06/19/2026
Today the Church observes the Optional Memorial of Saint Romuald, Abbot, founder of the Camaldolese Order and one of the great reformers of monastic life in the Middle Ages.
Born around 951 into a noble family in Ravenna, Italy, Romuald's early years were marked by privilege, but a tragic event became the catalyst for his conversion: his father, Sergius, killed a man in a duel.
Young Romuald, deeply disturbed, sought atonement by entering a monastery. He eventually had to leave that community to seek a stricter path and he then spent roughly thirty years walking the length and breadth of Italy, founding and reforming monasteries, acquiring a reputation as an ascetic and master of prayer.
In 1012 he finally settled in Tuscany and established what would become the Camaldolese Order.