Neri di Bicci, San
Giovanni Gualberto e santi, profeti (part.), 1455, affresco
staccato; Firenze, Basilica di
Santa Trinita
Neri di Bicci. Saint Jean Galbert. Fresque, détail. chiesa di Santa Trinita .
Neri di Bicci, San
Giovanni Gualberto e santi, profeti (part.), 1455, affresco
staccato; Firenze, Basilica di
Santa Trinita
Neri di Bicci. Saint Jean Galbert. Fresque, détail. chiesa di Santa Trinita .
Saint Jean Gualbert
Abbé de Vallombreuse
(+1073)
Ce jeune seigneur florentin avait eu la douleur de voir son frère assassiné. Or un jour qu'il se rendait à Florence avec son écuyer, il rencontra, au détour d'une impasse étroite, l'homme qui avait tué son frère. L'honneur familial de cette époque exigeait la vengeance et qu'il abattît le meurtrier. Celui-ci le sait. Il est seul et sans arme, il ne peut fuir. Croyant sa dernière heure arrivée, il se jette à bas de cheval et les bras en croix, recommande son âme à Dieu. Saint Jean en est ému. Il n'est ni dévot ni de mœurs édifiantes, loin de là. Mais cet homme aux bras en croix qui tremble et prie évoque à ses yeux le Sauveur crucifié. Il rengaine son épée et pardonne. Ce fut sa conversion. Il demanda aux bénédictins de San Miniato de le recevoir. Découvrant plus tard que le Père Abbé avait acheté cette charge à prix d'argent pour en tirer bénéfice, il quitte l'Ordre bénédictin et entre chez les ermites de Camaldules. Puis il se remet en route, s'arrête près de Fiesole dans une vallée boisée 'Vallombreuse' où le monastère l'accueille. Il y établira la réforme de Cluny et y sera l'abbé durant trente années.
En italien:
Au monastère de
Passignano en Toscane, l'an 1073, saint Jean Gualbert, abbé. Soldat de
Florence, il pardonna, pour l'amour du Christ crucifié, à l'assassin de son
frère, puis reçut l'habit monastique, mais, désireux de mener une vie plus
austère, il jeta les fondations d'une nouvelle famille religieuse à
Vallombreuse.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1490/Saint-Jean-Gualbert.html
Johannes Gualbertus (Giovanni Gualberto), Nuova Cronica - ms. Chigiano L VIII 296 - Biblioteca Vaticana
Saint Jean Gualbert
Né en Toscane vers 985. Après une conversion retentissante, il entre chez les bénédictins de San Miniato puis, par esprit d'exigence gagna Camaldoli pour y vivre une vie érémitique. Il s'établit définitivement à Vallonbreuse où il mourut le 12 juillet 1073 après avoir attiré de nombreux disciples. Il n'accepta jamais l'ordination sacerdotale.
Niccolò di Pietro Gerini (1368–1415),
An Episode from the Life of Saint Giovanni Gualberto, tempera on wood, gold ground,146.7
x 72.4, Metropolitan Museum of Art
SAINT JEAN GUALBERT
Abbé de Vallombreuse
(999-1083)
Saint Jean Gualbert, né à
Florence, fut élevé avec soin dans les maximes de la piété et dans l'étude des
lettres; mais à peine était-il entré dans le monde, qu'il y prit un goût
excessif. L'amour des plaisirs l'emporta tellement, que ce qui lui avait paru
criminel ne lui offrit plus rien que de légitime et d'innocent. Il était perdu
sans ressources, si Dieu n'eût ménagé des circonstances pour lui ouvrir les
yeux et le tirer de l'état déplorable où il s'était réduit.
Un jour de Vendredi
saint, il rencontre le meurtrier de son frère, et, plein d'idées de vengeance,
il va le percer de son épée, lorsque le malheureux, se jetant à terre, les bras
en croix, le conjure, par la Passion de Jésus-Christ, de ne pas lui ôter la
vie. Gualbert ne peut résister à ce spectacle. L'exemple du Sauveur priant pour
Ses bourreaux amollit la dureté de son coeur; il tend la main au gentilhomme et
lui dit:
"Je ne puis vous
refuser ce que vous me demandez au nom de Jésus-Christ. Je vous accorde non
seulement la vie, mais mon amitié. Priez Dieu de me pardonner mon péché."
S'étant ensuite
embrassés, ils se séparèrent. Jean se dirige de là vers l'église d'une abbaye
voisine; il se jette lui-même aux pieds d'un crucifix, et y prie avec une
ferveur extraordinaire. Dieu lui fait connaître par un prodige que sa prière
est exaucée, et qu'il a obtenu le pardon de ses fautes; car le crucifix devant
lequel il priait baisse la tête et s'incline vers lui, comme pour le remercier
du pardon qu'il a généreusement accordé par amour pour Dieu.
Changé en un homme
nouveau, Jean prit l'habit de Saint-Benoît et devint un religieux si fervent,
qu'à la mort de l'abbé tous les suffrages se réunirent sur lui; mais il ne
voulut jamais accepter la dignité qu'on lui offrait. Il se retira à
Vallombreuse, qui devint le berceau d'un nouvel Ordre, où la règle de
Saint-Benoît était suivie dans toute sa rigueur.
On trouve dans la vie de
saint Gualbert toutes les austérités et toutes les vertus qu'on rencontre dans
la vie des plus grands Saints. Par un temps de disette, il se fit conduire au
grenier presque vide, et les provisions, à sa prière, se multiplièrent au point
qu'il put distribuer du blé à tous ses couvents et à tous les pauvres qui se
présentèrent. Ayant trouvé un monastère trop riche, il pria un ruisseau voisin
de prendre la violence d'un torrent et de renverser l'édifice, ce qui
s'accomplit aussitôt. Un de ses couvents fut dévasté, incendié, et les
religieux fort maltraités: "Vous êtes maintenant de vrais religieux, leur
dit le Saint; oh! que j'envie votre sort!"
Abbé L. Jaud, Vie
des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950.
SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/saint_jean_gualbert.html
Alessandro Pieroni, San
Giovanni Gualberto e l'uccisore del fratello davanti al crocifisso (1580 - 1581 ca.), olio
su tela; Tavarnelle Val di Pesa (Firenze), Abbazia
di San Michele Arcangelo a Passignano
Saint Jean Gualbert
Jean, né près de Florence
vers 985, appartenait à une des plus marquantes familles de la cité de l'Anio,
les Gualbert ou Walbert, à qui les hagiographes ont donné
d'antiques souches carolingiennes, lombardes et même romaines.
A cette époque où les
cités de l’Italie du Nord étaient la proie des factions, un parent de Jean
Gualbert fut tué et, craignant la vendetta des Gualbert, l'assassin évitait la
rencontre de tout parent de sa victime. Or, un Vendredi Saint, dit-on, comme
Jean, alors âgé de dix-huit ans, se rendait à Florence accompagné de ses hommes
d'armes, il rencontra son ennemi au détour d'un chemin très étroit, qui ne lui laissait
de passage ni à droite ni à gauche ; se sentant perdu, l'homme se jeta à
bas de son cheval et, la tête baissée, les bras en croix, attendait la mort,
mais Jean, ému de ses larmes, et plus encore de l'image de la croix, lui
ordonna de se relever et le laissa s'en aller. Jean, ayant poursuivi sa route,
entra peu après dans une église et tandis qu'il y priait devant la croix, il
vit soudain le Christ pencher la tête, comme pour le remercier de s'être montré
son disciple en épargnant son ennemi. Etonné et de plus en plus ému de ce
spectacle, il se prit à rechercher comment il pourrait davantage plaire à Dieu.
Rentré à Florence, Jean
Gualbert se sépara de son écuyer et alla au monastère San Miniato où il conta à
l'abbé son aventure et son désir de quitter le monde. Son père, après avoir
parcouru toute la ville, vint enfin à San Miniato, d'où il voulut arracher son
fils qui, tandis que son père tempêtait contre l'abbé, se fit donner un habit,
se coupa les cheveux et vint se placer dans le cloître en lisant. La scène
n'avait pas échappé à l'abbé qui offrit de conduire le père vers le fils. Après
une nouvelle explosion de désespoir et de chagrin, le père se calma enfin,
bénit son fils et partit.
La simonie et le
concubinage des clercs dont souffrait alors l'Eglise n’atteignait pas San
Miniato, monastère clunisien depuis peu restauré, mais à la mort de l'abbé, le
moine Hubert obtint de l'évêque sa succession à prix d'argent, alors que Jean
avait été élu régulièrement par ses confrères.
D'avoir été supplanté par
un rival n'aurait pas suffi à troubler le saint moine mais il ne pouvait
souffrir d'obéir à un abbé simoniaque. Il alla confier son anxiété à un ermite
voisin qui lui conseilla de dénoncer publiquement la simonie de l'évêque et
l'abbé. Ceci fait, Jean quitta San Miniato et, avec un compagnon, partit vers
les monts de l'Apennin, faisant halte dans des monastères. Arrivès à
Camaldoli où saint Romuald était mort en 1027, ils furent accueillis par
son successeur qui, voulant se les adjoindre, les engagea à y faire vœu de
stabilité. Mais Jean, voulant rester fidèle à la Règle de saint Benoît et à la
vie cénobitique, quitta les Camaldules et repartit vers Florence. Il s’arrêta à
mi-chemin, au bord d'un torrent, dans une vallée plantée de conifère, appelée Vallombreuse,
où il décida de mener une vie monastique conforme à ses aspirations. L'œuvre
naissante ne tarda pas à attirer l'attention et les sympathies dont, l’une des
premières et des plus appréciées, fut celle d'Itta, abbesse bénédictine de
Saint-Hilaire, à qui appartenait le terrain et qui en fit don (1039), à charge
pour la communauté de fournir, à chaque fête de saint Hilaire, une livre de
cire et une livre d'huile aux religieuses. Les moniales se réservaient le
droit, dans le cas d'une élection simoniaque, de chasser l'abbé et d'en nommer
un qui fût digne de la fonction.
Des recrues de choix se
présentèrent bientôt, attirées par la perspective d'une vie rude et mortifiée.
La pauvreté était extrême, car le fondateur réservait meilleur accueil au pauvre
dénué de tout qu'au riche qui lui apportait tous ses biens. La recommandation
de saint Benoît était suivie à la lettre et le postulant commençait par essuyer
les rebuffades. Comme travail le plus relevé, on lui assignait le soin de la
porcherie. Le monastère était à l'avenant : quelques cabanes groupées
autour d'une chapelle en bois. Le vêtement était fourni par la laine non teinte
du troupeau : mais, soucieux d'éviter les dissemblances, le fondateur
ordonna que l'on mêlât le blanc et le noir. Aussi l'habit des Vallombrosins
fut-il jusqu'au XVI° siècle d'un gris brunâtre. Il est intéressant de remarquer
le souci commun à presque tous les réformateurs médiévaux de porter un vêtement
grossier de laine non teinte.
Auprès de sa communauté
Jean Gualbert en ouvrit une autre, pour de pieux laïques, ce qui donne à
comprendre que, de plus en plus, la spécialisation s'opérait : sans être
forcément prêtres - Jean Gualbert ne le fut jamais - les moines étaient
considérés comme clercs et voués à la louange divine. Ceux qui entraient sur le
tard dans la vie religieuse, les conversi, au lieu d'être agrégés sous ce
nom dans la communauté monastique, seraient de plus en plus, à l'avenir,
groupés à part, pour former l'ordre des convers, adonné plus
spécialement au travail manuel. A Vallombreuse, leurs obligations étaient les
mêmes que celles des moines mais le fondateur leur accorda de porter du
linge au lieu des sous-vêtements de laine, adoptés par les religieux du Moyen
Age.
A tous Jean consacrait
ses soins vigilants : ferme et bon, il était autant craint qu’aimé et,
conformément à la Règle de saint Benoît, il était pour tous un vivant modèle.
Très sobre, constamment en prières, adonné aux veilles, silencieux et très
charitable aux pauvres, il donnait toujours le meilleur et gardait le plus
mauvais pour lui, allant toujours vêtu grossièrement. Sous l’influence de
Vallombreuse des clercs renoncent au concubinage, pratiquent la résidence et
s'adonnent au ministère ; quelques-uns se constituent en communauté de
chanoines réguliers. Il fait surtout une rude guerre à la simonie ;
l'exemple de la vie pauvre et détachée était la meilleure prédication contre le
luxe et la cupidité.
Jean Gualbert savait
intervenir et souvent l'ascendant de sa sainteté parvenait à remettre les choses
dans l'ordre. Ainsi, à Florence où l'évêque Pierre qui avait acheté sa
prélature, honni et rejeté par ses ouailles, refusait de céder la place ;
Jean qui l'avait en vain exhorté plusieurs fois à faire pénitence, à bout
d'arguments, proposa un jugement de Dieu. Sur son ordre, son disciple
Pierre, surnommé pour cette raison l'Igné, célébra la messe, puis passa sans
mal à travers les flammes d'un bûcher. Le peuple rendit grâce à Dieu et
l'évêque qui dut enfin se retirer se convertit et prit l'habit monastique.
A Vallombreuse se
présentaient souvent des prêtres qui avaient été concubinaires ou simoniaques,
que Jean, quand il avait éprouvé la sincérité de leurs sentiments, accueillait.
Toutefois, il ne leur permettait plus de célébrer les saints mystères, tant
était grande sa conception du sacerdoce.
Jean Gualbert refusa
toujours d'accepter les ordres, fût-ce celui de portier, et l'on raconte que,
le matin, n'osant ouvrir lui-même la porte de l'oratoire, il attendait
patiemment que le religieux chargé de cet office lui en permît l'accès.
Jean Gualbert mourut le
12 juillet 1073. Son prestige, déjà considérable de son vivant (il avait attiré
à Vallombreuse des papes et des empereurs), s'accrut encore par l'éclat de ses
miracles. Il fut canonisé par Célestin III en 1193. Son institut, approuvé par
Alexandre II (1070) très réduit il est vrai, a subsisté jusqu'à nos
jours ; c'est une branche indépendante et confédérée (depuis 1966) de
l'ordre bénédictin. En France, l'abbaye de Chezal-Benoît fut fondée par un
disciple de saint Jean Gualbert, André, prieur de Vallombreuse (1093).
La vie de saint Jean
Gualbert a été retracée par un grand nombre d'auteurs anciens, mais tous ont
puisé aux mêmes sources, à savoir la Vie écrite par un disciple du
saint, André, abbé de Strumi, et celle que donna un de ses successeurs, Atton,
abbé de Vallombreuse, plus tard évêque de Pistoie. Faute d'avoir pu mettre la
main sur la première, Mabillon se contenta de publier la seconde de ces
biographies dans ses Acta sanct. ord. S. Bened. Plus heureux, les
bollandistes publièrent l'une et l'autre.
SOURCE : http://missel.free.fr/Sanctoral/07/12.php
Andrea del Sarto (1486–1530), Saint Michael and Saint John Gualbert, 1528, tempera on wood, painting / polyptych, 184 x 172, Uffizi Gallery
Saint Jean Gualbert
Saint Jean Gualbert naquit
à Florence vers l’an 999, Sylvestre II étant pape, Otton III
empereur d’Allemagne et Robert II le Pieux roi
de France. Il fut élevé avec soin dans les maximes de la piété et dans
l’étude des lettres ; mais à peine était-il entré dans le monde, qu’il y
prit un goût excessif.
L’amour des plaisirs
l’emporta tellement, que ce qui lui avait paru criminel ne lui offrit plus rien
que de légitime et d’innocent.
Il était perdu sans
ressources, si Dieu n’eût ménagé des circonstances pour lui ouvrir les
yeux et le tirer de l’état déplorable où il s’était réduit.
Un jour de
Vendredi-Saint, il rencontre dans un chemin le meurtrier de son frère, et,
plein d’idées de vengeance, il va le percer de son épée, lorsque le malheureux,
se jetant à terre, les bras en croix, le conjure, par la Passion de Jésus-Christ,
de ne pas lui ôter la vie. Gualbert ne peut résister à ce spectacle. L’exemple
du Sauveur priant pour Ses bourreaux amollit la dureté de son cœur ;
il tend la main au gentilhomme et lui dit : « Je ne puis vous refuser
ce que vous me demandez au nom de Jésus-Christ. Je vous accorde non
seulement la vie, mais mon amitié. Priez Dieu de me pardonner
mon péché. »
S’étant ensuite
embrassés, ils se séparèrent. Saint Jean se dirige de là vers l’église
d’une abbaye voisine ; il se jette lui-même aux pieds d’un crucifix, et y
prie avec une ferveur extraordinaire. Dieu lui fait connaître par un prodige
que sa prière est exaucée, et qu’il a obtenu le pardon de ses fautes ; car
le crucifix devant lequel il priait baisse la tête et s’incline vers lui, comme
pour le remercier du pardon qu’il a généreusement accordé par amour
pour Dieu.
Changé en un homme
nouveau, saint Jean prit l’habit de saint Benoît et devint un
religieux si fervent, qu’à la mort de l’Abbé tous les suffrages se
réunirent sur lui ; mais il ne voulut jamais accepter la dignité qu’on lui
offrait. Il se retira à Vallombreuse, qui devint le berceau d’un nouvel Ordre,
où la règle de saint Benoît était suivie dans toute sa rigueur.
On trouve dans la vie de
saint Jean Gualbert toutes les austérités et toutes les vertus qu’on
rencontre dans la vie des plus grands Saints.
Par un temps de disette,
il se fit conduire au grenier presque vide, et les provisions, à sa prière, se
multiplièrent au point qu’il put distribuer du blé à tous ses couvents et à
tous les pauvres qui se présentèrent.
Ayant trouvé un monastère
trop riche, il pria un ruisseau voisin de prendre la violence d’un torrent et
de renverser l’édifice, ce qui s’accomplit aussitôt.
Un de ses couvents fut
dévasté, incendié, et les religieux fort maltraités : « Vous êtes
maintenant de vrais religieux, leur dit le Saint ; oh ! que
j’envie votre sort ! »
La fin de cette vie toute
merveilleuse arriva le 12 juillet. C’était l’an 1073,
saint Grégoire VII étant pape, Henri IV empereur d’Allemagne et
Philippe Ier roi de France.
Pietro
Perugino, La Pala di Vallombrosa, 1500, dipinto a olio su tavola,
415 x 246 (il pannello centrale). Galleria dell'Accademia a Firenze In basso assistono alla scena quattro santi
immersi in un dolce paesaggio di colline sfumate in lontananza: da
sinistra Bernardo degli Uberti, Giovanni Gualberto, Benedetto e Michele
arcangelo.
St Jean Gualbert, abbé
Déposition en 1073.
Canonisé en 1193. Fête en 1602.
Leçons des Matines avant
1960.
Au deuxième nocturne.
Quatrième leçon. Jean
Gualbert, né à Florence de parents nobles, obéissait à son père en suivant la
carrière militaire, lorsque Hugues, son unique frère, fut tué par un de ses
parents. Le vendredi saint, Jean, tout armé et escorté de soldats, rencontra le
meurtrier, seul et sans armes, dans un lieu où ni l’un ni l’autre ne pouvaient
s’éviter ; il lui fit grâce de la vie par respect pour la sainte croix,
que l’homicide suppliant représentait en étendant les bras au moment où il
allait subir la mort. Après avoir traité son ennemi en frère, Jean entra pour
prier dans l’église voisine de San-Miniato, et pendant qu’il adorait l’image du
Christ en croix, il la vit incliner la tête vers lui. Troublé par ce fait
surnaturel, il quitta malgré son père, la carrière des armes, coupa sa chevelure
de ses propres mains et revêtit l’habit monastique. Il se distingua bientôt en
piété et en vertus religieuses, au point de servir à beaucoup d’autres
d’exemple et de règle de perfection ; aussi l’Abbé du Monastère étant
mort, fut-il choisi à l’unanimité comme supérieur. Mais aimant mieux obéir que
commander, et réservé par la volonté divine pour de plus grandes choses, le
serviteur de Dieu alla trouver Romuald, qui vivait au désert de Camaldoli, et
apprit de lui une prédiction venue du ciel relative à son institut : c’est
alors qu’il fonda son ordre, sous la règle de saint Benoît, dans la vallée de
Vallombreuse.
Cinquième leçon. Dans
la suite, sa renommée de sainteté lui amena beaucoup de disciples. Il
s’appliqua soigneusement et de concert avec ceux qui s’étaient associés à lui,
à extirper les faux principes de l’hérésie et de la simonie ainsi qu’à propager
la foi apostolique ; c’est pourquoi lui et les siens rencontrèrent des
difficultés sans nombre. Pour le perdre, lui et ses disciples, ses adversaires
envahirent soudain pendant la nuit le monastère de Saint-Salvien, incendièrent
l’église, démolirent les bâtiments et blessèrent mortellement tous les moines,
mais l’homme de Dieu rendit ceux-ci à la santé sur-le-champ, par un seul signe
de croix. Il arriva aussi qu’un de ses religieux, du nom de Pierre, passa
miraculeusement sans en éprouver aucune atteinte, au milieu d’un feu très
étendu et très ardent ; Jean obtint ainsi pour lui-même et pour ses frères
la tranquillité tant souhaitée. Il parvint en conséquence à bannir de l’Étrurie
le fléau de la simonie et à ramener la foi à sa première intégrité dans toute
l’Italie.
Sixième leçon. Il
jeta les premiers fondements de nombreux monastères, et affermit par de saintes
lois ces mêmes fondations et d’autres, dont il avait restauré les édifices et
la régulière observance. Pour nourrir les pauvres, il vendit le mobilier
sacré ; pour châtier les méchants, il trouva les éléments dociles ;
pour réprimer les démons, la croix lui servit de glaive. Accablé par les
abstinences, les veilles, les jeûnes, les prières, les mortifications de la
chair et la vieillesse, Jean répétait souvent au cours de sa maladie ces
paroles de David : « Mon âme a eu soif du Dieu fort et vivant :
quand viendrai-je et paraîtrai-je devant la face de Dieu ? » Sur le
point de mourir, il convoqua ses disciples, les exhorta à l’union fraternelle,
et fit écrire sur un billet, avec lequel il voulut qu’on l’ensevelît, les
paroles suivantes : « Moi, Jean, je crois et je professe la foi que
les saints Apôtres ont prêchée et que les saints Pères ont confirmée en quatre
conciles. » Enfin, après avoir été honoré pendant trois jours de la
présence des Anges, il s’en alla vers le Seigneur, âgé de soixante-dix-huit
ans, l’an du salut mil soixante-treize, le quatre des ides de juillet. C’était
à Passignano, où il est honoré avec la plus grande vénération. De nombreux
miracles l’ayant illustré, Célestin III l’a mis au nombre des Saints.
Au troisième nocturne.
Lecture du saint Évangile
selon saint Matthieu. Cap. 5, 43-48.
En ce temps-là :
Jésus dit à ses disciples : Vous avez appris qu’il a été dit : Tu
aimeras ton proche, et tu haïras ton ennemi. Et le reste.
Homélie de saint Jérôme,
Prêtre. Liber I Comm. in cap. 5 Matth.
Septième leçon. « Mais
moi je vous dis : Aimez vos ennemis, faites du bien à ceux qui vous
haïssent ». Bien des personnes, mesurant les divins préceptes à leur
lâcheté et non au courage des saints, croient impossible ce qui est ordonné
ici, et disent que c’est assez pour nos forces de ne point haïr nos ennemis, et
que le commandement de les aimer dépasse ce dont la nature humaine est capable.
Il faut donc bien savoir que le Christ n’ordonne pas des choses impossibles,
mais des choses parfaites. C’est ce qu’ont pratiqué David envers Saül et
Absalom, le Martyr Etienne priant pour ceux qui le lapidaient, Paul souhaitant
d’être anathème pour ses persécuteurs. C’est ce que Jésus lui-même a enseigné
et pratiqué, disant : « Mon Père, pardonnez-leur, car ils ne savent ce
qu’ils font » [1].
Huitième leçon. En
ce qui concerne les autres bonnes œuvres, on peut alléguer parfois un obstacle
quelconque. Mais quand il s’agit de la charité qu’il faut avoir, personne ne
peut s’excuser. Quelqu’un me dira peut-être : il m’est impossible de
jeûner ; est-ce qu’il pourra dire : il m’est impossible
d’aimer ? Quelqu’un dira peut-être : il m’est impossible de garder la
virginité ; je ne puis vendre tous mes biens pour en donner le prix aux
pauvres ; est-ce qu’il pourra dire : il m’est impossible d’aimer mes
ennemis ?
Neuvième leçon. Car,
en il ceci, les pieds ne se fatiguent point à courir, ni les oreilles à
écouter, ni les mains à force de travailler, de sorte qu’il ne faut point
chercher à nous en exempter au moyen d’une excuse. On ne nous dit pas :
Allez en Orient et cherchez-y la charité ; rendez-vous par mer en Occident
et vous y trouverez la dilection. Elle est au fond de notre cœur, où le
Prophète nous invite à rentrer, quand il dit : « Prévaricateurs,
rentrez dans votre cœur » [2]. Car ce n’est point dans les pays éloignés que se
trouve ce qui est exigé de nous.
[1] Luc. 23, 34.
[2] Is. 46, 8.
Bernardino
Poccetti e aiuti, affreschi della sagrestia di San artolomeo di Ripoli, 1585,
fregio 06 San Giovanni Gualberto
Dom
Guéranger, l’Année Liturgique
Depuis le jour où Simon
le Mage se fit baptiser à Samarie, jamais l’enfer ne s’était vu si près d’être
maître dans l’Église qu’au temps où nous ramène à l’occasion de la fête
présente le Cycle sacré. Repoussé par Pierre avec malédiction, Simon,
s’adressant aux princes, leur avait dit comme autrefois aux Apôtres :
« Donnez-moi pour argent ce pouvoir qu’à quiconque j’imposerai les mains,
celui-là ait le Saint-Esprit » [3]. Et les princes, heureux à la fois de supplanter
Pierre et d’augmenter leurs trésors, s’étaient arrogé le droit d’investir les
élus de leur choix du gouvernement des Églises ; et les évêques à leur
tour avaient vendu au plus offrant les divers ordres de la sainte
hiérarchie ; et s’introduisant à la suite de la concupiscence des yeux, la
concupiscence de la chair avait rempli le sanctuaire d’opprobres sans nom.
Le dixième siècle avait
assisté à l’humiliation même du pontificat souverain ; le onzième, au
tiers de son cours, voyait le débordement du fleuve maudit changer en marais les
derniers pâturages encore saufs des brebis du Seigneur. L’œuvre du salut
s’élaborait à l’ombre du cloître ; mais l’éloquence de Pierre
Damien n’avait point jusque-là franchi le désert, et la rencontre
d’Hugues de Cluny, de Léon
IX et d’Hildebrand devait
se faire attendre plus encore. Or voici que dans le silence de mort qui planait
sur la chrétienté, un cri d’alarme a retenti soudain, secouant la léthargie des
peuples : cri d’un moine, vaillant homme d’armes jadis, vers qui s’est
penchée la tête du Christ en croix pour reconnaître l’héroïsme avec lequel un
jour il sut épargner un ennemi. Chassé par le flot montant de la simonie qui
vient d’atteindre son monastère de San-Miniato, Jean Gualbert est entré dans Florence,
et trouvant là encore le bâton pastoral aux mains d’un mercenaire, il a senti
le zèle de la maison de Dieu dévorer son cœur [4] ; en pleine place publique, il a
dénoncé l’ignominie de l’évêque et de son propre abbé, voulant ainsi du moins
délivrer son âme [5].
A la vue de ce moine qui,
dans son isolement, se dressait ainsi contre la honte universelle, il y eut un
moment de stupeur au sein de la foule assemblée. Bientôt les multiples
complicités qui trouvaient leur compte au présent état de choses regimbèrent
sous l’attaque, et se retournèrent furieuses contre le censeur importun qui se
permettait de troubler la bonne foi des simples. Jean n’échappa qu’à
grand-peine à la mort ; mais, dès ce jour, sa vocation spéciale était
fixée : les justes qui n’avaient point cessé d’espérer, saluèrent en lui
le vengeur d’Israël ; leur attente ne devait pas être confondue.
Comme toujours cependant
pour les œuvres authentiquement marquées du sceau divin, l’Esprit-Saint devra
mettre un long temps à former l’élu de sa droite. L’athlète a jeté le gant aux
puissances de ce monde ; la guerre sainte est ouverte : ne
semble-t-il pas que dès lors il faille avant tout donner suite à la déclaration
des hostilités, tenir campagne sans trêve ni repos jusqu’à pleine défaite de
l’ennemi ? Et néanmoins le soldat des combats du Seigneur, allant au plus
pressé, se retirera dans la solitude pour y améliorer sa vie, selon
l’expression si fortement chrétienne de la charte même qui fonda
Vallombreuse [6].
Les tenants du désordre, un instant effrayés de la soudaineté de l’attaque et
voyant sitôt disparaître l’agresseur, se riront de ce qui ne sera plus à leurs
yeux qu’une fausse entrée dans l’arène ; quoi qu’il en coûte au brillant
cavalier d’autrefois, il attendra humble et soumis, pour reprendre l’assaut, ce
que le Psalmiste appelle le temps du bon plaisir de Dieu [7].
Peu à peu, de toutes les
âmes que révolte la pourriture de cet ordre social en décomposition qu’il a
démasqué, se recrute autour de lui l’armée de la prière et de la pénitence. Des
gorges des Apennins elle étend ses positions dans la Toscane entière, en
attendant qu’elle couvre l’Italie et passe les monts. Septime à sept milles de
Florence, Saint-Sauve aux portes de la ville, forment les postes avancés où, en
1063, reprend l’effort de la guerre sainte. Un autre simoniaque, Pierre de
Pavie, vient d’occuper par droit d’achat le siège des pontifes. Jean et ses
moines ont résolu de plutôt mourir que de porter en silence l’affront nouveau
fait à l’Église de Dieu. Mais le temps n’est plus où la violence et les huées
d’une foule séduite accueillaient seules la protestation courageuse du moine
fugitif de San-Miniato. Le fondateur de Vallombreuse est devenu, par le crédit
que donnent les miracles et la sainteté, l’oracle des peuples. A sa voix
retentissant de nouveau dans Florence, une telle émotion s’empare du troupeau,
que l’indigne pasteur, sentant qu’il n’a plus à dissimuler, rejette au loin sa
peau de brebis [8] et montre en lui le voleur qui n’est venu
que pour voler, pour égorger et pour perdre [9]. Une troupe armée à ses ordres fond sur
Saint-Sauve ; elle met le feu au monastère, et se jette sur les moines
qui, surpris au milieu de l’Office de la nuit, tombent sous le glaive, sans
interrompre la psalmodie jusqu’au coup qui les frappe. De Vallombreuse, à la
nouvelle du martyre ennoblissant ses fils, Jean Gualbert entonne un chant de
triomphe. Florence, saisie d’horreur, rejette la communion de l’évêque
assassin, Pourtant quatre années encore séparaient ce peuple de la délivrance,
et les grandes douleurs pour Jean n’étaient pas commencées.
L’illustre ennemi de tous
les désordres de son temps, saint Pierre
Damien, venait d’arriver de la Ville éternelle. Investi de l’autorité du
Pontife suprême, on était assuré d’avance qu’il ne pactiserait point avec la
simonie, et l’on pouvait croire qu’il ramènerait la paix dans cette Église
désolée. Ce fut le contraire qui eut lieu. Les plus grands saints peuvent se
tromper, et, dans leurs erreurs, devenir les uns pour les autres un sujet
d’épreuve d’autant plus acerbe que leur volonté, moins sujette aux changements
capricieux des autres hommes, reste plus ferme dans la voie qu’ils se sont une
fois tracée en vue des intérêts de Dieu et de son Église. Peut-être le grand
évêque d’Ostie ne se rendit pas assez compte de la situation toute d’exception
que faisaient aux victimes de Pierre de Pavie sa simonie notoire, et la
violence avec laquelle il massacrait lui-même sans autre forme de procès les
contradicteurs. Partant de l’incontestable principe que ce n’est point aux
inférieurs à déposer leurs chefs, le légat réprouva la conduite de ceux qui
s’étaient séparés de l’évêque ; et, arguant de certaines paroles extrêmes
échappées à quelques-uns dans une indignation trop peu contenue, il retourna
sur ceux qu’il appelait « ses confrères les moines » l’accusation
d’hérésie portée par eux contre le prélat simoniaque [10].
L’accès du Siège
apostolique restait ouvert aux accusés ; ils y portèrent intrépidement
leur cause. Cette fois du moins, on ne pouvait soulever d’argument d’exception
contre la canonicité de leur procédure. Mais là, dit l’historien [11], beaucoup
craignant pour eux-mêmes se mirent à s’élever contre eux ; et lorsque presque
tous, exhalant leur fureur, jugeaient dignes de mort ces moines dont la
témérité osait faire la guerre aux prélats de l’Église, alors derechef, en
plein concile romain, Pierre Damien prenant la parole alla jusqu’à dire au
Pontife suprême : « Seigneur et Père saint, ce sont là les
sauterelles qui dévorent la verdure de la sainte Église ; que le vent du
midi se lève et les emporte à la mer Rouge ! » Mais le saint et très
glorieux Pape Alexandre II, répondant avec douceur à ces excès de langage,
prenait les moines en sa défense et rendait hommage à la droiture de leurs
intentions. Cependant il n’osa donner suite à leur demande dépasser outre,
parce que la plus grande partie des évêques favorisait Pierre de Pavie, et que
seul l’archidiacre Hildebrand soutenait en tout l’abbé de Vallombreuse [12].
L’heure néanmoins allait
venir où Dieu même prononcerait ce jugement qu’on ne pouvait obtenir de la
terre. Assaillis de menaces, traités comme des agneaux au milieu des
loups [13], Jean Gualbert et ses fils criaient au ciel avec le
Psalmiste : « Levez-vous, Seigneur, aidez-nous ; levez-vous,
pourquoi dormez-vous, Seigneur ? Levez-vous, ô Dieu : jugez votre
cause » [14]. A Florence, les sévices
continuaient. Saint-Sauveur de Septime était devenu le refuge des clercs que la
persécution bannissait de la ville ; le fondateur de Vallombreuse, qui
résidait alors en ce lieu, multipliait pour eux les ressources de sa charité.
Mais la situation devint telle enfin, qu’un jour du Carême de l’année 1067, le
reste du clergé et la ville entière, laissant le simoniaque à la solitude de
son palais désert, accourut à Septime. Ni la longueur du chemin détrempé par
les pluies, ni la rigueur du jeûne observé par tous, dit la relation adressée
dans les jours mêmes au Pontife souverain par le peuple et le clergé de
Florence, ne purent arrêter les matrones les plus délicates, les femmes prêtes
d’être mères ou les enfants [15].
L’Esprit-Saint planait visiblement sur cette foule ; elle demandait le
jugement de Dieu. Jean Gualbert, sous l’impulsion du même Esprit divin, permit
l’épreuve ; et en témoignage de la vérité de l’accusation portée par lui
contre l’évêque de Florence, Pierre, un de ses moines, nommé depuis Pierre
Ignée, traversa lentement sous les yeux de la multitude un brasier immense qui
ne lui fit aucun mal. Le ciel avait parlé ; l’évêque fut déposé par Rome,
et termina ses jours, heureux pénitent, dans ce même monastère de Septime.
En 1073, année de
l’élévation d’Hildebrand son ami au Siège apostolique, Jean s’en allait à Dieu.
Son action contre la simonie s’était étendue bien au delà de la Toscane. La
république Florentine ordonna de chômer le jour de sa fête ; et l’on grava
sur la pierre qui protégeait ses reliques sacrées : A JEAN GUALBERT,
CITOYEN DE FLORENCE, LIBÉRATEUR DE L’ITALIE.
Vous avez été un vrai
disciple de la loi nouvelle, ô vous qui sûtes épargner un ennemi en
considération de la Croix sainte. Apprenez-nous à conformer comme vous nos
actes aux leçons que nous donne l’instrument du salut ; et il deviendra
pour nous, comme il le fut pour vous, une arme toujours victorieuse contre
l’enfer. Pourrions-nous, à sa vue, refuser d’oublier une injure venant de nos
frères, quand c’est un Dieu qui, non content d’oublier nos offenses autrement
criminelles à sa souveraine Majesté, se dévoue sur ce bois pour les expier
lui-même ? Si généreux qu’il puisse être jamais, le pardon de la créature
n’est qu’une ombre lointaine de celui que nous octroie chaque jour le Père qui
est aux deux. A bon droit pourtant l’Évangile que l’Église chante à votre
honneur nous montre, dans l’amour des ennemis, le caractère de ressemblance qui
nous rapproche le plus de la perfection de ce Père céleste, et le signe même de
la filiation divine en nos âmes [16].
Vous l’avez eu, ô Jean,
ce caractère de ressemblance auguste ; Celui qui en vertu de sa génération
éternelle est le propre Fils de Dieu par nature, a reconnu en vous ce cachet
d’une incomparable noblesse qui vous faisait son frère. En inclinant vers vous
sa tête sacrée, il saluait la race divine [17] qui venait de se déclarer dans ce fils de
la terre et allait éclipser mille fois l’illustration que vous teniez des aïeux
d’ici-bas. Quel germe puissant l’Esprit-Saint alors déposait en vous ; et
combien Dieu parfois récompense la générosité d’un seul acte ! Votre
sainteté, la part glorieuse qui fut la vôtre dans la victoire de l’Église, et
cette fécondité qui vous donne de revivre jusqu’à nos jours dans l’Ordre
illustre qui plonge en vous ses racines : toutes ces grâces de choix pour
votre âme et tant d’autres âmes, ont dépendu de l’accueil que vous alliez faire
au malheureux que sa fatalité ou la justice du ciel, auraient dit vos
contemporains, jetait sur vos pas. Il était digne de mort ; et dans ces
temps où chacun plus ou moins se taisait justice lui-même, votre bonne renommée
n’aurait point souffert, elle n’eût fait que grandir, en lui infligeant le
châtiment qu’il avait mérité. Mais si l’estime de vos contemporains vous
restait acquise, la seule gloire qui compte devant Dieu, la seule qui dure devant
les hommes eux-mêmes, n’eût point été votre partage. Qui maintenant vous
connaîtrait ? qui surtout prononcerait votre nom avec l’admiration et la
reconnaissance qu’il excite aujourd’hui parmi les enfants de l’Église ?
Le Fils de Dieu, voyant
vos dispositions conformes aux sentiments de son cœur sacré, a versé dans le
vôtre son amour jaloux pour la cité sainte au rachat de laquelle il a voué tout
son sang. O zélateur de la beauté de l’Épouse, veillez sur elle toujours ;
éloignez d’elle les mercenaires qui prétendraient tenir de l’homme le droit de
représenter l’Époux à la tête des Églises. Que l’odieuse vénalité de vos temps
ne se transforme point dans les nôtres en compromissions d’aucune sorte à
l’égard des pouvoirs de la terre. La simonie la plus dangereuse n’est point
celle qui s’escompte à prix d’or ; il est des obséquiosités, des hommages,
des avances, des engagements implicites, qui ne tombent pas moins sous
l’anathème des saints canons que les transactions pécuniaires : et
qu’importerait, de fait, l’objet ou la forme adoucie du contrat simoniaque, si
la complicité achetée du pastorat laissait les princes charger l’Église à
nouveau des chaînes que vous avez tant contribué à briser ? Ne permettez
pas, ô Jean Gualbert, un tel malheur qui serait l’annonce de désastres
terribles. Que la Mère commune continue de sentir l’appui de votre bras
puissant. Sauvez une seconde fois en dépit d’elle-même votre patrie de la
terre. Protégez, dans nos temps malheureux, le saint Ordre dont vous êtes la
gloire et le père ; que sa vitalité résiste aux confiscations, aux
violences de cette même Italie qui vous proclama autrefois son libérateur.
Obtenez aux chrétiens de toute condition Je courage nécessaire pour soutenir la
lutte qui s’offre à tout homme ici-bas.
[3] Act. VIII.
[4] Psalm. LXVIII, 10.
[5] Ézech. III, 19.
[6] Meliorandæ vitæ gratia : Litteræ donationis Ittae
Abbatissae ; Ughelli, III, 299 vel 231.
[7] Psalm. LXVIII, 14.
[8] Matth. VII, 15.
[9] Johan. X, 10.
[10] Petr. Dam. Opuscul. XXX, De Sacramentis per
improbos administratis.
[11] Vita S. J. Gualb. ap. Baron, ad an. 1063.
[12] Vita S. J. Gualb. ap. Baron, ad an. 1063.
[13] Ibid.
[14] Psalm. XLIII, LXXIII.
[15] Epist. cleri et populi Florentini ad Alexandrum
Pontificem.
[16] Matth. V. 45, 48.
[17] Act. XVII, 29.
Bhx
cardinal Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum
Saint Jean Gualbert est
l’un des représentants, formés à l’école de saint Benoît, de ce mouvement
énergique de réforme ecclésiastique qui éleva à une haute sainteté la papauté
et la hiérarchie. Celles-ci, au XIe siècle, gisaient, avilies, au pied du trône
de César. Ils allèrent jusqu’à conduire à Canossa, aux genoux d’Hildebrand,
l’empereur allemand pénitent, dépouillé de sa couronne et les pieds nus.
La mission de Jean
Gualbert fut surtout dirigée contre la simonie en Toscane, et l’épisode le plus
caractéristique de cette mission fut de démontrer que l’évêque Pierre de
Florence avait acheté l’épiscopat ; dans ce but, il ordonna à son
disciple, nommé Pierre lui aussi, de soutenir l’épreuve du feu. L’appel au
jugement de Dieu fut accepté ; Pierre revêtit les ornements sacrés,
célébra la messe et, ayant obtenu la bénédiction de son abbé, pénétra
courageusement dans l’étroit et long chemin bordé et couvert par deux haies de
fagots en feu. Il l’avait déjà traversé presque jusqu’au fond quand il
s’aperçut qu’il avait perdu sa mappula que, selon l’ancien usage, il tenait à
la main, au lieu de la porter attachée à son bras. Sans se troubler, Pierre
retourna dans la fournaise, ramassa son manipule et, sorti sain et sauf par
l’autre côté du bûcher, fut salué du nom d’Igné par le peuple joyeux. Cette
scène est décrite par l’abbé du Mont-Cassin Didier (qui devint Victor III) dans
son troisième livre des Miracles ; à cette époque Pierre était encore en
vie et siégeait même sur le trône épiscopal d’Albano.
Saint Jean Gualbert
mourut en 1073 et fut canonisé par Célestin III en 1193. Rome chrétienne lui a
élevé un insigne oratoire dans le titulus Praxedis, depuis de nombreux siècles
déjà confié aux soins des moines de Vallombreuse.
La messe est du commun
des abbés. Seule la lecture évangélique (Matth., V, 43-48) est propre, et
elle contient une allusion au pieux événement survenu dans la basilique de San
Miniato à Florence, et qui décida de la conversion de saint Jean Gualbert.
En ces temps de cruelles
luttes civiles, un de ses proches parents avait été tué, et un jour Jean,
entouré d’une bonne escorte de compagnons armés, rencontra l’homicide. Celui-ci
se vit perdu, il tomba à genoux à ses pieds, et, étendant les bras en croix,
demanda son pardon par la vertu de ce signe de leur commun salut. Jean,
attendri, lui fit grâce de la vie et l’embrassa ; entré ensuite dans
l’église de San Miniato, il vit l’image du Crucifix qui, en signe d’agrément,
inclina par trois fois la tête vers lui. Cette vision touchante acheva le
travail de la grâce commencé dans son cœur puisqu’il avait pardonné à son
ennemi. Jean ne voulut plus s’éloigner de cet asile de miséricorde et de paix.
Ayant donc enlevé son épée de chevalier, il se coupa lui-même les cheveux et
revêtit le froc monastique.
A la louange du monastère
de Vallombreuse, érigé par Jean Gualbert, et où furent formés tant de saints,
un poète composa ces vers :
Mutavit Vallis veteres
Umbrosa colores : Felix si mores et cæli servat amores !
_Leven_van_de_heilige_Johannes_Gualbertus_(serietitel)%2C_RP-P-OB-35.148.jpg)
De
heilige Johannes Gualbertus vertrapt monster Super aspidem et basiliscum
ambulabis (titel op object) Leven van de heilige Johannes Gualbertus
(serietitel)
Dom
Pius Parsch, Le Guide dans l’année liturgique
Aimez vos ennemis, faites
du bien à ceux qui vous haïssent.
Le jour présent est placé
sous le signe unique de l’amour des ennemis. L’Église se plaît à mettre en
relief la remarquable vertu d’un saint et à la proposer à notre imitation. La
vie de notre saint offre un exemple de l’amour des ennemis poussé jusqu’à
l’héroïsme.
1. Saint Jean. —
Jour de mort : 12 juillet 1073. Tombeau : à Passignano, monastère
près de Florence. Vie : Le saint (né vers 995) descendait d’une illustre
famille de Florence. Son père le destinait à l’état militaire ; il arriva
alors que son frère unique, Hugues, fut tué par un de leurs parents. Un jour de
Vendredi Saint Jean, qui était accompagné d’hommes en armes, rencontra le
meurtrier désarmé dans une gorge étroite, de telle sorte que ni l’un ni l’autre
ne pouvaient fuir ; celui-ci se jeta aux pieds de Jean en mettant les bras
en croix. Jean, extrêmement surpris à cette vue, lui laissa la vie sauve et
l’adopta comme frère ; puis il poursuivit sa route jusqu’à l’église
Saint-Minias où il pria avec ferveur devant l’image du Crucifié qui parut
incliner la tête vers lui. Bouleversé par cet événement, Jean résolut, malgré
l’opposition de son père, de consacrer sa vie à Dieu ; il coupa lui-même
sa chevelure et revêtit le costume des moines. En peu de temps il atteignit une
telle perfection que sa vie et ses œuvres devinrent un modèle pour les autres.
Il est le fondateur de l’Ordre de Vallombreuse, une branche de l’Ordre des
Bénédictins.
2. La messe (Os
justi). — La messe est celle du commun
des Abbés, avec l’évangile propre de l’amour des ennemis. Le Christ dit
dans le sermon sur la montagne : « Vous avez appris qu’il a été
dit : aimez votre prochain et haïssez vos ennemis. — Mais moi je vous
dis : Aimez vos ennemis, faites du bien à ceux qui vous haïssent, priez
pour ceux qui vous persécutent et qui vous calomnient ; car vous êtes les
enfants de votre Père céleste qui fait lever son soleil sur les bons et sur les
méchants et qui fait tomber la pluie sur les justes et sur les pécheurs ».
Faisons aujourd’hui un sérieux examen de conscience sur notre amour pour nos
ennemis ! Souvenons-nous que presque chaque jour l’Église fait donner le
baiser de paix avant la communion : c’est là un grave avertissement
d’avoir à vivre en paix avec tous les hommes avant de recevoir le Prince de la
paix dans notre cœur. Que l’amour des ennemis soit aujourd’hui l’offrande que
nous apporterons au Saint-Sacrifice et la grâce que nous en retirerons.
3. La prière des
Heures nous offre un commentaire de saint Jérôme sur l’évangile de l’amour
des ennemis : « Beaucoup interprètent les commandements de Dieu
d’après leur propre faiblesse et non d’après les actes de force que les saints
ont accomplis, et s’imaginent qu’il est impossible d’obéir à ces commandements.
Aussi affirment-ils qu’il suffit, pour être vertueux, de ne pas haïr ses
ennemis ; mais, d’après eux, aimer ses ennemis serait un commandement
dépassant les forces de la nature humaine. On doit pourtant savoir que le
Christ n’a rien commandé d’impossible, mais qu’il a imposé seulement ce qui est
parfait. Telle fut la conduite de David à l’égard de Saül et d’Absalon ;
le martyr saint Étienne pria aussi pour ses ennemis qui le lapidaient, et saint
Paul désirait être condamné pour ses persécuteurs. C’est aussi ce qu’enseigna
et ce que fit Jésus : Père, pardonne-leur, car ils ne savent pas ce qu’ils
font. Quand il s’agit d’exercer toute autre bonne œuvre que l’amour, on peut
alléguer une excuse et dire que l’on n’est pas en état de jeûner, de garder la
virginité, de distribuer ses biens aux pauvres. Mais quand il s’agit d’aimer
ses ennemis, on ne peut fournir de pareilles excuses ; vous ne pouvez pas
dire : je ne puis pas aimer mon ennemi »
SOURCE : http://www.introibo.fr/12-07-St-Jean-Gualbert-abbe#nh1
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Agostino
Veracini (attr. o seguaci), San Giovanni Gualberto, Santi vallombrosani, 1758, Abbazia
di San Bartolomeo a Ripoli
Also
known as
Giovanni Gualberto
John Gualberto
John Gualbertus
Profile
Florentine nobility;
part of the Visdomini family. His brother Hugh was murdered;
John tracked down the killer, finding him on a Good Friday.
John received a vision of Christ on the Cross, which he took as a sign to
pardon the killer, and convert to Christianity.
He did both.
Against his family
opposition, he became a Benedictine monk at
the San Miniato del Monte monastery.
Founded and built by hand the monastery in
Vallombrosa, Italy in 1038.
The rule of John’s order was an austere form of the Benedictine Rule,
included an order of lay
brothers, and received papal approval
in 1070.
When it seemed he would be appointed abbot, John
fled. He founded abbeys at
at San Salvi, Moscetta, Rozzuolo, Monte Salario, and Passignano, though did not
do all the construction himself. Reported to have the gift of prophecy. Known
for his great charity. Claims
of miracles throughout
his intercession in life and after.
Born
1073 at
Passignano near Florence, Italy of
natural causes
forest
workers, foresters (the first Vallombrosan abbey was built in a
forest, and its chapel became a place of worship for the many foresters who
worked in the area; the tradition spread from the specific forest to such
workers in general)
–
in Italy
Additional
Information
A
Garner of Saints, by Allen Banks Hinds, M.A.
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Lives of the Saints,
by Father Francis
Xavier Weninger
Saints
and Saintly Dominicans, by Blessed Hyacinthe-Marie
Cormier, O.P.
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
Short
Lives of the Saints, by Eleanor Cecilia Donnelly
books
1001 Patron Saints and Their Feast Days, Australian
Catholic Truth Society
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
Wikipedia:
John Gualbert
Wikipedia:
Vallombrosa Abbey
images
videos
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
sites
en français
Abbé
Christian-Philippe Chanut
fonti
in italiano
nettsteder
i norsk
MLA
Citation
“Saint John
Gualbert“. CatholicSaints.Info. 21 April 2024. Web. 29 April 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-john-gualbert/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-john-gualbert/
Monastero di Astino, San Giovanni Gualberto
John Gualbert (Gualberto),
OSB Vall. Abbot (RM)
Born in Florence,
Tuscany, Italy, c. 993; died at Passignano (near Florence) in 1073; canonized
in 1193. Because of his birth into the noble Visdomini family, John Gualbert
had no more thought of following a life of austerity and humility than did his
noble Florentine friends and companions. Bred to be a soldier, he spent his
time in worldly amusements. Indeed, so far from intending to follow the
precepts of Our Lord, his one over-riding ambition was to avenge the murder of
his elder brother, Hugh. To him this was a matter of justice and, more
importantly, a matter of honor.
It happened that one Good
Friday as he was riding through a narrow pass on his way to Florence, Gualbert
came face to face with the man he had been seeking. The man was alone and there
was no means of escape. Gualbert drew his sword and moved forward, but at his
approach the murderer, in a gesture not so much of supplication as of despair,
fell to his knees, threw out his arms and commended his soul to God.
Gualbert hesitated, and
as he looked down on his victim he was suddenly reminded of the image of Christ
suffering on the Cross and of the forgiveness which Our Lord had asked for
those who murdered him. Sheathing his sword, he embraced and forgave the man.
Having pardoned his brother's murderer, he saw the image of the crucifix
miraculously bow its head in acknowledgement of Gualbert's good action and they
separated in peace.
Continuing his journey,
Gualbert went to the monastery of San Miniato del Monte in Florence where, as
he prayed before the crucifix, he was filled with divine grace. He asked the
abbot for permission to be admitted. But the abbot delayed, fearing the anger
and resentment of Gualbert's parents. To demonstrate the seriousness of his call,
Gualbert shaved his head himself and put on a habit that he had borrowed.
For the next few years he
remained at San Miniato, leading the life of a penitent and hoping to end his
days there; but when the abbot died and the new one bribed his way to office,
he left in disgust. (Other sources say that he left with a companion to find
solitude when it looked likely that he would be appointed abbot.) He wanted to
find a life untouched by the current abuses in the Church: clerical
concubinage, nepotism, and simony. For a while he stayed with the Camaldolesi
at Saint Romuald's abbey, but then decided to make an entirely new foundation.
The abbess of Sant'Ellero
gave him some land in the Vallis Umbrosa (Vallombrosa), about 20 miles east of
Florence near Fiesole; and there, with the help of a few companions, he built a
small and unpretentious monastery of timber. The monks followed the austere
rule of Saint Benedict to the letter, except for a special provision admitting
conversi, or lay- brothers who could take on the manual labor and free the
choir monks for contemplation and more prayer.
He was dedicated to
poverty and humility. He never became a priest, in fact, he declined even to
receive minor orders. Vallombrosa inspired other communities with its hospices
for the poor and sick. These became part of his new order under John's rule, in
spite of rival claims to jurisdiction. In this and other ways John became
involved in the reform movement in the Church, for which he was commended by
popes.
Other monasteries were
established, but in all cases Gualbert insisted that the buildings should be
constructed as modestly and cheaply as possible and that the money saved should
be given to the poor. Indeed, his zeal for charity was such that he often gave
away all the monastery's supplies to the poor who came to its gates. The area
in which the first monastery was located was wild and barren, but the monks
planted fir and pine trees and transformed it into a parkland.
Gualbert was known for
his wisdom, miracles, and prophecies. Pope Saint Leo IX, travelled specially to
Passignano to speak with him, as did Stephen X. Pope Alexander II attributed
the eradication of simony in his country to him. Though respected and visited
by popes, Gualbert retained his humility. He died aged about 80. The
congregation of Vallombrosan Benedictines that he founded spread chiefly
throughout Tuscany and Lombardy, but it still exists today and includes more
than six monasteries (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, White).
In art, Saint John
Gualbert is an elderly Vallombrosan abbot with a tau-staff, book and heretic
under foot. At times, he may be shown (1) with the devil under foot; (2)
enthroned among Vallombrosan monks, tau staff and book of rule in hands; (3)
kneeling before a crucifix, which bows towards him; (4) present at an ordeal by
fire of Saint Peter Igneus; (5) watching a luxurious monastery carried away by
a flood; or as a young man forgiving the murderer of his relative (Roeder). A
fine altarpiece in Santa Croce, Florence, depicts four scenes from Saint John's
life (Farmer).
John Gualbert is the
patron on foresters and park keepers (White).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0712.shtml#nabo
Book of Saints – John
Gualbert
Article
(Saint) Abbot (July 12)
(11th century) A Florentine nobleman who spent his youth in idle dissipation,
but was brought by a Providential inspiration to turn to the pursuit of
worthier objects. Hugo, his brother, had been murdered, and John, as was the
custom of the nobles of his century, deemed it his duty to avenge his death.
However, he only met the murderer on a Good Friday, after he had listened to a
sermon in which the example of Christ on the Cross, pardoning His enemies was
dwelt upon. Moved by the thoughts thus suggested, the young noble overcame
himself and freely pardoned, so far as he was concerned, the wrongdoer. Then,
entering a church and kneeling before a Crucifix, he sought pardon for his own
sins. Raising his eyes he saw the Crucified Saviour miraculously bow His Head
as if according the pardon he asked for. He thereupon applied to be received as
a monk in the neighbouring monastery; but soon in the desire for greater
solitude betook himself to the forest country of Vallis Umbrosa (Vallombrosa),
where he founded a house of strict Benedictine Observance. The new Institute
was approved by the then Pope in A.D. 1070, and governed by Saint John until
his death, three years later, when he found himself already at the head of
twelve monasteries. He was canonised by Pope Celestine III.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate. “John
Gualbert”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info.
12 August 2018. Web. 29 April 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-john-gualbert/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-john-gualbert/
Campodalbero
(Crespadoro, Veneto), chiesa di San Giovanni ante portam latinam - Statua di
san Giovanni Gualberto
Campodalbero (Crespadoro, Veneto, Italy), San Giovanni ante portam latinam church - Statue of saint John Gualberto
New
Catholic Dictionary – Saint John Gualbert
Article
Abbot,
founder of the monastery of
Vallombrosa, born Florence, Italy, c.985; died Passignano,
Italy, 1073. He entered the Benedictine
Order at San Miniato, despite his father’s opposition. He practised
the most austere asceticism, and in 1038 retired to Vallombrosa, establishing
there his new religious society which received papal recognition in 1070. He
adopted the Benedictine Rule
with several changes, making it more rigorous, excluding manual labor, and
organizing a body of lay brothers. He founded houses at San Salvi, Moscetta,
Rozzuolo, Monte Salario, and Passignano. Canonized,
1193. Feast,
Roman Calendar, 12
July.
MLA Citation
“Saint John Gualbert”. New
Catholic Dictionary. CatholicSaints.Info. 12 August 2018.
Web. 29 April 2025.
<https://catholicsaints.info/new-catholic-dictionary-saint-john-gualbert/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/new-catholic-dictionary-saint-john-gualbert/
Giovanni del Biondo (fl 1356–99),
San Giovanni Gualberto e storie della sua vita, circa 1370, Museo
dell'Opera di Santa Croce
St. John Gaulbert, Abbot
Feastday: July 12
Patron: of forest workers; foresters; park rangers; parks
Death: 1073
Saint John Gaulbert, Abbot - Feast day is July 12th
The city of Florence gave
to the world Saint John Gaulbert.
Although he enjoyed the benefits of an early Christian education,
his youthful heart was soon attracted to the vanities of the world. A painful
incident was the means God made
use of, to open his eyes. Hugo, his only brother, had been murdered and St. John had
resolved to avenge his death. On a certain Good Friday he
met his enemy in a place where there was no escape for the latter. St. John drew
his sword and would have killed his adversary on the spot, but the latter threw
himself on his knees begging him by the passion of Jesus Christ to spare his
life. St.
John was touched at the words, embraced his enemy, entered a church
and prayed with many tears for the pardon of his sins.
He now entered the Order
of St. Benedict, in which he made such great progress in virtue that
after the death of the Abbot, the monks wished to impose this dignity upon him,
but the Saint absolutely refused to accept it. Sometime later, he left the
monastery with one companion in quest of greater solitude.
Having visited the
hermitage of Camaldoli, he finally settled at Valle Ombrosa in Tuscany.
Together with two hermits whom
he found there, he and his companions built a small monastery, observing the
primitive rule of St. Benedict. Thus was laid the foundation of
the Order of Vallombrosa. The humility of
the saint was such that he would never be promoted, even to Minor Orders.
His charity for the poor caused him to make a rule that no indigent person should
be sent away without an alms. He founded several monasteries, reformed others,
and succeeded in eradicating the vice of simony from
the part of the country where he lived. He died on July 12, 1073, at about 80
years of age.
SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=358
Lorenza
de Mozzi. Saint Jean Gualbert et saint Laurent. Fresque. Église du
Saint-Esprit et de Sainte-Félicité. Florence. XVe.
Gregory DiPippo
On the calendar of the
Extraordinary Form, today is the feast of St John Gualbert, founder of the
monastic congregation known from their mother-house as the Vallumbrosians (the
“Shady Valley” monks.) Like his contemporaries Ss Romuald and Peter
Damian, he played an important role in the great reform movement taking place
within the Church in the 11th century. The life of the Vallumbrosians was
extremely austere in an age of terrible laxity among monks, and Pope
Alexander II (who died very shortly before him in 1073) testified that
it was largely though St John’s efforts that the vice of clerical simony, which
had become so common it was hardly even noticed, was largely extirpated in
central Italy.
However, St John is
particularly known for an episode that took place in his early life, before he
embraced the monastic state. He was born into a Florentine noble family in the
later 10th century, when faction-fighting and street-battles among the nobility
were a routine fact of life. In the course of this, his older brother Ugo was
murdered, and John determined to avenge him privately. One day (the Breviary
says it was Good Friday), when he was in the company of his friends and
supporters, all of them fully armed, he came across the murderer, unarmed, in
an alley from which there was no way to escape. As John advanced to kill him,
the man fell on his knees and threw out his arms like those of Christ on the
Cross; the sight of this moved him to repent, and he not only forbore his
revenge, but embraced and forgave the murderer. John then went to pray at the
church of St Miniato on a hill outside the city, where the crucifix on
one of the altars nodded to him, signifying the Lord’s acceptance of this
gesture of true Christian forgiveness. For this reason, the Gospel of his feast
day is not taken from the Common of Abbots, but repeated (in part) from the
Friday after Ash Wednesday.
“You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate
thy enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you:
and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you: That you may be the
children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the
good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. For if you love them
that love you, what reward shall you have? do not even the publicans this? And
if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? do not also the heathens
this? Be you therefore perfect, as also your heavenly Father is perfect.”
(Matthew 5, 43-48)
In the altarpiece show
above, by Giovanni del Biondo (ca. 1370), St John is shown forgiving his
brother’s killer in the upper left section. Below it is depicted an especially
famous episode in the ecclesiastical history of Florence, one which is connected
to a contemporary of St John known as “Petrus Igneus - Fiery Peter.” A
simoniac prelate, Peter of Pavia, was made bishop of Florence, much to the
indignation of the populace, who demanded a trial by fire to determine the
legitimacy of his appointment. Their appellant, a monk of St John’s order also
called Peter, celebrated Mass in the presence of a crowd of some 3000 people;
then, removing his chasuble (of course), he walked between two raging pyres set
very close to each other, remaining totally unscathed, even though the
fire seemed to fill his alb, and he sank into the hot coals up to his ankles.
This was taken as God’s judgment that his cause was just, and Peter of Pavia
was removed from the See at the order of Pope Alexander, while Peter the monk
was eventually made a cardinal and Papal legate. He is now a blessed, and his
feast is kept in Florence and by the Vallumbrosian order on February 8th.
SOURCE : https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2018/07/the-feast-of-st-john-gualbert.html
Statue
de saint Jean Gualbert tenant son bâton à Vollombreuse
Saints and
Saintly Dominicans – 12 July
John Gaulbert was waiting for an opportunity to avenge
the violent death of his brother, when he encountered the murderer in a place
whence escape was impossible. On seeing the man fall at his feet with
outstretched arms imploring mercy in the name of Jesus crucified, he forgave
him and treated him as a brother. It was Good Friday. This heroic act merited
those special graces which make the great servants of God. John became the
father of the monks of Vallombrosa or the “Shady Valley,” so-called on account
of the great trees that shelter it. The basis of the Institute is the Rule of
Saint Benedict, but the eremitical life is more especially marked. The holy
Founder never required from others what he did not practise himself, and out of
his love of poverty, seeing a monastery being built which was too handsome, he
miraculously caused a little stream to swell to such an extent as to destroy
the whole building. He energetically opposed the vice of simony. Before his
death he was frequently heard repeating: “My soul hath thirsted for the strong,
the living God; when shall I appear before Him?” (1073). There exist five
beautiful letters full of charity and religious feeling, addressed by Saint
Catherine of Siena to the monks of Vallombrosa, whom she greatly loved and
esteemed.
Prayer
To converse with God is one’s delight, to be obedient,
to fly conversations, to be assiduous in prayer and watchings, nothing else.
Sweet Jesus, sweet Love! (Saint Catherine).
Practice
Overcome yourself generously on the difficult
occasions when you have task or grant forgiveness; one such victory is worth a
hundred others.
– taken from the book Saints
and Saintly Dominicans, by Blessed Hyacinthe-Marie
Cormier, O.P.
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saints-and-saintly-dominicans-12-july/
Segonzano
(Trentino, Italia) - Santuario della Madonna dell'Aiuto - Statua di san
Giovanni Gualberto
Segonzano
(Trentino, Italy) - Sanctuary of the Madonna of Aid - Statue of saint Giovanni
Gualberto
A Garner of
Saints – Saint John Gualbert
Article
Born at Florence in the
year 1040 of noble parentage. While still a youth and as he was going towards
Florence one good Friday with an armed company, he fell in with a man with whom
his family was at feud, because the man had unjustly assassinated his brother
Ugo Gualbert. The passage was narrow and there was no way of escape, but as
John prepared to run the man through the body with his sword, he threw himself
at John’s feet, and stretching out his arms in the form of the cross, besought
John, by the passion of Christ, to spare him. And John remembered the event
celebrated that day, and the mercy of Christ to his executioners, so that he
raised the man to his feet, embraced him and let him go. Proceeding on his way
he came to a monastery and entering the church he knelt before the crucifix.
And the head of the crucified one inclined towards him from the cross and
appeared to bless him for having pardoned his deadly enemy. After this John
determined to renounce the world and going to the abbey of San Miniato of the
order of Saint Benedict he begged the fathers to grant him their habit. He
showed wonderful devotion in his new character, and on the death of the abbot
was elected to succeed him; but he refused this honour, preferring to obey
rather than to command. While he was at Saint Miniato one of the monks went to
the bishop of Florence and bribed him to give him the administration of the
abbey. John at once knew of this, and accompanied by another monk he went to
Florence and called on an old man named Teuzone who inhabited a cell near Saint
Maria del Fiore to ask his advice. And he advised them to go to the piazza and
proclaim that the bishop and abbot were simoniacs. And when they had done this
there arose a great tumult, but they withdrew in safety.
Desiring a more complete
solitude John went to the valley of Camaldoli and there established a new
monastery at Vallombrosa, and a new order of Benedictine friars, which was
confirmed in 1070.
After the establishment
of the house at Vallombrosa many other monasteries of the order were founded by
him; and one day he visited one of these, the monastery of Moscheta, and
finding it very sumptuous he called the abbot and reproved him, saying that he
had incurred great expense in building the monastery, which might have relieved
many poor. Turning to a small stream behind he prayed to God that it might take
vengeance on that house. No sooner was he gone than the stream became a torrent
and washed away the monastery. One day on returning from his visitation of the monasteries
he remembered how poor many of the people were, and calling his almoner and
procurator he asked them how much grain there was. When he saw that the granary
was full, he reproached them and afterwards ordered a large vessel to be
brought. Filling this with wheat, he distributed corn to the poor from the
third to the ninth hour, the vessel being as full at the end of that time as it
was at the beginning. Once in the monastery the monks had no more than three
loaves, for it was a time of famine. John commanded that the loaves should be
divided and a portion given to each monk, saying to-day we suffer want, but
to-morrow there will be abundance. When the hour of dinner came the monks ate
the bread but would not touch the meat offered them, because of their reverence
for the rule. The following day some monks of Saint Salvi came bringing an
abundance of provisions, saying that they were sent by some noblemen, but who
the nobles were was never discovered. As John and his monks maintained that
Pietro de Pavia, Bishop of Florence, was guilty of simony and heresy, there
arose a great contention among the clergy and people of Florence. And the
bishop sent an armed force by night to attack the monastery of Saint Salvi
where he supposed John to be, although the saint had actually left for
Vallombrosa the preceding night. Entering the monastery the soldiers killed
several of the monks, insulting the others, and plundered the building, setting
fire to it. This act of violence alienated many of the bishop’s partisans.
Afterwards the monks went to Florence and proclaimed that Pietro was a simoniac
and a heretic, offering to prove this by the ordeal of fire. However, Pope
Alexander would not permit the test, though Hildebrand defended the monks. At
length the ordeal was agreed to, and a great assembly came together to witness
it. After the monks had sung the litany, one of their number, abbot Peter,
(known afterwards as Peter Igneus), took the cross in his hand and passed
through the flames unhurt. After this convincing miracle the bishop was deposed
and John was justified. John died of the fever in the year 1073, and was
canonized in 1183. 12th
July.
Attributes
He wears the light grey
(colour of ashes) habit of the order, and carries a crucifix in his hand.
MLA
Citation
Allen Banks Hinds, M.A.
“Saint John Gualbert”. A Garner of Saints, 1900. CatholicSaints.Info.
20 April 2017. Web. 12 July 2020.
<https://catholicsaints.info/a-garner-of-saints-saint-john-gualbert/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/a-garner-of-saints-saint-john-gualbert/
Giovanni Maria Butteri, San Giovanni Gualberto in adorazione del crocifisso, 1580, Abbazia
di San Bartolomeo a Ripoli
Pictorial
Lives of the Saints – Saint John Gualbert
Article
Saint John Gualbert was
born at Florence, A.D. 999. Following the profession of arms at that troubled
period, he became involved in a blood-fued with a near relation. One Good
Friday, as he was riding into Florence accompanied by armed men, he encountered
his enemy in a place where neither could avoid the other. John would have slain
him; but his adversary, who was totally unprepared to fight, fell upon his
knees with his arms stretched out in the form of a cross, and implored him, for
the sake of Our Lord’s Holy Passion, to spare his life. Saint John said to his
enemy, “I cannot refuse what you ask in Christ’s name. I grant you your life,
and I give you my friendship. Pray that God may forgive me my sin.” Grace
triumphed. A humble and changed man, he entered the Church of Saint Miniato,
which was near; and whilst he prayed, the figure of our crucified Lord, before
which he was kneeling, bowed its head towards him as if to ratify his pardon.
Abandoning the world, he gave himself up to prayer and penance in the
Benedictine Order. Later he was led to found the congregation called of
Vallombrosa, from the shady valley a few miles from Florence, where he
established his first monastery. Once the enemies of the Saint came to his
convent of Saint Salvi, plundered it, and set fire to it, and having treated
the monks with ignominy, beat them and wounded them. Saint John rejoiced.
“Now,” he said, “you are true monks. Would that I myself had had the honor of
being with you when the soldiers came, that I might have had a share in the
glory of your crowns!” He fought manfully against simony, and in many ways
promoted the interest of the faith in Italy. After a life of great austerity,
he died whilst the angels were singing round his bed, July 12th, 1073.
Reflection – The
heroic act which merited for Saint John Gualbert his conversion was the
forgiveness of his enemy. Let us imitate him in this virtue, resolving never to
revenge ourselves in deed, in word, or in thought.
MLA
Citation
John Dawson Gilmary Shea.
“Saint John Gualbert”. Pictorial Lives of the
Saints, 1922. CatholicSaints.Info.
12 December 2018. Web. 12 July 2020.
<https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-john-gualbert/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-john-gualbert/
Stradanus (Jan
van der Straet, 1523–1605). The Miracles of San Giovanni Gualberto of
Florence: The Miraculous Catch of Pike at Passignano, Brown ink and wash with
white heightening over black chalk on paper, 13.3 x 16.2, Inscribed ioa
stradanus (ll)
St. John Gualbert, Abbot
From his exact life
compiled by Blaise Melanisius, general of his Order, with the long notes of
Cuper the Bollandist. See also two other lives of the saint, with a long
history of his miracles, ib. t. 3. Julij, pp. 3, 11.
A.D. 1073.
[Founder of the Religious
Order of Vallis Umbrosa.] ST. JOHN GUALBERT was born
at Florence of rich and noble parents, and in his youth was carefully instructed
in the Christian doctrine and in the elements of the sciences; but afterwards,
by conversing with the world, he imbibed a relish for its vanities and follies.
While a thirst of worldly pleasure kept possession of his desires, and seemed
to him innocent, and while he thought a certain degree of worldly pride the
privilege of his birth, he was a stranger to the gospel maxims of penance,
meekness, and lowliness of heart; and all arguments of virtue lost their force
upon him. But God was pleased, by a remarkable accident, to open his eyes, and
to discover to him his errors, and the extent of his obligations. Hugo, his
only brother, was murdered by a gentleman of the country; and our young
nobleman determined to revenge the crime by the death of him who had
perpetrated it, and who seemed out of the reach of the laws. Under the
influence of his resentment, which was much heightened by the invectives and
persuasion of his own father, Gualbert, he neither listened to the voice of
reason nor of religion. The motive of revenge is criminal if it creep into the
breast even in demanding the just punishment of a delinquent; much more if it
push men to vindicate their own cause themselves by returning injury for
injury, and wreaking wrongs on those who inflicted them.But passion stifled
remorse, and John was falsely persuaded that his honour in the world required
that he should not suffer so flagrant an outrage to pass unpunished. It
happened that riding with his man home to Florence on Good Friday, he met his
enemy in so narrow a passage that it was impossible for either of them to avoid
the other. John seeing the murderer, drew his sword, and was going to dispatch
him. But the other lighting from his horse, fell upon his knees, and with his
arms across, besought him by the passion of Jesus Christ, who suffered on that
day, to spare his life. The remembrance of Christ, who prayed for his murderers
on the cross, exceedingly affected the young nobleman; and meekly raising the
supplicant from the ground with his hand, he said: “I can refuse nothing that
is asked of me for the sake of Jesus Christ. I not only give you your life, but
also my friendship for ever. Pray for me that God may pardon me my sin.” After
embracing each other they parted, and John went forward on his road till he
came to the monastery of St. Minias, 1 of
the holy Order of St. Bennet. Going into the church, he offered up his prayers
before a great crucifix, begging with many tears and extraordinary fervour that
God would mercifully grant him the pardon of his sins. Whilst he continued his
prayer the crucifix miraculously bowed its head to him, as it were to give him
a token how acceptable the sacrifice of his resentment, and his sincere
repentance were. The divine grace made such deep impressions on his heart, that
rising from his devotions he cast himself at the feet of the abbot, earnestly
begging to be admitted to the religious habit. The abbot was apprehensive of
his father’s displeasure; but at length was prevailed upon with much ado to
allow him to live in the community in his secular habit. After a few days John
cut off his hair himself, and put on a habit which he borrowed. His father, at
this news of the step his son had taken, hastened to the monastery, and stormed
and complained dreadfully; till after some time seeing the steadiness of his
son’s resolution, and hearing his reasons and motives, he was so well
satisfied, that he gave him his blessing, and exhorted him to persevere in his
good purposes.
St. John devoted himself
to the exercises of his new state in the most perfect dispositions of a true
penitent. He was most exact in every religious observance. He subdued his body
with much fasting and watching; never gave way to idleness, but kept himself
day and night employed almost in continual prayer. His corporal austerities he
animated with a perfect interior spirit of penance, or desire of punishing sin
in himself, the more powerfully to move God to compassion and mercy towards
him; and he endeavoured by them to facilitate the subjection of his passions,
which victory he completed by a watchfulness over the motions of his own heart,
and heroic acts of all virtues, especially meekness and humility. But assiduous
and humble prayer and meditation were the principal means by which this
wonderful change was effected in all the affections of his soul, so that he
became entirely a new man.. Nothing can have so prevalent a power to still the
agitation of passion in the breast; nothing is so fit to induce a smooth and
easy flow, and a constant evenness of temper, as a frequent application to the
throne of grace. This presence of the mind with the Lord is an absence from the
body, or from the tumult of carnal passions. The pure and serene tranquillity
that springs up in the soul by an intercourse with heaven, shows that here she
is nearest the centre of her true happiness, where earthly things lose all
their power of attraction. The very preparation of the heart to wait upon God
in this solemn exercise is of admirable use to remove that corruption which
inflames the passions. Especially a lively sense of God’s infinite greatness,
and of our littleness and infirmities, powerfully impressed on our minds by
assiduous prayer, soon brings us to a conviction that pride is the root of all
our disorders; and enables us to discover its disguises, and to banish it out
of our souls. By fidelity and perseverance St. John obtained the victory over
himself, and became most eminent in meekness, humility, silence, obedience,
modesty, and patience
When the abbot died our
saint was earnestly entreated by the greater part of the monks to accept that
dignity; but his consent could by no means be extorted. Not long after, he left
this house with one companion, and went in quest of a closer solitude. He paid
a visit to the hermitage of Camoldoli; and having edified himself with the
example of its fervent inhabitants, he proceeded further to an agreeable shady
valley covered with willow trees, commonly called Vallis-Umbrosa, in the
diocess of Fiesoli, half a day’s journey from Florence, in Tuscany. He found in
that place two devout hermits, with whom he and his companion concerted a
project to build themselves a small monastery of timber and mud-walls, and to
form together a little community, serving God according to the primitive
austere rule and spirit of the Order of St. Bennet.
The abbess of St. Hilary
gave them the ground on which they desired to build, and when the monastery was
finished the bishop of Paderborn, who attended the Emperor Henry III. into
Italy, consecrated the chapel. Pope Alexander II. in 1070 approved this new
Order, together with the rule in which the saint added certain particular
constitutions to the original rule of St. Bennet. From this confirmation is
dated the foundation of the Order of Vallis-Umbrosa. St. John was chosen the
first abbot, nor was he able to decline that dignity. He gave his monks a habit
of an ash colour; and settled among them retirement, silence, disengagement of
their hearts from all earthly things, the most austere practice of penance,
profound humility, and the most universal charity.
Though most humble and
mild, he severely reproved the least tepidity or sloth in others; for the
virtue of meekness is not further removed from intemperate anger which clouds or
dethrones reason, than from a vicious defect or lameness and stupidity which
beholds vice with indifference. God has committed to every man a kind of trust
and guardianship of virtue, whose rights we are obliged to maintain in
proportion to our power not only by example, but also by advice, exhortation,
and reproof, as often as it is reasonable; and he who regards the sins of
others with a careless unconcernedness, makes himself accountable for them when
it is in his power to prevent them. Superiors especially lie under the most
grievous obligations to check and chastise the irregularities and faults of
those under their immediate care and inspection. Our saint feared no less the
danger of too great lenity and forbearance than that of harshness; and was a true
imitator both of the mildness and zeal of the Jewish legislator, whom the Holy
Ghost calls “the meekest of all men upon the face of the earth.” St. John was
himself a perfect model of all virtues, and tender and compassionate towards
all, especially the sick. This compassion for them he learned by his own
perpetual infirmities, and weakness of stomach. Such was his humility that he
would never be promoted even to minor Orders, never presumed to approach nearer
the altar than was necessary to receive the holy communion, and never would
open the church door, but always prayed one in minor Orders to open it for him.
He was very zealous for holy poverty, and would not allow any monasteries to be
built in a costly and sumptuous manner, thinking such edifices not agreeable to
a spirit of poverty. He founded the monastery of St. Salvi, that of Moscetta,
that of Passignano, another at Rozzuolo, and another at Monte Salario. He
reformed some other monasteries, and left about twelve houses of his Order at
his death. Besides monks he received lay-brothers, who were exempt from choir
and silence, and employed in external offices. This is said to be the first
example of such a distinction; but it was soon imitated by other Orders. The
saint’s charity to the poor was not less active than his love for holy poverty.
He would have no poor person sent from his door without an alms, and often
emptied all the granaries and stores of his monasteries in relieving them. In a
great dearth he supplied, sometimes by miracle, the multitudes of poor people
who flocked to his monastery of Rozzuolo. The saint was endowed with the spirit
of prophecy, and by his prayers restored many sick persons to perfect health.
The holy Pope Leo IX. went to Passignano on purpose to see and converse with
this holy man. Stephen IX. and Alexander II. had the greatest esteem for him.
This latter testifies that the whole country where he lived owed to his zeal
the entire extinction of simony. The holy man at length fell sick of a sharp
fever at Passignano. He called for all the abbots and superiors of his Order,
and telling them he was soon to leave them, strongly exhorted them to watch
vigilantly over the most exact observance of their rule, and to maintain peace
and fraternal charity. After this, having most devoutly received the last
sacraments, he died happily on the 12th of July, in 1073, being seventy-four
years old. Pope Celestine III. having caused juridical informations to be taken
concerning his virtues and miracles, solemnly enrolled him among the saints in
the year 1193.
The eminent degree of
penance and sanctity to which the divine grace raised this saint, was the fruit
of his mildness in forgiving an injury. Christ not only commands us to pardon
all offences, but has recommended this precept to us with his expiring breath,
with his head crowned with thorns and his hands stretched out for us. We
renounce the glorious title of being his disciples if, whilst we behold him
hanging on the cross, and hear his last prayers, we trample on his sacred law, and
harbour malice in our hearts against a brother whom our dying Redeemer commands
us to forgive for his sake. Can we be angry with him who is by so many sacred
ties our brother, the living son and member of our common Redeemer and Father,
and whom we expect to be the associate of our happiness for all eternity? We
owe infinitely more to Christ than any brother can owe to us: the least venial
sin is an immense debt. Our Divine Master not only conjures us to forgive our
brother for His sake, but also makes it our own infinite interest so to do,
promising to pardon us our immense debts in the same manner as we pardon
others. Shall we base worms who have nothing to boast of before men only our
having concealed from them our baseness and ignominy; and to whom the most
cruel outrages from creatures would be too mild a treatment, considering our
sins; shall we, I say, complain of injuries which we ought to receive with
patience and joy as the easy means of cancelling our own sins, and procuring
for ourselves the greatest graces and mercy?
Note 1. St. Minias
was a Roman soldier who suffered martyrdom at Florence under Decius. See Mart.
Rom. 13 Oct. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume
VII: July. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : https://www.bartleby.com/210/7/121.html
_-_Saint_Giovanni_Gualberto_at_the_Monastery_of_Morcheto.jpeg)
Stradanus (Jan
van der Straet, 1523–1605). Saint Giovanni Gualberto at the Monastery
of Morcheto, black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, heightened with
white, brown ink framing lines, 21.5 x 14.7, signed 'joa stradanus' (lower
right), with inscription 'The Volney Ruins' (lower left)
St. John Gualbert: The
Iconography
St. John Gualbert,
Abbot, [died on this day] in the monastery of Passiniano, near Florence, He founded
the Order of Vallombrosa. – Roman
Martyrology for July 12
St. John Gualbert founded
the Vallombrosan Order, which was modeled on the Benedictine Order but somewhat
stricter. One day in his youth in Florence he encountered a man who had
murdered one of his kinsmen. At first he resolved to avenge the murder by killing
the man, but he stopped abruptly when the man bowed his head and extended his
arms, reminding him of Christ on the cross. He decided to have mercy on the
murderer.
Soon thereafter, in the
church of St. Miniatus he was praying before a crucifix when the figure on the
cross bowed its head just as the man had done, "as if thanking him for
having mercy on his enemy." This miracle led the young man to enter the
monastery of St. Miniatus, which he later left to found an abbey of stricter
observance in Vallombrosa.1
St. John's attribute is a
hand cross, as in the two images at left. The fact that it is a cross rather
than a crucifix may refer to the miraculous cross that the saint used in
exorcisms. Even after his death, the cross was kept in the abbey and often used
successfully to exorcise demoniacs brought from Florence and elsewhere.2
In the images, the saint
is tonsured and of course wears the habit of his order. In the second image at
right we also see what may be a crozier, but topped by a tau rather than a
hook. Perhaps this also refers to the importance of the cross in St. John's
life.
Prepared in 2014 by
Richard Stracke, Emeritus Profesor of English, Augusta University
SOURCE : https://www.christianiconography.info/johnGualbert.html
Passo
Sommo (Folgaria, Trentino), chiesa della Madonna Pellegrina - Scultura di san
Giovanni Gualberto sotto il portico
Passo Sommo (Folgaria, Trentino, Italy), Madonna Pellegrina church - Sculpture of saint Giovanni Gualberto in the porch
Saint John Gualbert
Saint John Gualbert,
Pray for us !
Saint of the Day : July 12
Other Names : Giovanni
Gualberto
Born : c.985 at
Florence, Italy
Died :1073 at Passignano
near Florence, Italy
Patronage : Forest
workers, foresters • Park services • Parks • Florence, Italy
[Founder of the Religious
Order of Vallis Umbrosa] Saint John Gualbert was born at Florence of rich and
noble parents, and in his youth was carefully instructed in the Christian
doctrine and in the elements of the sciences; but afterwards, by conversing with
the world, he imbibed a relish for its vanities and follies. While a thirst of
worldly pleasure kept possession of his desires, and seemed to him innocent,
and while he thought a certain degree of worldly pride the privilege of his
birth, he was a stranger to the gospel maxims of penance, meekness, and
lowliness of heart; and all arguments of virtue lost their force upon him. But
God was pleased, by a remarkable accident, to open his eyes, and to discover to
him his errors, and the extent of his obligations. Hugo, his only brother, was
murdered by a gentleman of the country; and our young nobleman determined to
revenge the crime by the death of him who had perpetrated it, and who seemed
out of the reach of the laws. Under the influence of his resentment, which was
much heightened by the invectives and persuasion of his own father, Gualbert,
he neither listened to the voice of reason nor of religion. The motive of
revenge is criminal if it creep into the breast even in demanding the just
punishment of a delinquent; much more if it push men to vindicate their own
cause themselves by returning injury for injury, and wreaking wrongs on those
who inflicted them. But passion stifled remorse, and John was falsely persuaded
that his honour in the world required that he should not suffer so flagrant an
outrage to pass unpunished. It happened that riding with his man home to
Florence on Good Friday, he met his enemy in so narrow a passage that it was
impossible for either of them to avoid the other. John seeing the murderer,
drew his sword, and was going to dispatch him. But the other lighting from his
horse, fell upon his knees, and with his arms across, besought him by the
passion of Jesus Christ, who suffered on that day, to spare his life. The
remembrance of Christ, who prayed for his murderers on the cross, exceedingly
affected the young nobleman; and meekly raising the supplicant from the ground
with his hand, he said: “I can refuse nothing that is asked of me for the sake
of Jesus Christ. I not only give you your life, but also my friendship for
ever. Pray for me that God may pardon me my sin.” After embracing each other
they parted, and John went forward on his road till he came to the monastery of
Saint Minias, of the holy Order of Saint Bennet. Going into the church, he
offered up his prayers before a great crucifix, begging with many tears and
extraordinary fervour that God would mercifully grant him the pardon of his
sins. Whilst he continued his prayer the crucifix miraculously bowed its head
to him, as it were to give him a token how acceptable the sacrifice of his
resentment, and his sincere repentance were. The divine grace made such deep
impressions on his heart, that rising from his devotions he cast himself at the
feet of the abbot, earnestly begging to be admitted to the religious habit. The
abbot was apprehensive of his father’s displeasure; but at length was prevailed
upon with much ado to allow him to live in the community in his secular habit.
After a few days John cut off his hair himself, and put on a habit which he
borrowed. His father, at this news of the step his son had taken, hastened to
the monastery, and stormed and complained dreadfully; till after some time
seeing the steadiness of his son’s resolution, and hearing his reasons and
motives, he was so well satisfied, that he gave him his blessing, and exhorted
him to persevere in his good purposes.
Saint John devoted
himself to the exercises of his new state in the most perfect dispositions of a
true penitent. He was most exact in every religious observance. He subdued his
body with much fasting and watching; never gave way to idleness, but kept
himself day and night employed almost in continual prayer. His corporal
austerities he animated with a perfect interior spirit of penance, or desire of
punishing sin in himself, the more powerfully to move God to compassion and
mercy towards him; and he endeavoured by them to facilitate the subjection of
his passions, which victory he completed by a watchfulness over the motions of
his own heart, and heroic acts of all virtues, especially meekness and
humility. But assiduous and humble prayer and meditation were the principal
means by which this wonderful change was effected in all the affections of his
soul, so that he became entirely a new man. Nothing can have so prevalent a
power to still the agitation of passion in the breast; nothing is so fit to
induce a smooth and easy flow, and a constant evenness of temper, as a frequent
application to the throne of grace. This presence of the mind with the Lord is
an absence from the body, or from the tumult of carnal passions. The pure and
serene tranquillity that springs up in the soul by an intercourse with heaven,
shows that here she is nearest the centre of her true happiness, where earthly
things lose all their power of attraction. The very preparation of the heart to
wait upon God in this solemn exercise is of admirable use to remove that
corruption which inflames the passions. Especially a lively sense of God’s
infinite greatness, and of our littleness and infirmities, powerfully impressed
on our minds by assiduous prayer, soon brings us to a conviction that pride is
the root of all our disorders; and enables us to discover its disguises, and to
banish it out of our souls. By fidelity and perseverance Saint John obtained
the victory over himself, and became most eminent in meekness, humility,
silence, obedience, modesty, and patience.
When the abbot died our
saint was earnestly entreated by the greater part of the monks to accept that
dignity; but his consent could by no means be extorted. Not long after, he left
this house with one companion, and went in quest of a closer solitude. He paid
a visit to the hermitage of Camoldoli; and having edified himself with the
example of its fervent inhabitants, he proceeded further to an agreeable shady
valley covered with willow trees, commonly called Vallis-Umbrosa, in the
diocess of Fiesoli, half a day’s journey from Florence, in Tuscany. He found in
that place two devout hermits, with whom he and his companion concerted a
project to build themselves a small monastery of timber and mud-walls, and to
form together a little community, serving God according to the primitive
austere rule and spirit of the Order of Saint Bennet. The abbess of Saint
Hilary gave them the ground on which they desired to build, and when the
monastery was finished the bishop of Paderborn, who attended the Emperor Henry
III into Italy, consecrated the chapel. Pope Alexander II in 1070 approved this
new Order, together with the rule in which the saint added certain particular
constitutions to the original rule of Saint Bennet. From this confirmation is
dated the foundation of the Order of Vallis-Umbrosa. Saint John was chosen the
first abbot, nor was he able to decline that dignity. He gave his monks a habit
of an ash colour; and settled among them retirement, silence, disengagement of
their hearts from all earthly things, the most austere practice of penance,
profound humility, and the most universal charity.
Though most humble and
mild, he severely reproved the least tepidity or sloth in others; for the
virtue of meekness is not further removed from intemperate anger which clouds
or dethrones reason, than from a vicious defect or lameness and stupidity which
beholds vice with indifference. God has committed to every man a kind of trust
and guardianship of virtue, whose rights we are obliged to maintain in
proportion to our power not only by example, but also by advice, exhortation,
and reproof, as often as it is reasonable; and he who regards the sins of
others with a careless unconcernedness, makes himself accountable for them when
it is in his power to prevent them. Superiors especially lie under the most
grievous obligations to check and chastise the irregularities and faults of
those under their immediate care and inspection. Our saint feared no less the
danger of too great lenity and forbearance than that of harshness; and was a
true imitator both of the mildness and zeal of the Jewish legislator, whom the
Holy Ghost calls “the meekest of all men upon the face of the earth.” Saint
John was himself a perfect model of all virtues, and tender and compassionate
towards all, especially the sick. This compassion for them he learned by his
own perpetual infirmities, and weakness of stomach. Such was his humility that
he would never be promoted even to minor Orders, never presumed to approach
nearer the altar than was necessary to receive the holy communion, and never
would open the church door, but always prayed one in minor Orders to open it
for him. He was very zealous for holy poverty, and would not allow any
monasteries to be built in a costly and sumptuous manner, thinking such
edifices not agreeable to a spirit of poverty. He founded the monastery of
Saint Salvi, that of Moscetta, that of Passignano, another at Rozzuolo, and
another at Monte Salario. He reformed some other monasteries, and left about
twelve houses of his Order at his death. Besides monks he received
lay-brothers, who were exempt from choir and silence, and employed in external
offices. This is said to be the first example of such a distinction; but it was
soon imitated by other Orders. The saint’s charity to the poor was not less
active than his love for holy poverty. He would have no poor person sent from
his door without an alms, and often emptied all the granaries and stores of his
monasteries in relieving them. In a great dearth he supplied, sometimes by
miracle, the multitudes of poor people who flocked to his monastery of
Rozzuolo. The saint was endowed with the spirit of prophecy, and by his prayers
restored many sick persons to perfect health. The holy Pope Leo IX went to
Passignano on purpose to see and converse with this holy man. Stephen IX and
Alexander II had the greatest esteem for him. This latter testifies that the whole
country where he lived owed to his zeal the entire extinction of simony. The
holy man at length fell sick of a sharp fever at Passignano. He called for all
the abbots and superiors of his Order, and telling them he was soon to leave
them, strongly exhorted them to watch vigilantly over the most exact observance
of their rule, and to maintain peace and fraternal charity. After this, having
most devoutly received the last sacraments, he died happily on the 12th of
July, in 1073, being seventy-four years old. Pope Celestine III. having caused
juridical informations to be taken concerning his virtues and miracles,
solemnly enrolled him among the saints in the year 1193.
The eminent degree of
penance and sanctity to which the divine grace raised this saint, was the fruit
of his mildness in forgiving an injury. Christ not only commands us to pardon
all offences, but has recommended this precept to us with his expiring breath,
with his head crowned with thorns and his hands stretched out for us. We
renounce the glorious title of being his disciples if, whilst we behold him
hanging on the cross, and hear his last prayers, we trample on his sacred law,
and harbour malice in our hearts against a brother whom our dying Redeemer
commands us to forgive for his sake. Can we be angry with him who is by so many
sacred ties our brother, the living son and member of our common Redeemer and
Father, and whom we expect to be the associate of our happiness for all
eternity? We owe infinitely more to Christ than any brother can owe to us: the
least venial sin is an immense debt. Our Divine Master not only conjures us to
forgive our brother for His sake, but also makes it our own infinite interest
so to do, promising to pardon us our immense debts in the same manner as we
pardon others. Shall we base worms who have nothing to boast of before men only
our having concealed from them our baseness and ignominy; and to whom the most
cruel outrages from creatures would be too mild a treatment, considering our
sins; shall we, I say, complain of injuries which we ought to receive with
patience and joy as the easy means of cancelling our own sins, and procuring
for ourselves the greatest graces and mercy?
Source : Lives of
the Saints, by Father Alban Butler
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SOURCE : https://saintscatholic.blogspot.com/2018/07/saint-john-gualbert.html
_102.jpg)
Eines der verbliebenen Tagesheiligenbilder im Kloster St. Mang in Füssen mit Bild des hl. Gualbertus, geschaffen von Paul Zeiller
Eines
der verbliebenen Tagesheiligenbilder im Kloster St. Mang in Füssen mit Bild des
hl. Gualbertus, geschaffen von Paul Zeiller
Miniature
Lives of the Saints – Saint John Gualbert
Article
Saint John Gualbert was
born at Florence a.d. 999. Following the profession of arms at that troubled
period, he became involved in a blood-feud with a near relation. One Good
Friday, as he was riding into Florence accompanied by armed men, he encountered
his enemy in a place where neither could avoid the other. John would have slain
him, but his adversary, who was totally unprepared to fight, fell upon his
knees with his arms stretched out in the form of a cross, and implored him, for
the sake of our Lord’s holy Passion, to spare his life. Grace triumphed, and
John not only held his hand from blood, but cast out from his heart the wicked
spirit of revenge. A humble and changed man, he entered the church of San
Miniato, which was near; and whilst he prayed, the figure of our crucified Lord
before which he was kneeling bowed its head towards him, as if to ratify his
pardon. Abandoning the world, he gave himself up to prayer and penance in the
Benedictine Order. Later he was led to found the Congregation called of
Vallombrosa, from the shady valley a few miles from Florence, where he
established his first monastery. He fought manfully against simony, and in many
ways promoted the interests of the Faith in Italy. After a life of great
austerity, he died whilst the angels were singing round his bed, 12 July 1073.
The heroic act which
merited for Saint John Gualbert his conversion was the forgiveness of his
enemy. Let us imitate him in this virtue, resolving never to revenge ourselves
in deed, in word, or in thought.
Saint John Gualbert said
to his enemy, “I cannot refuse what you ask in Christ’s name. I grant you your
life, and I give you my friendship. Pray that God may forgive me my sin.”
Once the enemies of the
Saint came to his convent of San Salvi, plundered it, and set fire to it; and
having treated the monks with ignominy, beat them and wounded them. Saint John
rejoiced. “Now,” he said, “you are true monks. Would that I myself had had the
honour of being with you when the soldiers came, that I might have had a share
in the glory of your crowns!”
To no man rendering evil
for evil. – Romans 12:17
MLA
Citation
Henry Sebastian Bowden.
“Saint John Gualbert”. Miniature Lives of the
Saints for Every Day of the Year, 1877. CatholicSaints.Info.
27 February 2015. Web. 12 July 2020.
<https://catholicsaints.info/miniature-lives-of-the-saints-saint-john-gualbert/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/miniature-lives-of-the-saints-saint-john-gualbert/
_(14592018250).jpg)
The arms of the Vallombrosa Abbey. Aedes Althorpianae; or, Account of the mansion, books, and pictures, at Althorp; the residence of George John, earl Spencer, K.G. To which is added a supplement to the Bibliotheca Spenceriana (1822)
Vallumbrosan Order
The name is derived from
the motherhouse, Vallombrosa (Latin Vallis umbrosa, shady valley),
situated 20 miles from Florence on the northwest slope of Monte Secchieta in
the Pratomagno chain, 3140 feet above the sea.
The founder
St. John Gualbert, son of
the noble Florentine Gualbert Visdomini, was born in 985 (or 995), and died at
Passignano, 12 July, 1073, on which day his feast is
kept; he was canonized in
1193. One of his relatives having been murdered,
it became his duty to
avenge the deceased. He met the murderer in a narrow lane and was about to slay
him, but when the man threw himself upon the ground with arms outstretched in
the form of a cross, he pardoned him for the love of Christ.
On his way home, he entered the Benedictine Church
at San
Miniato to pray,
and the figure on the crucifix bowed its head to him in recognition of his
generosity. This story forms the subject of Burne-Jones's picture "The
Merciful Knight", and has been adapted by Shorthouse in "John
Inglesant". John Gualbert became a Benedictine at San
Miniato, but left that monastery to
lead a more perfect life. His attraction was for the cenobitic not eremitic life,
so after staying for some time with the monks at
Camaldoli, he settled at Vallombrosa, where he founded his monastery. Mabillon places
the foundation a little before 1038. Here it is said he and his first
companions lived for some years as hermits,
but this is rejected by Martène as inconsistent with his reason for leaving
Camaldoli. The chronology of
the early days of Vallombrosa has been much disputed. The dates given for the
founder's conversion vary between 1004 and 1039, and a recent Vallumbrosan
writer places his arrival at Vallombrosa as early as 1008. We reach surer
ground with the consecration of
the church by Bl. Rotho, Bishop of Paderborn,
in 1038, and the donation by Itta, Abbess of
the neighbouring monastery of
Sant' Ellero, of the site of the new foundation in 1039. The abbess retained
the privilege of nominating the superiors, but this right was granted to
the monks by
Victor II, who confirmed the order in 1056. Two centuries later, in the time
of Alexander
IV, the nunnery was
united to Vallombrosa in spite of the protests of the nuns.
The holy lives of the
first monks at
Vallombrosa attracted considerable attention and brought many requests for new
foundations, but there were few postulants,
since few could endure the extraordinary austerity of the life. Thus only one
other monastery,
that of San Salvi at Florence,
was founded during this period. But when the founder had mitigated his rule
somewhat, three more monasteries were
founded and three others reformed and united to the order during his lifetime.
In the struggle of the popes against simony the
early Vallumbrosans took a considerable part, of which the most famous incident
is the ordeal by fire undertaken successfully by St.
Peter Igneus in 1068 (see Delarc, op. cit.). Shortly before this
the monastery of
S. Salvi had been burned and the monks ill-treated
by the anti-reform party. These events still further increased the repute of Vallombrosa.
Development of the order
After the founder's death
the order spread rapidly. A Bull of Urban
II in 1090, which takes Vallombrosa under the protection of the Holy
See, enumerates fifteen monasteries besides
the motherhouse. Twelve more are mentioned in a Bull of
Paschal II in 1115, and twenty-four others in those of Anastasius IV (1153)
and Adrian
IV (1156). By the time of Innocent
III they numbered over sixty. All were situated in Italy,
except two monasteries in Sardinia.
About 1087 Bl. Andrew of Vallombrosa (d. 1112) founded the monastery of
Cornilly in the Diocese
of Orléans, and in 1093 the Abbey of Chezal-Benoît, which became later the
head of a considerable Benedictine congregation.
There is no ground for the legend given by some writers of the order of a great
Vallumbrosan Congregation in France with
an abbey near Paris,
founded by St. Louis. The Vallumbrosan Congregation was reformed in the middle
of the fifteenth century by Cassinese Benedictines,
and again by Bl. John Leonardi at the beginning of the seventeenth century. In
1485 certain abbeys with
that of San Salvi at Florence at their head, which had formed a separate
congregation, were reunited to the motherhouse by Innocent
VIII. At the beginning of the sixteenth century an attempt was made by
Abbot-General Milanesi to found a house of studies on university lines
at Vallombrosa; but in 1527 the monastery was
burned by the troops of Charles
V. It was rebuilt by Abbot Nicolini in 1637, and in 1634 an observatory was
established. From 1662-80 the order was united to the Sylvestrines.
In 1808 Napoleon's troops
plundered Vallombrosa, and the monastery lay
deserted till 1815. It was finally suppressed by the Italian Government in
1866. A few monks remain
to look after the church and meteorological station, but the abbey buildings
have become a school of
forestry founded in 1870 on the German model, the only one of its kind in Italy.
Vallombrosa is also a health resort.
The decline of the order
may be ascribed to the hard fate of the motherhouse, to commendams, and
to the perpetual wars which
ravaged Italy.
Practically all the surviving monasteries were
suppressed during the course of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The
present Vallumbrosan monasteries,
besides Vallombrosa itself, are: Passignano, where St. John Gualbert is buried;
S. Trinità at Florence,
where the abbot-general resides; Sta Prassede, in Rome;
Galloro in the Diocese
of Albano, with the sanctuary of Bl. Benedict Ricasoli (d. 1107); and the
celebrated sanctuary of Montessoro in the Diocese
of Leghorn. The modern monastery of
Signol near Loriol, Drôme, France,
was suppressed by the Ferry laws in
1880. The present abbot-general is Fedele Tarani. The monks now
number about 100. The shield of the order shows the founder's arm in a
tawny-coloured cowl grasping a golden crutch-shaped crozier on
a blue ground. The services rendered by the order have been mostly in the field
of asceticism. Besides the Vallumbrosan saints alluded
to in other parts of this article there may also be mentioned: Bl.
Veridiana, anchoress (1208-42);
Bl. Giovanni Dalle Celle (feast, 10 March); the lay
brother Melior (1 Aug.). By the middle of the seventeenth century the
order had supplied twelve cardinals and
more than 30 bishops.
F. E. Hugford (1696-1771), born at Florence of English parents,
is well known as one of the chief promoters of the art of scagliola (imitation
of marble in plaster). Abbot-General Tamburini's works on canon law are well
known. Galileo was
for a time a novice at
Vallombrosa and received part of his education there.
Rule
St. John adopted the
Rule of St. Benedict but added greatly to its austerity and
penitential character. His idea was
to unite the ascetic advantages of the eremitic life
to a life in community, while avoiding the dangers of the former. Severe
scourging was inflicted for any breach of rule, silence was perpetual, poverty
most severely enforced. The rule of enclosure was so strict that the monks might
not go out even on an errand of mercy. The main point of divergence lay in the
prohibition of the manual work, which is prescribed by St. Benedict. St. John's
choir monks were
to be pure contemplatives and to this end he introduced the system of
lay-brothers who were to attend to the secular business. He was among the first
to systematize this institution, and it is probable that it was largely
popularized by the Vallumbrosans. The term conversi (lay
brothers) occurs for the first time in Abbot Andrew of Strumi's Life of St.
John, written at the beginning of the twelfth century. The Vallumbrosans do
not, strictly speaking, form a separate order, but a Benedictine congregation,
though they are not united to the confederated congregations of the Black
Monks. The oldest extant manuscript of
the customs of Vallombrosa shows a close relationship with those of Cluny. The
Vallumbrosans should be regarded only as Benedictines who
followed the customs observed at that time by the Black
Benedictines throughout Europe.
"Horror of simony was
a special bond between them and Cluny, and it was only special circumstances
which caused them later to be looked upon as a peculiar institute within
the Benedictine order"
(Albers, op. cit. infra). The habit, originally grey, then tawny coloured,
is now that of the Black Monks. The abbots were
originally elected for life but are now elected at the general chapter, held
every four years. The Abbot of
Vallombrosa, the superior of the whole order, had formerly a seat in the
Florentine Senate and bore the additional title of Count of Monte Verde and
Gualdo.
Nuns
Shortly after the
founder's death we find attached to the monastery of
Vallombrosa lay sisters who, under the charge of an aged lay
brother, lived in a separate house and performed various household duties.
This institute survived for less than a century, but when they ceased to be
attached to the monasteries of monks,
these sisters probably continued to lead a conventual life. Bl. Bertha (d.
1163) entered the Vallumbrosan Order at Florence and reformed the convent of
Cavriglia in 1153. St. Umiltà is usually regarded as the foundress of the
Vallumbrosan Nuns. She was born at Faenza about
1226, was married, but with the consent of her husband, who became a monk,
entered a monastery of
canonesses and afterwards became an anchoress in
a cell attached to the Vallumbrosan church of Faenza,
where she lived for twelve years. At the request of the abbot-general she then
founded a monastery outside Faenza and
became its abbess.
In 1282 she founded a second convent at Florence,
where she died in 1310. She left a number of mystical writings. In 1524
the nuns obtained
the Abbey of S. Salvi, Florence. There are still Vallumbrosan nunneries at Faenza and
S. Gimignano, besides two at Florence. The relics of
Bl. Umiltà and her disciple Bl. Margherita are venerated at
the convent of Spirito
Santo at Varlungo. The habit is similar to that of the Benedictine Nuns.
Webster, Douglas
Raymund. "Vallumbrosan Order." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol.
15. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 12 Jul.
2020 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15262a.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Elizabeth T. Knuth. Dedicated to
Anselm Hastings, O.S.B.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2023 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15262a.htm
Luca di Tommè (1330–1389) San Giovanni Gualberto, tempera on panel, 114 x 47.2
San Giovanni Gualberto Abate
Firenze, 985/995 -
Passignano Val di Pesa (FI) 12 luglio 1073
I dati certi sulla sua
vita, al di là della leggenda, sono pochi. Monaco di San Miniato, dopo aver
denunciato il proprio abate per simonia, abbandonò il convento alla ricerca di
un nuovo monastero. Giunto a Vallombrosa, un luogo isolato sull' Appennino, con
l'appoggio dell'abate di Settimo, diede origine con i monaci che avevano
abbandonato S. Miniato, ad una comunità che si ingrandì anche per il
sopraggiungere di laici da Firenze. Accettata con riluttanza la carica di
abate, Giovanni fondò l'Ordine dei Vallombrosani. Egli volle ritornare agli
insegnamenti degli Apostoli, dei Padri della Chiesa, di San Basilio e di San
Benedetto, accentuando gli aspetti della povertà e del lavoro manuale,
impegnandosi decisamente e direttamente alla riforma dei monasteri.
Etimologia: Giovanni
= il Signore è benefico, dono del Signore, dall'ebraico
Emblema: Bastone
pastorale
Martirologio
Romano: A Passignano in Toscana, san Giovanni Gualberto, abate, che,
soldato fiorentino, perdonò per amore di Cristo l’uccisore di suo fratello e,
vestito poi l’abito monastico, desideroso di condurre una vita di maggior
rigore, gettò a Vallombrosa le fondamenta di una nuova famiglia monastica.
Nei dintorni di Firenze
il nobile Giovanni Gualberto rintraccia inerme l’assassino di suo fratello:
potrebbe ammazzarlo, e invece lo perdona, riceve segni soprannaturali di
approvazione ed entra nel monastero di San Miniato. Questa però è una
leggenda, tramandata in versioni discordi: vera è solo l’entrata in monastero.
Ma rapida è l’uscita, quando monaci indignati gli dicono che l’abate ha
comprato la sua carica dal vescovo. Via da San Miniato, via dal monastero
infetto. Sta un po’ di tempo con gli eremiti di san Romualdo a Camaldoli
(Arezzo) e poi sale tra gli abeti e i faggi di Vallombrosa (Firenze).
Qui lo raggiungono altri
monaci fuggiti dal monastero dell’abate mercenario; e con essi verso il 1038
crea la Congregazione benedettina vallombrosana, approvata da papa Vittore II
nel 1055 e fondata su austera vita comune, povertà, rifiuto di doni e
protezioni. Cioè di quei favori, di quel “patronato” che sovrani e grandi
casate esercitano nella Chiesa, nominando vescovi e abati, designando candidati
al sacerdozio e popolando il clero di affaristi e concubini.
"Sono afflitto da
immenso dolore e universale tristezza... trovo ben pochi vescovi nominati
regolarmente, e che vivano regolarmente". Così dirà papa Gregorio VII
(1073-1085), protagonista dei momenti più drammatici della riforma detta poi
“gregoriana”. Ma essa comincia già prima di lui: anche in piena crisi, il corpo
della Chiesa esprime forze intatte e nuove, che combattono i suoi mali: e tra
queste forze c’è la comunità di Giovanni Gualberto, che si diffonde in Toscana
e sa uscire arditamente dal monastero, con vivaci campagne di predicazione per
liberare la Chiesa dagli indegni. A questi monaci si ispirano e si affiancano
gruppi di sacerdoti e di laici, dilatando l’efficacia della loro opera, di cui
si servono i papi riformatori.
Nel 1060-61 Milano ha
cacciato molti preti simoniaci, e per sostituirli Giovanni Gualberto ne manda
altri: uomini nuovi, plasmati dallo spirito di Vallombrosa. Dedica grande
attenzione al clero secolare; lo aiuta a riformarsi, lo guida e lo incoraggia
alla vita in comune: un senso pieno della Chiesa, tipico sempre in lui e nel
suo Ordine, e sempre arricchito dalla forza dell’esempio. "La purezza
della sua fede splendette mirabilmente in Toscana", dirà di lui Gregorio
VII. E i fiorentini, in momenti difficili, affideranno agli integerrimi suoi
monaci perfino le chiavi del tesoro della Repubblica.
Giovanni Gualberto muore
nel monastero di Passignano, dopo aver scritto ai suoi monaci una lettera che
spiega in chiave biblica il valore del “vincolo di carità” fra tutti. Papa
Celestino III lo canonizzerà nel 1193. I suoi monaci torneranno nel 1951 a
Vallombrosa, che avevano lasciato in seguito alle leggi soppressive del XIX secolo.
Nello stesso anno, papa Pio XII proclamerà san Giovanni Gualberto patrono del
Corpo Forestale italiano.
Autore: Domenico
Agasso
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/33550
Statua
di San Giovanni Gualberto, interno dell'abbazia di Santa Maria di Montesanto.
Un sentito ringraziamento a Don Galliano Ciccarelli, Diacono Pro Rettore
dell'abbazia di Montesanto, che ha consentito lo scatto di questa immagine.
GIOVANNI GUALBERTO, santo
di Antonella Degl'Innocenti
Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani - Volume 56 (2001)
GIOVANNI GUALBERTO,
santo. - Nacque, probabilmente tra la fine del X e gli inizi dell'XI secolo, in
Toscana, non lontano da Firenze (secondo le agiografie più tarde nel castello
di Petroio, in Val di Pesa). Ignota è la famiglia d'origine: non sembra infatti
attendibile la notizia di una sua appartenenza alla stirpe dei Visdomini,
anch'essa divulgata tardivamente. Tutta la vicenda biografica di G. presenta
del resto alcuni elementi di incertezza, dovuti evidentemente alla natura delle
fonti che la riferiscono.
La tradizione vuole che
G., figlio del vir militaris Gualberto, si facesse monaco
all'insaputa del padre nel monastero benedettino di S. Miniato al Monte, alle
porte di Firenze.
La sua scelta sarebbe
stata determinata, secondo una delle prime agiografie (la Vita scritta
da Attone di Vallombrosa), dall'incontro inaspettato con l'assassino di un suo
parente; abbandonando i propositi di vendetta, G. perdonò il colpevole ed entrò
nella chiesa di S. Miniato, dove vide il crocefisso inclinare la testa verso di
lui in segno di assenso. Colpito dall'accaduto, il giovane chiese all'abate del
luogo di entrare a far parte di quella comunità e resistette a ogni tentativo
del padre di ricondurlo nel mondo. L'episodio, che appare costruito secondo
i topoi dell'agiografia, segna l'inizio di una straordinaria
esperienza monastica, che si situa in un periodo cruciale della storia della
Chiesa, percorso da forti tensioni e istanze di rinnovamento, che troveranno in
Gregorio VII il loro più alto interprete.
Entrato a S. Miniato in
un periodo difficilmente precisabile, G. vi risiedette fino alla scoperta
dell'elezione simoniaca dell'abate Uberto per opera del vescovo di Firenze
(Attone, 1032-1046 circa). Consigliatosi con l'eremita
"cittadino" Teuzone, G. denunciò l'abate e il vescovo sulla piazza
del Mercato Vecchio e si mise poi alla ricerca di un nuovo monastero per
servire autenticamente Cristo.
La storicità di questa
denuncia, riferita dalle agiografie (a eccezione della Vita anonima della
Nazionale, non è esente da dubbi: cfr. D'Acunto); pare comunque verosimile che
G. non fosse pienamente soddisfatto della sua prima esperienza monastica,
maturata all'interno di un cenobio fortemente condizionato dal potere politico
e vescovile, e cercasse quindi altrove la realizzazione dei suoi ideali.
Partito alla volta della
Romagna, dopo aver peregrinato per diversi monasteri, G. fece sosta a
Camaldoli, dove, a detta del primo biografo, Andrea di Strumi (Andrea da
Parma), ebbe modo di osservare la forma di vita lì adottata, ma subì anche una
non meglio precisata "iniuria" (Andrea, cap. 10; la notizia è però
omessa da Attone di Vallombrosa, che in genere riporta molto fedelmente
la Vita di Andrea). Nell'incertezza del riferimento si intuisce
comunque una diversità di concezioni e di ideali, che si manifestò più
chiaramente poco dopo con il rifiuto da parte di G. della promozione "ad
sacrum ordinem" offertagli dal priore di Camaldoli, rifiuto che viene così
motivato: "quia eius fervor nonnisi in cenobitali vita erat, ut beati
Benedicti regula indicat" (ibid.). L'ideale della vita cenobitica secondo
i principî della regola benedettina spinse dunque G. a lasciare l'eremo di
Camaldoli e a fondare, con l'incoraggiamento dello stesso priore, un nuovo
istituto.
G. giunse quindi a
Vallombrosa, un luogo solitario sul versante toscano dell'Appennino, e qui
stabilì la sua dimora, unendosi a due eremiti già presenti sul posto, Paolo e
Guntelmo, che dipendevano dal monastero di S. Salvatore a Settimo (Firenze),
allora diretto dall'abate Guarino, il quale non mancò di appoggiare la nascente
comunità. In breve tempo si riunì intorno a G. un gruppo di laici, chierici e
monaci fuorusciti da S. Miniato, attirati dalla sua forma di vita.
Il primo documento che
segnala l'esistenza di questa comunità risale al 27 genn. 1037 il chierico ed
ex notaio fiorentino Alberto, unitosi ai "fratres in Chisto simul
congregati in loco Valle Umbrosa ubi et Aquabella vocatur", fece una
donazione a loro favore (Arch. di Stato di Firenze, Diplomatico, Vallombrosa,
1037, gennaio 27). Due anni più tardi, il 3 luglio 1039, Itta, badessa del
vicino monastero di S. Ilario (S. Ellero) e proprietaria del terreno su cui si
era insediato G., donò agli eremiti il terreno medesimo, non nascondendo la sua
devozione per quei "viri de Sancti Miniatis monasterio" che avevano
lasciato la loro affollata comunità per ritirarsi in solitudine, allo scopo di
migliorare la propria vita (ibid., 1039 luglio 3). In questi primi documenti G.
non viene mai nominato.
La fama di Vallombrosa pare
diffondersi rapidamente: secondo la Vita di Andrea di Strumi (cap.
23) Enrico di Franconia (il futuro imperatore Enrico III) o, secondo il
documento sopra citato di Itta, l'imperatore Corrado II, di passaggio da
Firenze nel 1038, venne a conoscenza della nuova fondazione e inviò un vescovo
"catholicus" (Rodolfo di Paderborn) a consacrare la primitiva chiesa;
la Vita di Attone (cap. 22) aggiunge la notizia di una visita del
cardinale Umberto di Silva Candida, che consacrò "oratorium cum duobus
altaribus", il 9 luglio 1058.
Nel giro di pochi anni G.
provvide a dare al suo istituto, nato evidentemente come eremus, una
solida organizzazione cenobitica, fondata sulla regola benedettina.
Il valore di questa
scelta è efficacemente sottolineato dalla Vitaanonima della Nazionale (cap.
3): "cum quibus non tantum secundum cenobialem monasteriorum
consuetudinem, quantum iuxta sanctorum patrum, scilicet apostolorum sanctique
Basilii maximeque sancti Benedicti […] constituit vivere normam". La nuova
famiglia monastica s'inseriva in effetti nel solco della tradizione
benedettina, ma nella misura in cui tendeva a riappropriarsi, per volontà del
suo fondatore, degli ideali del primo monachesimo, veniva a costituire una
reale alternativa al cenobitismo contemporaneo, che appariva sempre più
distante dalla perfezione delle origini. In questo quadro acquistano un più
preciso significato i riferimenti degli agiografi all'amore di G. per la
povertà, al divieto da lui impartito ai suoi monaci di "accipere
capellas" (Andrea di Strumi, cap. 19), alla sua venerazione per gli ordini
sacri.
Non si sa con precisione
quando G. abbia assunto la carica abbaziale. Nei primi documenti egli figura
quale praepositus: la prima menzione è del 27 ag. 1043 (Arch. di Stato di
Firenze, Diplomatico, Vallombrosa, 1043 agosto 27) e come tale si
sottoscrive ancora in un documento del novembre 1049 (Ibid., Corpor. rel.
soppresse, 260, 6); tardiva appare la denominazione abbas - maggio
1068 (ibid.) -, ma si può immaginare che già molto prima di questa data egli
ricoprisse tale carica.
L'espansione del
monachesimo vallombrosano fu immediata: ad anni precedenti la metà del secolo
risalgono le fondazioni di Montescalari, Moscheta, Razzuolo, S. Salvi; nello
stesso periodo vennero affidati a G. i monasteri già esistenti di Marradi,
Passignano, Settimo (quest'ultimo, donato dal conte Guglielmo il Bulgaro, non
figura più fra i monasteri vallombrosani nel privilegio di Urbano II del 1090).
Numerose fondazioni si ebbero anche nella seconda metà del sec. XI e per tutto
il sec. XII.
I rapporti fra la nuova
fondazione e il Papato ci sono noti, per questo primo periodo, solo dalle
notizie contenute nelle agiografie: queste riferiscono di un sereno incontro
fra G. e Leone IX nel monastero di Passignano, avvenuto forse nel 1050, mentre
lasciano trapelare qualche tensione nei confronti di Stefano IX. Anche i
rapporti con il potere politico non sono chiaramente delineati: la Vita di
Andrea riferisce di un tentativo di rapimento messo in atto da Beatrice di
Lorena, marchesa di Toscana, moglie del marchese Goffredo il Barbuto, ai danni
di G., ma la notizia è del tutto omessa da Attone. È comunque evidente che
l'azione di G. contro il vescovo di Firenze Pietro Mezzabarba colpì
indirettamente il marchese Goffredo, fedele alleato del presule fiorentino, e
l'alta aristocrazia a lui legata.
Un momento fondamentale
nella storia di G. e del monachesimo vallombrosano è rappresentato appunto dal
conflitto con il Mezzabarba. La vicenda si colloca negli anni Sessanta del
secolo: G., probabilmente già noto per il suo impegno riformatore, che gli
attirava discepoli "de diversis terris et regnis", monaci, chierici e
laici (Andrea di Strumi, cap. 68), venuto a conoscenza dell'elezione simoniaca
del prelato, lo denunciò pubblicamente come eretico, suscitando l'aspra
reazione di costui che, forte del sostegno militare del marchese Goffredo, fece
assalire il monastero di S. Salvi, nei pressi di Firenze, con l'intento, a
quanto pare, di colpire G., che aveva in realtà lasciato il giorno prima il
monastero (l'assalto ebbe luogo, secondo alcuni storici, tra la fine del 1065 e
l'inizio del 1066, secondo altri nel 1067). Accorso sul posto subito dopo,
secondo la testimonianza delle agiografie, G. confortò i compagni, feriti e
oltraggiati, e si congratulò con loro per aver coraggiosamente sopportato il
martirio in difesa della fede (nelle Vite di Andrea e di Attone il
martirio viene presentato come l'ideale coronamento dell'esperienza monastica:
cfr. Andrea di Strumi, cap. 73; Attone, cap. 62). Gli agiografi tendono
probabilmente a enfatizzare l'episodio, come già rilevava alla fine
dell'Ottocento lo storico R. Davidsohn; un dato comunque certo è lo zelo
antisimoniaco di G. e dei suoi seguaci, che rese inevitabile lo scontro con il
Mezzabarba. Appare inoltre evidente la novità di questo monachesimo, che,
rompendo una tradizione inveterata di chiusura e di isolamento, accettava di
confrontarsi con il mondo assumendo un ruolo importante nella lotta per la
riforma della Chiesa.
Presenti al sinodo romano
del 1067, in cui furono rappresentati da Rodolfo, abate di Moscheta, i monaci
ribadirono le accuse contro il vescovo, dichiarandosi pronti ad affrontare una
prova del fuoco, ma il papa Alessandro II non volle deporre l'accusato né
accettare la prova.
In quell'occasione,
secondo il racconto della Vitaanonima della Nazionale, che rivela più
volte episodi e particolari taciuti dalle altre agiografie, i vallombrosani
furono apertamente osteggiati da molti dei presenti, con in testa Pier Damiani
che, udita la loro denuncia, si sarebbe rivolto ad Alessandro II definendo i
monaci "locustae, quae depascuntur viriditatem sanctae ecclesiae" (ibid.,
cap. 5). Per nulla intimoriti da questo clima, i seguaci di G., rispondendo a
una domanda posta loro dal vescovo di Como Rainaldo, negarono ogni validità ai
sacramenti amministrati da preti indegni, ponendo implicitamente sullo stesso
piano simonia e concubinato del clero. L'agiografo a questo punto ricorda che,
mentre tutti inveivano contro i monaci e li minacciavano di morte, il solo
Ildebrando (il futuro Gregorio VII), quale "alter Gamaliel", ne prese
apertamente le difese "contra omnium opinionem" (ibid.).
Al di là
dell'amplificazione agiografica colpisce in questo racconto la radicalità delle
posizioni vallombrosane che, come ha osservato il Miccoli (1960, p. 15), non
sembra tuttavia derivare da una compiuta dottrina teologica, quanto piuttosto
da "una esasperata accentuazione delle caratteristiche di perfezione
morale reclamate per chi fosse rivestito della dignitas sacerdotale",
come emerge peraltro anche da altri luoghi delle Vite del santo.
Nonostante le resistenze
incontrate nel sinodo, G. e i suoi monaci proseguirono la lotta contro il
vescovo fiorentino. Nell'estate del 1067 Alessandro II, forse anche per il
fallimento del tentativo di mediazione compiuto da Pier Damiani a Firenze nella
primavera precedente, si recò lui stesso nella città, ma rifiutò la prova del
fuoco proposta dai monaci. In un crescendo di tensione si arrivò al momento
risolutivo dello scontro. Il 9 febbr. 1068 alcuni chierici ostili al
Mezzabarba, radunati nella chiesa di S. Pier Celoro (nei pressi di S. Reparata)
per l'ufficio liturgico, vennero cacciati dal luogo sacro dalle truppe di
Goffredo. Il popolo scese in piazza contro il sopruso, mentre lo stesso clero
rimasto fedele al vescovo chiuse le chiese e inviò una legazione al monastero
di S. Salvatore a Settimo, caposaldo della resistenza vallombrosana, chiedendo
di conoscere la verità sull'operato del Mezzabarba. Venne così indetta per il
13 febbr. 1068 la prova del fuoco: di fronte al monastero di Settimo un monaco
di nome Pietro (poi detto Igneo), incaricato da G., attraversò le cataste
infuocate e ne uscì illeso, di fronte a una folla acclamante. Fu così provata
la colpevolezza del vescovo, che di lì a poco venne deposto dal papa.
L'episodio è riferito con ampiezza di particolari in una lettera inviata dal
clero e dal popolo fiorentino (redatta dal capitolo della cattedrale) ad
Alessandro II, che viene riportata dalle agiografie (il testo è stato edito anche
dal Miccoli, 1960, pp. 147-157).
L'impegno riformatore di
G. non sembra tuttavia esaurirsi nella lotta contro il vescovo di Firenze. Le
agiografie di Andrea e di Attone testimoniano il suo interesse per la vita del
clero, oltre che per la vita monastica ("Dilexerat enim a principio bonos
clericos, quemadmodum monachos […]. Nam omnimodo studebat cum bonis clericis
canonicas ordinare ecclesias, sicut cum monachis monasteria": Andrea di
Strumi, cap. 78), e segnalano in particolare i rapporti di G. con l'ambiente
riformatore milanese: assecondando una richiesta del clero e dei fedeli di
quella città, G. rinviò a Milano, dopo averli fatti ordinare sacerdoti da
Rodolfo, il vescovo succeduto al Mezzabarba, i chierici milanesi che si erano
da lui rifugiati per evitare rapporti con gli eretici simoniaci, compresi
coloro che stavano per indossare l'abito monastico; l'episodio viene datato
dalla maggior parte degli studiosi al periodo successivo alla lotta con il
Mezzabarba; dallo Spinelli e dal Golinelli al periodo precedente, in consonanza
con la prima predicazione a Milano di Arialdo contro la simonia. In seguito
egli mandò a Milano lo stesso vescovo Rodolfo, perché recasse il suo conforto
alla popolazione, da lungo tempo priva di un pastore cattolico.
L'impegno antisimoniaco
di G. emerge con evidenza anche da una sua lettera, riportata dagli agiografi,
indirizzata al vescovo di Volterra Ermanno; in "un testo anche
stilisticamente mirabile, nel quale si ritrae un profilo di vescovo pieno di
umanità e di fede" (Cremascoli, p. 166) l'autore esprime una dura condanna
della symoniaca heresis, incoraggiando il vescovo a lottare contro di essa
e a vegliare sui costumi del clero e del popolo.
Degli ultimi anni di vita
di G. non si sa molto. Le agiografie riferiscono alcuni miracoli da lui operati
(che si aggiungono ad altri descritti prima del racconto della lotta contro il
Mezzabarba), quindi si concentrano sugli ultimi momenti della sua vita.
Ritiratosi nel monastero di Passignano in Val di Pesa, G., ammalato, convocò gli
abati di tutti i monasteri, rivolse loro le ultime raccomandazioni, li
benedisse e li baciò, rimandandoli poi alle loro sedi. Rimasero con lui il
priore e l'abate di Passignano, Rustico e Leto, che lo pregarono di lasciare
loro "aliquam exortationem […] de unitate caritatis et concordia
pacis" (Andrea di Strumi, cap. 79). G. dettò allora una
lettera-testamento, in cui esaltava il vinculum caritatis, che è alla base
dell'unione fraterna, e raccomandava ai suoi monaci l'obbedienza all'abate
Rodolfo, che egli designò come suo successore.
G. morì il 12 luglio
1073. Dopo tre giorni venne sepolto nella cripta della chiesa di Passignano.
È del tutto infondata la
notizia di una canonizzazione di G. per opera di Gregorio VII, notizia che
forse prende spunto da una lettera del papa indirizzata, poco dopo la morte di
G., ai monaci di Vallombrosa, in cui egli elogia l'operato del loro fondatore.
G. fu invece elevato agli onori degli altari il 1° ott. 1193, per opera di
Celestino III, che accolse l'istanza presentatagli da Gregorio, abate di
Passignano; il 23 maggio 1194 il pontefice diede mandato ai vescovi di Arezzo,
Siena e Pistoia di procedere all'elevatio, ma per motivi che non conosciamo la
disposizione del pontefice non venne messa in atto (si ipotizza un'opposizione
dei vescovi di Firenze e di Fiesole, ambedue, per diverse ragioni, in contrasto
con Passignano: cfr. Vasaturo, 1994, p. 62). Il 27 marzo 1210 Innocenzo III
rinnovò il mandato ai vescovi di Firenze e di Fiesole: l'elevatio ebbe
luogo il 10 ottobre dello stesso anno.
La festa liturgica venne
fissata da Celestino III al 1° ottobre in Toscana (bolla del 6 ott. 1193 ai
vescovi toscani) e al 12 luglio in Lombardia (bolla del 6 ott. 1193 ai vescovi
lombardi). Nel capitolo generale vallombrosano del 1216 si prescrisse che la
data del 12 luglio venisse celebrata dalla congregazione "sicut in festo
XII lectionum", quella del 10 ottobre come festa solenne. Nel capitolo del
1272 si ribadì che l'anniversario della morte doveva essere celebrato in tutti
i monasteri e le chiese dell'ordine "cum XII lectionibus, psalmis et
responsoriis"; si prescrisse inoltre che ogni vallombrosano "prelatus
vel prelata aut rector alicuius ecclesie" avesse a disposizione una
"vita scripta et completa" di G. e che l'anniversario della traslazione
fosse solennemente celebrato, "ut in plenis sollempnitatibus cum octava
plena". Tutti i monaci, i conversi e i familiares erano
tenuti inoltre ad astenersi dal lavoro manuale.
La festa del 12 luglio fu
introdotta da Clemente VIII, nel 1595, nel calendario universale, come semplice
commemorazione, che divenne semiduplex ad libitum nel 1671, semiduplex nel
1679, duplex nel 1680. Nel 1951 G. fu proclamato da Pio XII patrono
dei forestali d'Italia.
La figura di G. ha
conosciuto una notevole fortuna agiografica. Si contano una dozzina di
testi latini (per lo più Vitae, ma anche Miracula e componimenti
poetici in onore del santo), cui vanno aggiunti alcuni volgarizzamenti e le più
tarde biografie in italiano: testi in gran parte prodotti dall'ambiente
vallombrosano, che mostrano un comune intento di conservazione e di
celebrazione della memoria del padre fondatore, ma che rivelano anche
differenti interessi agiografici. La prima biografia, scritta intorno al 1092
da Andrea da Parma, abate di Strumi, ex patarino, è nota da un unico
manoscritto, purtroppo mancante di alcuni fogli (Arch. di Stato di
Firenze, Corporazioni rel. soppresse, 260, 259). In essa l'autore propone
un'immagine di santo in cui s'incontrano due diverse dimensioni, il legame con
l'ideale monastico benedettino, riportato alla sua originaria purezza, e
l'impegno fino al martirio nella lotta contro la corruzione ecclesiastica. A
questo ritratto resta sostanzialmente fedele Attone, monaco e abate
vallombrosano eletto nel 1133 vescovo di Pistoia, che scrive nei primi decenni
del XII secolo; nella sua Vita, che pure riprende spesso alla lettera il
racconto del primo biografo, sembrano tuttavia affacciarsi nuove esigenze,
soprattutto di aggiornamento dell'immagine della comunità vallombrosana
(vengono, per esempio, taciute alcune norme riferite da Andrea) e di una più
marcata esaltazione della figura del santo. Per questi elementi la Vita di
Attone potrebbe aver soppiantato la precedente biografia, come sembra attestare
la discreta fortuna manoscritta da essa incontrata. Caratteristiche diverse ha
una terza Vita del santo, la cosiddetta Vita anonima della
Nazionale (essa è infatti attestata dal codice Firenze, Bibl.
nazionale, Conv. soppr., C.4.1791), anch'essa dei primi decenni del XII
secolo, il cui autore, probabilmente un monaco di S. Salvatore a Settimo, ha
sintetizzato la vicenda biografica e omesso i miracoli (facendo riferimento a
un'altra opera - evidentemente la Vita di Andrea o quella di Attone -
in cui queste parti erano più ampiamente trattate) e ha descritto episodi
esemplari che mettono in luce le virtù di Giovanni Gualberto. Meno
significative appaiono le agiografie successive: è andata presumibilmente
perduta la Vita scritta da Gregorio di Passignano ai fini della
canonizzazione (ne restano solo pochi frammenti, editi da F. Soldani, 1731 e
1741), in cui sembrano per la prima volta indicati luogo di nascita (Petroio) e
origine familiare (Visdomini) del santo. Si deve attendere l'inizio del XIV
secolo per trovare un nuovo profilo agiografico, all'interno di un leggendario
abbreviato di origine fiorentina (Firenze, Bibl. Medicea Laurenziana, Plut. XX,
6) da alcuni studiosi attribuito a un vallombrosano di nome Biagio: in un agile
compendio della Vita di Attone l'autore ha amplificato qualche
episodio e inserito nuovi particolari, senza tuttavia modificare
sostanzialmente l'immagine del santo tracciata dai primi biografi. Un'epitome
assai meno significativa della Vita di Attone si trova nel
leggendario francescano tramandato dal ms. della Bibl. Medicea Laurenziana,
Plut. XXXV sin. 9, del sec. XIV. Una nuova Vita di G. venne composta
intorno al 1419 dal monaco Andrea da Genova su incarico dell'abate del
monastero vallombrosano di S. Bartolomeo del Fossato: l'opera, in gran parte
inedita (tramandata dai mss. dell'Arch. di Stato di Firenze, Corpor. rel.
soppresse, 260, 223 e 260, 243), si presenta come una compilazione erudita
basata sulle precedenti agiografie, corredata di indicazioni, soprattutto
cronologiche, che l'autore dichiara di attingere da fonti cronachistiche;
Andrea da Genova sembra inoltre preoccupato di chiarire e giustificare alcune
azioni del santo (per esempio, la scelta di indire la prova del fuoco). Qualche
decennio più tardi l'arcivescovo di Firenze Antonino Pierozzi dedicò a G. un
interessante profilo all'interno del suo Chronicon; pur sintetizzando
la Vita di Attone, Antonino non rinunciò a disporre in un ordine più
coerente i miracoli del santo e a introdurre nel racconto qualche osservazione
originale. Nella seconda metà del Quattrocento videro la luce i Miracula
s. Iohannis Gualberti, ampio racconto di miracoli post mortem, spesso
avvenuti in virtù delle reliquie del santo, il cui autore, Girolamo da
Raggiolo, amico di Lorenzo il Magnifico (cui è dedicata l'opera), mostra di
possedere una buona cultura classica. Intorno al 1500 Sante Valori da Perugia,
abate del monastero vallombrosano di Marradi, mosso da preoccupazioni di
carattere stilistico, scrisse una nuova biografia, inedita. Si segnala inoltre
la Vita in versi latini composta nella seconda metà del Cinquecento
dall'abate Emilio Acerbi, di modesto valore. Nel XVI e nel XVII secolo
l'agiografia vallombrosana si rinnova anche considerevolmente: le nuove
biografie in volgare, che mescolano interessi agiografici e storico-eruditi,
ricostruiscono con sempre maggiore ampiezza di particolari la vicenda del santo
e la storia dell'Ordine (cfr. E. Loccatelli, Vita del glorioso padre san
Giovangualberto fondatore dell'Ordine di Vallombrosa…, in Fiorenza 1583; D. de
Franchi, Historia del patriarcha s. Giovangualberto, primo abbate et
institutore del monastico Ordine di Vallombrosa…, in Fiorenza 1640).
Iconografia: numerose, ma
in prevalenza tarde, sono le testimonianze iconografiche relative a G.; egli è
rappresentato in abiti monastici (di colore grigio o marrone o, nelle
raffigurazioni meno antiche, nero, in conformità alla tradizione benedettina), appoggiato
a un bastone a forma di tau, il pastorale abbaziale antico, chiamato la
"gruccia", insegna caratteristica degli abati di Vallombrosa e dello
stemma vallombrosano; in mano una croce, che ricorda il miracolo avvenuto nella
chiesa di S. Miniato dopo il perdono dell'assassino, o un libro. Viene spesso
ritratto insieme con altre figure, in particolare la Vergine Assunta, titolare
dell'abbazia di Vallombrosa e patrona dell'Ordine, Bernardo degli Uberti (m.
1133), anche lui santo vallombrosano e figura di grande prestigio all'interno
della congregazione, s. Benedetto e, talora, s. Michele, titolare del monastero
di Passignano. Questo tipo di raffigurazione si riscontra nell'Assunzione del
Perugino, firmata e datata 1500, un tempo sopra l'altare maggiore di
Vallombrosa e oggi conservata alla Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze; si
considerino inoltre le opere di Andrea del Sarto con analoghe caratteristiche:
la Madonna e quattro santi, proveniente da S. Salvi, oggi presso la
Galleria Palatina di Palazzo Pitti, a Firenze; l'Assunta con gli apostoli e
santi (1526), presso la medesima galleria; i Quattro santi (Michele
Arcangelo, G., Bernardo degli Uberti, Giovanni Battista), pala d'altare (1528)
un tempo a Vallombrosa, oggi agli Uffizi.
Altre testimonianze: i pannelli
con le scene del perdono dell'assassino, presso la Pinacoteca Vaticana (scuola
fiorentina del XV secolo); la pala d'altare di Giovanni del Biondo nella
cappella Bardi di Vernio, in S. Croce a Firenze; la Crocifissione del
Beato Angelico, presso il Museo di S. Marco di Firenze, con G. e altri santi
inginocchiati; i Ss. Miniato e G. di Agnolo Gaddi (1394-96), in uno
degli sportelli di custodia del crocifisso della chiesa di S. Miniato, che
secondo la tradizione agiografica s'inclinò davanti a G. (il crocifisso fu
trasferito nel 1671 nella chiesa vallombrosana di S. Trinita a Firenze); S.
G. perdona l'uccisore di suo fratello, affresco di Lorenzo di Bicci e S.
G. in trono tra santi vallombrosani, affresco (staccato) di Neri di Bicci,
nella chiesa di S. Trinita; LaSs. Trinità tra i ss. Benedetto e G. di
Alessio Baldovinetti, proveniente da S. Trinita, ora alla Galleria
dell'Accademia di Firenze; Gloria di s. G., di Zanobi di Benedetto Strozzi
(circa 1457), a Venezia, presso la Fondazione Cini. Nell'abbazia di
Vallombrosa, nella cappella dedicata a G., si trova Ilsanto presentato da
Maria al trono di Dio (affresco di Alessandro Gherardini, nella volta
della cappella); dietro l'altare, S. G. ai piedi del Crocifisso di
Antonio Franchi (1703); nella sagrestia, S. G. e santi, tavola di
Raffaellino del Garbo (circa 1508), e Madonna col Bambino e i ss. G. e
Umiltà, terracotta di scuola robbiana. Si segnala inoltre, sempre nell'abbazia
di Vallombrosa, il tabernacolo in marmo contenente il Reliquiario del
braccio del santo, a forma di tempietto esagonale, con formelle di smalto con
episodi della vita del santo, eseguito dall'orafo fiorentino Paolo Soliani
(1500). Nella chiesa della Badia a Passignano, alla parete del transetto
sin., Storie di s. G., di Alessandro Allori e scolari (1580-81); nella
sagrestia il Busto-reliquiario di s. G., lavoro smaltato di oreficeria
fiorentina del XV secolo. Si segnala inoltre il trittico di Nicola di Maestro
Antonio da Ancona a Urbino, nella Galleria nazionale delle Marche.
Si ricordano infine
numerose incisioni in legno e rame, dei secoli XV-XIX, raffiguranti il santo e
scene della sua vita.
Fonti e Bibl.: Per
le Vitae latine del santo cfr. Bibliotheca hagiographica Latina,
Bruxelles 1898-99, nn. 4397-4406; Bibliotheca hagiographica Latina. Novum
Supplementum, a cura di H. Fros, Bruxelles 1986, pp. 488 s. Edizioni
delle Vitae: Andreas Strumensis, Vita s. Iohannis Gualberti, a cura
di F. Baethgen, in Mon. Germ. Hist., Scriptores, XXX, 2, Lipsiae
1934, pp. 1080-1104; Vita s. Iohannis Gualberti auctore discipulo eius
anonymo, a cura di F. Baethgen, ibid., pp. 1104-1110; Atto Pistoriensis
episcopus, Vita s. Ioannis Gualberti, in J.-P. Migne, Patr. Lat.,
CXLVI, coll. 671-706; Girolamo da Raggiolo, Miracula s. Ioannis Gualberti, ibid.,
coll. 811-960; F. Soldani, Questioni istoriche cronologiche vallombrosane…,
Lucca 1731, pp. 34 s. (frammenti dalla Vita di Gregorio da
Passignano); D.M. Manni, Vite di alcuni santi scritte nel buon secolo
della lingua toscana, III, Firenze 1734, pp. 283-336 (volgarizzamento del XIV
sec. della Vita di Attone, a opera di Benigno Malatesta da Cesena,
riportato parzialmente da G. De Luca, Prosatori minori del Trecento, I,
Milano-Napoli 1954, pp. 595-608); F. Soldani, Historia monasterii S.
Michaelis de Passiniano…, Lucae 1741, pp. 190 s. (frammenti della Vita di
Gregorio da Passignano); Antonino Pierozzi, Chronicon, Lugduni 1686, II,
pp. 548-553 (tit. XV, 17); W. Goez - Ch. Hafner, Die vierte Vita des Abtes
Iohannes Gualberti von Vallombrosa, in Deutsches Archiv für Erforschung
des Mittelalters, XLI (1985), pp. 418-437 (Vita della Biblioteca Medicea
Laurenziana, ms. Plut. XX, 6; una nuova edizione di questa Vita in Un
leggendario fiorenti-no del XIV secolo, a cura di A. Degl'Innocenti, Tavarnuzze
[Firenze] 1999, pp. 21-32); A. Degl'Innocenti, Un'inedita epitome
agiografica: la Vita di G. del ms. Laurenziano Plut. 35 sin. 9, in Studi
medievali, s. 3, XXXIII (1992), pp. 909-933 (epitome della Vita di
Attone). La Vita di Andrea di Strumi e la Vitaanonima della
Nazionale sono tradotte in italiano in Alle origini di Vallombrosa.
G. nella società dell'XI secolo, a cura di G. Spinelli - G. Rossi,
Milano-Novara 1991, di cui si segnala anche il saggio introduttivo dello
Spinelli, G. e la riforma della Chiesa in Toscana. Si veda inoltre P. Di
Re, Biografie di G. a confronto, Roma 1974, con i testi delle prime
tre Vite disposti su colonne affiancate. R. Davidsohn, Forschungen
zur älteren Geschichte von Florenz, Berlin 1896, pp. 41, 47-54, 68 s.; M.A.
Martini, La vita di s. G. in una antica laude inedita, in La
Bibliofilia, XXXVIII (1926-27), pp. 161-183; L. Mencaraglia, Note
agiografiche e umanistiche da un manoscritto fiorentino del 1509, ibid.,
XLII (1940), pp. 180-195; B. Quilici, G. e la sua riforma monastica,
Firenze 1943; G. Kaftal, Iconography of the saints in Tuscan painting,
Firenze 1952, coll. 569-580; R. Davidsohn, Storia di Firenze, I,
Firenze 1956, pp. 242-252, 263-266, 276-287, 316, 329-365, 884 s.; G.
Miccoli, Pietro Igneo. Studi sull'età gregoriana, Roma 1960, passim;
S. Boesch Gajano, G. e la vita comune del clero nelle biografie di Andrea
di Strumi e di Atto di Vallombrosa, in La vita comune del clero nei secoli
XI e XII. Atti della Prima Settimana internazionale di studio, Mendola…
1959, II, Milano 1962, pp. 228-235; Id., Storia e tradizione vallombrosane,
in Bull. dell'Istituto storico italiano per il Medio Evo e Archivio
Muratoriano, LXXVI (1964), pp. 99-215; G. Kaftal, Iconography of the
saints in Central and South Italian painting, Firenze 1965, coll. 633 s.; R.
Volpini - A. Cardinale, G.G., in Bibliotheca sanctorum, VI, Roma
1965, coll. 1012-1032; G. Miccoli, Aspetti del monachesimo toscano nel
secolo XI, in Id., Chiesa gregoriana. Ricerche sulla riforma del
secolo XI, Firenze 1966, pp. 47-63; R. Grégoire, Jean Gualbert (saint),
in Dictionnaire de spiritualité, VIII, Paris 1973, coll. 541-543; A.
Savioli - P. Spotorno, Incisioni di cinque secoli per s. G., Vallombrosa
1973; P. Di Re, G. nelle fonti dei secoli XI-XII. Studio
critico-storico-agiografico, Roma 1974; R.N. Vasaturo, G., santo, in Dizionario
degli istituti di perfezione, IV, Roma 1977, coll. 1273-1276; A. Ravasi, Vite
parallele di santi medievali (sec. XI). Analisi morfologica della
"legenda" nata intorno a Arialdo e G., in Poliorama, I (1982),
pp. 62-161; A. Degl'Innocenti, Le Vite antiche di G.: cronologia e modelli
agiografici, in Studi medievali, s. 3, XXV (1984), pp. 31-91; Acta
capitulorum generalium Congregationis Vallis Umbrosae, I, Institutiones
abbatum (1095-1310), a cura di N.R. Vasaturo, Roma 1985, pp. 59 s., 101; A.
Degl'Innocenti, Analisi morfologica e modello agiografico nelle Vite di
Arialdo e G., in Medioevo e Rinascimento, I (1987), pp. 101-129; S. Boesch
Gajano, G., in Storia dei santi e della santità cristiana, a cura di
A. Vauchez, VI, Milano 1991, pp. 175-179; N. D'Acunto, Lotte religiose a
Firenze nel secolo XI. Aspetti della rivolta contro il vescovo Pietro
Mezzabarba, in Aevum, LXVI (1993), pp. 279-312; R. N. Vasaturo, Vallombrosa. L'abbazia
e la Congregazione. Note storiche, a cura di G. Monzio Compagnoni, Vallombrosa
1994, pp. 3-19; I vallombrosani nella società italiana dei secoli XI e
XII. Vallombrosa, … 1993, a cura di G. Monzio Compagnoni, Vallombrosa 1995 (v.,
fra gli altri, i contributi di P. Golinelli, I vallombrosani e i movimenti
patarinici, pp. 35-56; N. D'Acunto, Tensioni e convergenze fra monachesimo
vallombrosano, Papato e vescovi nel secolo XI, pp. 57-81; R. Grégoire, La
canonizzazione e il culto di G., pp. 113-132; A. Degl'Innocenti, L'agiografia
su G. fino al secolo XV, pp. 133-157; G. Cremascoli, "Vitae"
latine di G.: analisi dell'"ars scribendi", pp. 159-177); A.
Degl'Innocenti, G., in Il grande libro dei santi. Dizionario
enciclopedico, a cura di C. Leonardi - A. Riccardi - G. Zarri, II, Cinisello
Balsamo 1998, pp. 913-916; Medioevo latino, I (1980) e successivi (s.v.
Iohannes Gualberti).
SOURCE : http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/santo-giovanni-gualberto_(Dizionario-Biografico)
Pietro Sorri, Pardoning of San Giovanni Gualberto, 1601, Astino Monestry Church, Bergamo
Den hellige Johannes
Gualbertus (~990-1073)
Minnedag:
12. juli
Den hellige Johannes
Gualbertus (it: Giovanni Gualberti) ble født rundt 990 (mellom 985 og 995) i
Petroio ved Firenze i regionen Toscana i Midt-Italia. Han kom fra adelsfamilien
Visdomini og hans far var Gualberto de Visdomini. Johannes levde et ungdomsliv
preget av fornøyelser og utskeielser og ble utdannet til offiser og til
våpenbruk. På 1000-tallet var Firenze en splittet by, hvor de mektige
adelsfamiliene bekjempet hverandre og der volden hersket i gatene. Hugo,
Johannes’ eldre og eneste bror, falt som offer for en slik voldsdåd og ble
myrdet av en slektning, og Johannes sverget hevn.
Langfredag 1013 møtte han
så morderen i den bratte skråningen ved klosteret San Miniato del Monte i
Firenze. Mannen var ubevæpnet og flukt var umulig, mens Johannes trakk sverdet.
Den dødsdømte falt på kne, slo ut armene og ventet på dødsstøtet. Hans stilling
minnet plutselig Johannes om Kristus, så han stakk sverdet i skjeden, omfavnet
og tilga brorens morder og flyktet til klosteret San Miniato. Der falt han på
kne foran krusifikset og så at den korsfestede nikket til ham. Kristus hadde
godkjent hans beslutning. Fortsatt finnes det et lite kapell på stedet for
møtet som forandret Johannes’ liv.
Johannes gikk straks til
abbeden for San Miniato og ba om å bli opptatt som benediktiner (Ordo
Sancti Benedicti – OSB). Abbeden var bekymret for farens mishag, men etter
et par dager klippet Johannes håret av seg selv og tok på seg en drakt som han
lånte. Han tilegnet seg i løpet av kort tid alle klosterdyder, så da abbeden
døde rundt fire år senere, ville munkene velge Johannes til ny abbed, men han
holdt seg for uverdig. Men under den nye abbeden Hubert syntes Johannes at
klosterlivet ikke ble strengt nok. Selv om han hadde tilgitt brorens morder,
kunne han ikke tilgi Kirkens bødler, de simonistiske makthaverne som hadde
kjøpt sine kirkelige embeter for de rike inntektenes skyld.
Johannes kom snart i
konflikt med sin egen abbed, som hadde kjøpt embetet av Firenzes biskop Hatto
(Atto) (1032-45). Med støtte av eremitten Teuzo prøvde han i en tale på
markedet å få folket i Firenze til å gå mot abbeden for å oppnå at han ble
fordrevet. Men da ble han slått halvdød av biskopens tilhengere og måtte flykte
fra klosteret sammen med en ledsager. Johannes Gualbertus’ første ledsagere kom
fra klosteret San Miniato i Firenze og fra andre klostre som Settimo.
En periode bodde de i
ulike klostre, en tid i klosteret i Camáldoli, hovedsetet for eremittordenen
kamaldulenserne (Congregatio Monachorum Eremitarum Camaldulensium –
OSBCam). Men hans kall var for det cenobittiske, ikke det eremittiske liv, så
rundt år 1030 bega han ut i ødemarken til Vallis Umbrosa («Skyggedalen»),
senere kalt Vallombrosa, nær Fiesole, rundt tre mil øst for Firenze, på den
nordvestre skråningen av Monte Secchieta i fjellkjeden Pratomagno, 957 m.o.h.
Der bodde eremittene Paulus og Guntelm, og sammen med dem grunnla Johannes «De
grå fedre», som i noen år skal ha levd som eneboere, men dette avvises av den
franske benediktinske historikeren Edmond Martène (1654-1739) som uforenlig med
Johannes’ grunn til å forlate Camáldoli. Ordenens grunnleggelse angis til 1036.
I 1051 bygde munkene klosteret Badia a Coltibuono i nærheten av Gaiole i
Chianti i Toscana.
Munkenes første regel
hadde Gualbertus laget basert på den hellige Benedikts
opprinnelige regel. Den største forskjellen var forholdet til manuelt arbeid,
som var påbudt av Benedikt («be og arbeid» - ora et labora). Men for å
forhindre at kormunkene ble overbelastet med nødvendig manuelt arbeid, innførte
Johannes conversi, legbrødre, og alle praktiske gjøremål var forbeholdt
dem. Dette var et konsept som ble utviklet med betydelig suksess av
cistercienserne et århundre senere.
De første munkenes
hellige liv i Vallombrosa tiltrakk seg betydelig oppmerksomhet og førte til
mange anmodninger om nye grunnleggelser, men det var få postulanter, siden det
ikke var mange som klarte å holde ut det ekstremt asketiske livet. Johannes
Gualbertus krevde harde prøver av de nye disiplene før han tok dem opp i klosteret.
Før avleggelsen av løftene måtte de ligge tre dager og netter utstrakt på
bakken og meditere over Kristi lidelse. Han forbød sine munker å forlate
klosteret. Men selv hevet han seg aldri over sine brødre og tjente Gud i
ydmykhet som dem. Han holdt seg for uverdig til å motta prestevielsen, og hele
livet fortsatte han å være legmann, uten engang å motta de lavere vielser.
Disse klostrene var
sluttet sammen i et løst forbund, som ennå ikke var noen egentlig kongregasjon,
men en personlig allianse rundt Johannes Gualbertus. I 1049 ble han kalt praepositus (prost;
lat: «plassert over»), men senere tok han tittelen abbed. Disse klostrene ble
gradvis en del av den nye ordenen som oppsto under Johannes’ regel:
Vallombrosanerne (Congregatio Vallis Umbrosae Ordinis Sancti Benedicti –
CVUOSB eller Ordo Sancti Benedicti Vallombrosae – OSBVall), en gren
av benediktinerordenen. I alle nye klostre insisterte Johannes på at bygningene
skulle bygges så beskjedent og billig som mulig, og at pengene som ble spart,
skulle gis til de fattige. Han ga ofte bort klosterets matlagre til de fattige
som kom til klosterporten. Området hvor det første klosteret lå, var vilt og
goldt, men munkene plantet gran og furutrær og omformet det til en park.
Ryktet om Johannes’
hellighet bredte seg ut over hele den kristne verden. Han arbeidet også for
kirkens renhet, for på den tid hersket simoni og nepotisme, og mange prester
levde i ekteskap eller «ekteskapslignende forhold» (konkubinat). Disse prestene
ble kalt «nikolaitter». Selv den hellige pave Leo IX (1049-54)
oppsøkte Johannes for å få råd, og pave Stefan IX (X) (1057-58) hadde den
høyeste aktelse for ham. Pave Alexander II (1061-73) vitnet om at hele området
hvor Johannes levde, kunne takke hans nidkjærhet for utryddelsen av simoni.
For Johannes’ entusiasme
for den rent kontemplative liv hindret ikke ham og hans munker fra å ta aktivt
del i kampen mot dette ondet. Hans hovedmotstander ble biskop Peter Mezzabarba
av Firenze (1062-68). Dennes far, Teuzo Mezzabarba fra Pavia, hadde kjøpt
bispestolen i Firenze til sønnen for 3 000 pund gull. På synoden i Roma
våren 1067 reiste vallombrosanerne anklager mot ham for simoni. Men de
forsamlede biskopene, spesielt den hellige Peter Damian,
vendte seg mot munkene. Bare Hildebrand, den senere hellige pave Gregor VII (1073-85),
støttet dem. Klosteret San Salvi i Firenze ble brent og munkene mishandlet av
anti-reformpartiet, og disse begivenhetene økte Vallombrosas ry.
Etter at Johannes hadde
opprettet tolv klostre, ble han angrepet av en kraftig feber mens han var på
visitasjonsreise til klosteret San Michele Arcangelo i Passignano ved Siena,
som han selv hadde grunnlagt. Der døde han den 12. juli 1073, som er den eneste
sikre datoen i hans historie, over åtti år gammel, og han ble gravlagt tre
dager senere i klosterkirken i Passignano.
I begynnelsen var det
ikke noen selvfølge at ordenens leder var abbeden av Vallombrosa. Denne
forrangen for abbeden av moderklosteret ble fastlagt i 1090 av den salige
pave Urban II (1088-99).
På grunn av denne stillingen måtte hans valg foretas av kommuniteten i
Vallombrosa samt alle abbeder i de assosierte klostrene. Etter grunnleggerens
død spredte ordenen seg raskt og ekspanderte voldsomt i middelalderen,
hovedsakelig i Toscana og Lombardia. En bulle fra i 1090, som tar Vallombrosa
under Den hellige stols beskyttelse, regner opp femten klostre ved siden av
moderhuset. Enda tolv klostre nevnes i en bulle av pave Paschalis II
(1099-1118) i 1115, og 24 andre i buller av Anastasius IV (1153-54) i 1153 og Hadrian
IV (1154-59) i 1156. I 1160 var munkene fra Vallombrosa spredt på 57 klostre og
hus avhengige av dem.
På pave Innocent IIIs tid
(1198-1216) var det over seksti klostre. Alle lå i Italia, unntatt to klostre
på Sardinia. Rundt 1087 grunnla den salige Andreas av Vallombrosa (d. 1112)
klosteret Cornilly i bispedømmet Orléans, og i 1093 klosteret Chezal-Benoît,
som senere ble moderkloster til en betydelig benediktinsk kongregasjon. På
slutten av 1100-tallet var det over femti klostre, på midten av 1200-tallet
nevner kildene rundt åtti abbedier, rundt tretti priorater samt mindre
hospitser og kvinneklostre. I 1500 var det i Italia og resten av Europa mer enn
åtti klostre, rundt 200 priorater, rundt tretti hospitaler, pilegrimsherberger,
barnehjem og annet, samt rundt tyve kvinneklostre.
Den kvinnelige grenen av
ordenen anses vanligvis å ha blitt grunnlagt av den hellige Humilitas (it:
Umiltà) (1226-1310). Det finnes ikke noe grunnlag for den legenden som gjengis
av noen forfattere fra ordenen, om en stor vallombrosansk kongregasjon i
Frankrike med et kloster nær Paris, grunnlagt av den hellige kong Ludvig IX den
Hellige av Frankrike (1214-70). Den vallombrosanske kongregasjonen ble
reformert midt på 1400-tallet av kassinske benediktinere, og igjen av den
hellige Johannes
Leonardi (ca 1541-1609) på begynnelsen av 1600-tallet. I 1485 var det
visse klostre med San Salvi i Firenze i spissen, som hadde dannet en separat
kongregasjon, som ble gjenforent med moderhuset av pave Innocent VIII
(1484-92). På begynnelsen av 1500-tallet ble det gjort et forsøk av
generalabbed Milanesi å grunnlegge et studiehus på linje med et universitet i
Vallombrosa, men i 1527 ble klosteret brent av keiser Karl Vs tropper.
Den opprinnelige grå
drakten ble senere byttet i en brun drakt, men i dag bærer vallombrosanerne
benediktinernes svarte drakt. På midten av 1600-tallet hadde ordenen levert
tolv kardinaler og mer enn tretti biskoper til Kirken i tillegg til over hundre
hellige og salige. Galileo Galilei var en tid novise i Vallombrosa og fikk
deler av sin utdannelse der. Abbedene ble opprinnelig valgt for livstid, men
blir nå valgt på generalkapitlene som holdes hvert fjerde år. Abbeden av Vallombrosa
hadde tidligere et sete i det florentinske senatet og hadde også tittelen greve
av Monte Verde og Gualdo.
Kort etter grunnleggerens
død finner vi legsøstre tilknyttet klosteret Vallombrosa. De levde under oppsyn
av en eldre legbror i et separat hus og utførte ulike husholdningsplikter.
Denne ordningen overlevde i mindre enn et århundre, men da de ikke lenger var
tilknyttet munkeklostre, fortsatte disse søstrene trolig å leve et liv i
kloster. Den salige Bertha (d. 1163) trådte inn hos vallombrosanerne i Firenze
og reformerte klosteret i Cavriglia i 1153.
Ordenen ble i likhet med
karteuserne sterkt redusert i århundrene som fulgte etter brenningen av
klosteret i 1527. Klosteret i Vallombrosa ble gjenoppbygd av abbed Nicolini i
1637, og i 1634 ble det etablert et observatorium der. Fra 1662 til 1680 var
ordenen forent med silvestrinerne (Congregatio Silvestrina Ordinis Sancti
Benedicti – CSilv). I 1808 plyndret Napoleons tropper Vallombrosa, og den
10. oktober 1810 måtte munkene forlate Vallombrosa for første gang. Deretter lå
klosteret øde til den 16. januar 1818, da de vendte tilbake med femten prester
og seksten legbrødre. Klosteret ble til slutt oppløst av den italienske
regjeringen i 1866 da Toscana ble innlemmet i det forente Italia og dermed innførte
lovene om oppløsning av de religiøse institusjonene. Noen få munker ble værende
for å se etter kirken og den meteorologiske stasjonen, mens klosterbygningene
ble brukt til en skogskole som ble grunnlagt den 15. august 1869 og ble senter
for det første skoginstituttet i Italia, et arbeid som munkene hadde utført i
mange århundrer.
Den monastiske
kommuniteten ble imidlertid ikke utslettet, men levde videre i Pescia i
provinsen Pistoia nord i Toscana. Derfra kunne de vende tilbake til Vallombrosa
i 1949, noe som ble gjort mulig ved at en del av klosteret ble gitt til et lite
antall munker som skulle stå for liturgisk betjening av klosterkirken, som
siden 1906 hadde vært sognekirke. I mars 1961 fikk munkene lease hele
bygningen. I 1951 startet restaureringen av klosteret, som ble erklært som
nasjonalmonument i 1951. Frem til 1966 var vallombrosanerne en selvstendig
orden, men da sluttet de seg til den benediktinske føderasjonen. Overhode for
alle vallombrosanske munker er igjen generalabbeden, som samtidig er abbed for
stamklosteret Vallombrosa. Deres generalat har imidlertid sitt sete i Santa
Trinità i Firenze og tilhører bispedømmet Albano.
Ordensgrunnleggeren
Johannes Gualbertus’ kult begynte snart etter hans død, og det ble meldt om
mange undre ved hans grav. Han ble helligkåret den 1. oktober 1193 av pave
Celestin III (1191-98). Hans minnedag er dødsdagen 12. juli og en
translasjonsfest ble feiret den 10. oktober. Ved kalenderrevisjonen i 1969 ble
hans minnedag strøket i Kirkens universalkalender og henvist til lokale eller
spesielle kalendere. Johannes æres som Firenzes skytshelgen. Hans første
biografi ble skrevet av den salige Andreas av Strumi,
som var abbed i Vallombrosa og døde i 1097. En annen biografi ble skrevet av
den salige Atto
av Pistoia (ca 1070-1153) mindre enn femti år etter Johannes’ død. I
kunsten fremstilles Johannes som en eldre abbed i lysegrå ordensdrakt med et
krusifiks eller T-stav, bok med ordensregel og en kjetter eller en djevel under
foten. Noen ganger fremstilles han som ung mann foran et krusifiks som nikker
til ham. Hans berømte krusifiks ble den 25. november 1671 overført fra San
Miniato til Santa Trinità, hvor det fortsatt befinner seg.
I tillegg til
stamklosteret Vallombrosa finnes det i Italia andre klostre i Passignano, med
Johannes Gualbertus’ grav, i Santa Trinità ved Firenze, Santa Prassède i Roma,
Galloro i bispedømmet Albano og i Montessoro i bispedømmet Livorno.
Kilder:
Attwater/John, Attwater/Cumming, Farmer, Butler, Butler (VII), Benedictines,
Delaney, Bunson, Engelhart, Schauber/Schindler, Melchers, Dammer/Adam, KIR, CE,
CSO, Patron Saints SQPN, Infocatho, Bautz, Heiligenlexikon, santiebeati.it,
en.wikipedia.org, de.wikipedia.org, zeno.org, monaci.org, my.tuscany.it,
eckhart.de - Kompilasjon og oversettelse: p. Per Einar Odden
Opprettet: 14. april 2004
Linken er kopiert til
utklippstavlen!
SOURCE : https://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/jgualber
La Storia della Badia di S. Michele a Passignano. Vicende storiche della Badia di Passignano : https://www.badia-a-passignano.com/history_it.htm
