BENIGNO VISDOMINI. - Abbot General of the Vallombrosans, born at Montevarchi in Tuscany into a noble family related to s. Giovanni Gualberto, died at Vallombrosa in 1236. Having entered the abbey of Vallombrosa, he was subsequently elected visitor of the Congregation, and then Abbot General.
During his abbacy he had the abbey church, which until then had been of wood, completely rebuilt, dedicating it to the Madonna and to S. Michele; he was likewise responsible for the construction of sacred buildings in the hermitages. He was held in great esteem by the highest personages of the time, such as Popes and emperors, and was in close friendly relations especially with s. Luigi, King of France, to whom he sent distinguished relics of s. Giovanni Gualberto, receiving in return a relic of the S. Croce in a rich reliquary. He relinquished his offices when almost a centenarian and spent his last days in a hermitage. At his death, the fame of his sanctity was already widespread, further enhanced by his thaumaturgical power.
Of B.'s writings there are known: a disciplinary decree issued by him in 1216; the treatise Claustrum animae sive
Methodus ad recte vivendum; he is also attributed a Historia of the Order of Vallombrosa, published in 1500.