A translation of the biography written by Pope Gregory the Great, this official biography is also known as the Second Book of Dialogues. It is the earliest and thus the most valuable biography of St. Benedict.

Some may think that the point of prayer is to get our own way with extra-terrestrial help, or to save us from facing the problems of life, or to provide an escape from 'reality', or to give an emotional uplift that makes you feel food. Some may think that prayer is a way of expanding our consciousness which is achieved by our own discipline and personal effort at self-improvement. These are caricatures of what Christian prayer really is. There may be a strand of truth in some of them, but they miss the real point of prayer.

Children and parents alike will be delighted by these stories and illustrations about the famous Saint Benedict. Based on his biography by Pope Saint Gregory the Great, and told by a Benedictine monk living today in Italy at the birthplace of Benedict, these stories and pictures are rich with interesting details. The holiness of Benedict, his wisdom, his great impact on the world, and his miracles will intrigue and inspire everyone in the family. Also included are stories involving his twin sister, Saint Scholastica.

Mary Fabyan Windeatt presents the powerful story of the famous life and miracles of St. Benedict for the Vision Book series of saints for youth. Known as the Father of Western Monasticism, St. Benedict played a major role in the Christinization and civilization of post-Roman Europe in the sixth century. Having lived in an era of great immorality and vice, Benedict founded an order for monks whose strong life of prayer and work helped convert the godless society around them. It tells how his Benedictine order of monks spread throughout Europe and the New World. The heroic life of his sister St. Scholastica, his saving a boy from drowning, raising one from the dead, and the story of poisoned wine are all told in this exciting, dramatic tale of a great saint. Illustrated.

Saint Benedict's life is shrouded in mystery. Disturbed by the immorality of urban life in Rome around AD 500, he left the city to become a hermit. Disciples later joined him, and within a few decades the hermit became an abbot, and his great rule has guided Western monasticism ever since. Known to history primarily through Gregory the Great's Dialogues, written a century after Benedict's death, this great medieval figure is now made known to us by Carmen Avecedo Butcher. She explores all aspects of his unusual life, illuminating important episodes in the foundation of Western monasticism at the end of the Roman empire and the beginning of the Middle Ages.