Subj : June 19th - Saint Romuald, Abbott and Confessor To : All From : rich Date : Thu Jun 18 2020 10:17:51 From: rich June 19th - Saint Romuald, Abbott and Confessor =C2 c-951-1027 THE history of any nation shows that a sustained period of extravagance and prosperity is usually followed by depressions or violent reforms of some kind.=C2 Emperor Charlemagne (768-814) had labored to build up the resources of a rich educational, religious, and intellectual life for his people.=C2 After his death, the cultural ideals which he had promoted died quickly.=C2 Ecclesiastical life began to decline; religious men were treated as bores, and monasteries which had always been centers of learning and religious thought were rapidly decaying from within.=C2 The reforms did come, but not without a struggle.=C2 Eventually, through the efforts of some few monks, religious life again began to flourish.=C2 One of the strictest reforms of the tenth century was begun by Saint Romuald, founder of the Camaldolese Order. Romuald's religious life began when he saw his father kill a relative in a duel.=C2 Horrified by the murder, Romuald went to a monastery at Classis, near Ravenna, to do penance for his father's crime.=C2 Later he joined the same monastery as a monk and was elected superior in 996. Although he realized reform was needed to restore the monastic spirit, he was powerless against the apathy of the monks who were enjoying their undisciplined life.=C2 After three years Romuald gave up his efforts to improve the monastery and left it in order to pray and to plan another reform.=C2 For several years he wandered through the countryside, living in various monasteries and preaching the spirit of penance and prayer.=C2 During that time he gathered only a few men who were willing to live the monastic rule of Saint Benedict according to its original demands. A popular Italian legend relates that while looking for a site for a new monastery, Romuald met the Count Maldolus who told the saint of a dream in which he saw monks, clothed in white, ascending a ladder to heaven.=C2 After hearing of Romuald's plans, the count offered his land, Campo Maldoli.=C2 Out of gratitude, the monk named his new order Camaldolese. The Camaldolese Order was the first to combine successfully the apparently contradictory aspects of the hermitic life of Eastern monks with the community life of Western monasticism.=C2 Each monk of this order has his own room in which he lives and prays alone, joining the others only for community prayers.=C2 Fasts are long and hard: meat is never eaten, and every Friday a fast of bread and water is kept.=C2 During Lent, milk, cheese, eggs, and butter are forbidden. Each monk has his own workshop and garden, where he labors alone while maintaining union with the others for the upkeep of the community. Probably because of the severity of the rule, the order has only about two hundred members.=C2 Two came to the U.S.A. in 1958 to start a community. Obviously, Camaldolese life was not meant for everyone; yet Romuald saw clearly that extreme penance and mortification were the only forceful answers to the moral corruption of the period.=C2 His principle of practicing "penance with a joyful heart" can be a guide to those caught in the web of seemingly useless activity.=C2 As history unfolds, we see that the world still needs the example of those whose lives constitute a powerful sermon of contemplation and recollection. Saint Romuald, founder and abbot, died alone in his monastery of Val Castro, Italy, in 1027. This Version taken from: http://www.geocities.com/barats2000/Feasts.html Saint Quote: Nothing can be more dangerous than keeping wicked companions. They communicate the infection of their vices to all who associate with them. --St. John Baptist de la Salle (1651-1719 AD) Bible Quote "Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed."=C2 (John 6:27) <><><><> Oratio Sancti Caietani (Prayer of St. Cajetan); 1480-1547. Look down, O Lord, from Thy sanctuary, from Thy dwelling in heaven on high, and behold this sacred Victim which our great High Priest, Thy holy Son our Lord Jesus Christ, offers up to Thee for the sins of His brethren and be appeased despite the multitude of our transgressions. Behold, the voice of the Blood of Jesus, our Brother, cries to Thee from the cross. Give ear, O Lord. Be appeased, O Lord. Hearken and do not delay for Thine own sake, O my God; for Thy Name is invoked upon this city and upon Thy people and deal with us according to Thy mercy. Amen. That Thou wouldst defend, pacify, keep, preserve, and bless this city, we beseech Thee, hear us. --- NewsGate v1.0 gamma 2 * Origin: News Gate @ Net396 -Huntsville, AL - USA (1:396/4) .