6 In the first flower of youth he was sent to Rome to study the liberal sciences; there with great grief he noticed heresies and all manner of errors prevalent and many minds deceived and corrupted; private and public morality were crumbling and very many, especially the fine elegant youth, were sadly sunk in the mire of pleasure. The result was that it could be said of Roman society "it is dying and it laughs. In nearly every part of the world tears follow on our laughter". However, under God's influence, "he gave himself to no disport or pleasure . . . but when he saw many through the uneven paths of vice run headlong to their own ruin, he drew back his foot but new-set in the world. . . Contemning therefore learning and studies, and abandoning his father's house and goods, he desired only to please God in a virtuous life". He willingly bid farewell to the comforts of life and the charms of a corrupt age, as well as to the enticing and honorable offices of a promising future to which he could have aspired; leaving Rome behind, he sought out wild and solitary places where he could devote himself to the contemplation of the divine. Thus he came to Subiaco and there retiring into a narrow cave he began to live a life that was more heavenly than human.
Source: Fulgens Radiatur (Vatican.va)