Camaldoli: A Journey into Its History & Spirituality [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Lino Vigilucci (Author), Peter-Damian Belisle (Translator)

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Language Notes

Text: English (translation)
Original Language: Italian

Product Details

• Paperback: 180 pages
• Publisher: Source Books; illustrated edition edition (May 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0940147378
• ISBN-13: 978-0940147379
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,462,579 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars English Translation of Calmaldolese Monastic History, October 18, 1998

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Dr. Edgar A. Gamboa ([e-mail]) (Hawaii, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Camaldoli: A Journey into Its History & Spirituality (Paperback)

Aside from the writings of Fr. Thomas Matus (an American monk at the Monastero di Camaldoli in Arezzo, Italy) this is the only English text I am aware of which introduces readers to the rich and interesting history of St. Romuald (11th century Italian hermit) and the saintly men and women who developed Camaldolese monastic spirituality. This historical work provides the reader with a better appreciation of the spiritual roots of a remarkable religious order whose charism uniquely combines the silent and contemplative life with the missionary mandate to be Christ grounded among all peoples. Until the founding of New Camaldoli at Big Sur, California in 1958, Camaldolese spirituality, though practiced in Italy for the last nine centuries, was virtually unknown in the United States. The last four decades however has seen its monastic fruits ripen in American soil.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Pursuing the One as one among many, February 11, 2007

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John L Murphy "Fionnchú" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Camaldoli: A Journey into Its History & Spirituality (Paperback)

This too much a primer rather than in-depth scholarly study, but it does fill an important need for an introduction to the Camaldolese movement within Catholic monasticism. Beginning almost a thousand years ago (and started right before the other surviving eremetical Order, the Carthusians), Camaldolese congregations follow Benedict's Rule while combining a communal observance with individual room, literally, for contemplation and a more secluded, singular calling. This ambitious fusion of the cenobitic with the eremetical remains the Camaldolese contribution to Catholic monastic and religious culture. Largely Italian for most of its history, the Order in the 15-16 centuries there became deeply involved in the humanist trends that allied with the Counter-Reformation would bring the monks into many struggles with the world. This tension increased in the Renaissance era within the Order, as the degree to which monks should remain in common with one another let alone the realm outside the cloister was passionately and intelligently contested on both sides of the issue.

I find that the balance of individual initiative within a communal framework to be an idea that social networkers and practitioners of mutual assistance towards a common good can learn from-- Camaldoli may be an unexpected place to find wisdom for us, hooked to the Net, but these monks have grappled with such issues of the One within the Many for a thousand years, scattered under more primitive technology and isolated conditions.

While modern readers often associate monasticism with overwrought rumors of ascetic torture or romantic soft-focus views of idyllic sylvan harmony, the truth is that the Camaldolese contended as any sincere seekers would about what they thought best conditions for the Order's flourishing. Peter Damian, a Doctor of the Church, joined the Order not long after its founding. Gratian from his cell codified what became the corpus of canon law. The monks contributed to the rediscovered scholarship and diplomatic efforts at renewal of the Church during the time of the Reformation and its aftermath. In 1846, Gregory XVI was a monk who became pope.

Oppressed by secularizing regimes and suppressed often in later times, the Order in the past couple of centuries to has regained its humbler profile. However, as a chapter here shows, three pursuits endure. Hospitality to visitors, charity to all, and forestry to protect the woods in which the original foundation nestles as well as many of its later establishments across the world. In our fraught ecological crisis, perhaps the example of Camaldoli's stewardship reminds us of our own responsibility to creation.

Lino Vigilucci, a priest with the Order, wrote this unadorned account of the origins, the saints and noted figures, the nuns, and the subsequent evolution of the Order after its 15 c. heyday. It does tend to be lopsided; too much in the past, too little today. Insufficient detailed on the post-Renaissance heyday of the Order, the unrelentingly Italian focus is nonetheless expected for monks so tied to that area for nearly all of the Order's millennial existence.

A monk at the Californian Big Sur "New Camaldoli" house translated this 1988 account. He provides a larger audience with a concise overview of an Order that outside of a few scholars and a few laity and clergy remains little known and often neglected by those familiar with English-language accounts of Benedictines and Trappists, and even perhaps recent studies of Carthusians. Notes are appended to "Camaldoli" documenting citations in scholarly sources. A glossary defines terms. It's a logical first step.

Concise if limited in scope as it is, this book may lead you into four, more advanced, works on the Camaldolese. Namely, the chronicle by Big Sur prior Robert Hale (Love on the Mountain); the translation of Dom Jean Leclercq's study and related material about 16 c. reformer Paul Giustiniani called "Camaldolese Extraordinary;" Thomas Matus' collection of early medieval sources for the Order, "The Mystery of Romauld and the Five Brothers"; recent academic essays on Camaldolese Benedictine spirituality "The Privilege of Love" edited by the same translator of Vigilucci's text, Peter-Damian Belisle. Today, the Order has branched out into papal-directed ecumenical work. It's broadened its own practices to incorporate (from what I know at its Big Sur hermitage) connections with Anglican, Jewish, Buddhist and especially Hindu adherents. The humanity and commonsense of Camalodolese spirituality and the practical wisdom of its innovative arrangement of monks with hermits together but separate, not to mention the wise Brief Rule of its founder St Romauld, all speak for good nature and gentle guidance that this Order's provided ever since.