The Olivetans

The Rule of St. Benedict was very influential and led to the founding of many monasteries. It was also adopted by groups that started their own orders, leading to a Benedictine Confederation founded in 1893, 19 groups that follow the Rule but are separate orders. One such group is the Olivetans.

The Olivetans, or the Order of Our Lady of Mount Olivet, were "started" in 1313 by Bernardo Tolomei (10 May 1272 – 20 August 1348; see illustration), a Tuscan who was educated by his Dominican uncle and determined to enter the religious life. Originally named Giovanni, after becoming a professor of law at the University of Siena and spending time as a soldier/knight under Rudolph I of Germany, he changed his name to Bernardo (after the Cistercian Bernard of Clairvaux) and started living as a hermit with two friends on property owned by his family.

Somewhere around late 1318 or early 1319, Bernardo had a vision of a ladder with monks dressed in white ascending to where Jesus and Mary waited for them. He decided to formally found his Order in 1319, using the Rule of St. Benedict, with particular devotion to the Virgin Mary. Pope Clement VI recognized the Order in 1344. A generous merchant constructed a monastery for them at Siena, and several more sprang up in the following years.

Unfortunately for Bernardo, he did not live to see the Order thrive for very long after its recognition by Clement. When the Bubonic Plague came to the shores of Italy, Bernardo and several monks  left the relative solitude and safety of their monastery to Siena, where they were suffering greatly. They tended to the sick, and Bernardo himself along with 82 fellow monks contracted the disease and died.

The order survived, however. In 1408, Pope Gregory XII gave them an unused monastery of St. Justina of Padua. Even now they still have 20 houses, although the total number of monks, nuns, and priests in the Order are fewer than 500.

The Benedictine Congregation has 19 different groups, 14 of which were founded after 1500. Some, however, are much older than the Olivetans, and I'd like to share some of their stories starting tomorrow.

The Headless Saint

Saint Miniato, or Minias, was an Armenian prince who made a pilgrimage to Rome in the 3rd century CE. his pilgrimage led him to become a Christian hermit near Florence, creating a hermitage on a hill called the Mons Florentinus (Mount Florence). This was a time when the emperor, Decius (249 - 251), was actively persecuting Christians after a period of tolerance, even killing a pope.

Miniato was brought before Decius and told to sacrifice to the Roman gods. His refusal led to several tortures. He was put into a furnace, then stoned, then put in an amphitheater with a lion. None of these punishments harmed him. Finally, he was taken to the Piazza della Signoria (the meeting place of Florentine politics) in Florence and beheaded. The legend then takes an even more drastic turn than surviving burning and stoning.

Miniato's body picked up his head, then crossed the Arno river and walked up the Mons Florentinus to his hermitage. The hill is now called Saint Minias Hill. A shrine was erected there, and there was a chapel by the 8th century.

In 1013, a bishop began a church named for the saint, with a Benedictine monastery adjacent. The high altar is said to contain the bones of Miniato. A Byzantine-style mosaic dated from 1297 of Christ flanked by Mary and Miniato is over the apse (see illustration). Miniato is shown holding a crown because of his royal origin. It also contains a carving of all the zodiac symbols.

A two kilometer pilgrimage exists that mirrors the walk of the headless saint. You can read a description and see some photographs of the views here.

The Benedictine monastery was transferred o the Cluniacs, and then in 1373 to the Olivetans, a group that has never been mentioned in this blog before. I will tell you about them next time.