Before the arrival of the Benedictines, hermits lived in Lokrum according to the rule of St. Basil. The Lokrum Abbey was officially founded in 1023. Dubrovnik Archbishop Vital and the city prior asked the Benedictine Peter Gučetić, from the St. Mary Abbey on the island of Tremita in the southern Italian region of Apulia, to organize a Benedictine monastery in Lokrum. A man from Dubrovnik named Leon is mentioned as the first abbot. The monastery is mentioned in older writings with the titular of St. Benedict. From the very beginning, the Lokrum monastery was connected with Montecassino. From the very foundation, the Dubrovnik authorities entrusted the Benedictine monks with the care of the almshouse, which was on the islet of Lokrum even before their arrival.