Odo of Cluny

(Based on Wikipedia - Rather a mixed bag old Odo I'm afraid)

Odo of Cluny (French: Odon) (880 – 942) was the second abbot of Cluny. He enacted various reforms in the Cluniac system in France and Italy and is venerated as a saint by both Catholics and Eastern Orthodox. His feast day is 18 November. There is only one contemporary biography of him, the Vita Odonis by John of Salerno.

Early life

Odo was the son of Abbo, feudal lord of Deols, near Le Mans and his wife Arenberga. According to the Vita the couple had long been childless, and one Christmas-eve, Abbo prayed to Mary to obtain for him the gift of a son. When the child was born, his grateful father entrusted the boy to St Martin. Both parents later joined monasteries. His brother Bernard also became a monk. While yet a child, Odo was sent first to the court of Fulk the Good, Count of Anjou; later he became a page at the court of William the Pious, Duke of Aquitaine, where he spent several years. Odo developed a particular devotion to Mary, under the title “Mother of Mercy", an invocation by which he would address her throughout his life

Church of St Martin, Tours

In the 9th and 10th centuries, the tomb of St Martin of Tours was considered one of the holiest sites in western Christendom. Aged 19 Odo was tonsured as a canon of the Church of St Martin, Tours, where he spent six years studying classic authors, the Church Fathers, poetry, and music. He would later say that the monks of the monastery of St Martin had been spoiled by all the wealth and gifts brought by the pilgrims, and had abandoned the Rule. He would later tell his monks that the religious at Tours no longer attended nightly Lauds for fear of getting their fine shoes dirty. His experience at Tours later led him to embrace the monastic reform movement. In 901 he travelled to Paris where he spent four years completing a course of theological studies, including the study of philosophy under Remigius of Auxerre. Upon returning to Tours, he adopted a disciplined and ascetic lifestyle. One day, in reading the rule of St Benedict, he was confounded to see how much his life fell short of the maxims laid down and determined to embrace a monastic state. The Count of Anjou, his patron, refused to consent, and Odo spent almost three years in a cell, with a companion, in penance and contemplation. At length, he resolved that no impediments should any longer hinder him from consecrating himself to God in the monastic state. He resigned his canonry and secretly repaired to the monastery of Beaume, in the diocese of Besançon. There the Abbot Berno admitted him to the habit. He brought with him only his books, which consisted of about 100 volumes.

Monastery at Beaume

Around 909 he entered Beaume, then under the direction of Abbot Berno. Berno had joined the Benedictine Order at the Abbey of St Martin in Autun, where Hugh of Anzy le Duc had introduced stricter adherence to St Benedict's Rule. Later, Berno was sent to the diocese of Besancon to restore the monastery at Beaume-les-Messieurs, which had fallen into neglect.

Bishop Turpio of Limoges ordained Odo to the priesthood, which Odo was obliged to accept under obedience. However, Odo was so depressed by this, that Berno sent Odo back to the bishop to visit him. Odo and the bishop talked about the evil condition of the church and all the abuses. Odo spoke about the book of Jeremiah, and the bishop was so impressed with his words, that he asked him to write it down. Odo said he could not do so without first getting permission from Berno, and the bishop then got Berno's permission, and Odo wrote down his second book the Collationes. Odo became superior of the abbey school at Beaume.

Cluny

In 910 Abbot Berno left Beaume to found Cluny Abbey, taking some of the monks with him. It is not clear at what point exactly Odo left Beaume for Cluny. Berno had control of six monasteries when he died in 927, three of which he gave to Wido and the other three to Odo. The monks of Cluny elected Odo as abbot, but he refused on grounds of unworthiness. The bishop threatened Odo with excommunication if he continued to refuse, and thus he accepted the office.

At Berno's death in 927 (Odo would have been almost 50), Odo became abbot of three monasteries: Deols, Massay and Cluny. Baume became the possession of Wido, who had been the leader of the monks that persecuted Odo when he was with them at Baume. Immediately following Berno's death, Wido attempted to gain control of Cluny by force, but Pope John X sent a letter to Rudolf, King of the Franks to intervene.

Cluny was still not finished construction when Odo became abbot, and he continued construction efforts but he ran into financial difficulties. Odo had a strong devotion to St Martin of Tours for most of his life. He continued to pray to St Martin for all of his and the monastery's problems. One story recounts how one year, on the feast day of Martin of Tours, Odo saw an old man looking over the unfinished building. The old man turned out to be St Martin himself. He said that if the monks continued to persevere that he would arrange for the money they needed to come in. A few days later, 3000 solidi of gold was brought as a gift to Cluny.

Odo continued to uphold the Benedictine Rule at Cluny just as Berno had done. Throughout Odo's rule of Cluny, the monastery continually enjoy protection from both Popes and temporal rulers, who guaranteed the monastery's independence. Many times during Odo's reign, Cluny's property was extended as gifts of land were added to it. During his tenure as abbot, the monastic church of SS. Peter and Paul was completed. Odo taught the monks that the blind and the lame were the porters of the gates of paradise. If a monk was ever rude or harsh to a beggar who came to the monastery gates, Odo would call the beggar back and tell him, 'When he who has served thee thus, comes himself seeking entrance from thee at the gates of paradise, repay him in like manner.'

The charity of Cluny was well-known. In one year food was distributed to more than 7000 persons in need.

Reforms of other monasteries

After Berno's death, the first monasteries that Odo reformed were at Romainmoutier, St Michael's Abbey, Tulle and the Abbey of St Géraud, Aurillac. He encouraged them to return to the original pattern of the Benedictine rule of prayer, manual labour and community life under the direction of a spiritual father. It was his usual saying, that no one can be called a monk who is not a true lover and strict observer of silence, a condition absolutely necessary for interior solitude and the commerce of a soul with God.

Odo would later relate a tale to his monks regarding two monks from Tours who chose not to wear their habits. On one occasion they were sent out on business. One wore his habit, the other dressed like a layperson. The monk dressed as a layperson became mortally ill and the other had a vision in which he saw St Benedict sitting on a throne in heaven surrounded by an army of monks. The dying monk was lying prostrate, asking for help. Benedict said that he did not recognise this monk's habit and that he must belong to a different order and that he could do nothing as he had no jurisdiction over those of another order. The dying monk despaired but his companion tore off his habit and wrapped it around the dying monk and Benedict then healed the dying monk of his sickness.

In 930, he reformed Fleury Abbey. At that time Fleury held Benedict's bones, brought there from Monte Cassino. However, by Odo's time the Abbey had lost its reputation for holiness and was filled with many of the abuses that were occurring in other places. The Viking raids had caused monks at Fleury, as in other places, to return to their villages for safety but when they returned to the monastery again, they didn't return to their old discipline but abused the Rule. Odo went to Fleury at the request of King Rudolf of the Franks. On arriving he found the monks armed with spears and swords, threatening to murder him. After a three day stand off, Odo rode towards the monastery on his donkey and the monks put down their weapons.

Odo then took over leadership on a temporary basis and reformed it. He encountered resistance to the idea of not eating meat. The monks would patiently wait for the supply of fish to run out in the hope that he would be forced to give them meat. However, he was consistently able to find a source of fish. A story from this time held that one day when he was at Fleury for Benedict's feast day, Benedict appeared to a brother who had fallen asleep and told the monk that since Fleury was founded, no monk there had inherited eternal life. Benedict then asked the monk if they had enough fish and the monk said they didn't so Benedict told him that they should fish in the marsh and not in the river. The monks went to the marsh to fish and made a huge catch.

Authorised by a privilege of Pope John XI in 931, Odo reformed the monasteries in Aquitaine, northern France, and Italy. The privilege empowered him to unite several abbeys under his supervision and to receive at Cluny monks from abbeys not yet reformed; the greater number of the reformed monasteries, however, remained independent, and several became centres of reform. Cluny became the model of monasticism for over a century and transformed the role of piety in European daily life. The monastery claimed its heritage traced, through Berno and Hugh of Anzy le Duc, all the way back to St Benedict of Nursia. In later years he also reformed many other monasteries including St Martial's and St Augustine's monasteries in Limoges, St Jean-d'Angely in Aquitaine, Jumièges Abbey in Normandy, St Peter Le Vif in Sens, and St Julian's in Tours. These monasteries, however, would go on to also reform and found other monasteries. The Cluniac observance, as established by Odo, became the model of monasticism for over a century.

Italy

Many monasteries in Italy were deserted, because of continual attacks by Huns and Muslims who would often deliberately seek out monasteries to plunder. The lands of monasteries were often seized by local nobles. Between 936 and 942 he visited Italy several times. Odo first came to Rome in the year 936 and took the opportunity to use Alberic II of Spoleto's support to reform and revive monastic life in central Italy. Several Roman monasteries were rebuilt. Odo restored St Paul's Outside the Walls, which became his headquarters in Rome. The palace on the Aventine where Alberic was born was transformed into Our Lady on the Aventine. The monasteries of St Lawrence and St Agnes, were restored and reformed. The monks of St Andre's on the Clivus Scaurus resisted a return to the Benedictine Rule, and so they were expelled and new monks put in their place. The monastery at Farla, where the monks had completely abandoned the Rule and murdered their own abbot, was also brought under control.

Odo sent his disciple Baldwin to Monte Cassino to restore it, because it had also been left to lie waste; the nearby Subiaco Abbey also knew his influence. Odo became involved in reforms as far as Naples, Salerno and Benevento. In the North, St Peter's, Ciel d'Oro in Pavia was also brought under the control of one of Odo's disciples. St Elias' monastery in Nepi was put under the control of one of Odo's disciples. These monks resisted the rule against flesh meat and Odo's disciple struggled to keep up a constant supply of fish for them to eat. When Odo visited the monastery, a stream miraculously flowed from a nearby mountain and fish were in the stream. Alberic fought a war with his stepfather Hugh of Lombardy and Odo was twice called in to act as a mediator between them. A story holds that one time Odo was crossing the Alps in deep snow and his horse lost footing, causing both him and his horse to fall over a cliff, but he caught a tree and held to its branches until help came.

Another story held that one time 40 robbers attempted to attack him on the road but he went on singing psalms as usual. One robber said, 'Let us leave them alone for I never remember having seen such men before. We might overcome the company, but never their armour-bearer, that strenuous man. If we attack them it will be the worse for us.' The others insisted that they would succeed so the first robber said, 'Then turn your arms against me, for as long as I am alive, no harm shall come to them.' The robbers debated among themselves what to do, and Odo continued unmolested. The first robber who spoke later became a disciple of Odo.

Death

In 942, peace came to Rome once again between Alberic and his stepfather. Odo fell ill, and sensing his approaching death, decided to return to Gaul. He stopped at the monastery of St Julian in Tours to celebrate the feast day of St Martin. He developed a fever and after a lingering sickness died on November 18. During his last illness, he composed a hymn in honour of Martin. He was buried in the church of St Julian. The Huguenots later burnt most of his remains.

Pope Benedict XVI notes that Odo's austerity as a rigorous reformer tends to obscure a less-obvious trait: a deep, heartfelt kindness. "He was austere, but above all he was good ..." His biographer, John of Salerno, records that he was in the habit of asking the children he met along the way to sing and that he would then give them some small token.