June
19
St. Romuald
(950?-1027)
After a wasted youth, Romuald saw his father kill a relative in a duel over
property. In horror he fled to a monastery near Ravenna in Italy. After
three years some of the monks found him to be uncomfortably holy and eased
him out.
He spent the next 30 years going about Italy, founding monasteries and
hermitages. He longed to give his life to Christ in martyrdom, and got the
pope’s permission to preach the gospel in Hungary. But he was struck with
illness as soon as he arrived, and the illness recurred as often as he tried
to proceed.
During another period of his life, he suffered great spiritual dryness. One
day as he was praying Psalm 31 (“I will give you understanding and I will
instruct you”), he was given an extraordinary light and spirit which never
left him.
At the next monastery where he stayed, he was accused of a scandalous crime
by a young nobleman he had rebuked for a dissolute life. Amazingly, his
fellow monks believed the accusation. He was given a severe penance,
forbidden to offer Mass and excommunicated, an unjust sentence he endured in
silence for six months.
The most famous of the monasteries he founded was that of the Camaldoli
(Campus Maldoli, name of the owner) in Tuscany. Here he founded the Order of
the Camaldolese Benedictines, uniting a monastic and hermit life.
His father later became a monk, wavered and was kept faithful by the
encouragement of his son.
Story:
A Polish duke had a son in the monastery where Romuald was living. On behalf
of his father, the son presented Romuald with a fine horse. Romuald
exchanged it for a donkey, saying that he felt closer to Jesus Christ on
such a mount.
Comment:
Christ is a gentle leader, but he calls us to total holiness. Now and then
men and women are raised up to challenge us by the absoluteness of their
dedication, the vigor of their spirit, the depth of their conversion. The
fact that we cannot duplicate their lives does not change the call to us to
be totally open to God in our own particular circumstances.