Founder and Abbot - (906-1027)
In the tenth century Sergius, a nobleman of Ravenna,
quarreled with a relative over an estate and, in a duel to
which his son Romuald was witness, slew him. The
young man of twenty years was horrified at his father’s
crime, and entered a Benedictine monastery at Classe to
do a forty days’ penance for him. This penance led to his
entry into religion as a Benedictine monk.
After seven years at Classe, Romuald went to live as a
hermit near Venice, under the guidance of a holy man
who had him recite the Psalter from memory every day.
The two religious were joined by Peter Urseolus, Duke of
Venice, who desired to do penance also, and together
they led a most austere life in the midst of assaults from
the evil spirits.
Saint Romuald, whose aim was to restore the primitive
rule to the Order of Saint Benedict, succeeded in
founding some hundred monasteries in both Italy and
France, and he filled the solitudes with hermitages. The
principal monastery was that at Camaldoli, a wild,
deserted region, where he built a church, surrounded by
a number of separate cells for the solitaries who lived
under his rule; his disciples were thus called
Camaldolese. For five years the fervent founder was
tormented by furious attacks by the demon. He repulsed
him, saying, “O enemy, driven out of heaven, you come
to the desert? Depart, ugly serpent, already you have
what is due you.” And the shamed adversary would leave
him. Saint Romuald’s father, Sergius, was moved by the
examples of his son, and entered religion near Ravenna;
there he, too, was attacked by hell and thought of
abandoning his design. Romuald went to visit him; he
showed him the error of the devil’s ruses, and his father
died in the monastery, in the odor of sanctity.
Among his first disciples were Saints Adalbert and
Boniface, apostles of Russia, and Saints John and
Benedict of Poland, martyrs for the faith. He was an
intimate friend of the Emperor Saint Henry, and was
reverenced and consulted by many great men of his
time. He once passed seven years in solitude and total
silence. He died, as he had foretold twenty years in
advance, alone in his monastery of Val Castro, on the
19th of June, 1027, in an advanced and abundantly
fruitful old age.
By the life of Saint Romuald, we see how God brings
good out of evil. In his youth Saint Romuald was much
troubled by temptations of the flesh; to escape them he
had recourse to hunting, and it was in the woods that he
first conceived his love for solitude.
His father’s sin prompted him to undertake a forty days’
penance in the monastery, which he then made his
permanent home. Some bad examples of his fellow-
monks induced him to leave them and adopt the solitary
mode of life; the repentance of a Venetian Duke brought
him his first disciple. The temptations of the devil
compelled him to lead his severe life of expiation; and
finally, the persecutions of others were the occasion of
his settlement at Camaldoli, mother house of his Order.