How did monasteries save civilization? But the concept of the monastery goes back very far in the West, to the time of St. Benedict, the earliest days of the Church. And it was these monasteries that preserved culture because the invasions –. As Rome collapsed –. As the Roman Empire collapsed and the barbarians invaded Europe and destroyed just about every semblance of culture, they were preserved in these monasteries. And then from the monasteries, the reeducation of the European people evolved.