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Memorial:
19 June; prior to 1969 his feast was held on 7 February, the date of the
translation of his relics in 1481
Profile
Italian nobility who spent a wild youth. Acting as second, he witnessed
his father kill another man in a duel, and sought to atone for the crime
by becoming a Benedictine monk at Classe, Italy. Abbot in 996. A wanderer,
he established several hermitages and monasteries in central and northern
Italy. He tried to evangelize the Slavs, but met with little success.
Founded the Camaldolese Benedictines.
Born
c.951 at Ravenna, Italy
Died
19 June 1027; body incorrupt; enshrined at Fabriano, Italy; relics
translated in 1481
Canonized
1582 by Pope Gregory XIII
Readings
Romuald lived in the vicinity of the city of Paranzo for three years. In
the first year he built a monastery and appointed an abbot with monks. For
the next two years he remained there in seclusion.
Wherever the holy man might arrange to live, he would follow the same
pattern. First he would build an oratory with an altar in a cell; then he
would shut himself in and forbid access.
Finally, after he had lived in many places, perceiving that his end was
near, he returned to the monastery he had built in the valley of Castro.
While he awaited with certainty his approaching death, he ordered a cell
to be constructed there with an oratory in which he might isolate himself
and preserve silence until death.
Accordingly, the hermitage was built, since he had made up his mind that
he would die there. His body began to grow more and more oppressed by
afflictions and was already failing. One day he began to feel the loss of
his physical strength under all the harassment of increasingly violent
afflictions. As the sun was beginning to set, he instructed two monks who
were standing by to go out and close the door of the cell behind them;
they were to come back to him at daybreak to celebrate matins. They were
so concerned about his end that they went out reluctantly and did not rest
immediately. On the contrary, since they were worried that their master
night die, they lay hidden near the cell and watched this precious
treasure. For some time they continued to listen attentively until they
heard neither movement nor sound. Rightly guessing what had happened, they
pushed open the door, rushed in quickly, lit a candle and found the holy
man lying on his back, his blessed soul snatched up into heaven.
from a biography of Saint Romuald by Saint Peter Damian
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