Saint of the Day: St. Romuald

Founder of the Camaldolese Benedictines (950-1027)

His life

+ Romuald was born in Ravenna, Italy. Hoping to escape the violence of the world around him, he became a monk in the abbey of Saint’ Apollinaire when he was twenty years old.

+ At the age of twenty-three, Romuald traveled to Venice and began to live as a hermit, hoping for a stricter way of life. After ten years, he began to travel throughout Italy, establishing communities of hermits, creating a new form of Benedictine life.

+ In 1012, with Saint Peter Damian, he established a new monastery at Camoldoli and wrote a new rule for monks based on the ancient Rule of Saint Benedict.

+ Saint Romuald died on June 19, 1027.

Worth knowing

The way of life established by Saint Romuald—a blend of life in community with the solitary life of hermits—later influenced Saint Bruno, the founder of the Carthusian Order.

Quote

“Divine holiness transported him to such a summit of perfection that, breathed upon by the Holy Spirit, he foresaw many future events and comprehended with the rays of his intelligence hidden mysteries of the Old and New Testaments.”—from an early life of Saint Romuald

To learn more about the Camaldolese Benedictine monks in the United States, visit:

• Holy Family Hermitage in Bloomingdale, Ohio: http://www.camaldolese.org/
• New Camaldoli Hermitage in Big Sur, Calirnornia: www.contemplation.com

Prayer

O God, who through Saint Romuald renewed
the manner of life of hermits in your Church,
grant that, denying ourselves and following Christ,
we may merit to reach the heavenly realms on high.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal)

Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.