Caves and Christianity

Last Friday, July 11, was the feast of St. Benedict. He is a familiar saint to most Catholics, having founded one of the largest and oldest monastic orders. His monastic life started when he became a hermit at first. He needed a secluded, quiet place to pray and fast, and so he naturally chose a cave in the Italian countryside and lived there for three years, being fed occasionally by his friend, St. Roman, until St. Benedict finally composed his Rule and shared it with whoever would become his disciple and live as a monk. You can read about the cave he lived in here.

I start with St. Benedict because of his recent feast, but there is a lot more to caves relating to Christianity than hermits who like the seclusion. Caves are mentioned every now and then in the Old Testament, where prophets have lived and where David hid from Saul. The geography is fitting for this, since much of the central range of hills in the Holy Land is made of limestone, which is often where caves are found.

It seems that the limestone of Judea (and running north and south of it) was full of not just natural caves, but artificial ones as well. By the time of Christ, it seems that people dug into limestone quite a bit. This is where I begin my next point: when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, it seems that the manger He was laid in was, in fact, within a cave, natural or not. Justin Martyr and Origen, Church Fathers, both call the spot where Jesus was born a cave. Considering the widespread use of caves as shelter, it's entirely possible that the Holy Family was directed to a cave that was being used as a kind of barn. The Church of the Nativity, in Bethlehem, is in fact built above a cave, and it is that cave below the church where pilgrims venerate the exact spot where Jesus was born. Not far from the spot is another cave associated with Christianity, where St. Jerome lived as a hermit and was busy translating the Bible into Latin, which he finished in 405.

The Grotto of the Nativity, located within a cave where Jesus is said to have been born.

The same limestone of Judea contains a spot associated with the end of Jesus' life, namely His tomb. In Jerusalem, many ancient tombs exist that were carved in the limestone. One of them, of course, was one Joseph of Arimathea made and allowed to become the tomb for Jesus when He was crucified. When Jesus resurrected, that spot in the limestone became a very important site in Christianity too, if not the most important! Most Catholics and Orthodox agree that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre contains that tomb. A pilgrim might not see the natural limestone tomb today upon visiting the church, as a LOT has happened to the site in the past 2000 years, and, more to the point, a lot has been built, demolished, and rebuilt on top the original tomb. You can read Witnesses to Mystery: Investigations into Christ's Relics for more. Nonetheless, an archaeological investigation in 2016 was able to remove all the obstacles necessary to find the original, natural rock wall of the tomb. Again, you can refer to the book I just mentioned, or see this CBS news report on the investigation.

The Garden Tomb, an example of a "cave" of sorts that is similar to Christ's Tomb.

What an interesting thing that is: Christ's birth and resurrection both happened in a cave! Although I don't know if any theologian has noticed this or has written about the theological significance of this, I'd be surprised if no one who has ever written theological documents ever talked about it.

After the Death, Resurrection, and Ascension of Christ, numerous Christians, including priests and monks, have used caves or have been associated with them. I already mentioned Sts. Jerome and Benedict, but even in the United States we can see this connection. A cave in Kansas is said to have been the home of an Italian priest in 1863, and so it is called Hermit's Cave. My alma mater, University of Mary, is a Benedictine college with a small cave at the bottom of the bluff it sits on, though I don't know if any of the nuns there used the cave (and, weirdly, there were rumors of Satanists using the cave instead, and the cave was destroyed in the '80s from what I've heard from locals.) At Jewel Cave, Fr. Paul Wightman helped with cave radio work to help locate the spot for digging the elevator shaft there in 1964. You can read more about him here. 

Back on the topic of the Feast of St. Benedict last Friday, I was coincidentally researching other caves in the Black Hills when I came across some interesting history. There is a cave in the northern Black Hills that used to be a show cave from the late 19th century until 2003. Its original name was Mammoth Crystal Cave, but its owner in 1952 deeded the cave and the local area to a Benedictine abbey (interesting connection) and the Benedictines renamed it Bethlehem Cave (interesting name!) Fittingly, Father Gilbert, O.S.B., set up a chapel called the Shrine of the Nativity within the cave entrance. They ran the cave for the next 50 years or so, but by 2003 the Benedictines no longer ran the cave. That being said, the Benedictines offered daily mass at the chapel, which is pretty cool. You can read more about Bethlehem Cave here and here.

In conclusion, it seems that caves have a lot of significance to Christianity, more than I realized before working at one. The geology of the Holy Land is suitable for caves, important events in salvation history happened in caves, and caves have provided peace and quiet for hermits and others seeking prayer and isolation from the world.