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| St. Romuald, Allegory of Camaldolese Order |
ST.
ROMUALD, ABBOT AND CONFESSOR
By Abbot Dom
Guéranger, O.S.B.
The calendar’s list of martyrs
is interrupted for two days; the first of these is the feast of Romuald, the
hero of penance, the saint of the forests of Camaldoli. He is a son of the
great patriarch St. Benedict, and, like him, is the father of many children.
The Benedictine family has a direct line from the commencement, even to this
present time; but, from the trunk of this venerable tree there have issued four
vigorous branches, to each of which the Holy Spirit has imparted the life and
fruitfulness of the parent stem. These collateral branches of the Benedictine
Order are: Camaldoli, by Romuald; Cluny, by Odo; Vallombrosa, by John Gualbert;
and Citeaux, by Robert of Molesmes.
The saint of this seventh day
of February is Romuald. The martyrs whom we meet with on our way to Lent, give
us an important lesson by the contempt they had for this short life. But the
teaching offered us by such holy penitents as the great abbot of Camaldoli is
even more practical than that of the martyrs. ‘They that are Christ’s’ says the
apostle, ‘have crucified their flesh, with its vices and concupiscences’; and in
these words he tells us what is the distinguishing character of every true
Christian. We repeat it: what a powerful encouragement we have in these models
of mortification, who have sanctified the deserts by their lives of heroic
penance! How they make us ashamed of our own cowardice, which can scarcely
bring itself to do the little that must be done to satisfy God’s justice and
merit His grace! Let us take the lesson to heart, cheerfully offer our offended
Lord the tribute of our repentance, and purify our souls by works of
mortification.
The Office for St.
Romuald’s feast gives us the following sketch of his life.
Romuald was the son of a
nobleman, named Sergius. He was born at Ravenna, and while yet a boy, withdrew
to the monastery of Classis, there to lead a life of penance. The conversation
of one of the religious increased in his soul his already ardent love of piety;
and after being twice favoured with a vision of St. Apollinaris, who appeared
to him, during the night, in the church which was dedicated to him, he entered
the monastic state, agreeably to the promise made him by the holy martyr. A few
years later on, he betook himself to a hermit named Marinus, who lived in the
neighbourhood of Venice, and was famed for his holy and austere life, that,
under such a master and guide, he might follow the narrow path of high
perfection.
Many were the snares laid for him by
Satan, and envious men molested him with their persecutions; but these things
only excited him to be more humble, and assiduous in fasting and prayer. In the
heavenly contemplation where with he was favoured, he shed abundant tears. Yet
such was the joy which ever beamed in his face, that it made all who looked at
him cheerful. Princes and kings held him in great veneration, and his advice
induced many to leave the world and its allurements, and live in holy solitude.
An ardent desire for martyrdom induced him to set out for Pannonia; but a
malady, which tormented him as often as he went forward, and left him when he
turned back, obliged him to abandon his design.
He wrought many miracles during his life,
as also after his death, and was endowed with the gift of prophecy. Like the
patriarch Jacob, he saw a ladder that reached from earth to heaven, on which
men, clad in white robes, ascended and descended. He interpreted this
miraculous ‘vision as signifying the Camaldolese monks, whose founder he was.
At length, having reached the age of a hundred and twenty, after having served
his God by a life of most austere penance for a hundred years, he went to his
reward, in the year of our Lord one thousand and twenty-seven. His body was
found incorrupt after it had been five years in the grave; and was then buried,
with due honour, in the church of his Order at Fabriano.
The Vision of St Romuald by Andrea Sacchi
Faithful servant and friend of
God! how different was thy life from ours! We love the world and! Its
distractions. We think we do wonders if we give, each day, a passing thought to
our Creator, and make Him, at long intervals, the sole end of some one of our
occupations. Yet we know how each hour is bringing us nearer to that moment,
when we must stand before the divine tribunal, with our good and our evil
works, to receive the irrevocable sentence we shall have merited. Thou,
Romuald, didst not thus waste life away. It seemed to thee as though there were
but one thought and one interest worth living for: how best to serve thy God.
Lest anything should distract thee from this infinitely dear object, thou didst
flee into the desert. There, under the rule of the great patriarch, St.
Benedict, thou wagedst war against the flesh and the devil; thy tears washed
away thy sins, though so light if compared with what we have committed; thy
soul, invigorated by penance, was inflamed with the love of Jesus, for whose
sake thou wouldst fain have shed thy blood. We love to recount these thy
merits, for they belong to us in virtue of that communion which our Lord has so
mercifully established between saints and sinners. Assist us, therefore, during
the penitential season, which is soon to be upon us. The justice of God will
not despise our feeble efforts, for He will see them beautified by the union He
allows them to have with such glorious works as thine. When thou wast living in
the Eden of Camaldoli, thy amiable and sweet charity for men was such, that all
who came near thee were filled with joy and consolation: what may we not expect
from thee, now that thou art face to face with the God of love? Remember, too,
the Order thou hast founded; protect it, give it increase, and make it ever, to
those who become its children, a ladder to lead them up to heaven.
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