From Montecassino, the work of Saint Benedict of Nursia spread. He is the true founder of Western monasticism. It is a miracle of moderation and balance, manual labor, intellectual labor, and spiritual activity. Benedictine monasticism enjoyed immense success in the West from the 6th to the 11th century and beyond. The spirit of the Irish monasticism of Saint Patrick, for example, in the early 5th century, was very different. Patrick, kidnapped by pirates at a young age and sold into slavery in Ireland, converted to Christianity. The Irish spirit had nothing of Benedictine moderation. Favored by the rigors of the North, it competed with the extravagances of Eastern asceticism. Prayer, manual labor, and study were complemented by fasting and ascetic practices such as the crosfigill (prayer prolonged for days or even years with the arms in a cross), bathing in a frozen pond or stream while reciting the psalms, and deprivation of food (meat was banned).
