January 1
Odilo of Cluny (961–1049)
Abbot
Roman Martyrology
At Souvigny in Burgundy (now France), the death of Saint Odilo, abbot of Cluny, who was severe with himself but gentle and merciful toward others. He established truces between those who were fighting and, in time of famine, helped the needy with all his strength. He was the first to establish in his monasteries the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed, placing it on the day after the Solemnity of All Saints.
Practical advice
Pray today for someone who has died, and take the first step toward establishing a truce in a nearby conflict.
Biography
He was born in Auvergne, a son of the noble Mercoeur family. He was a canon of Saint-Julien at Brioude when Abbot Saint Majolus invited him to become a Cluniac monk. Around 990 he entered the community of Cluny. In 992 he was appointed coadjutor abbot to Saint Majolus and in 994 became abbot of Cluny. Odilo decisively shaped the monastery’s history. Gentle and generous, he was known throughout Christendom for his liberality toward the needy: “I would rather be condemned for my mercy than for my harshness.” The Truce of God, which lessened the cruelty of war, has been attributed to him, though it actually belongs to Abbot Oliba of Ripoll; he joined to this initiative the feasts of “All the Faithful Departed” and “All Saints.”
Under his leadership, breaking with his predecessors’ tradition of monastic reform, Odilo laid the foundations of the “Cluniac Church,” a network of foundations dependent on the center and on the abbot. Cluniac monasteries increased from 37 to 65 houses, among them the abbeys of Paray-le-Monial, Vézelay and Moissac. He obtained from Popes Gregory V and John XIX the legal instruments of the abbey’s sovereignty: immunity and full exemption. He was spiritual director to Saint Adelaide and wrote her biography. He had dealings with the principal sovereigns of Christendom: the kings of France Hugh Capet and Robert the Pious, at whose request the abbot of Cluny reformed the Abbey of Saint-Denis; and King Sancho of Navarre, who sent the monk Paternus to Cluny to request the reform of San Juan de la Peña. To accomplish this work, Odilo traveled extensively throughout Europe. He appears to have declined the bishopric of Lyon.
During his abbacy the monastery’s scriptorium was particularly active. Like his predecessor, Odilo was a skilled compiler of texts. His literary activity was also important and includes hymns and sermons that reveal the abbot’s Eucharistic and Marian devotion. He is buried in the monastery of Souvigny in Bourbonnais, where he wished to die as Saint Majolus had.