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 Sant’ 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. 

For prayer and reflection
“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

On this day we also remember Saint Modest Andlauer. A French Jesuit priest and missionary in China, he served in several regions of the country before being assigned as “Head of Missions” in Wei Xian. He was murdered as he prayed for the altar of his church during the anti-Christian persecutions of the Boxer Rebellion on June 19, 1900. He was canonized with other Chinese martyrs in 2000. 

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,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(from The Roman Missal)
Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.