.

In one sense, his was a religion inside a religion, and a slight
accident might have precipitated an opposition denomination, just as the
Protestant issue of Luther was an accident, and the Methodism of the
Wesleys, another.

Several times the opposition, in the belief that Benedict was an enemy
of the Church, went so far as to try to kill him. And once a few pious
persons in Rome induced a company of wanton women to go out to
Benedict's monastery and disport themselves through his beautiful
grounds. This was done with two purposes in view; one was to work the
direct downfall of the Benedictines, with the aid of the trulls, and the
other was to create a scandal among the visitors, who would carry the
unsavory news back to Rome and supply the gossips raw stock.

Benedict was so deeply grieved by the despicable trick that he retired
to his former home, the cave in the hillside, and there remained without
food for a month.

But during this time of solitude his mind was busy with new plans. He
now founded Monte Cassino. The site is halfway between Rome and Naples,
and the white, classic lines of the buildings can be seen from the
railroad. There on the crags, from out of a mass of green, has been
played out for more than a thousand years the drama of religious life.
Death by fire and sword has been the fate of many of the occupants. But
the years went by, new men came, the ruins were repaired, and again the
cloisters were trodden by pious feet of holy men. Goths, Lombards,
Saracens, Normans, Spaniards, Teutons, and finally came Napoleon
Bonaparte, who confiscated the property, making the place his home for a
brief space. Later he relented and took it from the favorite upon whom
he had bestowed it and gave it back to the Church. It then remained a
Benedictine monastery until the edict of Eighteen Hundred Sixty-six,
which, with the help of Massini and Garibaldi, made the monastery in
Italy a thing of the past. The place is now a school--a school with a
co-ed proviso. Thus passes away the glory of th