Apparently not, as the origins of this delightful food derive either from Mrs. LeGrand Benedict, in the 1860s, who wanted a novel dish for lunch at her favorite restaurant, Delmonicos.
Another theory credits one Lemuel Benedict, a hung-over Wall Street stockbroker, looking for a cure for his hangover.
However, the tasty liqueur called Benedictine does find its origins in a Benedictine monastery in France and a monk named Dom Bernardo Vincelli in about 1510.
Today, July 11, Catholics, Lutherans, and others commemorate the great saint, Benedict of Nursia, a city in central Italy. He became so disgusted with the immorality of life in Italy in the 400s that he decided to become a hermit, living in a cave. Others, also fleeing sinful society, wanted to gather around him and learn from him.
Eventually, in 530, he founded the great Benedictine monastery of Monte Cassino, which lies on a hilltop between Rome and Naples. He is known as the Father of Western Monasticism, and thousands of mens and womens Benedictine religious communities developed from this beginning.
Even to South Dakota came a group of Benedictine monks from St Meinrad in Indiana to work with South Dakota and North Dakota Natives in the 1940s.
They established a monastery near Milbank, called Blue Cloud Abbey. Also a group of Benedictine Nuns established Sacred Heart Monastery in Yankton, to minister in the fields of education and medical care.
Though Benedict did not invent eggs benedict, he has been called the Father of Western Monasticism, and is worthy of honor, and perhaps a toast with Benedictine liqueur.
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