23. A fictional fire in the kitchen

This painting presents two remarkable episodes connected with the construction of the first monastery founded by Saint Benedict at Monte Cassino.

As the monks were building the monastery, they searched for large stones to use in constructing the community’s new buildings. One day, they found a stone that seemed ideal; however, when they tried to move it, they discovered that it would not budge.

At first, two or three monks tried, but the stone would not move even a fraction. More brothers came to help, yet no matter how much effort they made, the stone remained firmly fixed to the ground, as though it had taken root.

The monks realised that there was something mysterious behind this resistance. They suspected that the devil was trying to prevent the monastery from being built, so they went to seek Saint Benedict.

The saint approached the stone, offered a prayer and blessed it. Immediately, the devil was forced to flee, and the very same stone that had seemed impossible to move was lifted away with ease.

Saint Benedict then told the monks to dig beneath the stone and discover what the evil spirit had been trying to protect. There, buried in the ground, they found a bronze idol. If you look at the upper left-hand corner of the painting, you can see this small figure at the moment the monks uncovered it.

But the story does not end there. The monks carried the idol into the monastery kitchen and, shortly afterwards, a new problem arose. Suddenly, they believed they could see a great fire consuming the building.

Now look towards the lower part of the painting. You will see the monks trying to extinguish the blaze, forming a chain to pass buckets of water from one to another. One of them is even shown blessing the water before throwing it onto the flames.

If you look carefully at the upper right-hand corner of the painting, you will notice a curious detail. One of the monks is throwing a bucket of water through a window where there is no fire at all. The monks had fallen victim to the devil’s deception, which made them believe that flames were spreading throughout the kitchen.

When Saint Benedict heard the commotion, he entered the room and immediately realised that there was no fire. Instead, he found his monks terrified by the cunning deception of the evil spirit. He prayed over them, and their eyes opened to reality. They suddenly realised that there had never been any fire.

This story reminds us that evil does not always appear in obvious ways. Sometimes it comes in the form of deception, confusing us and distorting the way we see reality.

For Saint Benedict, spiritual life also involves learning to discern: to recognise what is true, to identify what deceives us, and to resist anything that steals our peace.