Herbal medicine
Infirmorum cura ante omnia et super omnia adhibenda est,
ut sicut revera Christo ita eis serviatur. RB 36
The sick before and above everything,
so that they be served in very deed as Christ himself served. RB 36
France
Source: https://www.benedictinedom.com/heritage/
History of Benedictine
Bénédictine is united by a quest to achieve the extraordinary that begins with benedictine monk Dom Bernado Vincelli and the Abbey of Fécamp in Normandy, France. The secret recipe of Bénédictine is said to date back to 1510 and is based on local medicinal plants enhanced by oriental spices.
The last surviving monk of the Abbey of Fécamp passed down the secret recipe to the Le Grand family to preserve the legacy of Vincelli and the benedictine monks.
Alexandre Le Grand was passionately committed to protecting the secret recipe of this local elixir and its production process, which is why the same traditional craftsmanship is used today.
Alexandre Le Grand ordered a very special glass bottle for his Bénédictine. From the Superior of the Benedictine order in Rome, Alexandre Le Grand obtained the right to use the name and the coat of arms of the Benedictine Abbey in Fécamp. In tribute to Dom Bernardo Vincelli he called his liqueur BÉNÉDICTINE.
He also chose to keep the indication D.O.M., the motto of the Benedictines standing for Deo Optimo Maximo (God infinitely good, infinitely great). It also refers to the Latin word Dominus (Master) given to Benedictine abbots.
To house his precious liqueur, Alexandre Le Grand decided to have a palace-cum-factory built to represent the glory of his Bénédictine.
The Palace, half-Gothic, half-Renaissance, is a subtle harmony of extravagance and sobriety.
The Palace is also a sanctuary housing the collections of the Le Grand family. They are extremely rich and varied, ranging from old books to sculpture, painting and even wrought ironwork.
Distilled and aged in a flamboyant palace, built in Fécamp in tribute to this unique liqueur, Bénédictine is a subtle alchemy of 27 different plants and spices.
HERBS AND SPICES
Bénédictine is an elixir; a subtle alchemy of 27 herbs and spices carefully sourced from around the world and hand-selected by the Master Herbalist.
From traditional roots including Angelica root, which is renowned for it’s healing properties, to saffron, the most expensive spice in the world, each ingredient is carefully chosen to create the harmonious balance of the elixir.
Essential to the production process is the blending of fine honey and saffron, to give a balanced, rich texture.
The secret alchemy of the ingredients imparts a unique taste and fragrance to the liquid. For this reason, only a select number of the dried plants used in the recipe can be revealed.
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Italy
Birra Nursia
Birra Nursia is brewed by the Benedictine monks of Norcia, the guardians of the legacy of St. Benedict in the city of his birth. Norcia, traditionally known in English by its Latin name of Nursia, is a town and comune in the province of Perugia in southeastern Umbria.
Poland
Source: http://www.benedyktynka.pl/ziololecznictwo.php
From the dawn of mankind, the gifts of nature have been searched for means that would help man in various ailments and diseases. Nature was observed, learning to recognise the impact of plant and animal substances on the human organism in various needs. The acquired knowledge was enriched with further experiences and passed on. The main centres of the development of medical knowledge were successively: China, Egypt, Greece, and then the Benedictine monasteries spreading all over Europe.
The participation of the monks in this work was not accidental, because St. In his rule, Benedict very clearly emphasised the importance of caring for the sick, devoting a separate chapter on the sick brothers to this issue (RB 36). Pointing to the spiritual aspect of serving the sick, he wrote: “We should take care of the sick above all and above all, and really serve them just as Christ, because He Himself said: I was sick and you visited me (Mt 25:36) and: What did you do to one of these my brothers and sisters, the least of them, they did to me (Mt 25:40) “, and in another place:” the sick must be endured with patience, because through them a more abundant reward is obtained “. Serving the sick was to be not only a work of mercy, but also a path to spiritual growth. According to St. Benedict, the sick are to have a special room and a caring brother who would take care of them. They are also exempt from fasting provisions of the Rule and have the privilege of a special diet (the sick were fed meat, cheese, fish and eggs; they were also allowed to drink wine mixed with herbs) and to use the baths. In view of such tasks, the infirmary (brother taking care of the sick) was required to have specific medical knowledge.
These recommendations regarding the care of the sick were implemented in a special way by Aurelius Cassiodorus, who entered the monastery in Monte Cassino during the lifetime of St. Benedict.
His activity allowed the Benedictines to create not only excellent library collections, but also mobilised them to conduct their own research on medicinal plants. Benedictine herbariums offered ready-made recipes for the preparation of medicines and, moreover, were a guide when planning the monastery gardens.
The first Benedictine monasteries established in Italy were based on the old Roman highly developed gardening culture. Over time, monastery gardens, as miniatures of Paradise, took on a special arrangement: they were usually divided into a utility garden (hortus) and a herb garden (herbularius). The latter was also a handy fresh pharmacy. Herbs were grown on rectangular, elongated beds. The principle was to grow only one plant species in one plot, so as to maintain the purity of the species and minimize the risk of mistakes. From this monastic layout of the garden later developed a division according to the medical use of plants: stomach ailments, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, etc.
Harvested plants were dried and stored in special rooms, which over time turned into monastic pharmacies, where the obtained raw materials were processed.
To enhance the effect of the drug, most of the recipes consisted of many substances, and in some of them the number of herbs used was even higher up to a hundred.
Benedyktynka
http://www.benedyktynka.pl/produkty/benedyktynka-17ziol/
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Tinecia is a beer brewed by the Benedictines of the Tyniec Abbey in Poland. The monastery, although it had a farm brewery for centuries, today does not have the equipment necessary for the production of beer on a larger scale. That is why the monks decided to start brewing in our partner – the Kazimierz Brewery in Zakrzów. Tinecia is made according to their new recipes, which refer to the tradition of monastic brewing. As they themselves say, “We want Tinecia to be our own beer, that’s why we brew it ourselves.”
Our monks work at all stages of its production, so we can proudly say it is a product of Benedictine monks; we are authors of the recipe as well.
Grzegorz M. Hawryłeczko OSB, szafarz Opactwa Benedyktynów w Tyńcu
THE HISTORY OF THE TYNIECKIE BREWERY
Source (Polish): https://tinecia.pl/?strona=historia-tynieckiego-browaru
Traces of the former brewery have remained in Tyniec to this day: the street that adjoins the monastery wall from the south is today called Browarniana, and the low building in the lower garden is still called “the brewery”.
There are not many sources from which one could learn about our brewery. There is a mention of Marcin, an abbey brewer (Latin braxator), who lived at the end of the 15th century. In the 17th century, inventories mention brewing beer in the abbey. During this period, the brewery could be leased to someone outside the monastery.
The brewery stood where our “brewery” is located today. It was a stone building on a rectangular plan, in which there were, among others, two vats, three wooden mash barrels and ovens. One of them stood in the so-called “Ornamental”, where the malt was dried; another was for baking bread.
Thanks to four wooden gutters, the brewery could draw the water necessary for brewing straight from the Vistula River. It was replenished from a well located in the yard, equipped with a crane. The brewed beer was stored in a cellar near the main brewery building.
The nineteenth century brought changes: the brewery was modernized and an additional building was built. It is difficult to say when it ceased its activity: in 1816 the monastery was closed, but the brewery buildings are still visible in the figure from 1888. Later, however, they also fell into ruin, which they found after the renewal of monastic life in Tyniec in 1939.
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