In the year 529, the civilization of Rome was a fainting glimmer. That year Saint Benedict of Nursia, founder of the Benedictine Order, established its abbey on Monte Cassinoa steady light, on a steep hill, which was ultimately to illuminate all Western Europe. In February 1944, seeking out a German observation post, U.S. bombers demolished the abbey, and put out the light.
The light had shone from one of history's great treasure houses, which was a library and a school as well. In the school, the oldest in Christendom, Saint Thomas Aquinas was once a...
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