Who we are
The Camaldolese nuns profess the Rule of St. Benedict with their own Constitutions. They are part of the Camaldolese family, a Benedictine branch founded by St. Romuald at the beginning of the 11th century in Camaldoli, near Arezzo (Tuscany, Italy).
A characteristic element of the Camaldolese Tradition is the unity of the monastic family in the threefold good: cenobium, solitude, evangelium paganorum.
The Camaldolese nuns occupy a beautiful page in the history of the Camaldolese Congregation. From the earliest days of the Congregation, St. Romuald – the austere father of hermits – had followers not only among men, but also among women. St. Romuald, filled with apostolic zeal, had as his sole purpose to win everyone to Christ through his words and example. He did not withdraw from society to escape it, but for more noble and elevated purposes, as evidenced by his active and fruitful work throughout his life and the spiritual good of the men and women of his time.
In his biography of the saint, St. Pier Damiani recounts that when St. Romuald decided to build a monastery for nuns, “ancillarum Dei,” in a place called Valbuona, he encountered strong resistance and opposition from some of his disciples, while others supported his project. When the dissenting parties came before St. Romuald to present their reasons, the devil, the architect of this conflict and enemy of the project, began to make a great noise and shout. The monks then separated to return to their cells, and a strong wind and a great storm broke out, which one of the monks instantly calmed with the sign of the cross. All this is said to have happened in 1023, but even before the aforementioned event, St. Romuald had founded a monastery of nuns, probably in 1006. Blessed Rodolfo, prior of Camaldoli, wanted to imitate his master in this as well and did his utmost to guide the women of his time on the path to holiness.
Camaldolese Father Don Parisio Ciampelli points out that the two monasteries mentioned above, although belonging to the Camaldolese Congregation, cannot strictly be considered as such, like many others reformed by St. Romuald, because they predate the existence of a precise written hermitic rule. including the ancient monastery of Bagno di Romagna, where Blessed Giovanna lived and died a holy life. In the past, a number of Camaldolese monasteries were double, i.e., one part was reserved for nuns and another for monks, sometimes governed alternately by an abbess or a prior.
Camaldolese Oblates
A secular oblate is a Christian, man or woman, lay person or cleric, who offers themselves to God through oblation, inspiring their journey of faith with the values of the Holy Rule and monastic spiritual tradition.
Oblation is the liturgical-spiritual act recognized by the Church, by which the aspiring oblate, after an appropriate period of formation, offers himself or herself to God, binding himself or herself to a specific Benedictine community.