St. Malachy assigned the latin phrase “Gloria Olivae” to the Pope after “de labore solis.” Ronald Knox, convert from Anglicanism to Catholicism, who later on became a Catholic priest, in his homily on the feast of St. Benedict observed that the Benedictine way of life was the way to obtain the peace of Christ, which the world could not give. And so the word “peace” had been the singular trademark of the Benedictines.
I studied in a Benedictine Monastery and the word “Pax” was all over the place. It was on top of door posts, on vestments, on stationaries, on the floor tiles. And the word was framed by two olive branches. This was standard symbol in Benedictine monasteries. And Knox noted that there is only one other place that has the same word plastered all over. And that is in a cemetery. The Benedictine monastery is meant to be a place where one becomes dead to the world to be alive in Christ. Thus the comparison.
Because the Benedictine monks lived in such a way enabled them to combine the wisdom of the Greeks, the skills of the Romans and the religion of the Jews which today is exemplified in Western Civilization. Christian Europe was the product of Benedictine monasteries. Europe was raised from the darkness of paganism to the bright light of Christian Civilization by the followers of St. Benedict.
Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger is aware that the whole world had sunked back into paganism. And he knows of no other way to raise the world back to the light of Christ except in the way St. Benedict of Nurcia did it before… by the sparks of little monastic communities living the maturity of their faith.
He was no Benedictine. And “gloria olivae” did not refer to any Benedictine. The latin phrase referred to a way of life by which we can gain the peace of Christ which the world cannot give – “PAX”. Ronald Knox reminds us that this is an inheritance given by God to the Benedictines, who once upon a time raised civilization from paganism to Christianity. St. Benedict did it once. Cardinal Ratzinger knows of no other way of doing it. Bent on doing exactly the way St. Benedict did it, he takes the name of “Benedict” as his papal name.
One sister of our Lay Benedictine monastery wished that Cardinal Ratzinger would be Pope but was not certain of the Holy Spirit’s choice. But she seemed to have gotten an insight into St. Malachy’s prophesies. She blurted out, almost with certainty, the next Pope will have to take the name “Benedict.” She got it right on the name. And she got Card. Razinger to boot.