CAMALDOLESE
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CAMALDOLESE
process of time it became divided into five separate
congregations, viz.: (i) The Holy Hermitage, (ii) San
Michele di Murano, (iii I Monte Corona, (iv) The Con-
gregation of Turin (San Salvatore di Torino), (v)
Notre-Dame de Consolation. The history of these
congregations had better be considered separately,
after which something will be said of the Camaldolese
Nuns.
(i) The Congregation of the Holy Hermitage. — Little need be said here of this great congregation, for throughout the centuries it has changed but little, and its history is mostly to be found in its relations with the congregations to which it gave birth. Be- fore the separation of San Michele di .Murano, the Holy Hermitage had given four cardinals and many bishops to the church, and was famous throughout Europe for the sanctity and austerity of its members. Gratian. the great canonist; Guido d'Arezzo, the founder of modern music; Lorenzo Monaco, the painter; Niccola Malermi, the first translator of the Bible into Italian, are all claimed as sons of this great congregation. To the present day. in spite of perse- cution and spoliation, the hermits of Camaldoli and the cenobites of Fonte Buono remain examples of austerity and monastic fervour.
(ii) The Congregation oj Murano. — In the year 1212 the Venetian Republic, anxious that a hermitage should be founded within its borders, sent a request to this effect to Guide. Prior of Camaldoli. By him were sent Albert and John, hermits, and two lay brothers. To these was made over the little church of San Michele, on an island (now known as the Cem- etery Island) between Venice and Murano, where tradition asserts St. Romuald to have lived with Ma- rinus. The church was partly under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Castello, partly under that of the Bishop of Torcello. It was, however, at once released from the jurisdiction of both and handed over to Al- bert as representing the Prior of Camaldoli. At first a hermitage was started; but soon, on account of the rapid influx of novices, it was found necessary to adopt the cenobitical manner of life. The church was rebuilt and was consecrated by Cardinal Ugolino, and by 1227 the house is included by Gregory IX in his enumeration of the monasteries subject to Camaldoli. In 1243 another attempt to found a hermitage near Venice was made, John and Gerard, hermits of ( 'amal- doli. being sent by Guido, the prior-general, to take possession of the house and church of San Mattia in Murano, which had formerly been a nunnery and had been given to Camaldoli by the Bishop of Torcello. This hermitage prospered greatly, and. six years after its foundation, was granted a much-mitigated form of the rule by Martin III. prior general of Camaldoli. Within twenty years this hermitage already possessed a subject house, and by the middle of the fourteenth century we find the Prior of San Mattia making a vis- itation of his suffragan monasteries, and the hermit- age itself adopting the cenobitical life.
Meanwhile about the end of the thirteenth century, the Priory of San Michele had developed into an abbey, and in 1407 its monks were allowed to elect own abbot, subjectonly to the confirmation of the Prior of Camaldoli. Twoyi arslat r Paolo Venerio, Abbot of San Michele. was appoint,,! by the pope one of the visitors and reformers of monasteries in Venice. In 1434 ( ainaldoli asserted its authority, when Ambro- gio Traversal!, the prior general.. suddenly made a visi- tation ol Sail Mattia di Murano and deposed the prior for contumacy. At the same time he exempted San Michele from the jurisdiction of the vicar, and sub- jected it immediately to the prior-general. But in another ten years came a further impulse towards in- dependence, when Pop. Eugenius IV suggested that the Camaldol houid form a congregation
similar to that of Santa Giustina di Padova. The times, however, were not opportune, and though a
union of nine abbeys was attempted in 1446 (called
the Union of the Nine Places) it was soon abandoned,
and for twenty years the matter rested. But in 1462
Pius II granted to Mariotti, prior general, and to his
successors the right of appointing all superiors under
his jurisdiction ail nutum. At once the question of
separation became again important, and twelve years
later it was solved. The Abbeys of Santa Maria dei
Carceri, at Padua, and of San Michele di Murano and
the Priory of San Mattia di Murano formed a new con-
gregation. To escape the danger of commendam it
was arranged that the superiors of these houses should
be elected for only three years at a time, and a sem-
blance of connexion with Camaldoli was maintained
by requiring confirmation of their election by the
prior general. The new congregation was confirmed
by Sixtus IV, and soon showed signs of vigour. In
1475 the two great abbeys of Sant' Apollinare and of
San Severo at Classe were united to it: and in 14S7
Innocent VIII confirmed and extended the privileges
granted by his predecessor. By 1513. however, tin'
life tenure of office by the prior general was found to
be inconvenient by others as well as by the new con-
gregation, and a general chapter of the whole order
was held at Florence. It was decided to form a new
united congregation "of the Holy Hermitage and of
San Michele di Murano, with a prior general elected
annually (afterwards triennially), and alternately
from the hermits and the "regular" cenobites. The
"conventuals" were expressly excluded from the gen-
eralship and were forbidden to take novices. This
congregation was confirmed and was granted extra-
ordinary privileges by the Bull " Etsi a summo" of
Leo X. The reunion lasted, in spite of many dis-
putes between the hermits and the cenobites, for more
than a century. In 1558 the conventuals were sep-
arated from all privileges of the order, and eleven
years later (1569) were finally suppressed by Pius V.
In the same year the congregation was much
strengthened by the suppression of the hermit order
of Fonte Avellana, which, with all its possessions,
was united to the Camaldolese Order. Four years
later, in 1573, the great Abbey of San Gregorio on the
Cadian Hill in Rome was united to the congregation.
The wdiole order was. at the beginning of the seven-
teenth century, at the summit of its fortunes. In
1513 there had been seventeen "groups of monas-
teries" and four nunneries in the order, and since then
had been added Fonte Avellana with its dependencies,
the congregations of Monte Corona and of Turin, and
several great historic abbeys. But the disruptive
tendencies in the order were fatal to its continued
prosperity. In 1616 the differences between the her-
mits and the cenobites of the great Congregation of
the Holy Hermitage and San Michele resulted in their
separation again into two congregations, and in spite
of an attempt at reunion in 1626 this separation was
final. The Congregation of San Michele di Murano
had its own general, styled "the general of all the
Camaldolese monks and hermits". It possessed at
one time about thirty-five monasteries (including Sant '
Apollinare at Ravenna, San Michele and San Mattia
at Murano, Santa Croce at Fonte Avellana. Santi An-
geli at Florence, and San Gregorio at Rome), as well
as eight nunneries. The ho t to the con-
gregation were divided into the four provinces of
Venice, Tuscany. Romagna, and The Marches and fimbria, each with its "house of profession", whose abbot was the vicar of the province. At each of the quinquennial chapters, the four great offices of the general, the two visitors, and the procurator general were distributed in turn among the four provinces, so that each province .very twenty years had pos- sessed all these dignities. I'nder this organization the congregation attracted many devout and intel- ligent subjects, ami its reputation both for learning and for strictness was widespread. Romano Merighi
