Benedictine rule

The Abbey of Cluny (or Cluni, or Clugny) was founded on 2 September 909 by the Duke of Aquitaine and Count of Auvergne, William I, who placed it under the immediate authority of Pope Sergius III. The Abbey and its constellation of dependencies soon came to exemplify the kind of religious life that was at the heart of 11th-century piety. The town of Cluny, in the modern-day department of Saône-et-Loire in the region of Bourgogne, in east-central France, near Mâcon, grew round the ...

Including:

• Abbey of Cluny - Founding
• Abbey of Cluny - Organisation
• Abbey of Cluny - Cluny and the Arts
• Abbey of Cluny - The Famous Library
• Abbey of Cluny - Cluny's influence
• Abbey of Cluny - Cluny and the Gregorian reforms
• Abbey of Cluny - Cluniac Houses in England
• Abbey of Cluny - The Cluniac Prayer

Read more here: » Abbey of Cluny: Encyclopedia - Abbey of Cluny

Adelaide, Abbess of Villich (Adelheid of Willich) (c. 970 – February 5 O.S., 1015) was a daughter of Megingoz des Brunharingen, Count of Guelders [1], and Gerberga of Metzgau, a granddaughter of Charles the Simple, king of the West Franks. When still very young she entered the convent of St Ursula, Our Lady of the Capitol, founded by her parents in Cologne, where the Rule of St Jerome was followed. About 980, her parents founded the convent of Villich, supported by a manor at the confluence of the Rhine and the Sieg, opposite ...

Read more here: » Adelaide Abbess of Vilich: Encyclopedia - Adelaide Abbess of Vilich

Saint Aldhelm (c. 639-May 25, 709), Abbot of Malmesbury, Bishop of Sherborne, Latin poet and Anglo-Saxon literature scholar, was born before the middle of the 7th century. He is said to have been the son of Kenten, who was of the royal house of Wessex. He was certainly not, as Aldhelm's early biographer Faritius asserts, the brother of King Ine. Aldhelm received his first education in the school of an Irish scholar and monk, Maildulf (also Maeldubh or Meldun) (died c. 675), who had settled in the British stronghold of Bladon (or Bladow) on the site of the town called Mailduberi, M ...

Read more here: » Aldhelm Bishop of Sherborne: Encyclopedia - Aldhelm Bishop of Sherborne

In the fragmented and localized Europe of the 10th and 11th century, the Cluniac network extended its reforming influence far. Free of lay and episcopal interference, responsible only to the papacy, which was in a state of weakness and disorder, with rival popes supported by competing noble gangs, Cluniac spirit was felt revitalizing the Norman church, reorganizing the royal French monastery at Fleury and inspiring St Dunstan in England, though there were no official English Cluniac priories until that of Lewes, founded by the Anglo-Norman E ...

See also:

Abbey of Cluny, Abbey of Cluny - Founding, Abbey of Cluny - Organisation, Abbey of Cluny - Cluny and the Arts, Abbey of Cluny - The Famous Library, Abbey of Cluny - Cluny's influence, Abbey of Cluny - Cluny and the Gregorian reforms, Abbey of Cluny - Cluniac Houses in England, Abbey of Cluny - The Cluniac Prayer

Read more here: » Abbey of Cluny: Encyclopedia II - Abbey of Cluny - Cluny's influence

The dream confirmed Martin in his piety and he was baptized, but served another two years before he declared his vocation and left his legion at Worms and made his way to the city of Tours, where he became a disciple of Hilary of Poitiers, a chief proponent of Trinitarian Christianity, opposing the Arianism of the Visigothic nobility. When Hilary was forced into exile from Poitiers, Martin returned to Italy, converting an Alpine brigand on the way, according to his biographer Sulpicius Severus, and confronting the Devil himself. Returning fr ...

See also:

Martin of Tours, Martin of Tours - Early Life, Martin of Tours - The Legend of the Cloak, Martin of Tours - Countering the Arians, Martin of Tours - Martin's order at Marmoutier, Martin of Tours - Defender of the Priscillianists, Martin of Tours - The shrine, Martin of Tours - Hagiography, Martin of Tours - Folklore, Martin of Tours - Bibliography

Read more here: » Martin of Tours: Encyclopedia II - Martin of Tours - Countering the Arians

On November 11, St. Martin's Day, children in Flanders, the southern and north-western parts of the Netherlands, the Catholic areas of Germany and Austria participate in paper lantern processions. Often, a man dressed as St. Martin rides on a horse in front of the procession. The children sing songs about St. Martin and about their lantern. The food tradionally eaten on the day is goose. According to legend, Martin was reluctant to become bishop, which is why he hid in a stable filled with geese. The noise made by the geese betrayed his loca ...

See also:

Martin of Tours, Martin of Tours - Early Life, Martin of Tours - The Legend of the Cloak, Martin of Tours - Countering the Arians, Martin of Tours - Martin's order at Marmoutier, Martin of Tours - Defender of the Priscillianists, Martin of Tours - The shrine, Martin of Tours - Hagiography, Martin of Tours - Folklore, Martin of Tours - Bibliography

Read more here: » Martin of Tours: Encyclopedia II - Martin of Tours - Folklore

The early life of Saint Martin that was written by Sulpicius Severus who knew him personally [1], while it expresses the intimate closeness the 4th century Christian felt with the Devil in all his disguises, is at the same time filled with accounts of miracles so extravagant as apparently to challenge disbelief. Some follow familiar conventions— casting out devils, raising the paralytic and the dead— others are more unusual: turning back the flames from a house while Martin was burning down the Roman temple it adjoined; deflecting the pa ...

See also:

Martin of Tours, Martin of Tours - Early Life, Martin of Tours - The Legend of the Cloak, Martin of Tours - Countering the Arians, Martin of Tours - Martin's order at Marmoutier, Martin of Tours - Defender of the Priscillianists, Martin of Tours - The shrine, Martin of Tours - Hagiography, Martin of Tours - Folklore, Martin of Tours - Bibliography

Read more here: » Martin of Tours: Encyclopedia II - Martin of Tours - Hagiography

All of the English Cluniac Houses which were larger than cells were known as Priories, symbolising their subordinance to Cluny itself. The coming of the eleventh century saw the spread of Cluny's influence into the British Isles. As the head of their order was the Abbot at Cluny all English Cluniacs were bound to cross to France to Cluny to consult or be consulted unless the Abbot chose to come to England: This he did five times in the 13th century, and only twice in the 14th. Delapré Abbey (Northampton) - Nunnery Barn ...

See also:

Abbey of Cluny, Abbey of Cluny - Founding, Abbey of Cluny - Organisation, Abbey of Cluny - Cluny and the Arts, Abbey of Cluny - The Famous Library, Abbey of Cluny - Cluny's influence, Abbey of Cluny - Cluny and the Gregorian reforms, Abbey of Cluny - Cluniac Houses in England, Abbey of Cluny - The Cluniac Prayer

Read more here: » Abbey of Cluny: Encyclopedia II - Abbey of Cluny - Cluniac Houses in England

The monastery of Cluny differed in two ways from other Benedictine houses and confederations: in its organizational structure and in its execution of the liturgy as its main form of work. While most Benedictine monasteries remained autonomous and associated with each other only informally, Cluny created a large, federated order in which the administrators of subsidiary houses served as deputies of the abbot of Cluny and answered to him. The Cluniac houses, being directly under the supervision of the abbot of Cluny, the autocrat of the Order, ...

See also:

Abbey of Cluny, Abbey of Cluny - Founding, Abbey of Cluny - Organisation, Abbey of Cluny - Cluny and the Arts, Abbey of Cluny - The Famous Library, Abbey of Cluny - Cluny's influence, Abbey of Cluny - Cluny and the Gregorian reforms, Abbey of Cluny - Cluniac Houses in England, Abbey of Cluny - The Cluniac Prayer

Read more here: » Abbey of Cluny: Encyclopedia II - Abbey of Cluny - Organisation

At Cluny the central art was the liturgy itself, extensive and beautiful in inspiring surroundings, reflecting the new personally-felt wave of piety of the 11th century; monastic intercession appeared indispensable to achieving a state of grace, and lay rulers competed to be remembered in Cluny's endless prayers, inspiring the endowments in land and benefices that made other arts possible. The fast-growing community at Cluny demanded buildings on a large scale. In building the third and final church at Cluny, the monastery constructed the largest building in Europe before the r ...

See also:

Abbey of Cluny, Abbey of Cluny - Founding, Abbey of Cluny - Organisation, Abbey of Cluny - Cluny and the Arts, Abbey of Cluny - The Famous Library, Abbey of Cluny - Cluny's influence, Abbey of Cluny - Cluny and the Gregorian reforms, Abbey of Cluny - Cluniac Houses in England, Abbey of Cluny - The Cluniac Prayer

Read more here: » Abbey of Cluny: Encyclopedia II - Abbey of Cluny - Cluny and the Arts

The Cluny library was for a long time one of the richest and most important in France and indeed Europe. It was a storehouse of a large number of very valuable manuscripts. The sacking of the abbey by the Huguenots in 1562 lead to many of these items perishing or being dispersed. Of those that were left some were burned in 1790 by rioting mob others still were stored away in the Cluny town hall. Many of these volumes along with others that fell into private hands, have been recovered by the French Government and are now to be found at the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris. At the British Museum there are a ...

See also:

Abbey of Cluny, Abbey of Cluny - Founding, Abbey of Cluny - Organisation, Abbey of Cluny - Cluny and the Arts, Abbey of Cluny - The Famous Library, Abbey of Cluny - Cluny's influence, Abbey of Cluny - Cluny and the Gregorian reforms, Abbey of Cluny - Cluniac Houses in England, Abbey of Cluny - The Cluniac Prayer

Read more here: » Abbey of Cluny: Encyclopedia II - Abbey of Cluny - The Famous Library

Cluny was not known for its severity or asceticism, nor for embracing apostolic poverty, but the abbots of Cluny supported the revival of the papacy and the reforms of Pope Gregory VII that led to unprecedented papal authority. The Cluniac establishment found itself closely identified with the Papacy, rich and dignified and worldly. In the early 12th century, the order lost momentum under poor government. It was subsequently revitalized under Abbot Peter the Venerable (died 1156), who brought lax priories back into line and returned to stric ...

See also:

Abbey of Cluny, Abbey of Cluny - Founding, Abbey of Cluny - Organisation, Abbey of Cluny - Cluny and the Arts, Abbey of Cluny - The Famous Library, Abbey of Cluny - Cluny's influence, Abbey of Cluny - Cluny and the Gregorian reforms, Abbey of Cluny - Cluniac Houses in England, Abbey of Cluny - The Cluniac Prayer

Read more here: » Abbey of Cluny: Encyclopedia II - Abbey of Cluny - Cluny and the Gregorian reforms

Martin was named after Mars, the god of war, which Sulpitius Severus interpreted as "the brave, the courageous". He was a native of Sabaria, Pannonia (modern Szombathely, Hungary). His father was a senior officer (tribune) in the Imperial Horse Guard, a unit of the Roman army, and was stationed at Ticinum, Cisalpine Gaul (modern Pavia, Italy). At the age of ten, he went to the church against the wishes of his parents and ...

See also:

Martin of Tours, Martin of Tours - Early Life, Martin of Tours - The Legend of the Cloak, Martin of Tours - Countering the Arians, Martin of Tours - Martin's order at Marmoutier, Martin of Tours - Defender of the Priscillianists, Martin of Tours - The shrine, Martin of Tours - Hagiography, Martin of Tours - Folklore, Martin of Tours - Bibliography

Read more here: » Martin of Tours: Encyclopedia II - Martin of Tours - Early Life