Romuald ( la, Romualdus; 951 – traditionally 19 June, c. 1025/27 AD) was the founder of the
Camaldolese
The Camaldolese Hermits of Mount Corona ( la, Congregatio Eremitarum Camaldulensium Montis Coronae), commonly called Camaldolese is a monastic order of Pontifical Right for men founded by Saint Romuald. Their name is derived from the Holy Hermita ...
order and a major figure in the eleventh-century "Renaissance of
eremitical
A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions.
Description
In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Chr ...
asceticism
Asceticism (; from the el, ἄσκησις, áskesis, exercise', 'training) is a lifestyle characterized by abstinence from sensual pleasures, often for the purpose of pursuing spiritual goals. Ascetics may withdraw from the world for their p ...
".
[John Howe, "The Awesome Hermit: The Symbolic Significance of the Hermit as a Possible Research Perspective", ''Numen'' 30.1 (July 1983:106-119) p 106, noting Ernst Werner, ''Pauperi Christi: Studien zu socialreligiosen Bewegungen in Zeitalter des ersten Kreuzzuges'' (Leipzig) 1956; Howe also notes the contemporary examples of ]Peter the Hermit
Peter the Hermit ( 1050 – 8 July 1115 or 1131), also known as Little Peter, Peter of Amiens ( fr. ''Pierre d'Amiens'') or Peter of Achères ( fr. ''Pierre d'Achères''), was a Roman Catholic priest of Amiens and a key figure during the militar ...
, leader of a crusade; Norbert of Xanten
Norbert of Xanten, O. Praem (c. 1075 – 6 June 1134) (Xanten-Magdeburg), also known as Norbert Gennep, was a bishop of the Catholic Church, founder of the Premonstratensian order of canons regular, and is venerated as a saint. Norbert was can ...
, founder of the Praemostratensians, and Henry of Lausanne Henry of Lausanne (variously known as of Bruys, of Cluny, of Toulouse, of Le Mans and as the Deacon, sometimes referred to as Henry the Monk or Henry the Petrobrusian) was a French heresiarch of the first half of the 12th century. His preaching beg ...
, declared a heretic. Romuald spent about 30 years traversing Italy, founding and reforming monasteries and hermitages.
Life
According to the ''
vita
Vita or VITA (plural vitae) is Latin for "life", and may refer to:
* ''Vita'', the usual start to the title of a biography in Latin, by which (in a known context) the work is often referred to; frequently of a saint, then called hagiography
* Vit ...
'' by
Peter Damian
Peter Damian ( la, Petrus Damianus; it, Pietro or '; – 21 or 22 February 1072 or 1073) was a reforming Benedictine monk and cardinal in the circle of Pope Leo IX. Dante placed him in one of the highest circles of '' Paradiso'' ...
, written about fifteen years after Romuald's death,
[ Romuald was born in ]Ravenna
Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the cap ...
, in northeastern Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
, to the aristocratic Onesti family. His father was Sergius degli Onesti and his mother was Traversara Traversari The Traversari (or ''domus Traversariorum'', according to medieval chroniclers) are a noble Italian family. The dynasty's history was mostly connected to Ravenna, which it ruled between the 12th and 13th centuries. St. Romuald was the son of Duke ...
. As a youth, according to early accounts, Romuald indulged in the pleasures and sins of the world common to a tenth-century nobleman. At the age of twenty he served as second to his father, who killed a relative in a duel over property. Romuald was devastated, and went to the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe
The Basilica of Sant' Apollinare in Classe ("Saint Apollinaris in Classe") is a church in Classe, Ravenna, Italy, consecrated on 9 May 549 by the bishop Maximian and dedicated to Saint Apollinaris, the first bishop of Ravenna and Classe. ...
to do 40 days of penance.[Foley O.F.M., Leonard. "St. Romuald", ''Saint of the Day, Lives, Lessons and Feast'', (revised by Pat McCloskey O.F.M.), Franciscan Media]
/ref> After some indecision, Romuald became a monk there. San Apollinare had recently been reformed by St. Mayeul of Cluny Abbey
Cluny Abbey (; , formerly also ''Cluni'' or ''Clugny''; ) is a former Benedictine monastery in Cluny, Saône-et-Loire, France. It was dedicated to Saint Peter.
The abbey was constructed in the Romanesque architectural style, with three churches ...
, but still was not strict enough in its observance to satisfy Romuald. His injudicious correction of the less zealous aroused such enmity against him that he applied for, and was readily granted, permission to retire to Venice, where he placed himself under the direction of a hermit named Marinus and lived a life of extraordinary severity.[Toke, Leslie. "St. Romuald." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 11 October 2014]
/ref>
About 978, Pietro Orseolo I, Doge of Venice
The Doge of Venice ( ; vec, Doxe de Venexia ; it, Doge di Venezia ; all derived from Latin ', "military leader"), sometimes translated as Duke (compare the Italian '), was the chief magistrate and leader of the Republic of Venice between 726 a ...
, who had obtained his office by acquiescence in the murder of his predecessor, began to suffer remorse for his crime. On the advice of Guarinus, Abbot of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa
The abbey of Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa () is a Benedictine abbey located in the territory of the commune of Codalet, in the Pyrénées-Orientales ''département'', in southwestern France. It was founded initially in 840, and then refounded at its pres ...
, in Catalonia
Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy.
Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the north ...
, and of Marinus and Romuald, he abandoned his office and relations, and fled to Cuxa, where he took the habit of St. Benedict
Benedict of Nursia ( la, Benedictus Nursiae; it, Benedetto da Norcia; 2 March AD 480 – 21 March AD 548) was an Christianity in Italy, Italian Christian monk, writer, and theologian who is venerated in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Ortho ...
, while Romuald and Marinus erected a hermitage close to the monastery.[ Romuald lived there for about ten years, taking advantage of the library of Cuxa to refine his ideas regarding monasticism.
After that he spent the next 30 years going about Italy, founding and reforming monasteries and hermitages.][ His reputation being known to advisors of the ]Holy Roman Emperor
The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...
Otto III
Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu.
Otto III was crowned as King of ...
, Romuald was persuaded by him to take the vacant office of abbot at Sant'Apollinare to help bring about a more dedicated way of life there. The monks, however, resisted his reforms, and after a year, Romuald resigned, hurling his abbot's staff at Otto's feet in total frustration. He then again withdrew to the eremitical life.
In 1012, he arrived at the Diocese of Arezzo
The Italian Catholic diocese of Arezzo-Cortona-Sansepolcro has existed since 1986. In that year the historic diocese of Arezzo was combined with the diocese of Cortona and the diocese of Sansepolcro, the enlarged diocese being suffragan of the a ...
. Here, according to the legend, a certain Maldolus, who had seen a vision of monks in white garments ascending into Heaven, gave him some land, afterwards known as the Campus Maldoli, or Camaldoli
Camaldoli () is a ''frazione'' of the ''comune'' of Poppi, in Tuscany, Italy. It is mostly known as the ancestral seat of the Camaldolese monastic order, originated in the eponymous hermitage, which can still be visited. The name was derived from ...
. St. Romuald built on this land five cells for hermits, which, with the monastery at Fontebuono, built two years later, became the famous mother-house of the Camaldolese Order.[ Romuald's daunting charisma awed ]Rainier of Tuscany
Rainier was the Margrave of Tuscany from 1014 until 1027. After the death of the Emperor Henry II, of whom he had been a supporter, he opposed Conrad II. When Conrad descended into Italy to receive the Iron Crown and the Holy Roman Emperor
Th ...
, who was neither able to face Romuald nor to send him away. Romuald founded several other monasteries, including the monastery of Val di Castro, where he died in 1027.
Romuald's feast day was not included in the Tridentine Calendar. It was added in 1594 for celebration on 19 June, the date of his death, but in the following year it was transferred by Pope Clement VIII
Pope Clement VIII ( la, Clemens VIII; it, Clemente VIII; 24 February 1536 – 3 March 1605), born Ippolito Aldobrandini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1592 to his death in March 1605.
Born ...
to 7 February, the anniversary of the transfer of his relics to Fabriano
Fabriano is a town and ''comune'' of Province of Ancona, Ancona province in the Italy, Italian region of the Marche, at Above mean sea level, above sea level. It lies in the Esino valley upstream and southwest of Jesi; and east-northeast of Foss ...
in 1481, and in 1969
This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon.
Events January
* January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco.
* January 5
**Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...
it was moved back to the day of his death.
St. Romuald's Rule
In his youth Romuald became acquainted with three major schools of western monastic tradition. Sant'Apollinare in Classe was a traditional Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
monastery under the influence of the Cluniac reforms
The Cluniac Reforms (also called the Benedictine Reform) were a series of changes within medieval monasticism of the Western Church focused on restoring the traditional monastic life, encouraging art, and caring for the poor. The movement began wit ...
. Marinus followed a much harsher, ascetic and solitary lifestyle, which was originally of Irish eremitic origins. The abbot
Abbot is an ecclesiastical title given to the male head of a monastery in various Western religious traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not the head of a monastery. The fem ...
of Sant Miguel de Cuxa, Guarinus, had also begun reforms but mainly built upon a third Christian tradition, that of the Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula (),
**
* Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica''
**
**
* french: Péninsule Ibérique
* mwl, Península Eibérica
* eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...
. Romuald was able to integrate these different traditions and establish his own monastic order. The admonition in his rule ''Empty yourself completely and sit waiting'' places him in relation to the long Christian history of intellectual stillness and interior passivity in meditation also reflected in the nearly contemporary Byzantine ascetic practice known as Hesychasm
Hesychasm (; Greek: Ησυχασμός) is a contemplative monastic tradition in the Eastern Orthodox Church in which stillness (''hēsychia'') is sought through uninterrupted Jesus prayer. While rooted in early Christian monasticism, it took it ...
.
''Sit in your cell as in paradise. Put the whole world behind you and forget it. Watch your thoughts like a good fisherman watching for fish. The path you must follow is in the Psalms — never leave it.''["St. Romuald", Catholic News Agency]
/ref>
''If you have just come to the monastery, and in spite of your good will you cannot accomplish what you want, take every opportunity you can to sing the Psalms in your heart and to understand them with your mind. And if your mind wanders as you read, do not give up; hurry back and apply your mind to the words once more.''[
Archbishop Cosmo Francesco Ruppi noted that, "Interiorization of the spiritual dimension, the primacy of solitude and contemplation, slow penetration of the Word of God and calm meditation on the Psalms are the pillars of Camaldolese spirituality, which St. Romuald gives as the essential core of his Rule."
Romuald's reforms provided a structural context to accommodate both the eremitic and cenobitic aspects of monastic life.McNary-Zak, Bernadette. ''Seeking in Solitude'', Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2014]
See also
*Catholic Church in Italy
, native_name_lang = it
, image = San_Giovanni_in_Laterano_-_Rome.jpg
, imagewidth = 250px
, alt =
, caption = Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran in Rome, the ''cathedra'' seat of the Pop ...
*List of Catholic saints
This is an incomplete list of people and angels whom the Catholic Church has canonized as saints. According to Catholic theology, all saints enjoy the beatific vision. Many of the saints listed here are to be found in the General Roman Calend ...
* Saint Romuald, patron saint archive
Notes
External links
Butler, Alban. "St. Romuald, Abbot and Confessor", ''Lives of the Saints'', Vol. II, 1866
{{DEFAULTSORT:Romuald
950s births
1027 deaths
10th-century Christian mystics
11th-century Christian mystics
People from Ravenna
Italian saints
Italian Benedictines
Benedictine abbots
Benedictine mystics
Benedictine saints
Camaldolese saints
10th-century Christian saints
11th-century Christian saints
Incorrupt saints