| Congregatio Eremitarum Camaldulensium Montis Coronae(Latin)[2] | |
 | |
| Abbreviation | Post-nominal letters:E.C.M.C. |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1025; 1000 years ago (1025)[1] |
| Founder | Saint Romuald |
| Founded at | Camaldoli, Italy |
| Type | Monastic Order of Pontifical Right (for Men)[1] |
| Headquarters | Sacro Eremo Tuscolano, 00040 Monteporzio Catone, Italy[1] |
| Membership | 67 members (35 priests) as of 2018[1] |
Father Major | Fr. Emir José Castillo Zárate, ECMC[3] |
Nickname | Camaldolese |
| Affiliations | Catholic Church |
| Website | www |
TheCamaldolese Hermits of Mount Corona (Latin:Congregatio Eremitarum Camaldulensium Montis Coronae), commonly calledCamaldolese, is a monastic order ofPontifical Right for men founded bySaint Romuald. Its name is derived from the Holy Hermitage (Italian:Sacro Eremo) ofCamaldoli, high in the mountains of central Italy, near the city ofArezzo. Its members add the nominal lettersE.C.M.C. after their names to indicate their membership in the congregation. Apart from the Roman Catholic monasteries, in recent times ecumenical Christian hermitages with a Camaldolese spirituality have arisen as well.
The Camaldolese were established through the efforts of theItalian monkSaintRomuald[5] (c. 950-1025/27). His reform sought to renew and integrate theeremitical tradition of monastic life with that of thecenobium.
In his youth, Romuald became acquainted with the three major schools of Western monastic tradition. The monastery where he first entered monastic life,Sant' Apollinare in Classe, was a traditionalBenedictine community under the influence of theCluniac reforms. Romuald chose to be under a spiritual master, Marinus, who followed a much harsher ascetic and solitary lifestyle that was originally of Irish eremitical origins. Some years later, Marinus and Romuald settled near theAbbey of Saint Michael de Cuxa, where Abbot Guarinus was also beginning reforms but was building mainly upon the Iberian Christian tradition. Later, drawing on his various early experiences, Romuald was able to establish his own monastic pattern, though he himself never thought of it as a separate entity, seeing it as an integral part of the Benedictine tradition.
Romuald moved around central Italy, founding several colonies of hermits (or "deserts").[5] Around the year 1012, he made his chief foundation, the Sacred Hermitage of Camaldoli in the Tuscan hills. There the monks lived in individual cells, but also observed the common life, with liturgical celebrations daily in the community church and common meals in the refectory.[6] The monks at Camaldoli adopted the distinctive white habit, later characteristic of their tradition, and there emerged in these early years the combination of the two cenobite and hermit branches that afterwards became so marked a feature of the order.
Romuald and the early Camaldolese exercised considerable influence on the religious movements of their time. The emperorsOtto III andHenry II esteemed Romuald highly and sought his advice on religious questions.[5]
In his old age Romuald started on a missionary expedition to Hungary with twenty-five of his monks, but he was unable to accomplish the journey, and he died in 1027.[5]The order was approved byPope Alexander II in 1072.[7]
There have been Camaldolese hermitages and monasteries at sites throughout Italy.
Currently two separate Camaldolese congregations exist: the Benedictine Camaldolese and the Camaldolese Hermits. Various unsuccessful attempts at reunion between them occurred over the centuries - the longest-lasting that of 1634–1667. In 1667, PopeClement IX, recognizing the failure, issued aBull establishing a definitive separation between the congregations.[7]
The Benedictine Camaldolese (OSB Cam.) are headquartered in the hamlet ofCamaldoli inTuscany. On the mountainside stands the 11th-century Holy Hermitage founded by St. Romuald. Its 16th-century monastery stands a few kilometers below.
The next community founded by the Camaldolese congregation was the Monastery ofSt. Mary of the Angels in Florence.[6] By the 13th century, itsscriptorium had become known throughout Europe as a major source of high-qualityparchments, then much in demand. In this monastery the artistLorenzo Monaco tentatively explored avocation as a monk from 1390 onwards. Only the church of the monastery now remains in service.
Circa 1603 the Camaldolese Hermit Monastery in Kraków in Poland was established in the village ofBielany (now surrounded byKraków). Thepriory consists of hermitages and the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption. Visitors are welcome for scheduled masses.[8]
TheNew Camaldoli Hermitage on the coast road south ofBig Sur, California, was founded in 1958 by the Holy Hermitage of Camaldoli, Italy. Officially named the "Immaculate Heart Hermitage", it stands on a mountainside overlooking the Pacific Ocean. New Camaldoli has founded two daughter communities, Incarnation Monastery inBerkeley, California, near theGTU, north ofU.C. Berkeley in 1979; and the Monastery of the Risen Christ inSan Luis Obispo, California in 2014.[9][10][11]
The order maintains a mix ofmonasteries andhermitages for men in countries on five continents. Perhaps most prominent isSaccidananda Ashram, founded in 1950 in the village of Tannirpalli in the Tiruchirapalli District ofTamil Nadu,India, on the bank of theRiver Kavery. Monasteries for women began in 1086; they are located now mostly in Italy and Poland, also in Tanzania and America.[12] Anoblate community started in Australia, which since the mid-1990s continues under the guidance of thePrior New Camaldoli, Big Sur.[13]
The other congregation, known as the Camaldolese Hermits of Monte Corona (Er. Cam.), was established by the Renaissance reformerPaolo Giustiniani (1476-1528). This group lives solely in hermitages, usually with a very small number of monks comprising the community. There are three houses in Italy, two in Poland, and one each in Spain, the United States, and Colombia, as well as a newer foundation in Venezuela. Unlike the other congregation, it is not a member of the largerBenedictine Confederation.
The Camaldolese Crown (Italian:Corona), designed by Bl. Michele Pina (1450–1522), is sometimes called the Crown of Our Lord (Italian:Corona Del Signore). It was officially approved by papal brief on 18 February 1516.
An early Benedictine Camaldolese site was founded in Florence, St. Mary of the Angels.[15]
Previously there were three autonomous congregations, based inTurin (founded 1596),Venice (1474–1569) andFrance (founded 1526). The monasteries attached to Hermitage of Turin seem to have been absorbed by the Monte Corona congregation in the 18th century. The Venetian congregation, which was headed by anabbot, and the French one were eventually suppressed by theHoly See. The French monks became associated withJansenism, due to which their congregation was suppressed in 1770 and the monks dispersed.[7]
By the early 20th century, the Venetian congregation, which was entirelycoenobitic, was felt by Rome to be too few in numbers for continued existence, and its members were offered the opportunity to seek admission with the Congregation of Camaldoli. It had contributed many of its members to the service of the Church, most notablyPope Gregory XVI. The notedcartographerFra Mauro had been a member of the mother monastery of St. Michael ofMurano. It was in this community that theGerman merchant Daniel became a monk. Eventually, he established a solitary hermitage in the woods, where he spent long periods in prayer. He was murdered in his cell by robbers in 1413 and is today venerated as Saint Daniel of Murano.[16]
In theKingdom of Hungary, four Camaldolese monasteries were established:Zobor Hill (1695),Lánzsér (German:Landsee) (1701),Vöröskolostor (1710) andMajk (1733). In 1782 the EmperorJoseph IIordered the dissolution of every monastic order that, inhis view, did not pursue useful activities. Thus the Camaldolese monasteries in thatrealm weresecularized.
Soon after the various communities established by St. Romuald began to develop, communities of nuns desired to share in this reform. Beginning under the guidance ofBlessed Rudolph II, thirdPrior General of Camaldoli, they were accepted into the life of the Congregation. He founded the Monastery of San Pietro di Luco in Mugello near Florence to establish the model of their "Little Rule" in 1086.
At their zenith, only ten monasteries of nuns were a part of the Order. There were many small monasteries, however, which followed the CamaldoleseRule but were subject to localbishops. Of those who form a part of the Congregation of the Holy Hermitage, theirMotherhouse is theAbbey of St.Anthony the Abbot in Rome, where theabbess lives.[17]
Over time the Camaldolese nuns came to be concentrated mostly in Italy and in Poland, inZłoczew. A few foundations, though, have been made in other countries. In France, a monastery of nuns was established by Polish nuns of the Order but it is on the verge of closure, with just one nun in residence. A monastery has been founded inTanzania, which is currently flourishing.
Founded in 1979 by three Sisters, inWindsor, New York, Transfiguration Monastery became formally affiliated with the Camaldolese Benedictine Congregation in 1986. Sister Mary Donald Corcoran, O.S.B. Cam., has served asprioress since its foundation, which she made with two companions, Sisters Placid (a formerrecluse from France) and Jean Marie Pearse, a native of the region. For practical reasons, they have begun the process of changing their affiliation to an American Benedictine congregation, while still retaining Camaldolese traditions.[18]
The Benedictine Camaldolese order extended its presence to theUnited States in 1958 with the founding of Immaculate Heart Hermitage, more commonly calledNew Camaldoli Hermitage, in theSanta Lucia Mountains ofBig Sur,California.[9] New Camaldoli Hermitage later established a daughter house, Incarnation Monastery inBerkeley, California.[10] Fr. Cyprian Consiglio is the current Prior at New Camadoli Hermitage of Big Sur.[19][15]
The Camaldolese Hermits of Monte Corona established the Holy Family Hermitage inBloomingdale, Ohio.[20] For several years, there was also a small community, Epiphany Monastery, inNew Boston, New Hampshire, which was closed in 1998.
There are Camaldolese communities inIndia,Brazil, andTanzania, among others.[21]
An ecumenical Christian community of Camaldolese hermits is present in various countries throughout the world and is known as the Community of Solitude (CoS).[22] The Camaldolese Oblate Community of Australasia is another ecumenical community.[23]
Saints
Blesseds
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Butler, Edward Cuthbert (1911). "Camaldulians". InChisholm, Hugh (ed.).Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 5 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 79–80.
