Saint Romuald’s Brief Rule

In the Ordinary form of the Roman Rite, today is the memorial of Saint Romuald, abbot and founder of the Camaldolese monks. In my Benedictine breviary (and in the Eastern Churches), his feast is February 7.

The explanation for the discrepancy may be found on Wikipedia, but briefly today is the anniversary of his death, while the February date is the anniversary of the transfer of his relics.

He lived from about AD 910 to about 1027, though modern scholars have moved the estimated date of his birth some forty years later. Here’s a little bit about him from the third lesson from Matins in the old Office.

Romuald was born of a noble family of Ravenna, his father’s name being Sergius. As a young man, he withdrew to the neighboring monastery of Classis to lead a life of penance. There, fired with great eagerness for the love of God and encouraged by an apparition of Saint Apollinaris, he became a monk.

He exercised himself unwearyingly in fasting and prayer, and such joy showed on his face that it gladdened all those who saw him. Burning with desire for martyrdom, he set out for Pannonia, but was taken ill and forced to return.

He became the founder of the Order of Camaldolese monks, whom he had seen in a vision as Angels mounting a ladder that reached up to heaven.

When he had reached the age of a hundred and twenty, having served God in the greatest austerity for a hundred of those years, he at length made his way to Him in the Year of salvation 1027, and was buried with honor in the church of his Order at Fabriano.

Saint Romuald’s “Brief Rule” was written around AD 1006 – about twenty years before his death. It contains a synthesis of monastic life and spirituality that is hard to beat, both in terms of brevity and content.

Here is the entire text, rendered into English:

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.

If you have just come to the monastery,
and in spite of your good will you cannot accomplish what you want,
take every opportunity you can to sing the Psalms in your heart
and to understand them with your mind.

And if your mind wanders as you read, do not give up;
hurry back and apply your mind to the words once more.

Realize above all that you are in God’s presence,
and stand there with the attitude of one who stands
before the emperor.

Empty yourself completely and sit waiting,
content with the grace of God,
like the chick who tastes nothing and eats nothing
but what his mother brings him.

Saint Romuald, pray for us!