Saint Romuald, Abbot
S. Romualdi Abbatis
A nobleman of Ravenna who, drawn from the world to a life of penance, restored the eremitical life in the West and founded the Camaldolese Order.
Saint Romuald was born at Ravenna about the middle of the tenth century, of the ducal family of the Onesti. As a young man he was caught up in the pleasures and ambitions of a noble house, until a tragic duel in which his own father was involved struck his conscience and turned his heart to God. Retiring to a monastery to do penance, he embraced the monastic life with such fervour that he became, in time, one of the great reformers and fathers of Western monasticism.
A Life of Penance and Solitude
Not content with the common life of the cloister, Romuald was drawn to the older and more austere path of the hermits, after the manner of the Fathers of the desert. For many years he travelled through Italy and beyond, founding and reforming monasteries and hermitages, guiding souls, and bearing patiently the trials and misunderstandings that such a work brings. His own life was one of long fasts, of tears, and of constant prayer; and he taught his disciples to sit alone in their cells “as in paradise,” resting in the presence of God.
The Camaldolese
About the year 1012, near Arezzo in Tuscany, Romuald established the hermitage of Camaldoli, from which his reform takes its name. There he united the solitude of the hermit with the safeguards of community life, so that the Camaldolese might live as hermits yet under a common rule. He died at the monastery of Val di Castro about the year 1027. From him springs a family of monks and hermits that has endured for a thousand years, witnessing to the enduring value of silence, solitude, and penance within the Church.
The Collect
May the intercession of blessed Romuald, Thy Abbot, commend us to Thee, O Lord: that what by our own merits we may not obtain, we may gain by his patronage. Through our Lord Jesus Christ…
Intercéssio nos, quǽsumus, Dómine, beáti Romuáldi Abbátis comméndet: ut, quod nostris méritis non valémus, eius patrocínio assequámur.
Patronage
Saint Romuald is honoured as the founder of the Camaldolese and as a patron of hermits and of those drawn to a life of solitude and contemplation.
In the Modern Calendar
In the modern calendar, the memorial of Saint Romuald is observed on 19 June.
Common Questions
When is the feast of Saint Romuald?
In the traditional Roman calendar the feast of Saint Romuald is kept on 7 February as a feast of the Third Class. In the modern calendar his memorial is observed on 19 June.
Who was Saint Romuald?
Saint Romuald was a nobleman of Ravenna who became a monk and then a hermit, and who reformed and founded many monasteries. He is best known as the founder of the Camaldolese Order, which unites the hermit’s solitude with community life.
What is the Camaldolese Order?
The Camaldolese take their name from the hermitage of Camaldoli in Tuscany, founded by Saint Romuald around 1012. They follow the Rule of Saint Benedict in a markedly eremitical form, devoted to silence, solitude, and prayer.
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