Saint Benedict's Jubilee Medal

I quote a further passage from the Lay Oblates Manual found during my stay at Prinknash in early November.

There are two different medals of Saint Benedict, the ordinary and the Jubilee medals.  The Jubilee Medal is so called because it was struck in 1880 on the fourteen centenary of the birth of Saint Benedict.  This medal has all the indulgencies which have been conferred in the past on the ordinary medal by Sovereign Pontiffs, and especially by Benedict XIV; but, besides these, it has been enriched by Popes Pius IX and X with special spiritual favours.  Amongst others it may be mentioned the plenary indulgencies for the 2^nd of November.  This indulgence, commonly known as the Benedictine Portiuncula, because of its resemblance to the indulgence of the 2^nd of August, begins at midday of All Saints’ Day, and ends the day after, 2^nd November, at midnight.  The conditions necessary for the gaining of this indulgence are: confession, communion and a visit to a church or public chapel to pray for the intentions of the Pope.  A special feature of this indulgence consists of the fact that it may be gained as often as a visit is made to the church.  Numerous other plenary indulgencies are granted during the year to the faithful who wear the Jubilee Medal.

 

 

On the face of the medal is the image of Saint Benedict.

In his left hand is his 'Rule'.

In his right hand he holds the cross, the symbol of salvation.  In this instance the cross is a reminder of the evangelisation of Europe carried out in the main by the Benedictine monks and nuns, especially during the latter half of the first millennium.

To the left can be seen a raven ready to fly off with a loaf of bread poisoned by a jealous enemy and sent to St. Benedict.  To the right is the poisoned cup, which shattered when he made the sign of the cross over it.  

Above the cup and the raven are the Latin words:  Crux s. patris Benedicti.  The Cross of our holy father Benedict.

Around the outer edges:  Eius in obitu nostro praesentia muniamur.  May we be strengthened by his presence in the hour of our death.

 

Explanation of Letters on the Cross

 

In the Intersections: C. S. P. B. Crux Sancti Patris Benedicti Cross of Saint Benedict

On the horizontal line: N. D. S. M. D. Non Draco Sit Mihi Dux May the dragon not be my guide

On the Vertical Line:

C. S. S. M. L.

Crux Sacra Sit Mihi Lux

    May the Holy Cross by my light

 

From the word PAX around the edge (clockwise):

V. R. S. Vade Retro Satana Get thee behind me Satan	N. S. M. V. Nunquam Suade Mihi Vana Never teach me vanity
S. M. Q. L. Sunt Mala Quæ Libas Thou pourest out evil	I. V. B. Ipse Venena Bibas Drink thine own poison

 

The Origins of the Cross or Medal of Saint Benedict

In my guest room at Prinknash Abbey I found a delightful old book entitled "The Benedictine Oblate’s Manual", edited by ‘a monk of Prinknash Priory’ and published with an Imprimatur and Nihil Obstat in 1928.  The following is taken directly from it with kind permission.

 

The first official approval of the Cross or Medal of St Benedict was that given by Pope Benedict XIV on March 12^th 1742 who issued an Apostolic Brief recalling the general doctrine of sacramentals and the history of the Cross of St Benedict, prescribing the form of blessing to be applied to the Cross, and enriching it with indulgences.

 

Like so many pious practices approved by Holy Church, the Cross of Saint Benedict had a fortuitous origin, which of itself suggested the form and manner of its development by the faithful.

 

The known facts are these:

The town and countryside of Bavaria had been, for some time, a prey to those “venomous serpents”, the witches and sorcerers, so numerous in Europe during the period of social unrest and disorder following on from the so called Reformation, when the natural bent of men to superstition received a fillip from the general loosening of devotional and moral discipline.  Sorcery had become so common that the civil authorities felt themselves obliged to make new laws, with very severe sanctions, under which numbers of wretched men and women were arrested, tortured and put to death.  In the course of their compulsory confessions, many of these unhappy victims of needless cruelty made known their utter failure of their spells in (the) presence of the Cross of Christ and particularly in the vicinity of the Monastery of Metten. *

 

Struck with the frequency of this admission on the part of their prisoners, the magistrates instituted and enquiry at the Monastery; as so discovered numerous crosses, painted on the walls of the Church and cloister, all signed with certain mysterious letters.  Further research brought to light a precious illuminated manuscript of the four Gospels, followed by certain mystical treatises, the last of which was the famous one of the Holy Cross, by Blessed Rabanus Maurus.  There the skilled scribe had drawn a splendid figure of Saint Benedict, clad in the monastic cowl and bearing in his right hand a cross and, in his left, a scroll, on both of which were written the words whose initials appeared on and around the crosses of the wall paintings.  This manuscript is dated 1415 AD, in the reign of Abbot Peter of Metten.

 

Whether the scribe himself composed these inscriptions, or merely recorded in them a tradition of some iniquity, in the year 1647, the pious use of crosses or medals, inscribed with the letters found at Metten, became common among the people of the district, and sorcery entirely disappeared.  And, so beneficial were the practices suggested by the piety of the faithful in the use of this cross, that the monks applied to the Holy See for an approval of this devotion and faculties to bless medals stamped with the Cross and the letters mentioned above.

 

Amongst the earliest to use and propagate the Cross of St. Benedict was the great religious founder St. Vincent de Paul. “Monsieur Vincent” as he was affectionately called by all the people of his day, distributed the medal of Saint Benedict, as soon as it was obtainable, to all his nursing Sisters, the Daughters of Charity, bidding them use it in attending the sick.  This they did, and with the best of results.  Not only were wounds healed and diseases cured with remarkable ease, but the hardened sinners were moved to repentance and reconciled to God; and the dying were comforted in their agony.  The Sisters have, ever since, worn such medals attached to their Rosary beads.  Many prodigies have been recorded throughout the world, but especially in the Foreign Missions, showing the wonderful effects of the pious use of the Cross of Saint Benedict.

 

  *Out of which came in 1846, Dom Boniface Wimmer, founder of the American Cassinese Congregation.

 

Two Special Uses of the Medal

By a rescript of the Sacred Congregation of Religious (4 May 1965) lay Oblates of St. Benedict are permitted to wear the Medal of St. Benedict instead of the small black cloth scapular formerly worn.

 

By a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites (6 March 1959), the Blessing of St. Maur over the sick is permitted to be given with a Medal of St. Benedict instead of with a relic of the True Cross, since the latter is difficult to obtain.

 

In the next post I shall describe the wording and their meanings found on the Jubilee Medal.