Word Smith: Eremitic & Cenobite
Referred to as a monk who combined solitude and communal life, Italian Abbot Romuald constructed a Camaldolese monastery in the region of Tuscany. His faith-filled work began in the year 1012. On the seal of the religious order the Abbot founded are two turtle doves drinking from a single chalice. Others refer to Abbot Romuald as Eremitic and Cenobite. Not sure what those terms meant, it was time for a deeper dive.
As Abbot Romuald wrote to his fellow monks, in his Brief Rules for Living at the monastery:
“Put the whole world behind you and forget it.
Watch your thoughts, like a good fisherman watching for fish.
The path you must follow is in the Psalms — never leave it.”
The double dove seal was adopted by Romuald as a sign of unity, as his followers were coming from separate yet communal lives. Turtle doves are known for mating for life, thereby living with and for the greater world. The call of the mourning dove sounds like a plaintive call for a partner in our world of noisy individuality. Perhaps there is room for both community and solitude.
Definition of Eremitic
- adjective of or relating to or befitting eremites or their practices of hermitic disciplines is living life with “eremitic austerities.”
- adjective characterized by ascetic solitude“ the eremitic element in the life of a religious colony” synonyms for eremitic are: anchoritic, eremitical, hermitic, hermitical unworldly, not concerned with the temporal world or swayed by mundane considerations.
Definition of Cenobite
The term cenobite refers to a member of a religious group who is living together with others in a monastic community.
Abbot Romuald, feast day June 19
Romuald Backstory
Abbot Romuald was born in the year 912. He grew up in the busy town of Ravenna, Italy. When he was 20 years old, he witnessed his father killing a relative of the family in a dual over a contentious property dispute. Romuald immediately fled the scene and took up residence in a local monatery. He intended to stay at the monastery in penance for his family tragedy for 40 days; instead it became his vocation of a lifetime. His path led him across Europe. He traveled to Rome, Venice, Spain, and back to Italy, where he felt called to create a religious practice that combined Eastern and Western religious traditions. He called these new traditions Camaldolese. His work was recognized and blessed by the Pope in Rome.
Known as the Camaldolese Hermits of Mount Corona, they are commonly called Camaldolese, which is a monastic order of Pontifical Right for men founded by Saint Romuald. Its name is derived from the Holy Hermitage of Camaldoli, a peak high in the mountains of central Italy, near the city of Arezzo.
Henry E. Hooper 