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105.1 First Point
Saint
Romuald lived in the world for twenty years, which seemed very long to him
because all he found there was misery and reasons for leaving it. He then
lived a hundred years in solitude, which seemed very short to him because
of the consolations God gave him to enjoy during all that period. Saint
Lawrence Justinian says that if the world knew the pleasure found in
seclusion, cities would become deserts, and deserts would soon be peopled.
If you wish to live happily, love seclusion. The more you keep away
from the burden of the world, the more you will have peace of mind and
conscience. How happy we are when we keep our mind detached from
everything and our conscience pure and clean. The less we have to do with
people of the world, the more fully we will possess this advantage.
105.2
Second Point
It
is admirable that Saint Romuald, who lived for 120 years, spent 100 of
them in very great austerities, wearing a hair shirt, and eating only
three times a week a bit of bread and some beans, and drinking only water.
After that, who will dare say that austerities shorten life? Several
saints lived very austere lives and yet lived much longer than most other
people.
But even if austerities do shorten our days, they procure for us a
great benefit by purifying both soul and body, for they weaken our
passions and deliver the body from all corruption.
105.3 Third Point
After
living for 100 years in solitude, and having led a very penitential life,
this saint said that the more he thought of death the more he feared not
dying well. This was because he knew that God will require such an exact
account on the Day of Judgment that the just themselves will scarcely
be saved.[i]
According to the words of the Prophet, God will judge justice itself.[ii]
If this saint so deeply feared the judgment of God, how fearful you
should be if, perhaps, you are spending your life in neglect of the duties
of your state? If, then, you wish to avoid the rigors of God's judgments
and die with peace of mind, be yourselves the judges of your actions in
advance[iii]
during your life; condemn and punish everything in you which may displease
God.
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Romuald
(ca 950 - 1027) was born at Ravenna of a noble family.
His
father quarreled with a relative and killed him in a duel. Romuald was so
shocked by this that he entered a Benedictine monastery to do forty days
of penance. This led to his joining the monks, but some bad example among
them led in turn to his becoming a hermit. Eventually he founded the
Camaldolese, an order that combines both the community life and the
hermitic life. De La Salle's belief that Romuald lived to be 120 years old
is not accepted today. February 7 is the day his body was transferred to
Fabriano, Italy. His feast is now celebrated on June 19.
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