The Vallombrosians

Giovanni Gualberto (c. 985 – 12 July 1073) was not the sort of person you would expect to found a monastic order. A nobleman born in a castle, he hunted down the man who killed his brother in order to get revenge. Finding the man in Florence, he was about to exact his revenge when the man threw himself on the ground with arms outstretched in the form of a cross and begged for mercy in the name of Christ.

Giovanni had a change of heart and forgave the man. On his way home, he stopped at the church at San Miniato to pray. Legend says that the figure of Christ on the crucifix bowed its head to him, supposedly in recognition of his act of mercy. This is the subject of the 19th century artist Burne-Jones' painting of "The Merciful Knight" (shown here).

Giovanni decided to cut his hair and start wearing a borrowed monk's habit. He joined the monastery at San Miniato, but felt he needed a more ascetic life. He spent some time with the monks at Camaldoli, but eventually founded his own monastery at Vallombrosa in 1036.

The Vallombrosian Congregation is now part of the Benedictine Confederation and has nine houses and a few dozen monks, but for it to have nine locations suggests great popularity in the past (see below). Giovanni adopted the Rule of St. Benedict, but stressed more austerity than the Rule. Poverty as strictly enforced, silence was mandatory and constant, cloistering was essential: the monks did not leave the premises even to help others. While the Rule of St. Benedict requires work, Giovanni's system required lay brothers to do any essential work, while the monks themselves spent their entire day in silence and contemplation. They wore habits originally of gray or ash-colored, but now wear the traditional Benedictine garb.

After Giovanni's death, the order spread, especially after a bull by Pope Urban II in 1090 gave the Vallombrosans papal support and protection. A bull by Pope Paschal II in 1115 mentions 12 Vallombrosan houses, and one by Pope Anastasius IV mentions 24. In Pope Innocent III's time there were more than 60 houses.

Giovanni was canonized in 1193 by Pope Celestine III.

The Benedictine Confederation has members all over the world, many founded in the 19th century. There were two other groups founded in the 13th century, the Silvestrines and the English. We will talk about the Silvestrine Congregation next.

Camaldolese Hermits

The earliest-founded monastic group that is currently part of the Benedictine Confederation is the Camaldolese Hermits of Mount Corona. It was established about 980 CE by the Italian monk, Saint Romuald. Pietro I Orseolo

Romuald (c. 950 - 1025/27) was born in an aristocratic family in Ravenna, in northeastern Italy. An indulged and indulgent youth, at the age of 20 his life changed when he was his father's second in a duel. Seeing his father win the duel, in which he killed a relative over a property dispute, changed the young man. Romuald did 40 days of penance for his part in the affair, and became a monk at the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Ravenna.

Although his location followed the Cluniac Order, Romuald wanted something more strict, and he raised the ire of his comrades by criticizing their excesses and lapses. He was given permission to leave the monastery; he went to live under the guidance of a strict hermit in Venice.

In a parallel to Romuald's turning point, the doge of Venice in 978 was Pietro I Orseolo. Pietro had taken the position after being involved in a conspiracy to overthrow his predecessor, Pietro IV Candiano. Orseolo, feeling remorse for his actions two years earlier, he left Venice in the middle of the night without telling anyone, not even his family, and went with Romuald and others to join the Benedictines at at Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa ion southern France.

Over the next several years, Romuald refined his ideas of monasticism, then spent 30 years traveling Italy and preaching the benefits of a strict monastic life, founding and reforming monasteries. An attempt to be abbot at the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare on the invitation of Holy Roman Emperor Otto III failed, since the monks objected to his reforms.

In 1012 he arrived in Arezzo, where he was given land in Camaldoli, upon which Romuald built five hermit cells; these and a monastery built two years later became the motherhouse for the Camaldolese Order.

Romuald's idea of a proper life was laid out in. his rule, entitled "Empty yourself completely and sit waiting." His central advice for monks and hermits was:

Sit in your cell as in paradise. Put the whole world behind you and forget it. Watch your thoughts like a good fisherman watching for fish. The path you must follow is in the Psalms — never leave it.

There are a dozen locations that are part of the Camaldolese Congregation totaling several dozen members.

Before settling in Arezzo, Romuald stayed for a time in Vallombrosa. Years later, a monk stayed at Camaldoli for awhile, and then started his own congregation at Vallombrosa. The next-oldest member of the Benedictine Confederation is the Vallombrosian Congregation, and we'll see what makes them different tomorrow.