St Romuald
Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Romuald. When St. Romuald was young, he had to witness his father kill a relative due to the fact that they were fighting over property. Due to this terrible event that caused him a lot of horror he decided to flee to a monastery which was located near Ravenna. After St. Romuald had spent three years at the monastery, some of the monks started to find him to be uncomfortably holy and they decided to ease him out.
St. Romuald later decided to spend the next 30 years going around Italy, during this time he was able to found monasteries and hermitages. St. Romuald had longed to give his life to Christ, and he was able to receive the pope’s permission to preach the gospel in Hungary. However, he had gotten sick with a bad illness as soon as he had arrived, and the illness recurred as often as he tried to proceed.
Later on in during another period of his life, St. Romuald suffered a great spiritual dryness. One day while he was praying Psalm 31 (“I will give you understanding and I will instruct you”), he was given a very deep and extraordinary light that never left him.
While St. Romuald was staying at another monastery, St. Romuald was accused of a very bad scandalous crime by a young nobleman that he had rebuked for a dissolute life. However, all of his fellow monks believed the accusation. St. Romuald was given a very intense and severe penance, he was forbidden from offering Mass, and he was excommunicated, he had to endure in silence a very tough sentence for six months.
The most famous of the monasteries that St. Romuald was able to found was that of the Camaldoli which is in Tuscany. Here began the Order of the Camaldolese Benedictines, who united the monastic and eremitical lives. St. Romuald’s own father actually became a monk, and he was kept faithful by the encouragement of his son.
St. Romuald’s feast day is celebrated on June 19.
Prayer to St. Romuald
St. Romuald intercede that we may be able to be obedient to the Lords mission for us and help us to accomplish it regardless of all the obstacles or difficulties we may encounter.
Amen
St. Romuald pray for us
St. Joseph pray for us
May we continue to strengthen our journey to sainthood and keep others in our prayers.
Works Cited
Information (read from, not taken):
Franciscan Media. "Saint Romuald. ”Saint Romuald | Franciscan Media. Accessed 19, June 2021.
Images:
Saint Romuald. June 19, 2021. Saint Romuald - Google Search.