Odo (879–942)

Biography

At the age of twenty, Odo joined the one hundred and fifty canons with prebends who watched over his tomb in Tours. He embraced the religious state at Baume-les-Messieurs and the following year joined Saint Bernon at the monastery of Cluny. He soon became his successor and Cluny received during his mandate the organization that allowed him to exercise, for two centuries, so much influence on the church and politics of Europe. This iron-fisted man was of infinite kindness and always cheerful humor. “He makes us laugh until we cry,” wrote one of his monks. He cultivated poetry and was a great fan of music.