Beato Angelico, San Romualdo (part dalla Crocifissione di Gesù Cristo e santi, 1441 - 1442 ca., affresco; Firenze, Museo di San Marco
Saint Romuald
Fondateur des
Camaldules (+ 1027)
Ce jeune homme plein
d'avenir de la noblesse de Ravenne assiste à 20 ans au meurtre d'un de ses
parents. Bouleversé, il se fait moine au monastère bénédictin de
Saint-Apollinaire in Classe. Ne trouvant pas au monastère l'austérité parfaite
que recherche sa soif d'absolu, il le quitte au bout de trois ans et se fait
ermite, pérégrinant dans la lagune vénitienne. En 978, avec quelques
compagnons, il part pour le monastère de Saint Michel de Cuxa dans les Pyrénées
où il vit en ermite une dizaine d'années. Lorsqu'il décide de regagner Ravenne
pour des raisons familiales, sa réputation de sainteté est si bien établie que
des paysans pyrénéens tentent de l'assassiner pour garder au moins ses
reliques. Romuald parcourt alors l'Italie, ramenant nombre d'ermites à une
vie régulière en adaptant la Règle de Saint
Benoît aux exigences de la vie solitaire. Sa rigueur, effrayante
parfois, est à la mesure de sa soif d'absolu toujours plus délirante. Vers
1012, un grand seigneur lui fait don d'un domaine à Camaldoli en Toscane, dont
il fera le premier ermitage des Camaldules.
Troublé dans sa solitude par de nombreux visiteurs, il se retire dans un
monastère isolé où il mourra. Saint
Pierre Damien, l'un de ses plus illustres disciples, écrira sa vie.
Mémoire de saint Romuald,
anachorète et père des moines camaldules. Né à Ravenne, après une jeunesse
dissipée, il entendit l'appel du Seigneur, qui se confondit pour lui avec
l'appel à la vie érémitique. Pendant des années, il parcourut l'Italie, fondant
de petits monastères, cherchant partout, avec une ardeur infatigable, à
promouvoir la vie évangélique parmi les moines. Il acheva sa vie de solitude au
monastère de Val del Castro dans les Apennins, en 1027.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1352/Saint-Romuald.html
_-_WGA08676.jpg)
Don Silvestro dei Gherarducci (1339–1399),
Gradual from Santa Maria degli Angeli (Folio 90), circa 1370, tempera and gold on parchment.
British Library. The miniature from folio 90
depicts St Romuald Enthroned with Four Saints in an initial O. This initial
begins the introit to the Mass for the feast of St Romuald (June 19, according
to the Camaldolese calendar). The richly ornamented initial in the shape of a
floral garland opens into a well-defined picture space, where St Romuald sits
on an ornate tabernacle throne. The founder of the Camaldolese order is
surrounded by a bishop saint, possibly St Augustine, and three monastic saints
wearing Camaldolese habits.
Saint Romuald
Abbé
(906-1027)
Saint Romuald naquit à
Ravenne, en 906, d'une des plus illustres familles d'Italie. Sa jeunesse fut
orageuse, mais bientôt la grâce, qui le poursuivait, triompha de ses
résistances, et il racheta son passé par les plus effrayantes austérités.
Après avoir vécu sept ans
dans un monastère de Saint-Benoît, il se sentit inspiré de mener la vie
solitaire, et alla habiter avec un saint homme qui lui faisait réciter chaque
jour de mémoire tout le psautier. Quand il faisait quelque faute, l'ermite,
toujours armé d'une verge, lui donnait un rude coup sur l'oreille gauche.
Romuald souffrait patiemment; cependant un jour, s'apercevant qu'il perdait
l'ouïe du côté gauche, il pria le rude vieillard de le frapper sur l'oreille
droite. Ce fait suppose un grand progrès dans la vertu.
Bientôt Romuald devint le
chef d'une foule de solitaires; il réforma et fonda un grand nombre de
monastères, et établit enfin l'Ordre des Camaldules.
Dieu éprouva sa vertu par
les terribles assauts du démon, qui lui demandait à quoi servaient tant de
prières et de pénitences. Les victoires du Saint rendaient son ennemi plus
furieux, et plus d'une fois il fut battu et foulé aux pieds par des esprits
malins revêtus des formes les plus fantastiques: "Quoi! disait Romuald au
démon, en se moquant de lui, tu as été chassé du Ciel et tu viens au désert
montrer ta honte! Va-t-en, bête immonde, vilain serpent!"
Notre Saint jouit à un
haut degré du don des larmes; il ne pouvait célébrer la Messe sans pleurer, et,
pendant son oraison, vaincu par l'émotion et ravi en extase, il s'écriait:
"Jésus, mon cher Jésus! doux miel, ineffable désir, délices des Saints,
suavité des Anges!"
Arrivé à une extrême
vieillesse, il jeûnait encore tous les jours, et, pendant le carême, il se
contentait d'une écuelle de légumes à son unique repas. Quelquefois il
demandait certains mets afin de les voir, d'en faire le sacrifice à Dieu et de
se moquer de la sensualité: "Voilà un bon morceau bien apprêté, Romuald,
disait-il; tu le trouverais bien de ton goût, n'est-ce pas? Eh bien! Tu n'y
toucheras pas, et tu n'en auras eu la vue que pour te mortifier
davantage."
Il faisait tant et de si
grands miracles que toute la nature semblait lui être soumise. Cet illustre
athlète de la pénitence, malgré ses austérités étonnantes, mourut à l'âge de
cent vingt ans, dont quatre-vingt-treize ans dans la vie érémitique.
Abbé L. Jaud, Vie
des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950
SOURCE : http://magnificat.ca/cal/fr/saints/saint_romuald.html
Saint Romuald
Il semble que saint Romuald naquit entre 951 et 956 dans la famille des
Honesti, ducs de Ravenne. Elevé, suivant les maximes du monde, dans la mollesse
et le goût des plaisirs, il se laissa entraîner par la fougue de ses passions ;
néanmoins, de temps en temps, il s’inquiétait de l’état de son âme et prenait
la résolution d’être plus fidèle à Dieu. Il arrivait que, suivant à la chasse
quelque bête, seul au milieu des bois, il se prit à prier : « Heureux,
s’écriait-il, les anciens ermites qui choisissaient de telles retraites pour
demeures ! Avec quelle tranquillité ils servaient Dieu, ainsi éloignés des
tumultes du monde. »
Son père, Sergius, qui voulut terminer par un duel une discussion engagée avec
un parent pour le partage d’un pré, exigea que Romuald fût son témoin. Le père
ayant tué son adversaire, Romuald se considéra complice d’un homicide et s’en
fut faire quarante jours de pénitence à l’abbaye bénédictine Saint-Appolinaire
de Classe. Là, totalement converti par l’exemple d’un frère convers, Romuald
demanda l’habit religieux.
Romuald fut un si bon moine que certains de ses confrères qui ne pouvaient
supporter une telle perfection, résolurent de le tuer. Or l’un des conjurés
prévint Romuald qui obtint de l’abbé de Classe la permission de quitter le
monastère pour se réfugier près de Venise, chez l’ermite Marin. Vers 978, Marin
et Romuald accompagnèrent en France Pierre Urséole, ancien doge de Venise, qui
allait se faire moine à Saint-Michel de Cuxa. Dom Guérin, l’abbé du monastère,
reçut aussi Romuald et le garda quelques temps sous sa direction, puis il lui
permit de se retirer dans un ermitage où il passa trois ans dans la plus grande
austérité et les terribles attaques du démon.
Romuald apprit que Sergius, son père, qui s’était fait religieux à Saint-Sévère
de Ravenne, songeait à retourner dans le monde. Pour détourner son père de ce
funeste projet, Romuald voulut quitter Cuxa mais les habitants refusaient de
laisser partir, préférant le savoir mort que loin d’eux. Romuald contrefit
l’insensé et lorsque les gens le crurent totalement fou, ils le laissèrent
partir. Sergius fut convaincu par son fils et mourut moine, l’année suivante,
en odeur de sainteté (995). Après la mort de son père, Romuald revint se mettre
sous l’autorité de l’abbé de Classe qui lui permit de reprendre sa vie
érémitique à Pont-de-Pierre. Un peu plus tard, rejoint par des disciples, il
fonda un monastère en l’honneur de saint Michel archange, près de Bagno. Othon
II qui séjournait à Ravenne et voulait réformer l’abbaye de Classe le fit élire
abbé et l’y ramena de force. Romuald qui s’était, pendant deux ans, appliqué
vainement à réformer son abbaye, alla déposer sa charge aux pieds de l’Empereur
et de l’archevêque Gerbert de Ravenne (le futur pape Sylvestre II). Othon II
ayant manqué à sa parole pour prendre Tivoli, Romuald lui imposa une rude
pénitence. Plusieurs seigneurs se convertirent et se mirent à son écolme. Il
obtint que l’Empereur construisît dans l’île de Pérée un monastère en l’honneur
de saint Adalbert à la condition d’y former des missionnaires pour la Pologne
et la Russie. Pendant que Romuald établissait de nouveaux monastères en Italie,
tous les missionnaires qu’il avait envoyés furent tués. Le Pape lui permit
d’aller lui-même évangéliser la Hongrie mais à peine fût-il arrivé à la
frontière de ce pays qu’il tomba si gravement malade qu’il dut retourner en
Italie. Sur chemin du retour il fonda en Allemagne quelques monastères et en
réforma d’autres.
Le Pape fit venir Romuald à Rome ; près de la ville, il bâtit des monastères
dont Sasso Ferrato où il fit un long séjour. Henri I° qui avait succédé à Othon
II le vint visiter et lui donna le monastère du Mont-Amatius, en Toscane.
En 1012, à Calmaldoli (diocèse d’Arezzo) il fonda un monastère d’un type
nouveau où la vie commune du travail et de l’office bénédictins s’alliait à
l’érémitisme ; les moines abandonnèrent l’habit noir pour l’habit blanc et
portèrent la barbe pleine.
Comme il l’avait prédit, vingt ans plus tôt à ses frères, Romuald vint mourir
au monastère du val de Castro le 19 juin 1027. Il y eut tant de miracles sur sa
tombe où son corps était resté sans corruption, qu’il fut canonisé (1032).
SOURCE : http://missel.free.fr/Sanctoral/06/19.php
Fra Angelico (circa 1395–1455), San Romualdo, San Marco Altarpiece, tempera on panel, 40.5 x 13.3, circa 1440, Minneapolis Institute of Art
Saint Romuald
Saint Romuald naquit à
Ravenne d’une des plus illustres familles d’Italie, en 907, Sergius III étant
pape, Léon VI empereur à Byzance, Louis IV empereur d’Allemagne et Charles III
le Simple roi de France.
Sa jeunesse fut orageuse, mais bientôt la grâce, qui le poursuivait, triompha
de ses résistances, et il racheta son passé par les plus effrayantes
austérités. Après avoir vécu sept ans dans un monastère de saint Benoît, il se
sentit inspiré de mener la vie solitaire, et alla habiter avec un saint homme
qui lui faisait réciter chaque jour de mémoire tout le psautier. Quand il
faisait quelque faute, l’ermite, toujours armé d’une verge, lui donnait un rude
coup sur l’oreille gauche. Saint Romuald souffrait patiemment ; cependant un
jour, s’apercevant qu’il perdait l’ouïe du côté gauche, il pria le rude
vieillard de le frapper sur l’oreille droite. Ce fait suppose un grand progrès
dans la vertu.
Bientôt saint Romuald devint le chef d’une foule de solitaires ; il réforma et
fonda un grand nombre de monastères, et établit enfin l’Ordre des Camaldules.
Dieu éprouva sa vertu par les terribles assauts du démon, qui lui demandait à
quoi servaient tant de prières et de pénitences. Les victoires du Saint
rendaient son ennemi plus furieux, et plus d’une fois il fut battu et foulé aux
pieds par des esprits malins revêtus des formes les plus fantastiques : « Quoi
! disait saint Romuald au démon, en se moquant de lui, tu as été chassé du Ciel
et tu viens au désert montrer ta honte ! Va-t’en, bête immonde, vilain serpent
! »
Notre Saint jouit à un haut degré du don des larmes ; il ne pouvait célébrer la
Messe sans pleurer, et, pendant son oraison, vaincu par l’émotion et ravi en
extase, il s’écriait : « Jésus, mon cher Jésus ! ô doux miel, ineffable désir,
délices des Saints, suavité des Anges ! »
Arrivé à une extrême vieillesse, il jeûnait encore tous les jours, et, pendant
le Carême, il se contentait d’une écuelle de légumes à son unique repas.
Quelquefois il demandait certains mets afin de les voir, d’en faire le
sacrifice à Dieu et de se moquer de la sensualité : « Voilà un bon morceau,
bien apprêté, Romuald, disait-il, tu le trouverais bien de ton goût, n’est-ce
pas ? eh bien ! tu n’y toucheras pas, et tu n’en auras eu la vue que pour te
mortifier davantage. »
Il faisait tant et de si grands miracles que toute la nature semblait lui être
soumise. Cet illustre athlète de la pénitence, malgré ses austérités
étonnantes, mourut à l’âge de cent vingt ans, dont quatre-vingt-treize ans dans
la vie érémitique. C’était l’an 1027, le 19 juin, Jean XIX étant pape, Lothaire
II empereur d’Allemagne et Robert II le Pieux roi de France.
SOURCE : http://www.cassicia.com/FR/Vie-de-saint-Romuald-mort-a-120-ans-en-1027-Fete-le-7-fevrier-Fondateur-de-l-ordre-des-Camaldules-Ermite-d-une-tres-grande-ascese-No_613.htm
Saint Romuald
A Fabriano, translation
de S Romuald (1467). Né vers 951, fondateur des Camaldules en 1012. Mort en
1027. Fête en 1595.
Leçons des Matines avant
1960
Quatrième leçon. Romuald
naquit à Ravenne ; Serge, son père, était de noble race. Il se retira dès sa
jeunesse dans le monastère de Classe, proche de la ville pour y faire
pénitence. Là, les entretiens d’un saint religieux l’enflammèrent d’un zèle
ardent pour la piété. Ayant eu dans l’église, pendant la nuit, deux apparitions
de saint Apollinaire, il se fit moine, selon la prédiction que lui avait faite
le serviteur de Dieu. Bientôt il se rendit sur les terres des Vénitiens, auprès
de Marin, célèbre alors par la sainteté de sa vie et l’austérité de sa
discipline, afin de l’avoir pour maître et pour guide dans la voie étroite et sublime
de la perfection.
Cinquième leçon. Attaqué
par Satan, qui lui dressait des embûches, et par l’envie des hommes, il en
devenait d’autant plus humble, s’exerçait assidûment aux jeûnes et à la prière,
et se livrait à la méditation des choses célestes, en versant d’abondantes
larmes : son visage était néanmoins toujours si joyeux qu’il réjouissait ceux
qui le considéraient. Il fut en grand honneur auprès des princes et des rois,
et plusieurs, par son conseil, renonçant aux attraits du monde, se retirèrent
dans la solitude. Brûlant du désir du martyre, il partit pour la Pannonie dans
l’espoir de l’y trouver : mais une maladie qui le tourmentait quand il
avançait, et qui lui était enlevée lorsqu’il revenait sur ses pas, le
contraignit de s’en retourner.
Sixième leçon. Il fut
illustre par des miracles pendant sa vie et après sa mort ; il eut aussi
l’esprit de prophétie. Comme le patriarche Jacob, il aperçut en vision une
échelle s’élevant de la terre au ciel, par laquelle montaient et descendaient
des hommes vêtus de blanc, et il reconnut dans cette vision merveilleuse les
moines Camaldules, dont il a fondé l’institut. Enfin, après avoir vécu cent
vingt ans et servi Dieu pendant un siècle par la vie la plus austère, il s’en
alla vers lui l’an du salut mil vingt-sept. Son corps ayant été trouvé intact
cinq ans après sa sépulture, on le déposa avec honneur dans l’église de son
Ordre, à Fabriano.
Dom Guéranger, l’Année
Liturgique
La série des Martyrs est
interrompue pour deux jours sur le Cycle sacré ; nous fêtons aujourd’hui un des
héros de la pénitence, Romuald, l’ange des forêts de Camaldoli. C’est un des
fils du grand patriarche Benoît ; père, après lui, d’une longue postérité. La
filiation bénédictine se poursuit, directe, jusqu’à la fin des temps ; mais du
tronc de cet arbre puissant sortent en ligne collatérale quatre glorieux
rameaux toujours adhérents, et auxquels l’Esprit-Saint a donné vie et fécondité
pour de longs siècles ; ce sont : Camaldoli par Romuald, Cluny par Odon,
Vallombreuse par Jean Gualbert, et Cîteaux par Robert de Molesmes.
Aujourd’hui, Romuald
réclame nos hommages ; et si les Martyrs que nous avons déjà rencontrés, et que
nous rencontrerons encore sur la route qui nous conduit à l’expiation
quadragésimale, nous offrent un précieux enseignement par le mépris qu’ils ont
fait de la vie, les saints pénitents, comme le grand Abbé de Camaldoli, nous
présentent une leçon plus pratique encore. Ceux qui sont à Jésus-Christ, dit
l’Apôtre, ont crucifié leur chair avec ses vices et ses convoitises [1] ; c’est
donc la condition commune de tout chrétien ; mais quel puissant encouragement
nous donnent ces généreux athlètes de la mortification qui ont sanctifié les
déserts par les œuvres héroïques de leur pénitence, enlevant ainsi toute excuse
à notre lâcheté qui s’effraie des légères satisfactions que Dieu exige pour
nous rendre ses bonnes grâces ! Acceptons la leçon qui nous est donnée, et
offrons de bon cœur au Seigneur que nous avons offensé le tribut de notre
repentir, avec les œuvres qui purifient les âmes.
Ami de Dieu, Romuald, que
votre vie a été différente de la nôtre ! Nous aimonsle monde et ses agitations
; c’est à peine si la pensée de Dieu traverse quelquefois nos journées d’un
fugitif souvenir ; plus rarement encore est-elle le mobile de nos actions.
Cependant chaque heure qui s’écoule nous approche de ce moment où nous nous
trouverons en face de Dieu, chargés de nos œuvres bonnes et mauvaises, sans que
rien ne puisse plus modifier la sentence que nous nous serons préparée. Vous
n’avez pas entendu ainsi la vie, ô Romuald ! Il vous a semblé qu’une pensée
unique devait la remplir tout entière, un seul intérêt la préoccuper, et vous
avez marché constamment en présence de Dieu. Pour n’être pas distrait de ce
grand et cher objet, vous avez cherché le désert ; là, sous la règle du saint
Patriarche des moines, vous avez lutté contre le démon et la chair ; vos larmes
ont lavé vos péchés, si légers en comparaison des nôtres ; votre cœur, régénéré
dans la pénitence, a pris son essor d’amour vers le Sauveur des hommes, et vous
eussiez voulu lui offrir jusqu’à votre sang. Vos mérites sont notre bien
aujourd’hui, par cette heureuse communion que le Seigneur a daigné établir
entre les plus saintes âmes et nous pécheurs. Aidez-nous donc dans la carrière
de pénitence qui commencera bientôt ; nous avons tant besoin de mettre la
faiblesse de nos œuvres à couvert sous la plénitude des vôtres ! Au fond de
votre solitude, sous les ombrages de votre Éden de Camaldoli, vous aimiez les
hommes vos frères, et jamais ils n’approchèrent de vous sans être captivés par
votre aimable et douce charité : montrez-leur que vous les aimez toujours.
Souvenez-vous aussi de l’Ordre que vous avez fondé ; fécondez ses restes
vénérables, et faites qu’il soit toujours aux âmes que le Seigneur y appelle
une échelle sûre pour monter jusqu’à lui.
[1] Gal. V, 24.
Guido Palmerucci. Saint Romuald, vers 1320,
46 x 27,3, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New
York
Bhx Cardinal
Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum
La fête de ce célèbre
réformateur de la vie anachorétique au XIe siècle (+ 1027) qui, au temps des
Othons, joua un si grand rôle dans l’histoire de Rome et du suprême pontificat,
fut instituée par Clément VIII ; toutefois elle ne fut pas fixée au 19 juin, jour
de son trépas, à cause de la fête des martyrs Gervais et Protais, mais au 7
février, anniversaire de la translation de son corps à Fabriano, dans le
monastère de Saint-Blaise, où il repose encore.
La messe est celle du
Commun des abbés, comme le jour de saint Sabbas, le 5 décembre ; et il est à
remarquer que l’austère Grégoire XVI, qui pourtant avait appartenu comme moine
à la Congrégation cénobitique des Camaldules, née de saint Romuald, ne crut pas
opportun d’apporter à l’office divin quelque modification propre à favoriser le
culte envers son saint Fondateur, pas même une oraison spéciale.
A Rome un riche autel est
dédié à saint Romuald dans la basilique de Saint-André au Clivus Scauri
(devenue Saint-Grégoire) ; en outre il était titulaire d’une petite église
située près du forum de Trajan, qui a été détruite il y a quelques années. Le
tableau d’André Sacchi, qui en ornait l’autel principal, et représente la
fameuse vision de l’échelle par laquelle les moines vêtus de blanc montaient au
ciel, se trouve maintenant à la pinacothèque vaticane.
Dom Pius Parsch, le Guide
dans l’année liturgique
La pénitence dans
l’allégresse du cœur.
Saint Romuald. — Jour de
mort : 19 juin 1027. Tombeau : dans le couvent de Saint-Blaise, à Fabriano.
Image : on le représente avec l’habit blanc des Camaldules, avec une échelle
céleste sur laquelle ses moines montent au ciel. Sa vie : Saint Romuald, le
fondateur des Camaldules, hésita dans sa jeunesse entre Dieu et le monde. Mais
son père ayant tué un parent en duel, et lui-même ayant été forcé d’assister à
cet acte sanglant, il se retira pour une pénitence de quarante jours dans le
monastère de Saint-Apollinaire, près de Ravenne, dans lequel il entra ensuite
comme moine. Puis il se mit à l’école du solitaire Marin. Il fonda ensuite un
Ordre d’ermites qu’on appela les Camaldules, du nom de son célèbre ermitage.
C’est un des Ordres d’hommes les plus sévères de l’Occident (à proprement
parler, c’est une branche de l’Ordre des Bénédictins). Les religieux vivent
dans des petites maisons isolées, observant un silence et un jeûne continuels,
s’occupant à la prière et au travail des mains. Romuald avait la grâce
particulière de convertir les pécheurs, spécialement les puissants de ce monde.
Il mourut vêtu de son cilice, sans s’être jamais couché sur un lit, après avoir
passé sa vie dans la plus dure pénitence. Il était âgé d’un peu plus de
soixante-dix ans. Son disciple, le saint docteur de l’Église, Pierre Damien,
écrivit sa biographie. « La grandeur de sa vie consiste dans une conception et
un développement austère et simple, bien que toujours original, de sa vocation
religieuse. Romuald était, dans le plus intime de son être, un ascète, un
moine. Certes, ce n’était pas un moine possédant cette sérénité calme et
assurée, cette mesure et cet équilibre, dont saint Benoît a fait l’idéal du
moine, idéal, qu’il a lui-même réalisé dans sa vie. Ce n’était pas non plus un
organisateur qui, par une législation sage, perpétue son esprit dans son œuvre.
Son image nous rappelle les austères figures monastiques des déserts d’Orient.
Il nous fait penser à ces hommes qui, par la plus dure mortification et la plus
sévère pénitence, donnèrent à un monde débauché, de sérieux exemples, pour
l’amener à la réflexion et la conversion. L’exemple de sa vie fut la
prédication la plus efficace. Et ce souvenir perpétue la vie de saint Romuald.
»
De la vie de saint
Romuald. — Romuald, qui n’était pas très habile dans la lecture, se trompait
souvent. Aussitôt Marin, qui se tenait en face de lui, lui donnait un coup de
baguette sur la joue gauche. A la fin, Romuald trouva que c’était trop : « Ah !
cher maître », dit-il modestement, « frappez-moi désormais sur la joue droite.
Mon oreille gauche est presque sourde. » Le maître fut surpris d’une telle
patience et désormais il modéra ses corrections trop sévères. Il avait coutume
de dire : « Mieux vaut réciter un — psaume avec piété et componction que d’en
réciter cent avec un esprit distrait. » Quand le saint sentit sa fin prochaine,
et qu’après tant de pérégrinations, il fut sur le point d’entreprendre le
voyage de la céleste patrie, il se retira dans le monastère de Val di Castro.
Là il se fit bâtir une petite cellule et une petite chapelle pour attendre la
mort dans le silence. Malgré les défaillances de son corps sénile, il ne se
coucha pas et, autant que possible, il n’abandonna pas son jeûne austère. Un
jour, la respiration devint plus difficile, ses forces l’abandonnèrent et il
sentit une grande fatigue. Vers le coucher du soleil, il ordonna aux deux frères
qui le veillaient de s’en aller, de fermer la cellule et de ne revenir que pour
les Laudes du matin. Cependant, ils restèrent près de la porte et écoutèrent.
Au bout d’un certain temps, ils n’entendirent plus de respiration. Ils
entrèrent et firent de la lumière. Romuald était décédé comme il l’avait
prédit, vingt ans avant, aux frères, dans la solitude et le silence.
Aujourd’hui est l’anniversaire de la translation de ses reliques
La messe (Os justi) du
commun des Abbés. — L’Abbé occupe une place intermédiaire entre les confesseurs
pontifes et les confesseurs non pontifes : il est, dans sa famille religieuse,
chef et père, mais il ne possède pas la plénitude du sacerdoce comme l’Évêque.
Cela est exprimé dans la messe. Nous le voyons comme l’administrateur fidèle
qui est placé à la tête de sa « famille » religieuse pour lui distribuer en
temps voulu la juste mesure de froment (Comm. ; le même verset se trouve au
Commun des Pontifes, et des docteurs) ; le religieux a suivi le conseil du
Seigneur de la manière la plus fidèle, il a « tout quitté », « sa maison, ses
frères, son père, sa mère et ses champs », pour l’amour du Seigneur, c’est
pourquoi il aura, plus que d’autres, part à la gloire du retour du Seigneur
(Év.). Aujourd’hui, au jour de sa mort, il est entré dans la gloire, « le désir
de son cœur » a été comblé, il est couronné de la « couronne de pierres
précieuses » (Grad. Off.). Nous aussi, nous pouvons, à la messe, participer à
cette gloire. Dans la leçon, il est question de son élévation à la dignité
d’Abbé et du mystérieux dialogue de Dieu avec lui. Rempli de l’esprit de la
plus austère pénitence, Romuald fonda un nouvel Ordre d’ermites. Mais il laissa
à ses disciples, avec la charge d’expier pour les autres, la joie du cœur et la
liturgie commune. Le visage de ce saint austère était si joyeux que tous ceux
qui le voyaient se réjouissaient. Dans la liturgie, nous pouvons unir l’esprit
de pénitence et la joie.
SOURCE : http://www.introibo.fr/07-02-St-Romuald-abbe#nh1
Obraz
św. Romualda w stallach kościoła kamedułów w Bieniszewie. Św. Romuald (Romuald
z Camaldoli) jest założycielem zakonu.
The
image St. Romuald of stallach in church Camedolite,
Bieniszew (Poland).
Romuald of Camaldoli is the founder of the Order.
Also known as
Romualdo
prior to 1969 his feast was held
on 7
Feburary, the date of the translation of his relics in 1481
Profile
Italian nobility
who spent a wild youth. Acting as second, he witnessed his father kill another
man in a duel, and Romuald sought to atone for the crime by becoming a Benedictine monk at
Classe, Italy. Abbot from 996 to 999. A
wanderer by nature, he established several hermitage and monasteries in
central and northern Italy. He
tried to evangalize the Slavs,
but met with little success. Founded the Camaldolese Benedictines.
Spent the last fourteen years of his life in seclusion at Mount Sitria,
Bifolco, and Val di Castro. Spiritual teacher of Saint Wolfgang
of Ratisbon.
Born
19 June 1027 at
Val-di-Castro, Italy of
natural causes
body incorrupt
relics translated
on 7
Feburary 1481
1582 by Pope Gregory XIII
in Italy
in Poland
monk pointing
at a ladder on
which other monks are
ascending to heaven, indicative his founding of his Order
Additional Information
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Readings
Romuald lived in the vicinity of the city of Paranzo
for three years. In the first year he built a monastery and
appointed an abbot with monks.
For the next two years he remained there in seclusion. Wherever the holy man
might arrange to live, he would follow the same pattern. First he would build
an oratory with an altar in a cell; then he would
shut himself in and forbid access. Finally, after he had lived in many places,
perceiving that his end was near, he returned to the monastery he
had built in the valley of Castro. While he awaited with certainty his
approaching death, he ordered a cell to be
constructed there with an oratory in which he might isolate himself and
preserve silence until death. Accordingly, the hermitage was
built, since he had made up his mind that he would die there. His body began to
grow more and more oppressed by afflictions and was already failing. One day he
began to feel the loss of his physical strength under all the harassment of
increasingly violent afflictions. As the sun was beginning to set, he
instructed two monks who
were standing by to go out and close the door of the cell behind
them; they were to come back to him at daybreak to celebrate matins. They were
so concerned about his end that they went out reluctantly and did not rest
immediately. On the contrary, since they were worried that their master night
die, they lay hidden near the cell and watched
this precious treasure. For some time they continued to listen attentively
until they heard neither movement nor sound. Rightly guessing what had
happened, they pushed open the door, rushed in quickly, lit a candle and found
the holy man lying on his back, his blessed soul snatched up into heaven. –
from a biography of Saint Romuald
by Saint Peter Damian
MLA Citation
“Saint Romuald“. CatholicSaints.Info. 6 April
2024. Web. 18 June 2024. <https://catholicsaints.info/saint-romuald/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-romuald/
El Greco (1541–1614),
Alegoría de la Orden de los Camaldulenses
/ Allegory of the Camaldolese
Order, 1597, 138 x 108, Museu del Patriarca. La Orden de los Camaldulenses o de
la Camáldula, que en la actualidad está casi desaparecida, es una rama de
la Orden benedictina que fue fundada en el
siglo XI por San Romualdo de Camaldoli
St. Romuald
In the tenth century Sergius, a nobleman of Ravenna, quarreled with a relative
over an estate and, in a duel to which his son Romuald was witness, slew him.
The young man of twenty years was horrified at his father’s crime, and entered
a Benedictine monastery at Classe to do a forty days’ penance for him. This
penance led to his entry into religion as a Benedictine monk.
After seven years at Classe, Romuald went to live as a hermit near Venice,
under the guidance of a holy man who had him recite the Psalter from memory every
day. When he stumbled, the hermit struck his left ear with a rod. Romuald
suffered with patience, but one day, noting that he was losing his hearing in
that ear, asked the old man to strike him on his right ear. This episode
supposes great progress in virtue. The two religious were joined by Peter
Urseolus, Duke of Venice, who desired to do penance also, and together they led
a most austere life in the midst of assaults from the evil spirits.
Saint Romuald, whose aim was to restore the primitive rule to the Order of
Saint Benedict, succeeded in founding some hundred monasteries in both Italy
and France, and he filled the solitudes with hermitages. The principal
monastery was that at Camaldoli, a wild, deserted region, where he built a
church, surrounded by a number of separate cells for the solitaries who lived
under his rule; his disciples were thus called Camaldolese. For five years the
fervent founder was tormented by furious attacks by the demon. He repulsed him,
saying, “O enemy! Driven out of heaven, you come to the desert? Depart, ugly
serpent, already you have what is due you.” And the shamed adversary would
leave him. Saint Romuald’s father, Sergius, was moved by the examples of his
son, and entered religion near Ravenna; there he, too, was attacked by hell and
thought of abandoning his design. Romuald went to visit him; he showed him the
error of the devil’s ruses, and his father died in the monastery, in the odor
of sanctity.
Among his first disciples were Saints Adalbert and Boniface, apostles of
Russia, and Saints John and Benedict of Poland, martyrs for the faith. He was
an intimate friend of the Emperor Saint Henry, and was reverenced and consulted
by many great men of his time. He once passed seven years in solitude and total
silence. He died, as he had foretold twenty years in advance, alone in his
monastery of Val Castro, on the 19th of June, 1027, in an advanced and
abundantly fruitful old age.
By the life of Saint Romuald, we see how God brings good out of evil. In his
youth Saint Romuald was much troubled by temptations of the flesh; to escape
them he had recourse to hunting, and it was in the woods that he first
conceived his love for solitude. His father’s sin prompted him to undertake a
forty days’ penance in the monastery, which he then made his permanent home.
Some bad examples of his fellow-monks induced him to leave them and adopt the
solitary mode of life; the repentance of a Venetian Duke brought him his first
disciple. The temptations of the devil compelled him to lead his severe life of
expiation; and finally, the persecutions of others were the occasion of his
settlement at Camaldoli, mother house of his Order.
SOURCE : http://www.ucatholic.com/saints/saint-romuald/
Giuseppe Bazzani (1690–1769), Il
sogno di San Romualdo , circa 1750
St. Romuald
Born at Ravenna,
probably about 950; died at Val-di-Castro, 19 June, 1027. St.
Peter Damian, his first biographer, and almost all the Camaldolese writers
assert that St. Romuald's age at his death was one hundred and
twenty, and that therefore he was born about 907. This is disputed by most
modern writers. Such a date not only results in a series of
improbabilities with regard to events in the saint's life,
but is also irreconcilable with known dates, and probably was
determined from some mistaken inference by St.
Peter Damian. In his youth Romuald indulged in the usual thoughtless and
even vicious life of the tenth-century noble, yet felt greatly
drawn to the eremetical life. At
the age of twenty, struck with horror because his fatherhad killed an
enemy in a duel,
he fled to the Abbey of San Apollinare-in-Classe and after some hesitation
entered religion. San Apollinare had recently been reformed by
St. Maieul of Cluny, but still was not strict enough in its observance to
satisfy Romuald. His injudicious correction of the less zealous aroused
such enmity against him that he applied for, and was readily granted,
permission to retire to Venice,
where he placed himself under the direction of a hermit named Marinus and
lived a life of extraordinary severity. About 978, Pietro Orseolo I,
Doge of Venice,
who had obtained his office by acquiescence in the murder of
his predecessor, began to suffer remorse for his crime. On the advice
of Guarinus, Abbot of San
Miguel-de-Cuxa, inCatalonia,
and of Marinus and Romuald, he abandoned his office
and relations, and fled to Cuxa, where he took the habit of St.
Benedict, while Romuald and Marinus erected a hermitage close to
the monastery.
For five years the saint lived
a life of great austerity, gathering round him a band of disciples. Then,
hearing that his father,
Sergius, who had become a monk,
was tormented with doubts as
to his vocation, he returned in haste to Italy,
subjected Sergius to severe discipline, and so resolved his doubts.
For the next thirty years St. Romuald seems to have wandered about Italy,
founding many monasteries and hermitages.
For some time he made Pereum his favourite resting place. In 1005 he
went to Val-di- Castro for about two years, and left it,prophesying that
he would return to die there alone and unaided. Again he wandered about Italy;
then attempted to go to Hungary,
but was prevented by persistent illness. In 1012 he appeared
at Vallombrosa, whence he moved into the Diocese
of Arezzo. Here, according to the legend, a certain Maldolus, who
had seen a vision of monks in
white garments ascending into Heaven,
gave him some land, afterwards known as theCampus Maldoli, or Camaldoli. St.
Romuald built on this land five cells for hermits,
which, with the monasteryat
Fontebuono, built two years later, became the famous mother-house of the Camaldolese
Order. In 1013 he retired to Monte-Sitria. In 1021 he went to Bifolco. Five
years later he returned to Val-di-Castro where he died, as he
had prophesied, alone in his cell. Many miracles were
wrought at his tomb,
over which an altar was allowed to be erected in 1032. In 1466 his
body was found still incorrupt; it was translated to Fabriano in
1481. In 1595 Clement
VIII fixed his feast on
7 Feb., the day of the translation of his relics,
and extended its celebration to the whole Church. He is represented in art
pointing to a ladder on which are monks ascending toHeaven.
[Note: By the Apostolic
Constitution Calendarium Romanum, promulgated in
1969, the feast of St.
Romuald was assigned, as an "Optional Memorial," to 19 June, the day
of his death.]
Sources
Acta SS., Feb., II
(Venice, 1735), 101-46; CASTANIZA, Historia de S. Romvaldo (Madrid,
1597); COLLINA, Vita di S. Romualdo (Bologna, 1748); GRANDO, Dissertationes
Camaldulenses (Lucca, 1707), II, 1-144; III, 1-160; MABILLON, Acta SS.
O.S.B., saec. VI, par. I (Venice, 1733), 246-78; MITTARELLI AND
COSTADONI, Annales Camaldulenses, I (Venice, 1755); St. Peter Damian
in P.L., CXLIV (Paris, 1867), 953-1008; TRICHAUD, Vie de Saint
Romuald (Amiens, 1879); WAITZ in PERTZ, Mon. Germ. Hist.: Script., IV
(Hanover, 1841), 846-7.
Toke,
Leslie. "St. Romuald." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol.
13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912.18 Jun.
2019 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13179b.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Herman F. Holbrook. Saint
Romuald, and all ye holy Monks and Hermits, pray for us.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. February 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, D.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2023 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13179b.htm
ST. ROMUALD, ABBOT, C.
FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF
CAMALDI.
[From his life, written
by St. Peter Damian, fifteen years after his death. See also Mugnotii, Eremi
Camaldul. descriptio, Romer, an. 1570. Historiarum Camaldulensium, libri iii.
auth. Aug. Florentino, in 4to. Florentiae, 1575. Earumdem pars posterior, in 4to.
Venetiis, 1579. Dissertationes Camaldulenses, in quibus agitur de institutione
Ordinis, state St. Romnaldi, &c. auth. Guidons Grando, ej. Ord. Lucae,
1707. The Lives of the Saints of this Order, in Italian, by Razzi, 1600, and in
Latin, by F. Thomas de Minis, in two vols. in 4to. an. 1605, 1606. Annales
Camaldulenses Ordinis St. Benedicti, auctoribas Jo. Ben. Mittarelli, abbate, et
Ans. Costadoni, presbyteris et monachis a Cong. Camald. Veuetiis, in four vols.
fol. of which the fourth is dedicated to Pope Clement XIII. in 1760.]
A.D. 1027.
ST. ROMUALD, of the
family of the dukes of Ravenna, called Honesti, was born in that capital about
the year 956. Being brought up in the maxims of the world, in softness and the
love of pleasures, he grew every day more and more enslaved to his passions ;
yet he often made a resolution of undertaking something remarkable for the
honour of God ; and when he went a hunting, if he found an agreeable solitary
place in the woods, he would stop in it to pray, and would cry out, " How
happy were the ancient hermits, who had such habitations ! With what
tranquillity could they serve God, free from the tumult of the world ! "
His father, whose name was Sergius, a worldly man; agreed to decide a dispute
he had with a relation about an estate by a duel. Romuald was shocked at the
criminal design ; but by threats of being disinherited if he refused, was
engaged by his father to be present as a spectator : Sergius slew his
adversary. Romuald, then twenty years of age, struck with horror at the crime
that had been perpetrated, though he had concurred in it no further than by his
presence, thought himself, however, obliged to expiate it by a severe course of
penance for forty days in the neighbouring Benedictine monastery of Classis,
within four miles of Ravenna. He performed great austerities, and prayed and
wept almost without intermission. His compunction and fervour made all these
exercises seem easy and sweet to him ; and the young nobleman became every day
more and more penetrated with the fear and love of God. The good example which
he saw, and the discourses of a pious lay-brother, who waited on him,
concerning eternity and the contempt of the world, wrought so powerfully upon
him, that he petitioned in full chapter to be admitted as a penitent to the
religious habit. After some demurs, through their apprehensions of his father's
resentment, whose next heir the saint was, his request was granted. He passed
seven years in this house in so great fervour and austerity that his example
became odious to certain tepid monks, who could not bear such a continual
reproach of their sloth. They were more exasperated when his fervour prompted
him to reprove their conduct, insomuch that some of the most abandoned formed a
design upon his life, the execution of which he prevented by leaving that
monastery with the abbot's consent, and retiring into the neighbourhood of
Venice, where he put himself under the direction of Marinus, a holy hermit, who
there led an austere ascetic life. Under this master, Romuald made great
progress in every virtue belonging to a religious state of life.
Peter Urseoli was then
doge of Venice. He had been unjustly raised to that dignity two years before by
a faction which had assassinated his predecessor Peter Candiano ; in which
conspiracy he is said by some to have been an accomplice : though this is
denied by the best Venetian historians.¹ This murder, however, paved the way
for his advancement to the sovereignty, which the stings of his conscience
would not suffer him quietly to enjoy.
This put him upon
consulting St. Guarinus, a holy abbot of Catalonia, then at Venice, about what
he was to do to be saved. The advice of St. Marinus and St. Romuald was also
desired. These three unanimously agreed in proposing a monastic state, as
affording the best opportunities for expiating his crimes. Urseoli acquiesced,
and, under pretence of joining with his family at their villa, where he had
ordered a great entertainment, set out privately with St. Guarinus, St.
Romuald, and John Gradenigo, a Venetian noble-man of singular piety, and his
son-in-law John Moresini, for St. Guarinus's monastery of St. Michael of Cusan,
in that part of Catalonia which was then subject to France. Here Urseoli and
Gradenigo made their monastic profession: Marinus and Romuald, leaving them
under the conduct of Guarinus, retired into a desert near Cusan, and there led
an eremitical life. Many flocked to them, and Romuald being made superior,
first practised himself what he taught others, joining rigorous fasts,
solitude, and continual prayer, with hard manual labour. He had an
extraordinary ardour for prayer, which he exceedingly recommended to his
disciples, in whom he could not bear to see the least sloth or tepidity with
regard to the discharge of this duty ; saying, they had better recite one psalm
with fervour, than a hundred with less devotion. His own fasts and
mortifications were extremely rigorous, but he was more indulgent to others,
and in particular to Urseoli, who had exchanged his monastery for St. Romuald's
desert, where he lived under his conduct ; who, persevering in his penitential
state, made a most holy end, and is honoured in Venice as a saint, with an
office, on the 14th of January : and in the Roman Martyrology, published by Benedict
XIV., on the 10th of that month. Romuald, in the beginning of his con-version
and retreat from the world, was molested with various temptations. The devil
sometimes directly solicited him to vice ; at other times he represented to him
what he had forsaken, and that he had left it to ungrateful relations. He would
sometimes suggest that what he did could not be agreeable to God ; at other
times, that his labours: and difficulties were too heavy for man to bear. These
and the like attempts, of the devil he defeated by watching and prayer, in
which he passed the whole night ; and the devil strove in vain to divert him
from this holy exercise by shaking his whole cell, and threatening to bury him
in the ruins. Five years of grievous interior conflicts and buffetings of the
enemy wrought in him a great purity of heart, and prepared him for most
extraordinary heavenly communications. The conversion of Count Oliver, or
Oliban, lord of that territory, added to his spiritual joy. That count, from a
voluptuous worldling, and profligate liver, became a sincere penitent, and
embraced the order of St. Benedict. He carried great treasures with him to
Mount Cassino, but left his estate to his son. The example of Romuald had also
such an influence on Sergius, his father, that to make atonement for his past
sins and enormities, he had entered the monastery of St. Severus, near Ravenna
; but after some time spent there, he yielded so far to the devil's
temptations, as to meditate a return into the world. This was a sore affliction
to our saint, and determined him to return to Italy, to dissuade his father
from leaving his monastery. But the inhabitants of the country where he lived
had such an opinion of his sanctity, that they were resolved not to let him go.
They therefore formed a brutish extravagant design to kill him, that they might
keep at least his body among them, imagining it would be their protection and
safeguard on perilous occasions. The saint being informed of their design, had
recourse to David's stratagem, and feigned himself mad. Upon which the people,
losing their high opinion of him, guarded him no longer. Being thus at liberty
to execute his design, he set out on his journey to Ravenna, through the south
of France. He arrived there in 994, and made use of all the authority his
superiority in religion gave him over his father ; and by his exhortations,
tears, and prayers, brought him to such an extraordinary degree of compunction
and sorrow, as to prevail with him to lay aside all thoughts of leaving his monastery,
where he spent the remainder of his days in great fervour, and died with the
reputation of sanctity.
Romuald, having acquitted
himself of his duty towards his father, retired into the marsh of Classis, and
lived in a cell, remote from all mankind. The devil pursued him here with his
former malice, he sometimes overwhelmed his imagination with melancholy, and
once scourged him cruelly in his cell. Romuald at length cried out, "
Sweetest Jesus, dearest Jesus, why hast thou forsaken me ? hast thou entirely
delivered me over to my enemies ?" At that sweet name the wicked spirits
betook themselves to flight, and such an excess of divine sweetness and
compunction filled the breast of Romuald, that he melted into tears, and his
heart seemed quite dissolved. He sometimes insulted his spiritual enemies, and
cried out, " Are all your forces spent? have you no more engines against a
poor despicable servant of God ? " Not long after, the monks of Classis
chose Romuald for their abbot. The emperor Otho III., who was then at Ravenna,
made use of his authority to engage the saint to accept the charge, and went in
person to visit him in his cell, where he passed the night lying on the saint's
poor bed. But nothing could make Romuald consent, till a synod of bishops then
assembled at Ravenna, compelled him to it by threats of excommunication. The
saint's inflexible zeal for the punctual observance of monastic discipline,
soon made these monks repent of their choice, which they manifested by their
irregular and mutinous behaviour. The saint being of a mild disposition, bore
with it for some time, in hopes of bringing them to a right sense of their
duty. At. length, finding all his endeavours to reform them ineffectual, he
came to a resolution of leaving them, and went to the emperor, then besieging
Tivoli, to acquaint him of it ; whom, when he could not prevail upon to accept
of his resignation, the saint, in the presence of the Archbishop of Ravenna,
threw down his crosier at his feet. This interview proved very happy for Tivoli
; for the emperor, though he had condemned that city to plunder, the
inhabitants having rebelled and killed Duke Matholin, their governor, spared it
at the intercession of St. Romuald. Otho having also, contrary to his solemn
promise upon oath, put one Crescentius, a Roman senator to death, who had been
the leader in the rebellion of Tivoli, and made his widow his concubine, he not
only performed a severe public penance enjoined him by the saint, as his
confessor, but promised, by St. Rornuald's advice, to abdicate his crown and
retire into a convent during life ; but this he did not live to perform. The
saint's remonstrances had a like salutary effect on Thamn, the emperor's
favourite, prime-minister, and accomplice in the treachery before mentioned,
who, with several other courtiers, received the religious habit at the hands of
St. Romuald, and spent the remainder of his days in retirement and penance. It
was a very edifying sight to behold several young princes and noblemen, who a
little before had been remarkable for their splendid appearance and sumptuous
living, now leading an obscure, solitary, penitential life in humility,
penance, fasting, cold, and labour. They prayed, sung psalms, and worked. They
all had their several employments : some spun, others knit, others tilled the
ground, gaining their poor livelihood by the sweat of their brow. St. Boniface
surpassed all the rest in fervour and mortification. He was the emperor's near
relation, and so dear to him that he never called him by any other name than,
My soul ! He excelled in music, and in all the liberal arts and sciences, and
after having spent many years under the discipline of St. Romuald, was ordained
bishop, and commissioned by the pope to preach to the infidels of Russia, whose
king he converted by his miracles, but was beheaded by the king's brothers, who
were themselves afterwards converted on seeing the miracles wrought on occasion
of the martyr's death. Several other monks of St. Romuald's monastery met with
the same cruel treatment in Sclavonia, whither they were sent by the pope to
preach the gospel.
St. Romuald built many
other monasteries, and continued three years at one he founded near Parenzo,
one year in the community to settle it, and two in a neighbouring cell. Here he
laboured some time under a spiritual dryness, not being able to shed one tear ;
but he ceased not to continue his devotions with greater fervour. At last being
in his cell, at those words of the psalmist, "I will give thee
understanding, and will instruct thee," he was suddenly visited by God
with an extraordinary light and spirit of compunction, which from that time
never left him. By a supernatural light, the fruit of prayer, he understood the
holy scriptures, and wrote an exposition of the psalms full of admirable
unction. He often foretold things to come, and gave directions full of heavenly
wisdom to all who came to consult him, especially to his religious who
frequently came to ask his advice how to advance in virtue, and how to resist
temptations he always sent them back to their cells full of an extraordinary
cheerfulness. Through his continual weeping he thought others had a like gift,
and often said to his monks, " Do not weep too much ; for it prejudices
the sight and the head." It was his desire, whenever he could conveniently
avoid it, not to say mass before a number of people, because he could not
refrain from tears in offering that august sacrifice. The contemplation of the
Divinity often transported him out of himself ; melting in tears, and burning
with love, he would cry out : "Dear Jesus! my dear Jesus! my unspeakable
desire ! my joy ! joy of the angels ! sweetness of the saints !" and the
like, which he was heard to speak with a jubilation which cannot be expressed.
To propagate the honour of God, he resolved, by the advice of the Bishop of
Pola and others, to exchange his remote desert, for one where he could better
advance his holy institute. The Bishop of Parenzo forbade any boat to carry him
off, desiring earnestly to detain him ; but the Bishop of Poly sent one to
fetch him. He miraculously calmed a storm at sea, and landed safe at Capreola.
Coming to Bifurcum, he found the monks' cells too magnificent, and would lodge
in none but that of one Peter, a man of extraordinary austerity, who never
would live in a cell larger than four cubits. This Peter admired the saint's
spirit of compunction, and said, that when he recited the psalms alternately
with him, the holy man used to go out thirty times in a night as if for some
necessity, but he saw it was to abandon himself a few moments to spiritual
consolation, with which he overflowed at prayer, or to sighs and tears which he
was not able to contain. Romuald sent to the counts of the province of Marino,
to beg a little ground whereon to build a monastery. They hearing Romuald's
name, offered him with joy whatever mountains, woods, or fields he would choose
among them. He found the valley of Castro most proper. Exceeding great was the
fruit of the blessed man's endeavours, and many put themselves with great
fervour under his direction. Sinners, who did not forsake the world entirely,
were by him in great multitudes moved to penance, and to distribute great part
of their posessions liberally among the poor. The holy man seemed in the midst
of them as a seraph incarnate, burning with heavenly ardours of divine love,
and inflaming those who heard him speak. If he travelled, he rode or walked at
a distance behind his brethren, reciting psalms, and watering his cheeks almost
without ceasing with tears that flowed in great abundance.
The saint had always
burnt with an ardent desire of martyrdom, which was much increased by the
glorious crowns of some of his disciples, especially of St. Boniface. At last,
not able to contain the ardour of his charity and desire to give his life for
his Redeemer, he obtained the pope's license, and set out to preach the gospel
in Hungary, in which mission some of his disciples accompanied him. He had
procured two of them to be consecrated archbishops by the pope, declining
himself the episcopal dignity ; but a violent illness which seized him on his
entering Hungary, and returned as often as he attempted to proceed on his
intended design, was a plain indication of the will of God in this matter ; so
he returned home with seven of his associates. The rest, with the two
archbishops, went forward, and preached the faith under the holy king, St.
Stephen, suffering much for Christ, but none obtained the crown of martyrdom.
Romuaid in his return built some monasteries in Germany, and laboured to reform
others ; but this drew on him many persecutions. Yet all, even the great ones
of the world, trembled in his presence. He refused to accept either water or
wood, without paying for it, from Raynerius, marquis of Tuscia, because that
prince had married the wife of. a relation whom he had killed. Raynerius,
though a sovereign, used to say, that neither the emperor nor any mortal on
earth could strike him with so much awe as Romuald's presence did : so powerful
was the impression which the Holy Ghost, dwelling in his breast, made on the
most haughty sinners. Hearing that a certain Venetian had by simony obtained
the abbey of Classis, he hastened thither. The unworthy abbot strove to kill
him, to preserve his unjust dignity. He often met with the like plots and
assaults from several of his own disciples, which procured him the repeated
merit, though not the crown, of martyrdom. The pope, having called him to Rome,
he wrought there several miracles, built some monasteries in its neighbourhood,
and converted innumerable souls to God. Returning from Rome, he made a long
stay at Mount Sitria. A young nobleman addicted to impurity, being exasperated
at the saint's severe remonstrances, had the impudence to accuse him of a
scandalous crime. The monks, by a surprising levity, believed the calumny,
enjoined him a most severe penance, forbid him to say mass, and excommunicated
him. He bore all with patience and in silence, as if really he had been guilty,
and refrained from going to the altar for six months. In the seventh month he
was admonished by God to obey no longer so unjust and irregular a sentence,
pronounced without any authority and without grounds. He accordingly said mass
again, and with such raptures of devotion, as obliged him to continue long
absorbed in ecstasy. He passed seven-years in Sitria, in his cell in strict
silence, but his example did the office of his tongue and moved many to
penance. In his old age, instead of relaxing, he increased his austerities and
fasts. He had three hair-shirts which he now and then changed. He never would
admit of the least thing to give a savour to the herbs or meal-gruel on which
he supported himself. If any thing was brought him better dressed, he, for the
greater self-denial applied it to his nostrils, and said, "Oh, gluttony,
gluttony, thou shalt never taste this : perpetual war is declared against
thee." His disciples, also were remarkable for their austere lives, went
always barefoot, and looked excessive pale with continual fasting. No other drink
was known among them but water, except in sickness. St. Romuald wrought in this
place many miraculous cures of the sick. At last, having settled his disciples
here in a monastery which he had built for them, he departed for Bifurcum.
The holy Emperor St.
Henry II. who had succeeded Otho III. coming into Italy, and being desirous to
see the saint, sent an honourable embassy to him to induce him to come to
court. At the earnest request of his disciples he complied, but not without
great reluctance on his side. The emperor received him with the greatest marks
of honour and esteem, and rising out of his chair, said to him, " I wish
my soul was like yours." The saint observed a strict silence the whole
time the interview lasted, to the great astonishment of the court. The emperor
being convinced that this did not proceed from pride or disdain, but from
humility and a desire of being despised, was so far from being offended at it,
that it occasioned his conceiving a higher esteem and veneration for him. The next
day he received from him whole-some advice in his closet. The German noblemen
showed him the greatest respect as he passed through the court, and plucked the
very hairs out of his garments for relics, at which he was so much grieved,
that he would have immediately gone back if he had not been stopped. The
emperor gave him a monastery on Mount Amiatus.
The most famous of all
his monasteries is that of Camaldoli, near Arezzo, in Tuscany, on the frontiers
of the ecclesiastical state, thirty miles east from Florence, founded by him
about the year 1009. It lies beyond a mountain, very difficult to pass over,
the descent from which on the opposite side is almost a direct precipice
looking down upon a pleasant large valley, which then belonged to a lord called
Maldnli, who gave it the saint, and from him it retained the name Camaldoli.¹
In this place St. Romuald built a monastery, and by the several observances he
added to St. Benedict's rule, gave birth to that new order called Camaldoli, in
which he united the cenobitic and eremitical life..
After seeing in a vision
his monks mounting up a ladder to heaven all in white he changed their habit
from black to white. The hermitage is two short miles distant from the
monastery. It is a mountain quite overshaded by a dark wood of fir-trees. In it
are seven clear springs of water. The very sight of this solitude in the midst
of the forest helps to fill the mind with compunction and a love of heavenly
contemplation. On entering it, we meet with a chapel of St. Antony for
travellers to pray in before they advance any further. Next are the cells and
lodgings for the porters. Somewhat further is the church, which is large,
well-built, and richly adorned. Over the door is a clock, which strikes so loud
that it may be heard all over the desert. On the left side of the church is the
cell in which St. Romuald lived, when he first established these hermits. Their
cells, built of stone, have each a little garden walled round. A constant fire
is allowed to he kept in every cell on account of the coldness of the air
throughout the year : each cell has also a chapel in which they may say mass :
they call their superior, major. The whole hermitage is now enclosed with a
wall : none are allowed to go out of it ; but they may walk in the woods and
alleys within the enclosure at discretion. Every thing is sent them from the
monastery in the valley : their food is every day brought to each cell ; and
all are supplied with wood and necessaries that they may have no dissipation or
hindrance in their contemplation. Many hours of the day are allotted to
particular exercises ; and no rain or snow stops any one from meeting in the
church to assist at the divine office. They are obliged to strict silence in
all public common places; and every' where during their Lents, also on Sundays,
Holydays, Fridays, and other days of abstinence, and always from Complin till
prime the next day.
For a severer solitude,
St. Romuald added a third kind of life ; that of a recluse. After a holy life
in the hermitage, the superior grants leave to any that ask it, and seem called
by God, to live for ever shut up in their cells, never speaking to any one but
to the superior when he visits them, and to the brother who brings them
necessaries. Their prayers and austerities are doubled, and their fasts more
severe and more frequent. St. Romuald condemned himself to this kind of life
for several years; and fervent imitators have never since failed in this
solitude.
St. Romuald died in his
monastery in the valley of Castro in the marquisate of Ancona. As he was born
about the year 956, he must have died seventy years and some months old, not a
hundred and twenty, as the present copies of his life have it. The day of his
death was the 19th of June ; but his principal feast is appointed by Clement
VIII, on the 7th of February, the day of his translation. His body was found
entire and uncorrupt five years after his death, and again in 1466. But his
tomb being sacrilegiously opened, and his body stolen in 1480, it fell to dust,.
in which state it was translated to Fabriano, and there deposited in the great
church, all but the remains of one arm, sent to Camaldoli. God has honoured his
relics with many miracles. The order of Camaldoli is now divided into five
congregations, under so many generals or majors. The life of the hermits is
very severe, though something mitigated since the time of St. Romuald. The
Cenobites are more like Benedictines, and perhaps were not directly established
by St. Romuald, says F. Helyot.
If we are not called upon
to practise the extraordinary austerities of many saints we cannot but confess
that we live under an indispensable necessity of leading mortified lives, both
in order to fulfil our obligation of doing penance, and to subdue our passions
and keep our senses and interior faculties under due command. The appetites of
the body are only to be reduced by universal temperance, and assiduous
mortification and watchfulness over all the senses. The interior powers of the
soul must be restrained, as the imagination, memory, and understanding their
proneness to distraction, and the itching curiosity of the mind, must be
curbed, and their repugnance to attend to spiritual things corrected by habits
of recollection, holy meditation, and prayer. Above all, the will must be
rendered supple and pliant by frequent self-denial, which must reach and keep
in subjection all its most trifling sallies and inclinations. If any of these,
how insignificant so ever they may seem, are not restrained and vanquished,
they will prove sufficient often to disturb the quiet of the mind, and betray
one into considerable inconveniences, faults, and follies. Great weaknesses are
sometimes fed by temptations which seem almost of too little moment to deserve
notice: and though these infirmities should not arise to any great height, they
always fetter the soul, and are an absolute impediment to her progress toward
perfection.
(1) Sanuti tells us that
St. Peter Urseoli, from his cradle, devoted himself with his whole heart to the
divine service, and proposed to himself in all his actions the holy will and
the greater glory of God. He built in the church of St. Mark a chapel, in which
the body of that evangelist was secretly laid, the place being known by very
few. Being chosen doge, he refused that dignity for a long time with great
obstinacy, but at length suffered himself to be overcome by the importunity of
the people. He had held it only two years and eight months, when he retired.
Sanuti, Vite de Duchi di Venezia, c. 976. Muratori, Reram Italicar.
Scriptores,t. xxii. p. 564.
SOURCE : http://jesus-passion.com/saint_romuald_abbot.htm
Majk
Abbey, hermite cell nr 6
Majkpuszta, kamalduli remeteség 6-os remeteháza
St. Romuald
Feastday: June 19
Birth: 950
Death: 1027
St. Romuald was born
at Ravenna about
the year 956. In spite of an infinite desire for virtue and
sanctity, his early life was
wasted in the service of the world and its pleasures. Then one day, obliged by
his father, Sergius, to be present at a duel fought
by him, he beheld him slay his adversary. The crime made such an impression
upon him that he determined to expiate it for forty days, as though it were
entirely his own. For this purpose he retired to a Benedictine monastery of St.
Apollinare, near Ravenna, where he became Abbot. After founding several
monasteries, he laid the foundations of the austere Order of Camaldoli in
Tuscany. Like all the saints, he fought a lifelong battle against the assaults
of devils and men. In the beginning of his spiritual life he
was strongly assailed by numerous temptations, which he conquered by vigilance
and prayer. More than one attempt was made on his life, but Divine Providence
enabled him to escape from the danger. Like many servants of God, he also
became the victim of calumny, which he bore in patience and silence. In his old
age, he increased his austerities instead of diminishing them. After a
long life of
merit, he died in the monastery of Castro, which he founded in Marquisate of
Ancona. His death occurred on June 19, about the year 1027. His feast day is June 19th.
SOURCE : https://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=406
St. Romuald
Feast day: Jun
19
Saint Romuald, who
founded the Camaldolese monastic order during the early eleventh century, has
his liturgical memorial on June 19.
Working within the Western Church’s Benedictine tradition, he revived the
primitive monastic practice of hermit life, allowing for greater solitude in a
communal setting.
Born into an aristocratic family during the middle of the tenth century,
Romuald grew up in a luxurious and worldly environment, where he learned little
in the way of self-restraint or religious devotion. Yet he also felt an unusual
attraction toward the simplicity of monastic life, prompted by the beauty of
nature and the experience of solitude .
It was not beauty or tranquility, but a shocking tragedy that spurred him to
act on this desire. When Romuald was 20 years old, he saw his father Sergius
kill one of his relatives in a dispute over some property. Disgusted by the
crime he had witnessed, the young man went to the Monastery of St. Apollinaris
to do 40 days of penance for his father.
These 40 days confirmed Romuald’s monastic calling, as they became the
foundation for an entire life of penance. But this would not be lived out at
St. Apollinaris, where Romuald’s strict asceticism brought him into conflict
with some of the other monks. He left the area near Ravenna and went to Venice,
where he became the disciple of the hermit Marinus.
Both men went on to encourage the monastic vocation of Peter Urseolus, a
Venetian political leader who would later be canonized as a saint. When Peter
joined a French Benedictine monastery, Romuald followed him and lived for five
years in a nearby hermitage.
In the meantime, Romuald’s father Sergius had followed his son’s course,
repenting of his sins and becoming a monk himself. Romuald returned to Italy to
help his father, after learning that Sergius was struggling in his vocation.
Through his son’s guidance, Sergius found the strength to persist in religious
life.
After guiding his penitent father in the way of salvation, Romuald traveled
throughout Italy serving the Church. By 1012 he had helped to establish or
reform almost 100 hermitages and monasteries, though these were not connected
to one another in the manner of a distinct religious order.
The foundations of the Camaldolese order were not laid until 1012 – when a
piece of land called the ”Camaldoli,” located in the Diocese of Arezzo, was
granted to Romuald. It became the site of five hermits’ quarters, and a full
monastery soon after. This combination of hermits’ cells and community life,
together with other distinctive features, gave this monastery and its later
affiliates a distinct identity and charism.
Romuald’s approach to the contemplative life, reminiscent of the early Desert
Fathers, can be seen in the short piece of writing known as his “Brief Rule.”
It reads as follows:
“Sit in your cell as in paradise. Put the whole world behind you and forget it.
Watch your thoughts like a good fisherman watching for fish. The path you must
follow is in the Psalms – never leave it.”
“If you have just come to the monastery, and in spite of your good will you
cannot accomplish what you want, take every opportunity you can to sing the
Psalms in your heart and to understand them with your mind. And if your mind
wanders as you read, do not give up; hurry back and apply your mind to the
words once more.”
“Realize above all that you are in God’s presence, and stand there with the
attitude of one who stands before the emperor. Empty yourself completely and
sit waiting, content with the grace of God, like the chick who tastes nothing
and eats nothing but what his mother brings him.”
St. Romuald of Ravenna died in his monastic cell on June 19, 1027. Pope Gregory
XIII canonized him in 1582.
SOURCE : https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/saint/st-romuald-510
La
statua di San Romualdo Abate, opera in resina di Barbara Femia. Chiesa
di San Romualdo Abate a Monte Migliore, Roma
Saints of
the Day – Romuald, Abbot, Founder
Born at Ravenna, Italy;
died Val di Castro, Piceno, Italy, on February 7 (or June 19?), 1027; he has a
second (local) feast day on February 7. Today celebrates the anniversary of the
translation of his relics from Val di Castro, near Camaldoli to Fabriano.
Born into the Honesti (or
Onesti) family, son of Serge, duke of Ravenna, Romuald had an uneventful
childhood and was an unremarkable youth. One day he witnessed his hot-tempered
father kill a relative in a duel over some land. Romuald, his father’s second
in the duel, is shaken at the wages of avarice. It is said that while Romuald
was hunting in the forest one day, he stopped, began to pray, and resolved to
atone for this crime. Whether the incident is true or not, at age 20, Romuald
retired to Sant’Apollinare Monastery in Classe (about a mile from Ravenna) for
40 days to expiate his father’s sin and his own complicity.
He would have returned to
his normally loose lifestyle had he not made the friendship of a holy
lay-brother and experienced conversion. Instead of returning home, Romuald
requested the Benedictine habit. At first the abbot feared Serge’s anger over
his son’s becoming a monk, but the archbishop of Ravenna, another Onesti,
intervened and Romuald entered the order. After three years at that monastery,
he left in quest of a more austere life and became a disciple of the hermit
Marinus near Venice.
Romuald’s early
experience in his family made him very stern against those who pursued their
public careers violently. About 978, Marinus and Romuald, together with Abbot
Guarinus (Guerin) of Cuxa in Catalonia persuaded Peter Orseolo, doge of Venice,
to resign (he had become doge by murdering or acquiescing to the murder of his
predecessor).
Peter accompanied Marinus
and Romuald back to Cuxa and became a Benedictine there, while Romuald and
Marinus built a hermitage near the monastery and lived as hermits. Romuald
returned to Italy ten years later to help his father, Serge, who had become a
monk at Saint-Severin, resolve his doubts about his vocation. (His father died
a short time later.)
Emperor Otto III
appointed Romuald abbot of Sant’Apollinare in Classe, the place Romuald first
sought refuge, but he left after two years to live as a hermit near Pereum
(Piseno). He then set out to evangelize the Magyars in Hungary but was forced
to turn back because of illness and probably by his age. Romuald spent the rest
of his life founding monasteries and hermitages in northern and central Italy,
notably at Vallombrosa in 1012, and in 1023 at Camaldoli near Arezzo. The five
hermitages he built at Camaldoli developed into the mother house of the
Camaldolese Order, which combined the cenobitic tradition of the West and the
Eastern type of eremitical life under a modified Benedictine rule that Romuald
drew up. The order was approved in 1072 – about 45 years after its founder’s
death (Benedictines, Bentley, Delaney, Encyclopedia).
Saint Romuald can be
identified as a White Benedictine (Camaldolese) abbot pointing to a ladder by
which monks ascend – two by two – to heaven. Sometimes he may be shown (1)
experiencing this vision without a ladder; (2) old and bearded with a hermit’s
tau-staff; (3) enthroned with a long candle, surrounded by votaries, also with
candles, as he points to Christ above; or (4) enthroned with a book and a model
of the monastery (Roeder). Saint Fra Angelico painted a picture of Saint
Romuald.
He is venerated at
Camaldoli and Fabriano (Roeder).
MLA
Citation
Katherine I
Rabenstein. Saints of the Day, 1998. CatholicSaints.Info.
23 June 2020. Web. 18 June 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saints-of-the-day-romuald-abbot-founder/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saints-of-the-day-romuald-abbot-founder/
Statue
of St. Romuald in Wigry.
Figura
św. Romualda w Wigrach.
ST. ROMUALD, ABBOT.
In 976, Sergius, a
nobleman of Ravenna, quarrelled with a relation about an estate, and slew him
in a duel. His son Romuald, horrified at his father's crime, entered the
Benedictine monastery at Classe, to do a forty days' penance for him. This
penance ended in his own vocation to religion. After three years at Classe,
Romuald went to live as a hermit near Venice, where he was joined by Peter
Urseolus, Duke of Venice, and together they led a most austere life in the
midst of assaults from the evil spirits. St. Romuald founded many monasteries,
the chief of which was that at Camaldoli, a wild desert place, where he built a
church, which he surrounded with a number of separate cells for the solitaries
who lived under his rule. His disciples were hence called Camaldolese. He is
said to have seen here a vision of a mystic ladder, and his white-clothed monks
ascending by it to heaven. Among his first disciples were Sts. Adalbert and
Boniface, apostles of Russia, and Sts. John and Benedict of Poland, martyrs for
the Faith. He was an intimate friend of the Emperor St. Henry, and was
reverenced and consulted by many great men of his time. He once passed seven
years in solitude and complete silence. In his youth St. Romuald was much
troubled by temptations of the flesh. To escape them he had recourse to
hunting, and in the woods first conceived his love for solitude. His father's
sin; as we have seen, first prompted him to undertake a forty days' penance in
the monastery, which he forthwith made his home. Some bad example of his fellow-monks
induced him to leave them, and adopt the solitary mode of life. The penance of
Urseolus, who had obtained his power wrongfully, brought him his first
disciple; the temptations of the devil compelled him to his severe life and
finally; the persecutions of others were the occasion of his settlement at
Camaldoli, and the foundation of his Order. He died, as he had foretold twenty
years before, alone, in his monastery of Val Castro, on the 19th of June, 1027.
REFLECTION.—St. Romuald's
life teaches us that, if we only follow the impulses of the Holy Spirit, we
shall easily find good everywhere, even on the most unlikely occasions. Our own
sins, the sins of others, their ill-will against us, or our own mistakes and
misfortunes, are equally capable of leading us, with softened hearts, to the
feet of God's mercy and love.
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-romuald-abbot/
%2C_RP-P-1889-A-14234.jpg)
De
heilige Romualdus. S. Romualdi Abbatis Effigies (titel op object). prentmaker:
Giovanni Marco Pitteri (vermeld op object), naar schilderij van: Giovanni
Battista Piazzetta (vermeld op object)
Saints and
Saintly Dominicans – 7 February
Saint Romuald,
Founder of the Camaldolese Monks
Whilst living in the
world Saint Romuald went
into a convent to
do voluntary penance for forty days for having acted as second in a duel. The
exhortations of a lay
brother decided him in his determination to give himself entirely
to God.
Marinus, his master in the monastic life, used often to strike him on the head
when he made mistakes in reading his lesson, in order to correct him and
exercise him in patience. Instead of complaining or being discouraged the
humble novice, who felt that he was losing the hearing of the left ear, which
usually received the blows, contented himself with asking his master to strike
him on the right ear instead. Marinus, filled with admiration, ceased his rough
treatment. Romuald,
after having followed the rule of Saint Benedict,
saw in a dream, in the desert, a ladder on which angels ascended and descended.
This was a figure of the Camaldolese hermits, of which God wished him to become
the founder. They wear, like the sons of Saint Dominic, a white habit, the
symbol of their purity of life; they combine the exercises of the eremitic life
with those of the cenobite and by their austerities recall the lives of the
Fathers of the Thebaid. Those who are the most advanced in contemplation are
even allowed to live entirely as recluses. The great king, Saint Henry,
had a great admiration for the virtues of Saint Romuald,
who died at the age of nearly one hundred and twenty years (1027).
Prayer
O my God, I can never be
reprehended as much as I deserve.
Examination
According to Blessed
Humbert, those are the most loved who are the most harshly reprimanded, as in
the words of Holy Scripture, “Those I love I not only rebuke, but chastise.”
(Apocalypse 3:19) Is it in this spirit that you receive or give corrections?
– taken from the
book Saints
and Saintly Dominicans, by Blessed Hyacinthe-Marie
Cormier, O.P.
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saints-and-saintly-dominicans-7-february/
Guercino,San
Romualdo, Ravenna, Museo d'Arte della città,,
Collezione antica
- Memoria
Facoltativa
Ravenna, ca. 952 - Val di
Castro (Marche), 19 giugno 1027
Nobile, divenne eremita e
dopo l'esperienza in Spagna, nei pressi di monastero sotto l'influenza di
Cluny, iniziò una serie di peregrinazioni lungo l' Appennino con lo scopo di
riformare monasteri ed eremi sul modello degli antichi cenobi dell'Oriente. La
sua fama e il suo carisma lo misero più volte in contatto con i potenti,
principi e prelati. Convertì Ottone III che lo nominò abate di S. Apollinare in
Classe, carica che Romualdo rifiutò clamorosamente dopo un anno rifugiandosi a
Montecassino dove portò il suo rigore ascetico. Riprese le sue peregrinazioni
fondando numerosi eremi, l'ultimo dei quali fu Camaldoli. Questo nome
deriva dal campo che un tale Maldolo aveva donato a Romualdo, in cerca di
solitudine.
Etimologia: Romualdo
= che regna glorioso, dal tedesco
Emblema: Bastone
pastorale, Scala
Martirologio
Romano: San Romualdo, anacoreta e padre dei monaci Camaldolesi, che,
originario di Ravenna, desideroso di abbracciare la vita e la disciplina
eremitica, girò l’Italia per molti anni, costruendo piccoli monasteri e
promovendo ovunque assiduamente tra i monaci la vita evangelica, finché nel
monastero di Val di Castro nelle Marche mise felicemente fine alle sue
fatiche.
Instancabile viaggiatore,
il monaco Romualdo predica più con i fatti che con le parole, percorrendo in
lungo e in largo la penisola. Tanti incontri, nella sua vita: tutti lo cercano
e vogliono parlare con il “Santo abate”; lui riceve tutti, anche se vorrebbe
solo raccogliersi nel silenzio della preghiera. Molti i progetti realizzati, ma
anche uno mancato: quello di guidare spedizioni missionarie per
l’evangelizzazione del Nord Europa che tra il X e l’XI secolo sono ancora
difficili da intraprendere.
La vocazione: “tacente lingua et predicante vita”
Romualdo nasce nel 952 in una nobile famiglia di Ravenna. Dopo uno scontro
sanguinoso che coinvolge il suo casato, matura la vocazione alla vita monastica
ed entra assieme al padre nel monastero di Sant’Apollinare in Classe. Da monaco
s’impone una vita severa di penitenza, meditazione e preghiera, ma a causa
delle sue nobili origini lo chiamano ovunque a svolgere incombenze
ecclesiastiche e politiche. A Venezia si mette sotto la guida spirituale
dell’eremita Marino, e qui conosce uno dei più importanti monaci riformatori
del secolo X: l’abate Guarino. Al suo seguito giunge fino in Catalogna, dove si
trattiene dieci anni e dove completa la sua formazione.
Alla ricerca della solitudine
Tornato a Ravenna nel 988, Romualdo rinuncia ufficialmente alla carica di abate
e comincia a viaggiare. La prima tappa è Verghereto, vicino Forlì, dove fonda
un monastero in onore di San Michele Arcangelo, ma per i suoi continui richiami
ai monaci sulla disciplina e sulla morale, è costretto a spostarsi ancora. Nel
1001 torna a Sant’Apollinare in Classe, dove diventa abate, ma non è quella la
vita che vuole, così dopo un anno rinuncia e si rifugia a Montecassino. Per un
periodo vive in una grotta, quindi fonda un eremo a Sitria, in Umbria, e vi
rimane sette anni. Sono tutti piccoli i monasteri e i cenobi che fonda,
convinto com’è che nelle strutture troppo grandi si disperda il silenzio
necessario al raccoglimento.
Camaldoli, solo una “sosta”
Nel corso delle sue peregrinazioni, Romualdo arriva nel Casentino nel 1012. Qui
incontra il conte aretino Maldolo, padrone di una casa e di una selva nel luogo
che proprio dal suo nome viene denominato Camaldoli. Affascinato dalla figura
di questo anacoreta, il conte gli regala le sue proprietà e così Romualdo qui
mette su un ospizio e costruisce un eremo per i religiosi contemplativi, ai
quali dà una regola simile a quella benedettina. Da qui, però, si sposterà di
nuovo: arrivato nelle Marche fonda un monastero nella Val di Castro dove
riserva per sé una piccola cella dove muore il 19 giugno del 1027. Anche da
morto però viaggerà: le sue reliquie infatti vengono portate prima a Jesi e poi
a Fabriano, nella chiesa camaldolese di San Biagio. Viene canonizzato da
Clemente VIII nel 1595.
Fonte: Vatican News
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Romualdo è un bambino molto ricco. Nasce a Ravenna, intorno al 952, nella nobile famiglia Onesti: è figlio, infatti, del duca della città. La sua infanzia trascorre serena e negli agi, ma Romualdo non è un bambino come tutti gli altri. È molto buono e ama stare da solo, a contatto con la natura che ammira estasiato. Diventato uomo, rimane sconvolto da un fatto gravissimo. Durante un conflitto per un terreno conteso, suo padre uccide un parente. Romualdo decide di fare penitenza per espiare il peccato commesso dal padre e di dedicare la sua vita al Signore. Entra, così, nel Monastero di Ravenna “Sant’Apollinare in Classe”. Quando prega davanti all’altare lo assale la commozione e versa tante lacrime. Desideroso di trascorrere una vita da eremita, si trasferisce nei pressi di Venezia.
Con altri monaci si reca, poi, sui Pirenei Orientali, nell’Abbazia di Saint-Michel a Cuxa (oggi nel Comune di Codalet, Occitania, Francia), dove rimane per dieci anni. Nel 988 torna in Italia per promuovere una nuova congregazione, ispirandosi alla Regola di San Benedetto, ma anche agli eremiti dell’Oriente. Fonda e riforma tanti monasteri dove, accanto alla vita in comune, fatta di lavoro e preghiera, i monaci trascorrono il tempo anche da soli per essere ancora più vicini al Signore. Nel 1001 l’imperatore Ottone III chiede a Romualdo di guidare il Convento di Sant’Apollinare in Classe (Ravenna) e lo nomina abate. Il monaco ubbidisce, ma poi rinuncia e torna a viaggiare, in groppa al suo asino, alla ricerca della solitudine.
Si reca a Montecassino (Frosinone), nell’abbazia fondata da San Benedetto e
fonda altri monasteri con le sue regole, ispirate all’essenzialità: per lodare
il Signore non servono maestose basiliche, ma spazi semplici, poveri, piccoli
dove grande è la fede. A Camaldoli (Arezzo) un ricco proprietario gli regala un
terreno immerso in mezzo al verde. Qui Romualdo costruisce un monastero e
alcuni eremi. Da questo luogo, dove ancora oggi i pellegrini trascorrono una
vacanza all’insegna della spiritualità, trae il nome la Congregazione dei
Camaldolesi fondata da Romualdo nel 1012. Il monaco apre altri eremi nel Nord e
Centro Italia. La fine dei suoi giorni avviene nel 1027, in una misera celletta
del monastero marchigiano da lui fondato a Valdicastro, nei pressi di Fabriano
(Ancona). Le sue reliquie si trovano nella Chiesa camaldolese di San Biagio a
Fabriano, città famosa nel mondo per la produzione della carta.
Autore: Mariella
Lentini
Andrea Sacchi (1599–1661), Visione di San Romualdo /The Vision of St Romuald, circa 1631, Pinacoteca Vaticana / Vatican Museums
Un mattino del settembre 978 corre a Venezia l’allarme: "E’ sparito il Doge!". Ed è vero: Pietro Orseolo I, da due anni in carica, è fuggito nella notte, diretto a un lontano monastero dei Pirenei. Ha pochi accompagnatori, tra cui il giovane monaco Romualdo, figlio del duca Sergio di Ravenna. Perché? L’Orseolo è diventato Doge dopo l’assassinio del predecessore, Pietro Candiano IV. Non è chiaro se abbia a che fare col delitto, ma l’imperatore Ottone II minaccia vendette. E allora lui, "sacrificando sé stesso, evitava al popolo pericoli, lotte intestine, attacchi esterni" (A. Zorzi, La Repubblica del leone). Nel monastero pirenaico Romualdo aiuta e assiste l’ex Doge, che muore nel 987-88 da semplice monaco (e la Chiesa lo venera come santo dal 1731).
Romualdo torna poi a Ravenna, ma non si ferma in quello che fu il suo primo monastero, Sant’Apollinare in Classe. Anzi, in verità non si ferma da nessuna parte. Diventato monaco (insieme a suo padre) dopo uno scontro sanguinoso in cui era coinvolto il suo casato, s’impone una vita severa di penitenza, preghiera e meditazione. Ma spesso lo chiamano a incombenze ecclesiastiche e politiche, per le sue relazioni con le grandi famiglie del tempo. Lui accetta per dovere, ma con l’ansia di tornare via al più presto: la sua vera casa sono gli isolotti del delta padano, le alture degli Appennini e, per qualche tempo, le coste istriane: luoghi meravigliosi per la sua solitudine, che però non dura. Arriva sempre gente che cerca Romualdo, che ha bisogno di Romualdo. Certi monaci vogliono crearsi un cenobio? E lui li aiuta, poi si ripete con altri, e infine passa la vita a fondarne da ogni parte. Sempre piccoli, però: non sopporta monasteri grossi e monaci all’ingrosso, e ha scontri continui con personaggi scadenti, o peggio: un abate, che si è comprato la carica, tenta pure di strangolarlo.
Sempre esigente e sempre con progetti: come quello, irrealizzato, di guidare spedizioni missionarie in Nord Europa. Nel 1012 scopre la meraviglia dell’Appennino casentinese (Arezzo) e vi fa sorgere, a 1098 metri, un piccolo eremo. Trecento metri più sotto edifica poi un monastero. E così nasce Camaldoli, centro di preghiera e di cultura ancora nel XX secolo. Costruire, avviare una convivenza, insegnare (ma alla predica preferisce il colloquio). Partenze e arrivi ritmano la vita di Romualdo, che si conclude in un altro monastero fondato da lui: quello marchigiano di Val di Castro. Qui egli muore da eremita qualsiasi, in una piccola cella. Ma “viaggerà” ancora: nel 1480, infatti, due monaci di Sant’Apollinare in Classe porteranno di nascosto le sue spoglie a Jesi. Ma già l’anno dopo verranno riportate, e per sempre, nella chiesa camaldolese di San Biagio a Fabriano. La Chiesa lo venera come santo dal 1595, per decisione di Clemente VIII.
Autore: Domenico Agasso
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/27750
Voir aussi : https://www.newliturgicalmovement.org/2018/02/the-feast-of-st-romuald.html
http://divineprovidence.e-monsite.com/pages/content/litanies-de-saint-romuald-de-ravenne/
