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| Saint Romuald of Ravenna |
The Rules of the Order of Camaldoli, written by Saint Romuald: stated:
“Be
seated within your cell as though in paradise; cast to the rear of your
memory everything distracting, becoming alert and focused on your
thoughts as a good fisherman is on the fish. One pathway to this state
is through reciting the Psalms; do not neglect this. If you cannot
manage to get through them all at one sitting as you used to do with the
fervor of a novice, take pains to chant the psalms in your spirit, now
starting from this place, now from that, and to interpret them in your
mind, and when you begin to wander in your reading, don’t stop what you
are doing, but make haste to correct by interpreting; place yourself
above all in the presence of God with fear and trembling, like one who
stands in the gaze of the emperor; pull yourself completely and crouch
down like a baby chick, content with God’s gift, for, unless its mother
provides, it neither knows nor gets what she should eat.”
Saint Romuald founded several monasteries throughout Italy prior to founding a new order, the austere Order of Camaldoli in Tuscany. His order encouraged an extreme austerity, fasting, prayer, and silence. The Camaldolese Hermitage here in California (on the Big Sur coastline) is a community of extraordinary grace--and a wonderful setting for a retreat!
