St. John Gualbert and the Vallumbrosan Order
The name is derived from the motherhouse, Vallombrosa (Latin
Vallis umbrosa,
shady valley), situated 20 miles from Florence on the northwest slope
of Monte Secchieta in the Pratomagno chain, 3140 feet above the sea.
I. THE FOUNDER
St. John Gualbert, son of the noble Florentine Gualbert Visdomini,
was born in 985 (or 995), and died at Passignano, 12 July, 1073, on
which day his feast is kept; he was canonized in 1193. One of his
relatives having been murdered, it became his duty to avenge the
deceased. He met the murderer in a narrow lane and was about to slay
him, but when the man threw himself upon the ground with arms
outstretched in the form of a cross, he pardoned him for the love of
Christ. On his way home, he entered the Benedictine Church at San
Miniato to pray, and the figure on the crucifix bowed its head to him in
recognition of his generosity. This story forms the subject of
Burne-Jones’s picture “The Merciful Knight”, and has been adapted by
Shorthouse in “John Inglesant”. John Gualbert became a Benedictine at
San Miniato, but left that monastery to lead a more perfect life. His
attraction was for the cenobitic not eremitic life, so after staying for
some time with the monks at Camaldoli, he settled at Vallombrosa, where
he founded his monastery.
St. John Gualbert and the killer of his brother before the crucifix of San Miniato. Painted by Alessandro Pieroni.
Mabillon places the foundation a little before 1038. Here it is said
he and his first companions lived for some years as hermits, but this is
rejected by Martène as inconsistent with his reason for leaving
Camaldoli. The chronology of the early days of Vallombrosa has been much
disputed. The dates given for the founder’s conversion vary between
1004 and 1039, and a recent Vallumbrosan writer places his arrival at
Vallombrosa as early as 1008. We reach surer ground with the
consecration of the church by Bl. Rotho, Bishop of Paderborn, in 1038,
and the donation by Itta, Abbess of the neighbouring monastery of Sant’
Ellero, of the site of the new foundation in 1039. The abbess retained
the privilege of nominating the superiors, but this right was granted to
the monks by Victor II, who confirmed the order in 1056. Two centuries
later, in the time of Alexander IV, the nunnery was united to
Vallombrosa in spite of the protests of the nuns.
The holy lives of the first monks at Vallombrosa attracted
considerable attention and brought many requests for new foundations,
but there were few postulants, since few could endure the extraordinary
austerity of the life. Thus only one other monastery, that of San Salvi
at Florence, was founded during this period. But when the founder had
mitigated his rule somewhat, three more monasteries were founded and
three others reformed and united to the order during his lifetime. In
the struggle of the popes against simony the early Vallumbrosans took a
considerable part, of which the most famous incident is the ordeal by
fire undertaken successfully by St. Peter Igneus in 1068 (see PETER
IGNEUS, BLESSED below, and Delarc, op. cit.). Shortly before this the
monastery of S. Salvi had been burned and the monks ill-treated by the
anti-reform party. These events still further increased the repute of
Vallombrosa.
II. DEVELOPMENT OF THE ORDER
Photo
of the Vallumbrosan Order by sailko. Fresco of St. John Gualbert,
seated with other Vallombrosians Saints by Neri di Bicci, Santa Trinita
in Florence.
After the founder’s death the order spread rapidly. A Bull of Urban
II in 1090, which takes Vallombrosa under the protection of the Holy
See, enumerates fifteen monasteries besides the motherhouse. Twelve more
are mentioned in a Bull of Paschal II in 1115, and twenty-four others
in those of Anastasius IV (1153) and Adrian IV (1156). By the time of
Innocent III they numbered over sixty. All were situated in Italy,
except two monasteries in Sardinia. About 1087 Bl. Andrew of Vallombrosa
(d. 1112) founded the monastery of Cornilly in the Diocese of Orléans,
and in 1093 the Abbey of Chezal-Benoît, which became later the head of a
considerable Benedictine congregation. There is no ground for the
legend given by some writers of the order of a great Vallumbrosan
Congregation in France with an abbey near Paris, founded by St. Louis.
The Vallumbrosan Congregation was reformed in the middle of the
fifteenth century by Cassinese Benedictines, and again by Bl. John
Leonardi at the beginning of the seventeenth century. In 1485 certain
abbeys with that of San Salvi at Florence at their head, which had
formed a separate congregation, were reunited to the motherhouse by
Innocent VIII. At the beginning of the sixteenth century an attempt was
made by Abbot-General Milanesi to found a house of studies on university
lines at Vallombrosa; but in 1527 the monastery was burned by the
troops of Charles V. It was rebuilt by Abbot Nicolini in 1637, and in
1634 an observatory was established. From 1662-80 the order was united
to the Sylvestrines. In 1808 Napoleon’s troops plundered Vallombrosa,
and the monastery lay deserted till 1815. It was finally suppressed by
the Italian Government in 1866. A few monks remain to look after the
church and meteorological station, but the abbey buildings have become a
school of forestry founded in 1870 on the German model, the only one of
its kind in Italy. Vallombrosa is also a health resort.
The Arno valley viewed from the Vallombrosa Abbey, painted by Louis Gauffier.
The decline of the order may be ascribed to the hard fate of the motherhouse, to
commendams,
and to the perpetual wars which ravaged Italy. Practically all the
surviving monasteries were suppressed during the course of the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The present Vallumbrosan
monasteries, besides Vallombrosa itself, are: Passignano, where St. John
Gualbert is buried; S. Trinità at Florence, where the abbot-general
resides; Sta Prassede, in Rome; Galloro in the Diocese of Albano, with
the sanctuary of Bl. Benedict Ricasoli (d. 1107); and the celebrated
sanctuary of Montessoro in the Diocese of Leghorn. The modern monastery
of Signol near Loriol, Drôme, France, was suppressed by the Ferry laws
in 1880. The present abbot-general is Fedele Tarani. The monks now
number about 100. The shield of the order shows the founder’s arm in a
tawny-coloured cowl grasping a golden crutch-shaped crozier on a blue
ground. The services rendered by the order have been mostly in the field
of asceticism. Besides the Vallumbrosan saints alluded to in other
parts of this article there may also be mentioned: Bl. Veridiana,
anchoress (1208-42); Bl. Giovanni Dalle Celle (feast, 10 March); the lay
brother Melior (1 Aug.). By the middle of the seventeenth century the
order had supplied twelve cardinals and more than 30 bishops. F. E.
Hugford (1696-1771), born at Florence of English parents, is well known
as one of the chief promoters of the art of
scagliola (imitation
of marble in plaster). Abbot-General Tamburini’s works on canon law are
well known. Galileo was for a time a novice at Vallombrosa and received
part of his education there.
III. RULE
St. John Gualbert
St. John adopted the Rule of St. Benedict but added greatly to its
austerity and penitential character. His idea was to unite the ascetic
advantages of the eremitic life to a life in community, while avoiding
the dangers of the former. Severe scourging was inflicted for any breach
of rule, silence was perpetual, poverty most severely enforced. The
rule of enclosure was so strict that the monks might not go out even on
an errand of mercy. The main point of divergence lay in the prohibition
of the manual work, which is prescribed by St. Benedict. St. John’s
choir monks were to be pure contemplatives and to this end he introduced
the system of lay-brothers who were to attend to the secular business.
He was among the first to systematize this institution, and it is
probable that it was largely popularized by the Vallumbrosans. The term
conversi
(lay brothers) occurs for the first time in Abbot Andrew of Strumi’s
Life of St. John, written at the beginning of the twelfth century. The
Vallumbrosans do not, strictly speaking, form a separate order, but a
Benedictine congregation, though they are not united to the confederated
congregations of the Black Monks. The oldest extant MS. of the customs
of Vallombrosa shows a close relationship with those of Cluny. The
Vallumbrosans should be regarded only as Benedictines who followed the
customs observed at that time by the Black Benedictines throughout
Europe. “Horror of simony was a special bond between them and Cluny, and
it was only special circumstances which caused them later to be looked
upon as a peculiar institute within the Benedictine order” (Albers, op.
cit.
infra). The habit, originally grey, then tawny coloured, is
now that of the Black Monks. The abbots were originally elected for life
but are now elected at the general chapter, held every four years. The
Abbot of Vallombrosa, the superior of the whole order, had formerly a
seat in the Florentine Senate and bore the additional title of Count of
Monte Verde and Gualdo.
IV. NUNS
St. Umiltà and Vallumbrosan Sisters
Shortly after the founder’s death we find attached to the monastery
of Vallombrosa lay sisters who, under the charge of an aged lay brother,
lived in a separate house and performed various household duties. This
institute survived for less than a century, but when they ceased to be
attached to the monasteries of monks, these sisters probably continued
to lead a conventual life. Bl. Bertha (d. 1163) entered the Vallumbrosan
Order at Florence and reformed the convent of Cavriglia in 1153. St.
Umiltà is usually regarded as the foundress of the Vallumbrosan Nuns.
She was born at Faenza about 1226, was married, but with the consent of
her husband, who became a monk, entered a monastery of canonesses and
afterwards became an anchoress in a cell attached to the Vallumbrosan
church of Faenza, where she lived for twelve years. At the request of
the abbot-general she then founded a monastery outside Faenza and became
its abbess. In 1282 she founded a second convent at Florence, where she
died in 1310. She left a number of mystical writings. In 1524 the nuns
obtained the Abbey of S. Salvi, Florence. There are still Vallumbrosan
nunneries at Faenza and S. Gimignano, besides two at Florence. The
relics of Bl. Umiltà and her disciple Bl. Margherita are venerated at
the convent of Spirito Santo at Varlungo. The habit is similar to that
of the Benedictine Nuns.
Raymund Webster (Catholic Encyclopedia)
_________________________
Bl. Peter Igneus
(Peter Aldobrandini.)
Bl. Peter Igneus crossing unharmed over the fire, by Marco Palmezzano
An Italian monk of the Benedictine congregation of the
Vallombrosians, and Cardinal-Bishop of Albano; d. [8 Feb.,] 1089. The
struggle waged against simony in the eleventh century led to violent
scenes in several Italian cities. At Florence Bishop Peter Mezzobarbo,
known also as Peter of Pavia, was publicly accused of simoniacal
acquisition of the episcopal dignity. As he strenuously denied the
charge and had numerous and prominent supporters, the controversy caused
intense agitation at Florence. The Vallombrosian monks were his chief
accusers, and upon the insistence of the people for proof, the judgment
of God, or trial by fire, was resorted to. The Abbot St. John Gualbert
designated for the test Peter Aldobrandini, who successfully underwent
the ordeal (1068), hence called “Igneus”, or Fire-tried. This triumph of
the monks was followed by confession on the part of the bishop. Peter
Igneus subsequently became abbot, and in 1074 Cardinal-Bishop of Albano.
During the pontificate of Gregory VII he was entrusted with important
missions. In 1079 he proceeded to Germany as papal legate with the
Bishop of Padua to mediate between the rivals Henry IV and Rudolf of
Suabia. Upon the renewal of the excommunication against Henry IV at
Salerno in 1084, Gregory VII designated him as one of the two envoys
sent to France for the promulgation of the sentence.
Acta SS., July, III (Paris, 1867), 340-44; MANN, Lives of the Popes, VI (St. Louis, 1910), 302.
N.A. WEBER (Catholic Encyclopedia)
