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 CAMALDOLESE

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CAMALDOLESE

bey was situated. This was the only foundation of any importance made in France after the death of Boniface d'Antoine in 1673. Henceforth the history of this congregation is closely connected with the history of Jansenism. Throughout the congregation there were many obstinate adherents of the new heresy, and in 1 728 a pamphlet, entitled ' ' Le Temoign- age", defending their position, appeared in answer to the punitive measures taken against them by the General Chapter of 1727. No amount of repression could remove all traces of this persistent heresy, and the whole Congregation was suppressed in 1770.

The first house of Camaldolese Nuns, San Pietro di Luco in Mugello, near Florence, was founded by Blessed Rudolph, in the year 1086. It is true that St. Romuald himself had founded houses for nuns in 1006 and 1023; but, there is no evidence that they followed the Camaldolese rule, and the Camaldolese writers almost unanimously assign the beginning of the houses for women to Blessed Rudolph. By 1616, when the congregation of San Michele di Murano was finally separated, there were eight houses subject to that con- gregation, besides many others under the jurisdiction of the bishops in whose dioceses they were situated. The nuns follow the rule of Camaldoli. They wear a white habit, veil, scapular, and girdle, to which the choir nuns add a black veil. In choir the choir nuns wear a white cowl, but the lay sisters a white cloak.

Rule and Constitutions. — St. Romuald has left no written rule; the austere manner of life led by his hermits was transmitted by oral tradition. His great ideal was to introduce into the West the eremitical life led by the Eastern monks and the Fathers of the Desert. In the words of St. Peter Damian, his en- deavour was "to turn the whole world into a hermit- age, and make all the multitude of the people associates of the monastic order" (totum mundum in eremum con- vertere, et monachico ordini omnem populi multitudinem sociare). He introduced into Western monasticism a system hitherto unknown, and attempted a blending of the cenobitical life of the West with the eremitical life of the East. The rule was of the utmost severity. The brethren lived each in their separate cells, in the midst of which stood the oratory or chapel, where they met for the Hours of the Divine Office, the whole Psalter being recited daily. There were two Lents during the year, one in preparation for Christmas, the other for Easter. During both these periods every day of the week except Sunday was an abstinence day, that is to say, really a fast of the most rigorous kind on bread and water. During the remainder of the year this abstinence was to be kept on all days except Thursdays and Sundays, when fruit and vegetables might be eaten. The ideal of St. Romuald was one of absolute asceticism, and there was little room in his system for the "nothing harsh, nothing burdensome" (nihil asperum, nihil grave) which is so striking a fea- ture in the Rule of St. Benedict, with its broad com- prehensiveness and wise power of dispensation. This rule of life remained unrelaxed at Camaldoli till the year 1080, when the fourth prior. Blessed Rudolph I, gave the first written constitutions to the order. Be- sides a mitigation of austerity, there had become necessary a definite written code which everyone who joined would be bound to follow. The abstinence on bread and water, which had hitherto been observed on all days except Sundays during the two Lents, was now dispensed on Thursday as well, and also on the feasts of St. Andrew, St. Gregory, St. Benedict, the Annunciation. Palm Sunday, and Maundv Thursday. On these days fish and wine were to be allowed. On feasts of twelve lessons, if these were not days of ab- stinence, the hermits were allowed to take their meals together in a common refectory. The observance of silence, which was continual under St. Romuald, was slightly relaxed in Rudolph's constitutions. It was to De observed throughout both Lents and on all ab-

stinence days. At other times it was to be observed from Vespers till after the conventual Mass. An im- portant change in the character of the order was made by Rudolph's extension of the cenobitical life. Fonte Buono, from being merely an adjunct of Camaldoli, now became a separate monastery, and henceforth the Camaldolese Order is distinguished by this twofold character. In his legislation for cenobites Rudolph built carefully on St. Benedict's Rule. The interpre- tation which adhered closely to the letter and rigour of this rule, without consideration of circumstances of time, place, and national characteristics, was that which naturally appealed most strongly to the mo- nastic reformer, and it was this aspect of the rule, if anything, intensified, which Rudolph chose for his monks, who were regarded by their contemporaries and have ever since been regarded, as forming one of the many branches of the great Benedictine tree. In 1085 and 1188 further constitutions were given, more mitigated than those given in 1080; and as time went on the tendency was ever towards greater relaxation. In 1249 and 1253 Blessed Martin III gave his constitu- tions, and others again were promulgated in 1328. When the hermits of Camaldoli were united with the monks of the Congregation of San Michele di Murano, in 1513, special constitutions were drawn up, and when the first union was made between the Congrega- tions of Camaldoli and of Monte Corona, in 1540, separate constitutions were given to the former.

With regard to the rule observed at Camaldoli to- day, it may be said with truth to retain some of its early rigour and austerity. Meat is never allowed ex- cept to the sick, and the severe abstinence on bread and water has to be observed on ever}' Friday throughout the year. Meals are always taken in the seclusion of the cell, except on the great feasts, and even then in silence. The two Lents are still ob- served, and during these periods eggs, milk, butter, and cheese are strictly forbidden. All the Hours of the Divine Office are said in common in the hermitage church, a building which practically consists of one long and spacious choir. The hermits rise all the year round at half an hour after midnight for Matins. Lauds, and Meditation, which last for an hour and a half. A rest is then allowed till sunrise, when they betake themselves again to the church for the Office of Prime, and then return to their separate oratories to celebrate Mass. A slight collation is then taken, and the time between that and Tierce is spent in spiritual reading. Tierce is sung at nine, followed immediately by the conventual Mass and Sext. The remainder of the morning till the Office of None, at eleven, is passed daily in study and manual labour, each hermit having his own little garden and workshop. Dinner is taken at half-past eleven and is followed by recreation, dur- ing which the hermits are allowed in summer to take a siesta. Vespers are sung at sunset, and a slight col- lation is taken later on. The day is closed by Com- plin, Meditation, and the Rosary. Twice a week in winter, and three times a week in summer, talking is allowed during recreation time, and walks may be taken through the woods surrounding the hermitage. The monks at Fonte Buono live a life somewhat similar, though, of course, without the solitude of the hermits' life, and a walk beyond the monastic en- closure is allowed daily. Their hospice is now an hotel, and their forests have been appropriated by the Government. Speaking generally, the Camaldo- lese cenobites to-day may be said to follow the Bene- dictine rule in its ordinary interpretation.

The habit of the Camaldolese is now but little changed from that worn in the earliest days of the order. A white tunic reaching to the ankles, with scapular, girdle, and hood of the same colour. The cowl, worn only during the Divine Office, is also u lute, and of the same shape as the ample cowl of the Benedictines. A cloak is worn when walking abroad