vendredi 31 décembre 2021

Saint ODILON de CLUNY, abbé et confesseur

 


Saint Odilon de Cluny

Cinquième abbé de Cluny (+ 1049)

L'Ordre des bénédictins en France unit la mémoire de saint Odilon à la fête de saint Maïeul. Il succéda en effet à saint Maïeul comme abbé de Cluny pendant cinquante-cinq ans en un temps où l'influence de cette abbaye s'étendait sur l'Europe entière. Austère pour lui-même, il était d'une grande bonté et d'une grande indulgence pour ses moines. Artisan de paix, il unit ses efforts à ceux de Richard de Saint-Vanne pour mettre en œuvre la "trêve de Dieu" qui interdisait tout acte de guerre et de brigandage du mercredi soir au lundi matin. L'Église lui doit aussi la commémoration des fidèles défunts, c'est lui qui introduisit la liturgie de l'intercession pour les morts, le 2 novembre. Il est fêté le 31 décembre, au jour de sa naissance au ciel en 1049.

Né en 962 à Saint-Cirgues, Odilon, paralysé dans son enfance, doit sa guérison à une intervention de la Sainte Vierge. Éduqué à Brioude, il y rencontre l'abbé de Cluny Mayeul en 990. Il décide de le suivre. Il participe ainsi à la grande aventure de réforme clunisienne. Cette réforme est un retour strict à la règle de Saint Benoît: rigueur morale, respect des vœux de pauvreté, d'obéissance et de chasteté, primauté de la vie liturgique et contemplative. En 994, Odilon est élu abbé de Cluny, il le restera jusqu'en 1049. Doué d'une volonté de fer c'est un remarquable organisateur. Avec lui, Cluny prend une dimension exceptionnelle.

Il meurt le 1er janvier 1049, reconnu immédiatement comme saint. (Saints du diocèse du Puy-en-Velay)
...Célèbre pour son inlassable charité, c'est lui qui instaura la Commémoration de tous les fidèles défunts le 2 novembre. Il prit également une part importante à l'établissement de la trêve de Dieu. St Odilon est sanflorain d'adoption car il érigea le prieuré bénédictin de St-Flour, bâtit l'église, entoura la cité de remparts et construit un pont sur la rivière du Lander... (diocèse de Saint-Flour, illustration)


"Le moine qui succéda à Saint Mayeul (910-994) à la tête de l'abbaye de Cluny est le promoteur de la 'Paix de Dieu' et de la fête des défunts, le 2 novembre." (Saint Odilon de Mercœur 961 - 1049 - Église catholique en France)

"Ô Croix mon refuge, ô Croix mon chemin et ma force, ô Croix étendard imprenable, ô Croix arme invincible. La Croix repousse tout mal, la Croix met les ténèbres en fuite; par cette Croix je parcourrai le chemin qui mène à Dieu." (Invocation à la Croix par Saint Odilon - Église catholique en France)

"...Dans le triomphe de ce jour, Et dans sa joie, célébrons Dieu..." (Hymne pour la fête de l'Assomption par Saint Odilon - Église catholique en France)

Saint Odilon, abbé de Cluny,(962-1049) par l'Abbé P. Jardet, Chanoine honoraire d'Autun, Aumônier des Religieuses de Saint-Joseph de Cluny, 1898.

- il est patron de l'église de La Charmée, près de Chalon-sur-Saône en Saône et Loire

Au martyrologe romain, au 1er janvier, on note: à Souvigny en Bourbonnais, en 1049, le trépas de saint Odilon, abbé de Cluny. Sévère pour soi mais doux et miséricordieux pour les autres, il institua la trêve de Dieu entre les belligérants et, en temps de famine, mit tout en œuvre pour soulager les affligés, enfin, il institua le premier en ses monastères la commémoraison de tous les fidèles défunts, le lendemain de la fête de Tous les Saints.

Martyrologe romain

SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/369/Saint-Odilon-de-Cluny.html

04/01 - SAINT ODILON DE CLUNY

ÉPOQUE : XIÈME SPAYS : FRANCE

Odilon est un nom peu connu… et pourtant au XIe siècle, ce saint Abbé de Cluny avait certainement autant d'importance que le Pape lui-même dans l'Occident chrétien. Odilon de Mercoeur naquit en Auvergne vers 961. Il reçut sa première formation religieuse en l'abbaye Saint-Julien de Brioude. Il suivit saint Mayeul en Bourgogne, à Cluny où il lui succéda bientôt comme Abbé : il avait à peine 30 ans. Cette charge, il la garda jusqu'à sa mort en 1048.

Cluny : un nom prodigieux ! Il n'est pas certain qu'aujourd'hui il y ait un centre spirituel comparable, influençant l'ensemble de l'Europe, à part peut être Taizé, qui se trouve d'ailleurs dans la même région. Fondée un demi-siècle plus tôt, Cluny était devenue, par la qualité de ses Abbés (Odilon est le 5e), comme la capitale d'un véritable empire monastique, rayonnant par ses abbayes filiales dans toutes les dimensions de l'Europe. L'Abbé Odilon donna à Cluny une nouvelle impulsion : en cette époque où la Papauté était entravée par l'anarchie qui l'emportait à Rome, l'Abbé Odilon de Cluny fut le véritable chef de la Chrétienté en Occident !

Comme Bernard de Clairvaux le fera pour le XIIe siècle, Odilon de Cluny marque en profondeur le siècle précédent. Moine d'une grande austérité, il savait être très humain avec ses frères. À l'extérieur des cloîtres, son influence fut considérable aussi bien auprès des Princes qu'à l'intérieur de la vie ecclésiale. Ce grand Abbé de Cluny était aussi, en effet, un diplomate ; c'est ainsi qu'il contribua à imposer la "Trêve de Dieu", pendant l'Avent et Noël. Dans le domaine de la Liturgie, on lui doit - sur la base d'une tradition Celtique - la Commémoration des fidèles défunts le 2 novembre, à la suite de la Fête de Tous les saints. Il faut dire encore que saint Odilon manifestait concrètement une grande compassion pour les pauvres et les déshérités. Ainsi, pendant la famine atroce de 1006, il ne se contente pas de vendre les ornements liturgiques précieux de son monastère, il se fait mendiant avec les mendiants !

Saint Odilon, abbé de Cluny mais de 994 à 1049, ne doit pas être confondu avec Saint Odon, qui fut également abbé de Cluny mais de 927 à 942.
Odilon est un nom d'origine germanique, qui signifie "richesse".

SOURCE : https://www.lejourduseigneur.com/saint/saint-odilon-de-cluny

Saint Odilon : une vie liée à Marie (vers 962-1049)

Saint Odilon fut le cinquième abbé du monastère de Cluny.

Il est né en Alverne vers 962. Enfant, il ne pouvait pas se remuer normalement à cause d'une paralysie enfantine. Pendant un voyage, alors qu'il visitait une église dédiée à Marie, il s'agrippa à la nappe de l'autel et à l'instant il reçut la guérison. Cette circonstance serait à l'origine de sa grande dévotion envers la Mère du Seigneur.

Entré au monastère de Cluny en 991, il devint abbé et resta à la charge plus de cinquante années.

En se consacrant à la Mère de Dieu dans le sanctuaire de Notre Dame du Puy, afin de confirmer son intention de lui offrir sa liberté personnelle, il s'est mis une corde au cou et il a mis le bout de la corde sur l'autel de la Vierge, et il a prononcé la prière suivante :

« O Vierge très pieuse, Mère du Sauveur de tous les siècles, à partir de maintenant prends-moi à ton service.

En chaque circonstance, reste toujours avec moi, o miséricordieuse avocate.

En effet, je ne mets au-dessus de toi personne sauf Dieu ;

et comme ton serviteur, je me mets sous ta maîtrise. » 1

Cette volonté comportait pour Odilon des engagements très pratiques et, avant tout, l'imitation des vertus et des exemples de Marie pour

- la foi inébranlable,

- la sincère humilité,

- la chasteté rigoureuse

- et la pauvreté intégrale qu'elle avait pratiqué dans sa vie.

Ce que Saint Ambroise disait de Marie, c'est-à-dire que pendant que son corps reposait son esprit restait dans un état de veille, le biographe Iotsaldo l'applique à la prière du saint abbé : « Souvent le sommeil le surprenait pendant qu'il était en train de psalmodier encore dans son lit ; et cependant le psaume n'abandonnait jamais la bouche du dormeur. » 2

Homme de grandes capacités, Odilon consolida et développa la réforme clunisienne, en portant de 37 à 65 les fondations affiliées au monastère de Cluny.

Sa pensée mariale s'exprime spécialement dans ses sermons (pour les fêtes de la Nativité, de la Purification et de l'Assomption...) Saint Odilon est un excellent témoin de la doctrine mariale qui l'a précédé. Le plus original est l'application faite de la dévotion mariale à la vie monastique.

1 Vita Odilonis 2, 1, PL 142, 915-916

2 Vita Odilonis 1, 6, PL 142, 901 C.

Lire aussi :

G. BAVAUD, La dévotion de saint Odilon à la Vierge Marie, in CongrZag III, pp. 571-582.

O. RINGHOLZ, S. Odilo der grosse Marienverehrer, Einsiedeln 1922

Extraits de : L. GAMBERO, Maria nel pensiero dei teologi latini medievali, ed San Paolo, 2000, p. 98-104, présentés par F. Breynaert.

Lire aussi :

Les expressions bibliques : serviteur, servante

Esclave d’amour : un sens littéral dans l’impasse

Que disent les papes de l’esclavage d’amour ?

Les effets merveilleux de la consécration (Montfort)

SOURCE : https://www.mariedenazareth.com/encyclopedie-mariale/les-grands-temoins-marials/du-vii-siecle-a-1054/reforme-de-cluny-x-siecle-st-odon-st-odilon/st-odilon-de-cluny-une-vie-liee-a-marie/

Marie et la vie monastique (Odilon de Cluny)

La réforme de Cluny a conduit à une floraison de monastères et de construction d'églises. Elle a aussi grandement développé la dévotion mariale.

Saint Odilon (vers 962-1049) a souligné quelques vertus de Marie qui présentent une analogie évidente avec les vœux monastiques :

L'épisode de la présentation de l'enfant Jésus au temple lui offre l'opportunité d'insister sur la pauvreté de la Mère :

« Elle était pauvre de possessions terrestres, mais pleine de bénédictions célestes... Elle était tellement pauvre qu'elle n'avait pas d'agneau à offrir pour le péché ; mais elle était aussi tellement riche que, tout en conservant sa virginité, elle put engendrer l'agneau qui enlève le péché du monde. » 1

Odilon était convaincu que la pauvreté totale de la Mère de Dieu ne fût pas incompatible avec son origine royale de la maison de David, parce qu'il s'agit d'une disposition intérieure qui, loin d'appauvrir l'âme, lui confère une richesse spirituelle incomparable.

Au sujet de la virginité de Marie, Odilon revient plutôt fréquemment, pour en faire applications à la vie du moine :

« Elle a préparé à celui qui venait dans le monde un temple consacré par la vertu céleste et dédié à une virginité perpétuelle. » 2

Le saint abbé se réfère en particulier à l'épisode du Calvaire, quand Jésus confia à Marie Jean comme fils et vice versa, pour expliquer comment cette confiance réciproque fût motivé par le fait que Marie et Jean étaient deux vierges. 3

En rappelant saint Ambroise et saint Jérôme saint Odilon fait une mise au point : Marie est le modèle que doivent imiter non seulement les vierges qui ont consacré leur vie au Seigneur, mais aussi les hommes et en particulier les moines :

« De ce sermon même [de S. Jérôme], les femmes vierges, et pas seulement les femmes vierges mais aussi les hommes vierges peuvent apprendre comme ils doivent militer virginalement et virilement pour la Vierge des vierges. » 4

L'obéissance de la Mère de Dieu, selon Odilon, se confond avec son humilité admirable. En commentant sa réponse à l'ange : « Voici la servante du Seigneur, qu'il m'advienne selon ta parole »(Lc 1, 38) Odilon affirme :

« Alors qu'elle pouvait se reconnaître Dame de tous les fidèles sans préjudice pour sa sincère humilité, elle n'hésita pas à se proclamer servante de Seigneur. » 5

La contemplation. L'engagement caractéristique de la vie monastique consiste dans l'exercice de la contemplation et Odilon n'a pas de difficulté à reconnaître dans la vie de la Vierge un modèle sublime de contemplation.

Il n'ignore pas que Marie a aussi mené une vie active et il en propose l'exemple de sa visite à la cousine Elisabeth. Mais il fait le point : en un tel cas, la Mère de Dieu s'est consacrée à l'action avec le but unique de faire du bien aux autres, et plus précisément à la mère âgée du futur précurseur du Christ.

Cependant sa préférence allait clairement à la pratique de la contemplation, comme en témoigne la circonstance où elle reçut l'annonce de l'ange, celui-ci l'avait trouvé immergée dans une profonde prière contemplative. 6

1 Sermo III, PL 142, 1000 D.

2 Sermo XII, PL 142, 1023 A.

3 Cf. ibid., PL 142, 1027 B.

4 Vita Odilonis 1, 6, PL 142, 901 C.

5 Sermo IV, PL 142, 1003 A

6 Cf. Saint Ambroise, De virginibus, 2, 2, 10, PL 16, 221 BC ; Bibliotheca Ambrosiana 14/1, 172-174.

Lire aussi :

G. BAVAUD, La dévotion de saint Odilon à la Vierge Marie, in CongrZag III, pp. 571-582.

O. RINGHOLZ, S. Odilo der grosse Marienverehrer, Einsiedeln 1922

Extraits de : L. GAMBERO, Maria nel pensiero dei teologi latini medievali, ed San Paolo, 2000, p. 98-104, présentés par F. Breynaert.

Lire aussi :

L'ordre bénédictin et la Vierge Marie

La crainte de Dieu et l'obéissance de Jésus et Marie (Lc 1, 50)

Marie et la Béatitude des pauvres

Heureux les cœurs purs (Benoît XVI)

L'humilité

La foi est un germe de la vraie vie (Benoît XVI)

La charité

SOURCE : https://www.mariedenazareth.com/encyclopedie-mariale/les-grands-temoins-marials/du-vii-siecle-a-1054/reforme-de-cluny-x-siecle-st-odon-st-odilon/marie-et-la-vie-monastique-odilon-de-cluny-1049/

Prière de Saint Odilon de Cluny pour les « Âmes du purgatoire »

sur l'Enfer

Invoquons Saint Odilon pour la « délivrance des âmes du purgatoire ». Saint Odilon de Cluny (962-1049), cinquième Abbé de l’Abbaye de Cluny, est le Promoteur de l'Institution de la Commémoration des Fidèles Défunts du 2 novembre et apparaît comme le principal intermédiaire entre l'ici-bas et l'au-delà.


Invocation à Saint Odilon pour la délivrance des âmes du purgatoire :

« Ô Dieu, qui avez choisi Saint Odilon pour devenir non seulement un modèle de vertus et un instrument de grands miracles, mais aussi pour être, près de votre miséricorde, un puissant intercesseur en faveur des âmes qui expient dans les souffrances du purgatoire les fautes de leur vie passée: daignez, ô mon Dieu, nous donner part, et à tous ceux qui nous sont chers, aux mérites et à la puissante intercession de votre bienheureux serviteur. Par Jésus-Christ Notre Seigneur qui vit et règne avec Dieu dans l'unité du Saint-Esprit. Amen. »

Saint Odilon de Cluny, puissant avocat des âmes détenues dans le purgatoire, intercédez pour elles !

Prions : « Ô mon Dieu ! C’est votre amour infini qui vous a fait descendre parmi nous; et rien ne vous coûte, quand il s'agit de rapporter au bercail sur vos épaules la brebis égarée. Ô Roi des rois ! Qui ne manquez à aucune créature dans ses besoins, et qui donnez abondamment à chacune ce que sa nature exige, donnez-moi votre secours; afin que, renonçant au monde, je puisse marcher toujours à votre suite. Amen. »

Saint Odilon de Cluny (962-1049)

Voir également de Saint Odilon de Cluny :

La Prière de Saint Odilon de Cluny pour les « Âmes du purgatoire »

La Prière de Saint Odilon de Mercoeur d’invocation à la Croix « la Croix du Seigneur est avec moi et je L’adore sans cesse »

La Prière Mariale de Saint Odilon de Cluny « Ô très tendre Vierge, je me livre à Votre domination »

L’Hymne de Saint Odilon de Cluny pour la fête de l'Assomption « Voici que la Reine des vierges gravit le céleste chemin »

La Prière de Saint Odilon de Cluny lors de la venue d’Henri II à Cluny « Sauvez, mon Dieu, notre empereur Henri qui espère en Vous »

Le Sermon sur la Résurrection du Sauveur de Saint Odilon « Frères très aimés, vivons avec justice afin de ressusciter aussi à la joie éternelle dans notre corps »

SOURCE : https://site-catholique.fr/index.php?post/Priere-de-Saint-Odilon-pour-les-Ames-du-purgatoire

Saint Odilon de Mercoeur (961-1049)

Intermédiaire entre l’ici-bas et l’au-delà
Le moine qui succéda à Saint Mayeul (910-994) à la tête de l’abbaye de Cluny est le promoteur de la « Paix de Dieu » et de la fête des défunts, le 2 novembre.

Issu d’une branche de la famille comtale d’Auvergne, Odilon de Mercoeur naît en 961 ou 962. Il entre au monastère de Cluny dans les années 990. Lettré, Odilon se voit confier l’éducation des jeunes oblats, devenus nombreux sous l’abbé Mayeul. Il sera désigné, dès 993, coadjuteur et successeur du saint.Le développement de Cluny sous son abbatiat (994-1049) marque la naissance d’une véritable Eglise dans l’Eglise : l’Ecclesia Cluniacensis. Elle constituera, au fil des ans, un vaste réseau monastique formé de prieurés, d’abbayes et de petites celles. Son action spirituelle, mais aussi temporelle, fit de lui l’un des plus grands personnages de la chrétienté, à l’égal des empereurs et des papes. Fulbert, le grand évêque de Chartres, avait surnommé Odilon « l’archange », à la vue des nombreux troupeaux dont l’abbé de Cluny était le pasteur.Une caractéristique du moine clunisien est qu’il apparaît comme le principal intermédiaire entre l’ici-bas et l’au-delà. Odilon est le promoteur de l’institution de la commémoration des fidèles défunts.Devant le climat d’insécurité engendré par les conflits entre seigneurs locaux et régionaux, il s’associe à d’autres ecclésiastiques dans le but d’arrêter ou de suspendre les guerres intestines qui étaient cause de grands maux. La « Paix de Dieu » se propagea d’abord activement, et Odilon mit en place dans son abbaye la liturgie de la clameur, c’est-à-dire de la plainte sacrée.Saint Odilon est peut-être le plus riche, humainement, des abbés de Cluny. La douceur et la bonté rayonnent de cette personnalité au tempérament pourtant nerveux, à la sensibilité suraiguë et à l’activité débordante. Son œuvre littéraire se compose essentiellement de deux Vies de l’impératrice Adélaïde et de saint Mayeul, de plusieurs hymnes liturgiques, et d’une quinzaine de sermons. La forme simple et spontanée de son enseignement fait preuve d’une sensibilité riche et véritablement mystique.

Tombé malade dès 1046, Odilon meurt à Souvigny dans la nuit du 31 décembre 1048 au 1er janvier 1049, à l’âge de 86 ans. Il sera canonisé dès 1055.

P. Frédéric Curnier-Laroche

Curé de Sennecey-le-Grand
Délégué épiscopal à l’art sacré pour le diocèse d’Autun
Membre du comité de rédaction du bi-média “Narthex”

SOURCE : https://eglise.catholique.fr/approfondir-sa-foi/temoigner/figures-de-saintete/370340-saint-odilon-de-mercoeur-961-1049/

Saint Odilo of Cluny

Also known as

Archangel of Monks

Odilo of the Poor Souls

Olon…

Odilón…

Odilone…

Memorial

1 January

2 January on some calendars

11 May on some calendars

31 December on some calendars

3 January (dioceses of Lausanne, Geneva and Fribourg)

29 April as one of the Seven Abbots of Cluny

19 January in Cluny (formerly 2 January)

6 February in Switzerland

Profile

Born to the French nobility, the son of Berald de Mercoeur and Gerberga who became a nun when widowed. Cured of unnamed malady in childhood by the intervention of Our LadyMonk at Cluny at age 29. Abbot at Cluny in 994 at age 32 until his death. Promoted the Truce of God whereby military hostilities were suspended at certain times for ostensibly religious reasons, but which allowed enough commerce that people could survive, and which guaranteed sanctuary to those who sought refuge in a church. Instituted the feast now know as All Soul’s Day. Known to sell Church property and treasures to feed the poor during times of famine. Declined the archbishopric of Lyon. Increased the Cluniac houses from 37 to 65. The cause for his canonization was pressed by Saint Peter Damian, who wrote a biography of him.

Born

962 at AuvergneFrance

Died

1 January 1049 at Souvigny, France of natural causes

relics burned in 1793 during the French Revolution

Patronage

against jaundice

souls in Purgatory

Representation

Benedictine abbot with a skull and crossbones at his feet

abbot celebrating Mass with Purgatory open at his side

abbot in the same image as angels releasing souls from Purgatory

Additional Information

Book of Saints, by the Monks of Ramsgate

Catholic Encyclopedia

Lives of the Saints, by Father Alban Butler

Lives of the Saints, by Sabine Baring-Gould

New Catholic Dictionary

Roman Martyrology1914 edition

Saints of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein

Saints of the Order of Saint Benedict, by Father Aegedius Ranbeck, O.S.B.

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Martirlogio Romano2004 edizione

Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints

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MLA Citation

“Saint Odilo of Cluny“. CatholicSaints.Info. 18 September 2021. Web. 31 December 2021. <https://catholicsaints.info/saint-odilo-of-cluny/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-odilo-of-cluny/

St. Odilo

Fifth Abbot of Cluny (q.v.), v.c. 962; d. 31 December, 1048. He was descended from the nobility of Auvergne. He early became a cleric in the seminary of St. Julien in Brioude. In 991 he entered Cluny and before the end of his year of probation was made coadjutor to Abbot Mayeul, and shortly before the latter's death (994) was made abbot and received Holy orders. The rapid development of the monastery under him was due chiefly to his gentleness and charity, his activity and talent for organizing. He was a man of prayer and penance, zealous for the observance of the Divine Office, and the monastic spirit. He encouraged learning in his monasteries, and had the monk Radolphus Glaber write a history of the time. He erected a magnificent monastery building, and furthered the reform of the Benedictine monasteries. Under Alphonse VI it spread into Spain. The rule of St. Benedict was substituted in Cluny for the domestic rule of Isidore. By bringing the reformed or newly founded monasteries of Spain into permanent dependence on the mother-house, Odilo prepared the way for the union of monasteries, which Hugo established for maintaining order and discipline. The number of monasteries increased from thirty-seven to sixty-five, of which five were newly established and twenty-three had followed the reform movement. Some of the monasteries reformed by Cluny, reformed abbey; thus the Abbey of St. Vannes in Lorraine reformed many on the Franco-German borderland. On account of his services in the reform Odilo was called by Fulbert of Chartres the "Archangel of the Monks", and through his relations with the popes, rulers, and prominent bishops of the time Cluny monasticism was promoted. He journeyed nine times to Italy and took part in several synods there. John XIX and Benedict IX both offered him the Archbishopric of Lyons but he declined. From 998 he gained influence with the Emperor Otto III. He was on terms of intimacy with Henry II when the latter, on political grounds, sought to impair the spiritual independence of the German monasteries. For Germany the Cluny policy had no permanent success, as the monks there were more inclined to individualism. Between 1027 and 1046 the relations between the Cluniac monks and the emperor remained unchanged. In 1046 Odilo was present at the coronation of Henry III in Rome. Robert II of France allied himself with the Reform party.

The conclusion of the Peace of God (Treuga Dei), for which Odilo had worked from 1041, was of great economic importance. During the great famines of that time (Particularly 1028-33), he also exercised his active charity and saved thousands from death.

He established All Souls Day (2 November) in Cluny and its monasteries (probably not in 998 but after 1030, and it was soon adopted in the whole church. Of his writings we have but a few short and unimportant ones: a life of the holy Empress St. Adelaide to whom he was closely related; a short biography of his predecessor Mayeul; sermons on feasts of the ecclesiastical year; some hymns and prayers; and a few letters from his extensive correspondence.

Odilo and his confreres interested themselves in the church reform which began about that time. They followed no definite ecclesiastico-political programme, but directed their attacks principally against individual offences such as simony, marriage of the clergy, and the uncanonical marriage of the laity. The Holy See could depend above all on the religious of Cluny when it sought to raise itself from its humiliating position and undertook the reform of the Church.

He died while on a visitation to the monastery of Souvigny where he was buried and soon venerated as a saint. In 1063 Peter Damien undertook the process of his canonization, and wrote a short life, an abstract from the work of Jotsald, one of Odilo's monks who accompanied him on his travels. In 1793 the relics together with those of Mayeul were burned by the revolutionaries "on the altar of the fatherland". The feast of St. Odilo was formerly 2 January, in Cluny, now it is celebrated on 19 January, and in Switzerland on 6 February.

Sources

RINGHOLZ, Der hl. Abt. Odilo, in seinem Leben und Wirken (Brunn, 1885); IDEM, Kirchenlexikon s.v.; SACKUR, Die Cluniacenser bis zur Mitte des 11 Jahrhunderts, I, II (Halle, 1892-94); JARDET, Saint Odilon, Abbé de Cluny (Lyons, 1898).

Löffler, Klemens. "St. Odilo." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. 31 Dec. 2021 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11207c.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Michael T. Barrett. Dedicated to the Poor Souls in Purgatory.

Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. February 1, 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

Copyright © 2021 by Kevin Knight. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

SOURCE : https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11207c.htm

New Catholic Dictionary – Saint Odilo

Article

Confessor, Abbot of Cluny; born Auvergne, France, c.962; died Souvigny, 1048. Descended from a noble family of Auvergne, he entered Cluny in 991, and was made abbot three years later. Under his rule not only Cluny made rapid progress but Benedictine monasteries in general were reformed and many new foundations made. The Peace of God, which had such great economic importance, was largely due to his efforts. He initiated the feast of All Saints and threw the full Cluniac influence into the fight against simony and irregular marriages. Canonized, 1063. Relics burned at Souvigny, 1793. Feast2 January.

MLA Citation

“Saint Odilo”. New Catholic Dictionary. CatholicSaints.Info. 6 August 2018. Web. 31 December 2021. <https://catholicsaints.info/new-catholic-dictionary-saint-odilo/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/new-catholic-dictionary-saint-odilo/

St. Odilo, or Olon, Sixth Abbot of Cluni

HIS family was that of the lords of Mercœur, one of the most illustrious of Auvergne. Divine grace inclined him from his infancy to devote himself to God with his whole heart. He was very young when he received the monastic habit at Cluni, from the hands of St. Mayeul, by whose appointment he was made his coadjutor in 991, though only twenty-nine years of age; and from the death of St. Mayeul in 994, our saint was charged with the entire government of that great abbey. He laboured to subdue his carnal appetites by his rigorous fasting, wearing hair-cloth next his skin, and studded iron chains. Notwithstanding those austerities practised on himself, his carriage to others was most mild and humane. It was usual with him to say, that of two extremes he chose rather to offend by tenderness, than a too rigid severity. In a great famine in 1006, his liberality to the poor was by many censured as profuse; for he melted down the sacred vessels and ornaments, and sold the gold crown St. Henry made a present of to that abbey, to relieve their necessities. He accompanied that prince in his journey to Rome when he was crowned emperor in 1014. This was his second journey thither; he made a third in 1017, and a fourth in 1022. Out of devotion to St. Bennet he paid a visit to mount Cassino, where he begged leave, with the greatest earnestness, to kiss the feet of all the monks, which was granted him with great difficulty. Besides the journeys which the reformation he established in many monasteries obliged him to undertake, he made one to Orbe, to wait on the empress Alice. That pious princess burst into tears upon seeing him, and taking hold of his habit kissed it, and applied it to her eyes, and declared to him she should die in a very short time. This was in 999, and she died on the 16th of December the same year. Massacres and plunders were so common in that age, by the right which every petty lord pretended of revenging his own injuries and quarrels by private wars, that the treaty called the truce of God was set on foot. By this, among other articles, it was agreed that churches should be sanctuaries to all sorts of persons, except those that violated this truce, and that from Wednesday till Monday morning no one should offer violence to any one, not even by way of satisfaction for any injustice he had received. This truce met with the greatest difficulties among the Neustrians, but was at length received and observed in most provinces of France, through the exhortations and endeavours of St. Odilo, and B. Richard, Abbot of St. Vanne’s, who were charged with this commission. 1 Prince Casimir, son of Miceslaw, king of Poland, retired to Cluni, where he professed the monastic state, and was ordained deacon. He was afterward, by a solemn deputation of the nobility, called to the crown. St. Odilo referred the matter to Pope Benedict IX., with whose dispensation Casimir mounted the throne in 1041, married, had several children, and reigned till his death in 1058. 2

St. Odilo being moved by several visions, instituted the annual commemoration of all the faithful departed, to be observed by the members of his community with alms, prayers, and sacrifices, for the relief of the suffering souls in purgatory; and this charitable devotion he often much recommended. He was very devout to the Blessed Virgin; and above all sacred mysteries, that of the divine Incarnation employed his particular attention. As the monks were singing that verse in the church, “thou being to take upon thee to deliver man, didst not abhor the womb of a virgin;” melting away with the tenderest emotions of love, he fell to the ground; the ecstatic agitations of his body bearing evidence to that heavenly fire which glowed in his soul. Most of his sermons and little poems extant treat of the mysteries of our redemption, or of the Blessed Virgin. 3 He excelled in an eminent spirit of compunction, and contemplation. Whilst he was at prayer, trickling tears often watered his cheeks. Neither importunities nor compulsion could prevail upon him to submit to his being elected archbishop of Lyons in 1031. Having patiently suffered.during five years the most painful diseases, he died of the cholic, at Souvigny, a priory in Bourbonnois, whilst employed in the visitation of his monasteries, January 1, 1049, being then eighty-seven years old, and having been fifty-six years abbot. He would be carried to the church, to assist at the divine office, even in his agony; and having received the viaticum and extreme-unction the day before, he expired on sack-cloth strewed with ashes on the ground. See his life, by his disciple Lotsald, as also, by St. Peter Damian, who wrote it soon after the saint’s death, at the request of St. Hugh of Cluni, his successor, in Bollandus, and Bibliotheca Cluniacensus by Dom Marrier, and in Andrew Duchesne, fol. Paris, 1614. See likewise certain epistles of St. Odilo, ib. and fourteen sermons on the festivals of our Lord, the B. Virgin, &c. in Bibl. Patr. Lugdun. an. 1677. T. 17. p. 653

Note 1. Glaber, monk of Cluni, in his history which he dedicated to St. Odilo, l. 4. c. 5. l. 5. c. 1. [back]

Note 2. Mab. Annal. l. 57. n. 45. Solignac Hist. de Pologne, T. 1. [back]

Note 3. Ceillier demonstrates (T. 20. p. 258.) against Basnage, (observ. in vit. Adelaid. T. 3. lect. Canis, p. 71.) that the life of St. Alice the empress is the work of St. Odilo, no less than the life of St. Mayeul. We have four letters, some poems, and several sermons of this saint in the library of Cluni, (p. 370.) and in that of the Fathers. (T. 17. p. 653.) Two other sermons bear his name in Martenne. (Anecd. T. 5.) [back]

Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume I: January.The Lives of the Saints.  1866.

SOURCE : https://www.bartleby.com/210/1/013.html

Saints of the Day – Odilo of Cluny, Abbot

Article

During his 54 years in office he brought the other Cluniac houses into closer and closer dependence upon the mother house, and increased the number of foundations from 37 to 65. Among his general activities was the support he gave to Abbot Richard of Saint-Vanne for the acceptance in France of the institution called the Truce of God (Treuga Dei), whereby military hostilities were regularly suspended at certain times (Fridays through Mondays, Advent, and Lent). This measure had economic as well as religious and social significance and also guaranteed sanctuary to those seeking refuge in a church. Odilo also effectively promoted the Pactum Dei, whereby ecclesiastical persons and property were protected against attack in war.

In 998 (or 1031 by some accounts) he ordered that in all Cluniac houses November 2, the day after the Feast of All Saints, should be observed in memory of and prayer for all the dead; this observance, All Souls’ Day, afterwards spread to the whole Western Church.

Though he was a friend of princes and popes, he was exceedingly gentle and kind and known throughout Christendom for his liberality to the needy. Odilo’s concern for the people was also shown by the lavish help he gave during several famines, especially in 1006, when he sold Church treasures to feed the poor, and again from 1028-1033.

Saint Odilo’s physical appearance was unimpressive, belying the strength of his character. He practiced great personal austerities (he wore a hair-shirt and studded iron chains) on himself, but liberality and kindness toward others. He experienced ecstasies. It is obvious that he was beloved by his contemporaries; Fulbert of Chartres surnamed Odilo “the Archangel of Monks.”

Odilo united in his character gentleness with firmness, organizational skills with the ability to reconcile enemies. His favorite saying is that he would rather be damned for being too merciful than for being too severe. He promoted the spirit of true monasticism and tried to remove its abuses. During his rule, he sought to promote the close unity of Cluny and the Holy See.

It is appropriate that he should die during the Octave of Christmas because his favorite topic for sermons was the mystery of the Incarnation. The place of the Blessed Virgin was also worked out by Odilo, to whose writings the Mariology of Saint Bernard owes much.

His duties involved him in much travelling about, though he was ill during the last five years of his life. It was on a journey of inspection that he died, at the priory of Souvigny; he was about 86 (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer).

In art Saint Odilo is portrayed as a Benedictine abbot with a skull and crossbones at his feet. Because he instituted the Feast of All Souls, at times he may be shown (1) saying Mass with purgatory open at his side; or (2) with angels releasing souls from purgatorial fire (Roeder). He is invoked on behalf of souls in purgatory and against jaundice (Roeder).

MLA Citation

Katherine I Rabenstein. Saints of the Day1998. CatholicSaints.Info. 12 May 2020. Web. 31 December 2021. <https://catholicsaints.info/saints-of-the-day-odilo-of-cluny-abbot/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saints-of-the-day-odilo-of-cluny-abbot/

Saints of the Order of Saint Benedict – Saint Odilo, Abbot

While some people are stimulated by strength and vigour of body, to the practice of virtue, Saint Odilo, on the contrary, was urged on to fervent piety by his bodily infirmities. Almost as soon as he was born, he became afflicted with a grievous malady which deprived him of the use of his hands and feet. From his infancy he had entertained a singular devotion to the Virgin Mother of God, and when physicians had given up his case as hopeless, he commended himself to her. He insisted on being allowed to crawl to the foot of our Lady’s Altar, and as he went, the use of his limbs was restored to him. This great blessing which he had received from Mary remained ever present to his memory in after years, and his great desire was to dedicate the new strength which had been given him to her service. As soon as he was old enough, Saint Odilo went to Cluny, and became a professed Monk, and afterwards the Abbot of that Monastery; and strict indeed was his observance of the rule, for he was a truly humble son of the most humble Virgin. His humility induced him unhesitatingly to reject several Bishoprics, which, in consequence of his great merits, were pressed upon him, and he continued to adorn his Order by his virtue and charity towards the suffering poor.

And not only on the living did his charity expend itself, but also on the dead; and once, when on a journey, he came upon the dead bodies of two children, he deprived himself of his own frock, in which to bury them. His virtue was attested by many miracles. Once, when dining at the Monastery in the Golden Valley, he asked for some water, but found on tasting it that his cup was filled with wine; and as he never drank wine, he blamed the servant for having brought it. More water was then fetched from the well, and again, when Odilo drank it, it was turned into wine, and all wondered at the miracle which had been performed. His love and piety penetrated even to Limbo, and relieved the suffering souls, whose flames were tempered by his tears. Among others, Pope Benedict VIII declared in a vision that he attributed his deliverance from the fires of Purgatory to the prayers of Saint Odilo, for one of the Monks of Cluny saw the spirit of the Pontiff bowing down in gratitude to Saint Odilo, the tiara bending before the cowl. The Archives of the Monastery of Cluny show that many souls in Purgatory – even some thousands – were powerfully helped by the prayers of Saint Odilo, and he it was who first instituted a yearly solemnity in behalf of the Holy Souls. This solemnity, as we know, was afterwards adopted by the whole Church, and is now yearly celebrated on the Second of November as All Souls’ Day.

When his death was approaching, the demon appeared to the Saint as he did to Saint Martin; but at the Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, who deigned to come to the aid of His servant, the evil spirit fled. For what could trouble a soul to whom the Lord of Life had deigned to reveal Himself? Saint Odilo died in the year of our Lord 1048, at the age of eighty-seven.

– text and illustration taken from Saints of the Order of Saint Benedict by Father Aegedius Ranbeck, O.S.B.

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saints-of-the-order-of-saint-benedict-saint-odilo-abbot/

Baring-Gould’s Lives of the Saints – Saint Odilo, Abott Cluny

Article

(A.D. 1049.)

[Roman and Benedictine Martyrologies. Two lives of Saint Odilo are extant, one written by Jotsald, a monk, who had lived under his rule, and who wrote it for Stephen, the nephew of the Saint. The other, a very inferior life, by Saint Peter Damian. Both are printed in the Bollandists, but the first is from an imperfect MS. It was printed entire by Mabillon, Acta SS. O. Saint B.]

Odilo belonged to the family of Mercaeur, one of the most illustrious of Auvergne. Jotsald says:—”In the beginning of the account of his virtues I must relate what happened to him as a boy. And lest it be thought incredible, I mention that I heard it from those to whom he was wont to narrate the circumstance. When he was quite a little boy in his father’s house, before he was sent to school, he was destitute of almost all power in his limbs, so that he could not walk or move himself without help. It happened that one day his father’s family were moving to another place, and a nurse was given charge of him to carry him. On her way, she put the little boy down with her bundles before the door of a church, dedicated to the Mother of God, as she and the rest were obliged to go into some adjacent houses to procure food. As they were some while absent, the boy finding himself left alone, impelled by divine inspirations, began to try to get to the door and enter the Church of the Mother of God. By some means, crawling on hands and knees, he reached it, and entered the church, and went to the altar, and caught the altar vestment with his hands; then, with all his power, stretching his hands on high, he tried to rise, but was unable to do so, his joints having been so long ill-united. Nevertheless, divine power conquered, strengthening and repairing the feeble limbs of the boy. Thus, by the intervention of the Mother of God, he rose, and stood upon his feet whole, and ran here and there about the altar. The servants returning to fetch their bundles, and not finding the child, were much surprised, and looked in all directions, and not seeing him, became greatly alarmed. However, by chance, entering the church, they saw him rambling and running about it; then they recognised the power of God, and joyously took the boy in their arms, and went to their destination, and gave him, completely whole, to his parents, with great gladness.”

As a child, he showed singular simplicity, modesty, and piety. “Thus passed his childish years, and as the strength of youth began to succeed to boyhood, he silently meditated how to desert the flesh-pots of Egypt, and to strive to enter the Land of Promise, through the trials of the world. O good Jesu! how sweet is Thy call! how sweet the inspiration of Thy Spirit, which as soon as Thou strikest on the heart, turns the fire of the Babylonish furnace into love of the celestial country. So! as soon as thou strikest the heart of the youth, thou changest it.” Whilst he was thus meditating, Saint Majolus passed through Auvergne, and Odilo came to him; then the old man, looking on the graceful form and comely face of the youth, and by the instinct of the Saints seeing into his soul, he loved him greatly; also the youthful Odilo felt a great affection for the aged monk. And when they spoke to one another, Odilo opened his heart to Majolus, and the venerable man encouraged the youth to persevere in his good intentions.

Shortly after, Odilo left his home, “as Abraham of old went forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and sought admittance into the abbey of Cluny, as into the Promised Land. O good Jesu! how pleasant it was to see this sheep shorn of its worldly fleece, again ascend as from the baptismal font! Then, wearing our habit, you might have seen our sheep amongst the others of His flock, first in work, last in place, seeking the pastures of eternal verdure; attending to the lamps, sweeping the floors, and doing other common offices. But the pearl could not remain long concealed. After four years, Saint Majolus, after many hard labours borne for Christ, went out of the darkness of Egypt, entered Jerusalem, and was placed in eternal peace by Christ. As death approached, he chose Odilo to be his successor, and to him and to the Lord, he committed his flock.” But Saint Odilo shrank from the position for which his youth, as he considered, disqualified him; however, he was elected by the whole community, and was therefore unable to refuse the office wherewith he was invested by the vote of the brethren, and the desire of the late abbot.

His disciple, Jotsald, gives a very beautiful picture of his master. He describes him as being of middle stature, with a face beaming with grace, and full of authority; very emaciated and pale; his eyes bright and piercing, and often shedding tears of compunction. Every motion of his body was grave and dignified; his voice was manly, and modulated to the greatest sweetness, his speech straightforward and without affectation or artificiality.

His disciple says that he would recite psalms as he lay on his bed, and falling asleep, his lips would still continue the familiar words, so that the brethren applied to him the words of the bride, “I sleep but my heart wakes,” Ego dormio et cor meum vigilat. He read diligently, and nothing gave him greater delight than study. His consideration for others was very marked. “He was burdensome to none, to none importunate, desirous of no honour, he sought not to get what belonged to others, nor to keep what was his own.” His charity was most abundant; often the brethren feared that it exceeded what was reasonable, but they found that though he gave largely, he did not waste the revenues of the monastery. Once, in time of famine, he was riding along a road, when he lit on the naked bodies of two poor boys who had died of hunger. Odilo burst into tears, and descending from his horse, drew off his woolen under garment and wrapping the bodies in it, carefully buried them. In this famine he sold the costly vessels of the Sanctuary, and despoiled the Church of its gold and silver ornaments, that he might feed the starving people. Among the objects thus parted with was the crown of gold presented to the abbey by Henry, King of the Romans. He accompanied this Prince in his journey to Rome, when he was crowned emperor, in 1014. This was his second journey thither; he made a third in 1017, and a fourth in 1022. Out of devotion to Saint Benedict, he paid a visit to Monte Cassino, where he kissed the feet of all the monks, at his own request, which was granted him with great reluctance.

“The convocation of the brethren was regularly held by him till he was at the point of death. O how joyous he was in the midst of them, as standing in the midst of the choir, and looking to right and left he saw the ring of young plantings, and remembered the verse of David’s song, ‘Thy children shall be as the olive branches round about thy table.’ Filii tui sicut novellæ olivarum, in circuitu mensæ tuæ. And the more the number of brothers increased, the more he exhibited his joy of heart by signs. And when some seemed distressed thereat, he was wont to say, ‘Grieve not that the flock has become great, my brothers, He who has called us in, He governs, and will provide.'”

Fulbert, Bishop of Chartres, called him the archangel of monks; and the name, says his disciple, became him well. Saint Odilo, out of his great compassion for the souls of the dead expiating the penalty of their sins in purgatory, instituted the commemoration of All Souls for the morrow of All Saints, in the Cluniac order, which was afterwards adopted by the whole Catholic Church in the West. Many incidents of his travels, and miracles that he wrought, are related by his pupil. As he was riding over the Jura mountains, in snowy weather, the horse carrying his luggage fell, and was precipitated into the valley, and all the baggage was scattered in the snow-drifts. With much trouble, the horse and much of the baggage were recovered, but a valuable Sacramentary, inscribed with gilt letters, and some glass vessels, with embossed work, were lost. That evening, Odilo and his monks arrived at a cell, under the jurisdiction of Saint Eugendus, and being much troubled at his loss, as much rain fell in the night, Saint Odilo sent some of the brethren early next morning to search for the lost treasures. But the snow-drifts were so deep that they could not find them, and he was obliged to leave without them. However, as the spring came round, a certain priest, named Ermendran, was walking in the glen, and he found the book uninjured, and the glass goblets unbroken. He brought them to the cell, and on the return of Odilo to the Jura, he received his lost treasures intact.

Another story of a glass vessel comes on good authority. The circumstances were related by Albert, Bishop of Como, in these words, “Once our Abbot and Superior came to the court of the Emperor Henry, and whilst there, it happened one day that at table a goblet of glass, of Alexandrine workmanship, very precious, with coloured enamel on it, was placed before him. He called me and Landulf, afterwards Bishop of Turin, to him, and bade us take this glass to Odilo. We accordingly, as the Emperor had bidden, took it, and going to the abbot, offered it to him, on the part of the Emperor, humbly bowing. He received it with great humility, and told us to return after a while for the goblet again. Then, when we had gone away, the monks, filled with natural curiosity to see and handle a new sort of thing, passed the vessel from hand to hand, and as they were examining it, it slipped through their fingers to the ground, and was broken. When the gentle man of God was told this, he was not a little grieved, and said, ‘My brothers, you have not done well, for by your negligence, the young clerks who have the custody of these things will, maybe, lose the favour of the Emperor, through your fault. Now, that those who are innocent may not suffer for your carelessness, let us all go to church and ask God’s mercy about this matter.’ Therefore, they all ran together into the church, and sang psalms and prayed, lest some harm should befall us—Albert and Landulf, each of them earnestly supplicating God for us. When the prayer was over, the holy man ordered the broken goblet to be brought to him. He looked at it, and felt it, and could find no crack or breakage in it. Wherefore, he exclaimed indignantly, ‘What are you about, brothers? You must be blind to say that the glass is broken, when there is not a sign of injury done to it.’ The brethren, considering it, were amazed at the miracle, and did not dare to speak. Then, after a while, I and my companion came back for the vessel, and we asked it of him who was carrying it. He called me apart, and returned it to me, bidding me tell the Emperor to regard it as a great treasure. And when I asked his meaning, he told me all that had happened.”

Saint Odilo seems to have been fond of art, for he rebuilt the monasteries of his order, and made them very beautiful, and the churches he adorned with all the costly things he could procure. The marble pillars for Cluny were brought, by his orders, in rafts down the Durance, into the Rhone, and he was wont to say of Cluny, that he found it of wood and left it of marble. He erected over the altar of Saint Peter, in the church, a ciborium, whose columns were covered with silver, inlaid with nigello work.

When he felt that his death approached, he made a circuit of all the monasteries under his sway, that he might leave them in thorough discipline, and give them his last admonitions. On this journey he reached Souvigny, a priory in Bourbonnais, where he celebrated the Vigil of the Nativity, and preached to the people, although at the time suffering great pain. After that, he announced to the brethren in chapter, that he was drawing nigh to his end, and he besought their prayers. As he was too weak to go to the great Church of Saint Peter, which was attended by the monks, he kept the festival of the Nativity with a few brethren, whom he detained, to be with him in the Chapel of Saint Mary; joyously he praecented the psalms and antiphons, and gave the benedictions, and performed all the ceremonies of that glad festival, forgetful of his bodily infirmities, knowing that soon he was to see God face to face, in the land of the living, and no more in a glass darkly. Most earnest was he, lest death should come and find him unprepared. Throughout the Octave, he was carried in the arms of the monks to church, where he assisted at the choir offices, night and day, and at the celebration of the mass, refreshing himself at the sacred mysteries, and looking forward to the feast of the Circumcision, when his friend William, abbot of Dijon, had fallen asleep, on which day, he foretold, he also should enter into his rest.

On that day, carried by his brethren, he was laid before the altar of the Virgin Mother, and the monks sang vespers. Now and then their voices failed, through over much sorrow, and then he recited the words of the psalms they in their trouble had omitted. As night crept in at the windows, he grew weaker and fainter. Then the brothers laid sack-cloth and ashes under him, and as he was lifted in the arms of one, brother Bernard, he asked, reviving a little, where he was. The brother answered, “On sack-cloth and ashes.” Then he sighed forth, “God be thanked!” and he asked that the little children, and the whole body of the brethren, might be assembled. And when all were gathered around him, he directed his eyes to the Cross, and his lips moved in prayer, and he died thus in prayer, gazing on the sign of his salvation.

His body was laid in the nave of the Church of Souvigny, near that of Saint Majolus.

He is often represented saying mass, with purgatory open beside the altar, and those suffering extending their hands to him, in allusion to his having instituted the commemoration of All Souls.

MLA Citation

Sabine Baring-Gould. “Saint Odilo, Abott Cluny”. Lives of the Saints1872. CatholicSaints.Info. 6 May 2018. Web. 31 December 2021. <http://catholicsaints.info/baring-goulds-lives-of-the-saints-/>

SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/baring-goulds-lives-of-the-saints-saint-odilo-abott-cluny/

SAINT ODILO OF CLUNY

Posted onJanuary 3, 2015 4:51 pm byPaul Zalonski

Saint Odilo of Cluny (962-1049) is remembered for his intense Benedictine life at Cluny and as the 5th abbot of Cluny he oversaw the expansion of the Cluniac reform but he’s best remembered for his concern for he poor souls in purgatory. There is some debate if he was the 5th or the 3rd abbot of Cluny. However, Odilo’s importance lies in the fact that he instituted the commemoration of All Souls (c. 1030) as a yearly liturgical remembrance. The Church from the earliest days prayed for the dead with some regularity. Theologically he had a significant interest in the Incarnation.

Hence two things of Christian life had Saint Odilo’s attention: the care of the poor and the souls of the dead. Of the latter concern also impacted the prior –he decreed that Mass be offered and a monetary offering be made for the poor. He made almsgiving connect with fasting and prayer for the dead: it is not only a lenten piece of Christian spirituality but something that gives a renewed flavor to living the gospel.  Odilo instructed that the offering of food given to twelve poor people (as much food as the monks would eat at the main meal).

Regarding the monastic life, Abbot Odilo showed great solicitude for the observance of the monastic life by visiting the monasteries under his guidance on a regular basis. The monasteries following the Rule of Cluny really formed these Benedictines into an “order” because of a centralized authority system and the appointment of superiors in the priories (versus the typical election of a superior found in Benedictinism). Thus, he ensured that decadence that has a habit of creeping into a monk’s life was averted.

Saint Odilo has several possible dates for his liturgical memorial: January 1, 2, or 3; 19 at Cluny; April 29 as part of the feast of the Seven Abbots of Cluny and February 6 in Switzerland. Take your pick. But I think, generally, Odilo’s liturgical memorial is bridged with under the title of “Abbots of Cluny” on April 29.

The antiphon “Odilo showed wondrously what was the charity of his heart, who, while pitying sufferings of the faithful departed, yearly decreased them by a sweet refreshment, alleluia.”

SOURCE : https://communio.stblogs.org/index.php/2015/01/saint-odilo-of-cluny/

Sant' Odilone di Cluny Abate

1 gennaio

961/2 - 1 gennaio 1049

Emblema: Bastone pastorale

Martirologio Romano: Presso Sauvigny in Burgundia, nell’odierna Francia, transito di sant’Odilone, abate di Cluny, che, severo con se stesso, ma mite e misericordioso con gli altri, pacificò in nome di Dio popoli belligeranti, in tempo di fame sostenne con ogni mezzo gli afflitti e per primo istituì nei suoi monasteri la commemorazione di tutti i fedeli defunti il giorno dopo la festa di Tutti i Santi.

Uno degli ultimi figli di una famiglia numerosa dell’Alvernia, Odilone di Mercoeur nacque nel 961 o 962. La devozione, unitamente alle relazioni della famiglia, decisero i suoi genitori a consacrarlo al servizio del Signore nella collegiata di St-Julien di Brioude, di cui in seguito sarebbe divenuto canonico. S.Maiolo, peraltro, lo attirò nel monastero di Cluny verso il 990 e poi, dal maggio 993, lo scelse come abate-coadiutore, dopo avergli fatto conferire gli Ordini, scelta che nel genn. 994 fu confermata da un’elezione canonica. Odilone divenne unico abate di Cluny l’11 magg., alla morte di Maiolo, e avrebbe occupato questa carica fino alla propria morte, avvenuta a Souvigny nella notte fra il 31 dicembre e il 1° gennaio 1049.

Soltanto gli avvenimenti esterni permettono di determinare le varie tappe nella continuità di questo lungo abbaiato.

Odilone dovette, prima di tutto, far fronte alle difficoltà derivanti dai religiosi di certi monasteri dipendenti da Cluny, e dai signori che volevano spogliare l’abbazia dei suoi beni. Nel dic. 997 egli intraprese il primo dei suoi così frequenti viaggi verso Pavia e Roma, che gli procurarono l’occasione di intervenire a favore di diversi chiostri della penisola. I suoi incontri con i papi e gli imperatori sono soltanto un particolare delle sue molteplici relazioni, che spiegano l’origine delle donazioni di monasteri a lui fatte.

Dopo il primo periodo di pesante attività, Odilone conobbe, tra il 1005 e il 1013, anni più calmi, che lo condussero all’apogeo della sua grandezza.

Gli anni tra il 1014 e il 1030 dimostrarono a quale potenza fosse pervenuta Cluny. La benevolenza degli imperatori, soprattutto di Enrico II, e dal re di Francia, Roberto, nonché quella dei papi, come Benedetto VIII e Giovanni XIX, dimostrano l’ascendente di Odilone e come ciò fu favorevole alle cause da lui difese, senza peraltro allontanare le difficoltà nate dalla condotta di alcuni vescovi e di alti personaggi. Ben presto, tuttavia, le prove andarono moltiplicandosi, fino a ca. il 1040, data in cui l’abate riuscì a dominare progressivamente la situazione. La sua malattia, durante un ultimo viaggio a Roma (inizi del 1047) annunciava già la fine che sopravvenne durante un’ultima visita ai suoi monasteri.

I primi a beneficiare dello zelo di Odilone furono i monaci di Cluny, per i quali egli ricostruì il complesso degli edifici monastici, ad eccezione della chiesa, che era stata ultimata dal suo predecessore; ma la stesa attività di costruttore fu da lui esercitata anche in altre case da lui dipendenti. Per i suoi monaci egli pronunciò anche dei sermoni, di cui alcuni ci sono pervenuti, compose gli Inni dell’Ufficio di s. Maiolo, redasse una Vita di quest’ultimo e quella dell’imperatrice Adelaide; a capo dei monaci egli presiedette a quell’esistenza claustrale in cui la liturgia occupa un posto così preminente e di cui fece descrivere i particolari in un Ordo celebre, ricopiato a Farfa (Consuetudines ferfensis); arricchì la biblioteca, promosse lavori artistici nel laboratorio degli orafi, coltivò il talento letterario dei suoi religiosi. Sotto il suo governo, il patrimonio di Cluny aumentò considerevolmente, insieme al numero dei monasteri ad essa soggetti. Per quanto sia difficile precisare un elenco di questi ultimi, fra grandi e piccoli, essi superavano i settanta, di cui più di venticinque debbono attribuirsi al suo governo. Rafforzò inoltre i vincoli che li legavano a Cluny, ne assicurò la direzione con priori formati alla sua scuola, a tutti procurò il vantaggio dell’esenzione che, con Bolle successive, ottenne sempre più completa. L’unità dell’osservanza e dello statuto canonico, congiunta all’unità del governo, raggruppavano tutte le case cluniacensi in un vero Ordine: è proprio in questa occasione che la parola ordo assunse la sua nuova accezione. Oltre che sull’Ordine, Odilone esercitò, all’occasione, la sua azione anche su altri monasteri, di cui si trovava a difendere gli interessi.

L’estensione dell’Ordine di Cluny, il suo irradiamento, e in particolare il ruolo delle sue consuetudini, moltiplicavano i centri di fervore religioso e di preghiera, per il maggior bene della Chiesa; ad essi si aggiungeva la costruzione di nuovi luoghi di culto nelle campagne. Il compito assunto da Odilone nella Chiesa si trova così determinato e Benedetto VIII lo riconosce in una Bolla (1° sett. 1016): “Servire Iddio, permettere di aderire a Dio, pregare, celebrare la Messa per i vivi e defunti, prender cura degli ospiti e dei poveri, fare l’elemosina”; tutto ciò significò, di per sé e per il ruolo sociale dei chiostri, contribuire potentemente al progress spirituale del popolo cristiano, e preparare biondi il terreno per lo sforzo futuro della riforma gregoriana.

Nello stesso tempo, i legami dei monasteri cluniacensi con Roma istituivano una rete di forze e di tappe prestabilite; nello stesso senso operavano le relazioni cordiali intrattenute da Odilone con numerosi vescovi.

I suoi obiettivi, peraltro, non corrispondono esattamente a quelli dei gregoriani; egli volle semplicemente far amare il Cristo Gesù, preparare le anime alla vita del cielo e per questo offrire agli uomini l’ordine e la pace. Tutti debbono contribuir a realizzare questo bene, tanto più urgente in quanto troppo spesso regnano ancora il disordine e le guerre; al di sopra dei conti e dei re, l’imperatore gli sembra il miglior garante del suo ideale: al bisogno, egli interverrà presso di lui per sollecitare un perdono o una protezione, riconoscendogli per contro le qualità per scegliere un buon papa, così come spetta al re di nominare un buon vescovo.

Allo stesso ideale si collega il ruolo che si accorda a Odilone nella conclusione dei patti di pace e nella istituzione della “tregua di Dio”, o, ancora, il ruolo di giudice nei possedimenti di Cluny, di arbitro che presiede ai regolamenti dei conflitti fra terzi, di conciliatore che ricerca degli accomodamenti con i suoi avversari. La sua instancabile generosità sovviene a tutte le miserie: in quei tempi di frequenti e spesso spaventevoli carestie, egli procura i viveri agli indigenti senza lesinare, non esitando a vendere il tesoro della sacrestia o a elemosinare preso i ricchi. Non gli basta di soccorrere i corpi, vuole liberare le anime dei defunti: no contento dei suffragi, già frequenti a Cluny per le anime del Purgatorio, egli istituisce, all’indomani di Ognissanti, la nuova, solenne commemorazione dei trapassati.

Questa immensa pietà è senza dubbio il tratto dominante del suo carattere. Egli medita troppo profondamente l’esempio del Signore Gesù per non essere fondamentalmente misericordioso e pietoso. La sua bontà, tuttavia, non è vana tenerezza, perché, al contrario, egli si dimostra uomo deciso e forte, perfino tenace, e pratico; manifesta infatti il suo senso pratico pur nel suo governo di anime e nella sua devozione al Verbo incarnato o a Maria, Signora, Stella del mare. Amico purissimo, nutre una particolare devozione all’Eucaristia; uomo di fede profonda e attiva, è un contemplativo, teso verso la visione del Signore.

CULTO

Il posto che Odilone ha tenuto ai suoi tempi, le sue relazioni e l’irradiamento delle sue opere, più ancora che la sua reputazione di taumaturgo, avrebbero richiesto l’iscrizione nel calendario di numerose chiese, come era accaduto per il suo predecessore, s. Maiolo. In realtà il culto si limita ai monasteri cluniacensi e ad alcuni altri soltanto, o a diocesi con le quali Odilone si trovò in rapporti particolarmente stretti, come Chartres e Le Puy.

La data della sua morte, nell’ottava della Natività, portava, evidentemente a causa della coincidenza, un certo imbarazzo; la successiva storia monastica dei secc. XI e XII doveva affievolire il suo ricordo, in modo che il culto ha preso un carattere locale assai evidente a Cluny e soprattutto a Souvigny, dove, nel 1063 il legato, s. Pier Damiani, consacrava una nuova chiesa, elevava le reliquie, redigeva una nuova Vita del santo per abbreviare quella del monaco Jotsaldo; nel 1345 l’arcivescovo di Bourges procedeva a una traslazione, cosa che certamente diede occasione alla dispersione di alcune ossa in altre chiese, ma l’insieme del corpo rimase a Souvigny, dove nel 1793, sarebbe stato quasi del tutto distrutto.

Odilone è iscritto nel Martirologio Romano al 1° gennaio (Comm. Martyr. Rom., p.2, n.12). Sebbene non abbia un grande posto nell’iconografia, questa gli attribuisce alcune caratteristiche: la mitra che, ai suoi piedi, ricorda il rifiuto all’arcivescovato di Lione, oppure piccoli corpi tra le fiamme, che ricordano l’istituzione della commemorazione del 2 novembre.

Autore: Jacques Hourlier

SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/36050

Den hellige Odilo av Cluny (~962-1048)

Minnedag: 3. januar

Skytshelgen for sjelene i skjærsilden; mot gulsott

Den hellige Odilo (Olon) ble født ca 962 på slottet Corrèze i Auvergne i Midt-Frankrike som sønn av grev Berald av Mercoer og Gerberga, som ble nonne etter at hun var blitt enke. Odilos herkomst gjorde det mulig for ham å stige raskt til høye kirkelige embeter. Allerede som barn hadde han lovt Jomfru Maria å vie sitt liv i hennes Sønns tjeneste etter å ha blitt frisk av en sykdom - det sies ikke noe om hvilken. Helt til sin død bevarte han sin hengivenhet for Maria.

Som kannik ved katedralen i Saint-Julien ved Le Puy førte han først det den gang vanlige livet for en rik kirkefyrste, som ikke forsaket noe. Allerede her lærte han å kjenne den hellige Majolus, abbed i klosteret Cluny i Burgund, og kanskje var det dette møtet som gjorde at han erkjente at han befant seg på feil vei. Men det var ikke lett for ham å bestemme seg for å tre inn hos de svarte benediktinerne (Ordo Sancti Benedicti - OSB) i Cluny. Det var først da han vendte seg til abbeden av St. Bénigne i Dijon for å få råd, at noen klarte å få ham til å ta en avgjørelse.

Klosteret Cluny ved Mâcon i Burgund nordvest for Lyon ble grunnlagt i 910 av Vilhelm av Aquitania og begynte sitt liv som et reformert, men temmelig ukjent kloster. Det fulgte Benedikts regel med en strenghet som var uvanlig på den tiden. Få ville ha spådd dets raske vekst til å bli det viktigste klosteret i Europa. Klosteret ble senteret for reformen og den åndelige fornyelsen av det vestlige munkevesenet på 1000- og 1100-tallet.

I 991 trådte han inn i Cluny, 29 år gammel. På grunn av hans menneskelige og åndelige kvaliteter ble han allerede to år senere koadjutor, det vil si assistent og utpekt etterfølger, for abbed Majolus, som til sammen styrte klosteret i 30 år. I 994 døde Majolus, og Odilo etterfulgte ham og ble femte abbed av Cluny samtidig som han ble presteviet. I løpet av hans 54 år i embetet ble Cluny det viktigste klosteret i Vest-Europa, og Fulbert av Chartres kalte Odilo Archangelos Monachorum, «munkenes erkeengel». Klostre i Burgund, Provençe, Auvergne og Poitou sluttet seg til den cluniacensiske reformen, enten direkte eller ved tilknytning, spesielt i Italia og Spania. Antallet klostre steg fra 37 til 65 mens han var abbed. Odilo gjorde de andre klostrene i Cluny-kongregasjonen stadig mer avhengige av moderklosteret. Abbeden av Cluny utnevnte priorer for datterhusene, som dermed var permanent under en sentral jurisdiksjon, og dette gjorde de cluniacensiske klostrene (eller noen av dem) til den første monastiske ordenen i moderne forstand. Som abbed for moderklosteret Cluny var han leder for hele den cluniacensiske bevegelse, og kalles ofte erkeabbed.

I sin karakter forente Odilo mildhet med fasthet og organisasjonstalent med evner som fredsmaker. Han er blant annet kjent som en stor byggherre, og hans eksempel i Cluny ble imitert av mange reformerte klostre. Fremfor alt søkte Odilo å fremme det sanne klostervesenets ånd og å fjerne misbruk. I denne oppgaven var den hellige Benedikts regel, som den ble forstått av de svarte munkenes tradisjon, av altoverskyggende betydning. I hele sitt lange styre arbeidet han hele tiden med å fremme den nære forbindelsen mellom Cluny og Den hellige Stol. Eksempsjonen som ble gitt fra kravene til biskopen av Mâcon, ble effektivt opprettholdt mens pavedømmet var sterkt, men da det var svakt, måtte Odilo føye seg noe for biskopen.

Odilo var ni ganger i Italia og deltok på flere synoder der. Pavene Johannes XIX (1024-32) og Benedikt IX (1032-48) tilbød ham erkebispesetet i Lyon, men han avslo. Odilo ble også en viktig skikkelse i den politiske verden. På hans tid var det en god del kamper i små kriger, raid og trefninger mellom føydalherrer og andre. Odilo hadde et hjertelig forhold til keisere som Otto III og Henrik III, som besøkte Cluny under Odilos styre, og han var til stede ved Henrik IIIs kroning i Roma i 1046. Robert II av Frankrike allierte seg med reformpartiet.

Odilo fremmet også effektivt Pactum Dei, det vil si beskyttelse av kirkelige personer og eiendom mot angrep i offisiell eller uoffisiell krigføring og garanterte asyl i kirker for flyktninger. Han er også sammen med abbed Richard av Saint-Vanne kjent for sin støtte til begrepet Treuga Dei, «Gudsfreden», en våpenstillstand mellom stridende parter fra fredag til mandag, under advent og fastetiden og på visse kirkelige festdager, en forholdsregel av økonomisk så vel som av religiøs og politisk betydning. Selv om ideen møttes av mye motstand, ble den til slutt gjennomført i mange franske provinser.

Inkarnasjonens mysterium var favorittemaet for hans prekener og dikt. Marias plass i dette mysteriet ble også utarbeidet av Odilo, og den hellige Bernhards mariologiske arbeider et århundre senere skyldte Odilo mye. Han gjorde også minst en liturgisk nyskapning: I 998 beordret han at i alle Cluny-kongregasjonens klostre skulle den 2. november, dagen etter Allehelgensdag, høytideligholdes til minne om og i bønn for alle døde munker i de cluniacensiske klostrene, senere i 1031 utvidet til «alle døde som har eksistert fra verdens begynnelse». Denne skikken, Allesjelersdag, bredte seg senere gjennom innflytelsen fra Cluny til hele vestkirken. Derfor ble Odilo skytshelgen for alle sjeler i skjærsilden. Han blir også anropt ved gulsott på grunn av et under.

Ytre sett var Odilo ikke imponerende, i motsetning til hans sterke personlighet. Han praktiserte strenge personlige botsøvelser, for eksempel bar han hårskjorte og piggete jernlenker. Men han var også berømt for sin omsorg for vanlige mennesker og sin storstilte hjelp til de fattige i tiden med hungersnød og dyrtid fra 1028 til 1033, da han solgte eller smeltet om mye av skattene i Cluny for å hjelpe. Blant annet solgte han den kronen som var gitt til Cluny av den hellige Henrik II. I de store hungersnødene på den tiden, spesielt mellom 1028 og 1033, utøvde han også aktiv nestekjærlighet og reddet tusenvis fra døden. Kanskje hans mest berømte utsagn er at han ville foretrekke å bli fordømt for å være for barmhjertig enn for å være for streng.

Mens Odilo var abbed av Cluny, trakk prins Kasimir av Polen seg tilbake dit, ble munk der og ble viet til diakon. En delegasjon av adelsmenn kom for å kalle ham hjem til tronen etter at hans far, kong Miceslaw, døde. Odilo refererte saken for pave Benedikt IX (1032-48), som ga dispensasjon slik at Kasimir kunne akseptere tronen til tross for sin religiøse status. Han ble kronet i 1041 og regjerte til sin død i 1058.

Odilo var plaget av smertefulle sykdommer de siste fem årene av sitt liv. Hans embete medførte mye reiseaktivitet, og han døde den 31. desember 1048 (eller 1. januar 1049?) i klosteret i Souvigny ved Moulins i Øst-Frankrike på en inspeksjonsreise. Han var da ca 86 år gammel. Han hadde fått sakramentene dagen før og insisterte på å bli båret inn i kirken, der han døde liggende på en seng av sekkestrie strødd med aske. Siden hans favorittema i prekenene var Inkarnasjonen, var det passende at han døde i juleoktaven. Ikke bare munkene, men hele vesten sørget. Han ble gravlagt i Souvigny og snart æret som helgen. Den hellige Peter Damian sørget for at han ble helligkåret i 1063, og han skrev en kort biografi som bygget på arbeidet til Jotsald, en av Odilos munker som fulgte ham på hans reiser. Hans navn står i Martyrologium Romanum. Hans relikvier ble skrinlagt i 1345, men sammen med Majolus' jordiske rester ble de brent i Souvigny under den franske revolusjon i 1793 «på Fedrelandets alter».

Hans minnedag er etter Det annet Vatikankonsil 3. januar, selv om også 1. januar var vanlig og 2. januar nevnt, eller 29. april. 11. mai nevnes også, men det er ellers minnedagen til Majolus. 19. januar (Cluny) og 6. februar (Sveits) var også minnedager.

Odilo blir fremstilt i benediktinerkutte med abbedstav, på grunn av sin forbindelse med Allesjelersdag har han ofte en hodeskalle ved føttene og ved siden av seg har han Skjærsilden, eller en engel som leder forløste sjeler ut av skjærsilden og inn i himmelen. Av hans skrifter har bare noen få korte og ubetydelige overlevd, blant annet en biografi om den hellige keiserinne Adelheid, som han var nært knyttet til, en kort biografi om forgjengeren Majolus, prekener til fester i kirkeåret, noen hymner og bønner og noen få brev av hans omfattende korrespondanse.

Da den romerske kalenderen ble reorganisert i 1968, ble det etablert en minnedag den 29. april som en felles minnedag for de syv hellige og salige abbeder som har ledet det innflytelsesrike klosteret Cluny. De har alle fremdeles sine individuelle minnedager i tillegg til denne fellesfesten. De seks andre er: De hellige BernoOdoMajolus og Hugo og de salige Aymard og Peter den Ærverdige.

Kilder: Attwater (dk), Attwater/John, Attwater/Cumming, Farmer, Jones, Butler (I), Benedictines, Delaney, Bunson, Livingstone, Schauber/Schindler, Melchers, Gorys, Dammer/Adam, Kiefer, KIR, CE, CSO, Patron Saints SQPN - Kompilasjon og oversettelse: p. Per Einar Odden - Sist oppdatert: 2000-04-15 22:59

SOURCE : http://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/odilo

† 1048  Odilo van Cluny

Odilo (ook Odilon of Olon) van Cluny, Frankrijk; abt; † 1048.

Feest 1 & 2 & 3 (in de Zwisterse bisdommen Lausanne, Genève en Fribourg) januari & 29 april & 11 mei (samen met de andere heilige abten van Cluny: Hugo, Majolus, Odo en Petrus: bij cisterciënzers, trappisten en benedictijnen) & † 31 december.

Hij werd rond 962 geboren uit een hoogadellijke familie in het Franse plaatsje Mercoeur, Auvergne.

In 994 volgde hij Majolus († 994; feest 29 april) op als vijfde abt van Cluny en voerde de kloosterhervormingen krachtig door die door de abten vóór hem in gang waren gezet. Reeds bij zijn leven stond hij in kerk en wereld in hoog aanzien. Onder hem steeg het aantal onder Cluny staande kloosters van zevenendertig naar vijfenzestig.

Volgens de overlevering gaat op hem het feest van Allerzielen terug. Hij plaatste het rond 1030 op de liturgische kalender van Cluny en alle verbonden kloostervestigingen. Het werd al snel door de hele kerk overgenomen en op 2 november geplaatst, daags na Allerheiligen.

Er wordt verteld hoe een pelgrim tijdens een storm op een eilandje werd geworpen. Daar had hij een visioen van de zielen die in de hel als straf voor hun zonden de pijn van de vlammen moesten ondergaan. Thuisgekomen begaf hij zich naar vader Odilo te Cluny met de vraag of er niet één dag in het jaar heel in het bijzonder voor de zielen van overledenen gebeden kon worden. Zo zou de dag van Allerzielen zijn ontstaan.

Hij staat ook bekend als de ontwerper van de bekendste pelgrimsroute naar Santiago, die via de kloosters loopt.

Hij stierf te Souvigny, bij Clermont-Ferrand, op 31 december 1049, naar het schijnt aan de gevolgen van een ernstige aanval van dysenterie. Hij werd opgevolgd door Sint Hugo († 1109; feest 29 april).

Verering & Cultuur
In 1345 werden zijn relieken door Roger le Fort († 1367; feest 1 maart) verheven tot de eer der altaren, wat gelijk stond aan een heiligverklaring. Officieel werd hij heilig verklaard in 1663.

Patronaten
Hij is patroon van de zielen in het vagevuur; zijn voorspraak wordt ingeroepen tegen dysenterie, geelzucht, kolieken en zenuwpijnen.

Afgebeeld
Hij wordt afgebeeld als priester die de heilige mis opdraagt, terwijl zielen uit het vagevuur hem verschijnen; met kromstaf naast het vagevuur, waaruit engelen zielen naar de hemel voeren.

Bronnen
[107; 111p:722; 115a; 122; 127; 143; 180p:129; 193p:176; 288»05.11; 300p:329; Süt.1941p:239»Majolus; 500; Dries van den Akker s.j./2010.02.19]

© A. van den Akker s.j.

SOURCE : http://heiligen-3s.nl/heiligen/01/01/01-01-1048-odilo-cluny.php

Odilo von Cluny

Gedenktag katholisch: 1. Januar
gebotener Gedenktag im Bistum Lausanne-Genf-Fribourg: 3. Januar
gebotener Gedenktag im Benediktiner-, Trappisten- und Zisterzienserorden: 11. Mai
Aufnahme des Kopfes in Cluny: 19. April
Aufbewahrung der Gebeine: 3. Mai,
Erhebung bzw. Übertragung der Gebeine: 21. Juni

Name bedeutet: der Kleines Besitzende (althochdt.)

erster Abt in Cluny
* um 962 in der Auvergne in Frankreich
† 1. Januar 1049 in Souvigny im Département Allier in Frankreich

Odilo entstammte dem adligen Haus der Mercoeur, sein Vater war der Ritter Beraud, seine Mutter hieß Gerberga. Er war Kanoniker in St-Julien in Brioude und trat auf Zureden von Wilhelm von Dijon um 990 ins Benediktinerkloster Cluny ein; schon 993 wurde er Stellvertreter von Abt Majolus, 994 dessen Nachfolger als fünfter Abt von Cluny. Er pflegte wie sein Vorgänger intensive Beziehungen zu den Herrschern der Sachsen, zu Kaiserin Adelheid, für deren Grab er um 1000 die Inschrift verfasste, zu Otto III. und Heinrich III. sowie zu den Königshäusern in Frankreich, Spanien und Ungarn. 997 ging er nach Rom, um den Status von Cluny absichern zu lassen. 998 erwirkte er von Papst Gregor V. für Cluny die uneingeschränkte Freiheit vom Diözesanbischof und 1024 die Erweiterung dieses Privilegs auf alle von Cluny abhängigen Abteien und Priorate.

Unter Odilos Leitung nahmen die Reformen von Cluny weiteren Aufschwung und erreichten ihren Höhepunkt; Cluny wurde von einer Reformgemeinschaft zu einem zentralistisch ausgerichteten Klosterverband; die Zahl der Abteien unter der Leitung von Cluny stieg durch ihn von 35 auf mehr als 70 Klöster; Hauptverbreitungsgebiete waren die Auvergne, die Provence, die Île-de-France und Aquitanien, hinzu kamen Klöster in Italien und Spanien. Wo er ein Kloster aus Holz übernommen hatte, so sagt man, hinterließ er ein Kloster aus Marmor. Das deutsche Reichsgebiet blieb Odilo aber verschlossen - trotz seiner engen Beziehung zu Kaiser Heinrich II., der den ihm bei seiner Krönung durch Papst Benedikt VIII. übergebenen Reichsapfel und wohl auch andere Insignien 1014 Cluny schenkte; Odilo ließ diese Kostbarkeiten 1031/32 bei einer Hungersnot einschmelzen, um die Armen zu versorgen. In Cluny ließ Odilo - bis auf die Kirche - alle Gebäude neu errichten, um für den gewachsenen Konvent Platz zu haben; auch in anderen Cluny unterstellten Klöstern entfaltete er eine reiche Bautätigkeit.

Odilo war geistliche Autorität und politischer Ratgeber für ganz Europa. Er setzte sich in Frankreich für die Verbreitung des Gottesfriedensgedankens ein: einer Regelung, die bestimmte heilige Zeiten - zum Beispiel kirchliche Festzeiten - von Kampf und Krieg freihielt. Bei aller Härte gegen sich selbst war er nachsichtig gegenüber anderen. Ihm wird das Wort zugeschrieben: Wenn er in die Hölle kommen solle, dann lieber, weil er zu nachsichtig gewesen sei, als wegen Härte und Grausamkeit.

Odilo führte in Cluny um 1030 den Allerseelentag am 2. November ein, der sich von hier aus in aller Welt verbreitete. Er verfasste die Lebensgeschichte seines Vorgängers Majolus und - schon bald nach deren Tod im Jahr 999 - der Kaiserin Adelheid. Ab 995 verfasste er die Consuetudines Antiquiores, die althergebrachte Lebensweise und ab 1024 den Liber Tramitis, das Buch der Wege zur liturgischen Steigerung der benediktinischen Bräuche.

Odilos Lebensgeschichte schrieben sein Vertrauter, der Mönch Jotsaldus, und Petrus Damiani.

Attribute: Abt neben Fegefeuer
Patron der Armen Seelen im Fegefeuer; gegen Gelbsucht
Bauernregel: Denk an alle Seelen / auch wenn sie dir nicht fehlen.

Stadlers Vollständiges Heiligenlexikon

Catholic Encyclopedia

Alban Butler: The Lives …

Acta Sanctorum

Schriften von Odilo und seine Lebensgeschichte gibt es online zu lesen in den Documenta Catholica Omnia.

Worte des Heiligen

Das Glaubensbekenntnis Odilos:
Die ewige und unbegrenzte Einheit der höchsten Gottheit bete ich an, lobe, verherrliche und preise ich, so wie die heiligen Engel und Erzengel und alle Heiligen sie im Himmel anbeten.
Ich glaube und bekenne den Vater und den Sohn und den Heiligen Geist, die Dreiheit in den Personen, die Einheit in der Gottheit und im Wesen, und zwar so wie es schon vorher die heiligen Patriarchen und Propheten gesagt haben, wie es der Engel Gabriel, der vom Himmel her zur Jungfrau gesandt wurde, dargelegt hat, die heiligen Apostel und die Evangelisten in ihren Schriften verkündeten, die Märtyrer es gepredigt haben, die Bekenner es lehrten und die heiligen Jungfrauen bekannten.
Ich glaube und bekenne das Wort, das im Anfang war und bei Gott war und Gott war; das für meine und der ganzen Welt Befreiung und Erlösung aus der heiligsten und unbefleckten Jungfrau Maria wahrhaft in unserem Leib, doch ohne die menschliche Begierlichkeit, in der Zeit gezeugt und geboren ist, gemäß dem Gesetz des Mose am achten Tag beschnitten wurde und den Namen Jesus erhielt, am vierzigsten Tag von seiner Mutter im Tempel mit den [üblichen] Opfergaben dargestellt, den Magiern geoffenbart, von Johannes getauft wurde, in der Wüste vom Teufel versucht, aber nicht besiegt wurde, nachdem er viele, ja unzählige Wohltaten, Wunder und Heilungen gewirkt und das Evangeliums verkündet hatte, zur vorbestimmten Zeit von seinem eigenen Jünger ausgeliefert, von den Juden gefangengenommen, gefesselt, gegeißelt, geohrfeigt, gekreuzigt, getötet und bestattet wurde; der am dritten Tag aus eigener Kraft von den Toten auferstand und so den Teufel besiegte und die Hölle beraubte; der vierzig Tag hindurch den Aposteln in dem Fleisch, in dem er gekreuzigt wurde, erschien; der am vierzigsten Tag vor den Augen derselben Apostel und vieler anderer Gläubiger über die Himmel erhöht wurde; der von dort auch kommen wird, um im Feuer zu richten die Lebenden und Verstorbenen und die irdische Welt.
Ich glaube auch an den Heiligen Geist, und dass er auf unseren selben Herrn in der Gestalt einer Taube und auf die heiligen Apostel in Feuerzungen herabgestiegen ist und ihnen die Kenntnis aller Sprachen zugeteilt hat und eine unbesiegbare Standhaftigkeit gegenüber der Verfolgung durch alle Feine geschenkt hat.
Ich glaube die heilige, katholische und apostolische Kirche. Ich bekenne die eine Taufe zur Vergebung der Sünden und erwarte die Aufstehung von den Toten und das Leben der zukünftigen Welt. Amen.

Quelle: Sancti Odilonis credulitas. In: Patrologia Latina 142, Sp. 1035f

Auf Odilo geht die Einführung des Festes Allerseelen zurück, wie auch in der liturgischen Chronik von Cluny vermerkt ist:

Von unserem heiligsten Vater und Herrn Odilo wurde unter Zustimmung und auf Bitten aller Brüder von Cluny beschlossen, dass so, wie in den weithin über den Erdkreis verstreuten Kirchen am ersten November das Fest Allerheiligen gefeiert wird, bei uns auf festliche Weise das Gedächtnis aller verstorbenen Gläubigen von Beginn der Welt an bis zuletzt begangen wird, und zwar auf folgende Weise: … Alle Brüder sollen privat und öffentlich Messen feiern für die [ewige] Ruhe aller gläubigen Seelen, auch sollen zwölf Arme gespeist werden. Und damit dieser Beschluss beständig gültig bleibe, wollen wir und bitten wir und ordnen wir an, dass dies so wie an diesem Ort auch an allen zu diesem Ort gehörigen [Klöstern] eingehalten werde. Und wenn irgend ein anderer sich diese unsere gläubige Einrichtung zum Vorbild nimmt, sollen ihm alle guten Wünsche in Erfüllung gehen!

Quelle: Statutum S. Odilonis de defunctis. In: Patrologia Latina 143, Sp. 1037f

zusammengestellt von Abt em. Dr. Emmeram Kränkl OSB,
Benediktinerabtei Schäftlarn,
für die Katholische SonntagsZeitung

SOURCE : https://www.heiligenlexikon.de/BiographienO/Odilo_von_Cluny.htm

Dubois Jacques. « Jacques Hourlier. Saint Odilon de Cluny (Bibliothèque de la Revue d'histoire ecclésiastique, 40) [compte-rendu] », Revue d'histoire de l'Église de France  Année 1965  148  pp. 135-137 : https://www.persee.fr/doc/rhef_0300-9505_1965_num_51_148_1746_t1_0135_0000_2