Saint Romuald (c. 951– traditionally 19 June, c. 1025/27) was the founder of the Camaldolese order and a major figure in the eleventh-century "Renaissance of eremitical asceticism".
According to the vita by Peter Damian, written about fifteen years after Romuald's death, Romuald was born in Ravenna to the aristocratic Onesti family. As a youth, according to early accounts, Romuald indulged in the pleasures and sins of the world common to a tenth-...
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Saint Romuald (c. 951– traditionally 19 June, c. 1025/27) was the founder of the Camaldolese order and a major figure in the eleventh-century "Renaissance of eremitical asceticism".
According to the vita by Peter Damian, written about fifteen years after Romuald's death, Romuald was born in Ravenna to the aristocratic Onesti family. As a youth, according to early accounts, Romuald indulged in the pleasures and sins of the world common to a tenth-century nobleman. After watching his father, Sergius, kill an opponent in a duel, however, the 20-year old Romuald was devastated, and fled to the Abbey of Sant'Apollinare in Classe. After some indecision, Romuald became a monk there. Led by a desire for a stricter way of life than he found in that community, three years later he withdrew to become a hermit on a remote island in the region, accompanied solely by an older monk, Marinus, who served as his spiritual master.
Apparently having gained a reputation for holiness, the Doge of Venice...
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