If they decide to join Kamaldoli, they have to go live there as Pashtuns. They don't have to start all over, but they have to do this probational period that is very, very... What we're drawn to is humiliating. Thank you. It's an incredibly humiliating process for these men. You still, if you talk to the older ones about it, and I did at Kamaldoli, they still remember. I'm not talking about the Cenobites, I'm talking about the hermits who witnessed it. The humiliations that the general, the abbot general underwent, who did that, who went to Kamaldoli and lived basically as a postulant for a while, lived these humiliations with a very, very difficult time for them. If they didn't do that, they could become secular priests, or be secularized, or join other religious institutes, but their own congregation was kaput.

[01:03]

What was kept? Fonte Avalana. But Fonte Avalana had to stop being a... Remember now, we've got hermits in charge now. Hermits are taking them over. So the hermits say, yes, we'll keep Fonte Avalana, but you have to go back to your original title. Even if you look like a Cenobium, and you are a Cenobium, you go back to your original title, the hermitage Fonte Avalana. It's a political move. It's making a statement. So now, even to this day, you see the Eremon, the venerable Eremon, Fonte Avalana, and you have this huge, humongous... On the picture there, it looked very small. It's a humongous place, viewed from the side. Here's a Cenobitic monastery, and you hear people say, where's the hermitage? But of course, the hermitage was the beginning. Centuries ago, these little huts, which became, quickly on in its history, a large Cenobium. Fonte Avalana was retained.

[02:04]

St. Gregory in Rome was kept, and this became a student house later on. St. Biagio, St. Blaise, and Fabriano were kept. Well, that's where the body of Ronald is, so we're going to keep that. Holy Cross of Sassoferrato, which is not too far from Fonte Avalana, which was their big monastery for formation, very dear to them, was kept for maybe a year, and then that got the axe, so it was just kept on for a year. Fonte, let's see, there's one other. Nope, just those, just those. So we have three houses, basically, after Sassoferrato is closed, that become part of the hermit's group. They had to undergo six months' probation, six months of testing, and I'm certain that there were tests involved. I remember, just parenthetically, sitting at a meal at Camando,

[03:12]

next to Thomas Matus, and we were waiting for the dessert wine to come around, and it was the last course, and you get special wine. It was a feast day of some sort. And he turned to me, and somehow we had started talking about this whole situation. He was reminiscing about it. And he started talking about the stories he had heard regarding how painful it was for everybody involved, for everybody, even the hermits, in short order. Everyone was suffering through this humiliating episode. And this was imposed by the Holy See. Rome came in and imposed this. You have also fascism growing in Italy during this time, during the 30s. Interesting remarks made by Innocenzo, in this, again, this introduction to Collodi's book,

[04:15]

on fascism and Camaldoli, or not fascism and Camaldoli so much, but fascism, the model of fascism in Italy, and the model of the hierarchical structure pre-Vatican II in the Church. And he says, quite similar, when he points it out. It's interesting. We have an extraordinary chapter ordered by the Holy See at Camaldoli, that same year that the Cenobites were suppressed, in order to enact the amalgamation. And Cerno, Giovanni, and Benedetto, Collodi, both future priors general, become the prior, respectively, the prior and master of students at Fonte Avalana. So this general chapter decides, we'll use Fonte Avalana as our student aid.

[05:20]

And Camaldoli had a lot of students at this time. I ran across a book that comes from this era, that they put out, with marvelous old photographs of all these long lines of student monks going down the hallways, you know, with the hoods up. It's haunting. It's like one of the early Merton books from Gethsemane. And it's at this time that the Camaldolis, mainly through Anselmo and Benedetto, begin resurgence within the Camaldolis order of, let's return to our sources, let's form our monks in a new movement to get back to our roots. And it's mainly these two men who carried this through down to the present. A fresh interest was in Camaldoli's spirituality and in the very sources themselves, were initiated by these men. They started publishing a magazine called Adelanna.

[06:20]

They published books entitled, in English, The Camaldolis, and it was basically a who's who in Camaldolis history, just so people would find out about the Camaldolis, where we had come from, who we were. Also, the book Nermo, The Hermitage, which I used for my second presentation by Anselmo, is basically looking at the theology, the primitive theology and spirituality of the Camaldolis tradition. This all comes out at this time in a new resurgence. So out of the period of turmoil and caca comes a wonderful resurgence that will continue for years and ushers in our own flourishing, I believe, in Camaldolis life. It's basically the preliminary work that will now go into our new constitution.

[07:23]

There's a number of constitutions. We keep taking jumps during this 20th century. There's another move towards let's do the constitutions over again with all this in mind. From 1934 onwards then, also going back to Camaldoli, now we're leaving Fonte Avalano with the students there, back to Camaldoli from 1934 onwards, you have a very important movement begin in Italy under two men who come in the summers to Camaldoli and begin a movement called FUCI. This is an acronym, it's basically an aggregate collection of students from all over Italy, university students coming together to get good theology. This is 1934. Good theology and good spirituality in order to become leaders in the Italian church. This is fostered by two people who come into Camaldoli, become great friends with Camaldoli and work with Camaldoli in this movement.

[08:24]

Those two people are named Cordovani, who is in Rome and is an important man in Rome, and Montini. Montini, of course, becomes Pope Paul VI. Very close relationship between Montini and Camaldoli in these years. This is for a movement for the theological formation of laity in the church way before Vatican II, way before. 1943. In 1943, in March 10th, we're talking eight years after the Cenobites were suppressed. A bitter letter is written by the former Abbot General, Barbarossa, Vincenzo Barbarossa, who suffered incredibly, written to the Pope, entitled, A Letter of Clarification about the Sad Events for the Camaldolese Cenobites,

[09:30]

Focusing the Responsibility on Those Who Worked Secretly for the Suppression of My Dear Congregation. We don't have a record of this. It was destroyed. It never reached the Pope. The whole thing, which again, erupted into the scene. It's still cloudy. We just don't know. Lips are sealed if they do know what went on, what went on in the Holy See and all of that. Who were the enemies of the Cenobites? We don't know. We don't know what political, what politics went into it. But it was very sad. Looking eight years later, the poor man is still very, very sad and trying to get his congregation back, I think. Probably. World War II. This is time of World War II. We have, as I mentioned before, the War Diary of Buffadini, some of which I photocopied and brought back with me.

[10:31]

Extremely interesting. It just covers, in fact, a four-month period in 1944. Some highlights from this diary. The German generals were very, very interested in the Camaldolese for many reasons, but more strategic. For the same reasons they were interested in Monte Cassino during these years. Up on a mountain, a huge, massive complex which could be used for an observation point and good war strategy. The SS, however, were interested in Camaldolese for much different reasons, because the Camaldolese monks were taking care of partisans, whom they would hide, especially at Ermel, and also taking care of hiding Allied soldiers from the Germans.

[11:32]

And the SS would hear about it from other roundabout ways and were very angry. Back to this in a minute. Camaldolese, during this time, is rather cagey with the whole thing, sort of tongue-in-cheek, although it was a very dangerous time, playing one German group against the other. They knew how to play the game. The Italians are very good at the mechanics of politics. And they played the SS against both of the generals and often through misinformation, and enacted, in a number of instances, episodes where one group of Germans were fighting against another group over turf, because Camaldolese had worked at that. And neither one got anywhere. But Camaldolese was still safe. There were bombings around Camaldolese, but Camaldolese itself was never hit. But the valley of the Constantino I mentioned before,

[12:34]

the valley where the Mausolea is, there were many bombings in there at one point. There were spitfires in the air over Camaldolese on a number of occasions, but there was no actual fire upon Camaldolese. However, I have photos from this diary of one episode. The Hermitage was hiding 26 Allied soldiers, including Americans, Allied soldiers, and seven generals at the Hermitage. And the SS found out about it. They don't know how, but luckily Camaldolese, just in time, was warned by partisans. They hid the generals, and this is getting exciting, they hid the generals and the soldiers in the woods just in time. We have the photograph of all these tanks with the turrets on the top with the long guns focused on the Hermitages of Camaldolese with this rather chubby Camaldolese monk in white

[13:37]

sort of standing there. It's just such an eerie photo. It just reminds one of how dangerous those times were and how careful they must have had to have been. The machine guns were all trained on the Hermitages. Each Hermitage cell was inspected by the SS troops. They didn't find one, and all the men got away out of the woods. It was a very happy occasion for Camaldolese because one wonders what would happen to the monks had the Allied soldiers been found, let alone what would happen to the soldiers. That's pretty obvious what would happen to the soldiers. 1951, we have a very famous general chapter at Camaldolese at which Don Anselmo was elected prior general. And Benedetto, his cohort, was elected.

[14:40]

These two men who were starting this reform movement and a return to the sources movement was elected second in charge, or the procurator general for the order. And he was also named prior of St. Gregorio in Rome, which is now the student age. We have the students in Rome now, but in the 50s. So he still has influence with the young. He was master of students at Fonte Avalana. Here he's still with the young. This is Benedetto. And Anselmo is up at Camaldolese as the prior general. It's during this time that Camaldolese, which later becomes Vita Monastica, goes to press. Much of this is through Anselmo's instigation, along with Benedetto, arm in arm. Let's get things into print. Let's continue looking at our sources. The Minelogio, how am I going to explain this? Books of all the Camaldolese saints,

[15:41]

and there's hundreds of them, were published. A catechism, a Camaldolese catechism, a way of doing things, how we look at things, theologically and spiritually, is also published under the auspices of Anselmo. And Anselmo, thank God, encourages translations into Italian of all our primary sources. And so we get the Lives of the Five Brothers. We get the Rule for the Life of Rome, finally in Italian. We get Peter Damian's works done into Italian, and the Constitutions of Rudolf in Italian. And so the young ones have that already back then in the 50s. They have their sources in their own language. It's extremely important. We haven't had that until just recently. Finally we have that too. 1957, the American adventure begins. A new New Camaldolese.

[16:42]

And Agostino Modotti and his small band make the foundation here at Big Sur. And that history is a story in itself, and I'm not going to go into it. I don't know enough about it myself, to be honest. I know more about Italy than I do about the Big Sur experience, but none of us know very much about it, at least documentary-wise, documentation-wise. Modotti ended up wanting to go under the bishop and cut off all relations with Camaldolese, with the mother house, with the congregation. Modotti ended up being excised from the congregation. Very sad circumstances, a very messy business. And that is followed later on by a wave the other way, in which Anselmo is punished for this, and his re-election as prior general is not allowed,

[17:49]

because a cardinal friend of Modotti came in and stood at the general election, took the votes from the side, took them away. Everyone knew they had re-elected Anselmo. Came back and said Anselmo was not re-elected, and that Aliprando Catani was appointed prior general. Very, very emotional time in Camaldoli, very distressing time, and yet they weathered it. Catani was the perfect man to help them weather it for that six-year period, very gentle. He was also here for a while, Aliprando. Very gentle man, man of the soil, sort of like a Johnny Appleseed. In fact, he planted Monterey cypresses all over Fonte Albalama. You see this whole row of Monterey cypresses growing next to Fonte Albalama. He took seeds from here. He's a wonderful person. He's still living at Fonte Albalama. He's the last of the Cenobites, the last of the original Cenobites who came over,

[18:52]

and incidentally became a prior general for six years then. Anyway, this whole American adventure in the beginning was a rather messy, rather sad affair, rather sad point in our history, but it's certainly not the only sad point in our history. Also in 1957, we have another set of new constitutions finally published. Remember when I said 1934 onwards, Anselmo and Benedetto start a movement towards new constitutions? We finally get them in 1957. Constitutions usually take a while. 1960, Monsolato closes. Maybe Innocenzo wasn't a student of... I don't know, he would have been close. He would have been there right at the end if he was there at all, but Emanuele and Benedetto certainly were there. 1963, we have an apostolic visitation, and that's when Laudati is expelled from the congregation, Anselmo is deposed for all practical purposes

[19:58]

as prior general, and Catani is appointed. Three years later, 1966, we join the Benedictine Order, as I mentioned earlier. We join the Confederation of Benedictines. 1969, Benedetto Calati is elected prior general, a wonderful event for our group, an extremely formative event for our group. As a follow-up to the Vatican II, and ushering in the changes, I join Amento. Calati, of course, is a great scholar as well, and a monastic man above all. And he comes forth with a four-point program. Number one, the word of God is absolutely essential, and so Lectio Divina, in the life of the monk, is extremely important and must be respected,

[21:01]

as well as homilies. Retreatment, listening and sharing the word of God through homilies is extremely important to Commodities Benedictines. Number two, the old Privilegium Amoris, the privilege of love. He took this phrase and said, this is my second point, we are aiming at developing whole people. The whole person is of utmost importance to Commodities Benedictines, and anything that supports becoming a whole person in love, in friendship, in the koinonia of community, must be supported, must be inculcated in our communities. Number three, all the monks and all our communities have to be absolutely faithful to common prayer. And number four, and you can tell here is a man of Vatican II, our congregation has to be open to dialogue.

[22:06]

We already have a movement towards dialogue during these 60s on personal levels in the Commodities family, but it's after this that we have our relationship with B. Griffiths that culminates in B. Shantivanam joining the Commodities congregation, the Hindu-Catholic dialogue. We have Brazil being rectified. They looked upon the early experience of Brazil as a mistake, Benedetto did, and he wanted to rectify it by a new foundation in Brazil, and this was also seen within the whole arena of dialogue. Berkeley, in Berkeley we had the house Incarnation set up, a double house, Anglican-Catholic monastic presence with the Holy Cross Order

[23:12]

begun with Robert Hale. The Jewish-Catholic dialogue is initiated at Camaldoli and it's still ongoing. There are a number of monks who have been deeply involved within that, notably Don Luigi Leza, who is now the prior in Brazil. He's a Hebrew scholar. We have the meetings, the ongoing meetings of longstanding at Monte Giove, which is our house near Fano, near the shoreline of the Adriatic. You can see the mountains of Yugoslavia on a clear day across the Adriatic. They have a regular practice of ecumenical meetings at Monte Giove, a series that goes on on a yearly basis. We have the experience of Camaldoli and the Orthodox-Catholic dialogue in Russia

[24:12]

during the 1980s, with Innocenzo and Alessandro both going to Moscow and meeting with Patriarch. We certainly here in the USA also have, especially under the priorship of Robert, a strong emphasis in dialogue with the Buddhists of Tassajara and our relationship with them, certainly with the Anglican community. Naturally enough, since Robert is a former Anglican himself. Also a little bit with the Native American tradition begun in the grouping we have in the Four Winds Council. But needless to say, we as a group are open to dialogue per se. And we're not isolated in that. The Camaldoli family as a whole, our congregation, has been deputized, authorized by the Vatican, to do precisely this work.

[25:13]

This special work of ecumenism. And so that is part of our charism. And one could already see that with Benedetto from 1969 onwards being promulgated and pushed as part of his program. 1985, new constitutions. These are the constitutions we now have which have been changed a little bit in the last general chapter, just modified a little bit. These are the constitutions that stem from the post-Vatican II move for all congregations, all orders, to redo their constitutions in light of Vatican II and the changes in the Church. In 1987, Emanuele Barcellini is elected prior general. And he is our present prior general. He's been re-elected into a second term, reconfirmed. We noticed, in summation then,

[26:18]

we noticed with the Romualdian movement that the lives of these monastics in the spirit of St. Ronald were built on love. Remember the relationships in the Romualdian world. Their monasticism embraced a gamut from reclusion to missionary work in an impulse stemming from the need to express this love, this overflowing love, as they put it. By means, then, of this thumbnail historical sketch, I hope I've made it clear how the Romualdian-turned-Camaldoese history proved an experience, to be quite honest, in tested love. Real love, after all, is never easy. History shows us that in any area of human activity.

[27:20]

Pretenses, poses, postures, personal baggage tend to get in the way of human nature. In our final session, taking all of the preceding into consideration then, we will look at what we mean, or what we can discern in Camaldoese spirituality today. We'll do that tomorrow morning at nine o'clock. But for those who are interested then, tonight, from seven-thirty on, we'll just form a circle here. We'll have a discussion and question-and-answer period regarding anything, but I suspect mainly the historical observations. Three hours, not too short. Okay, let us pray. Almighty, ever-loving God,

[28:28]

helped by the great foundations of our Camaldoese tradition, the Word, the Holy Rule, the Constitutions, we seek to follow Jesus Christ within a tradition envisioned by our Holy Father, Saint Robert, built upon by centuries of lived monasticism and great benedictine experience and contemplative grace. Grant us, we ask, the docility to live this grace in Jesus' holy name. Amen. We're finally going to talk about Camaldoese spirituality. We've been talking around it and beneath it, and perhaps at times a little bit above it until now, but now I want to centre specifically on Camaldoese spirituality. You'll notice I don't have any spellings today. There shouldn't be any problem today. And the people I have used for my own note-taking

[29:37]

for this particular conference, although most of it is, I must admit, my own stuff, including that diagram that you have in front of you, so don't blame anyone else for those musings. I did use Benedetto Calati at least in the beginning of this presentation. Also Emanuele Barcellini, our present prior general, Robert Hale and the articles he wrote for the new Dictionary of Christian Spirituality put out by Liturgical Press last year. A few remarks by Thomas Matus, a little bit in the historical section by Nino Vigilucci, and our own Camaldoese constitutions. So there are certain foundations that are basic to our tradition,

[30:39]

to what we're talking about when we talk about Camaldoese spirituality. And there are basically three. These foundations are that Camaldoese spirituality is monastic, that it is benedictine monastic, and that it is contemplative benedictine monastic. The foundational perspective of Camaldoese spirituality is first of all that it is monastic, and as such is intimately connected with the Word of God. It presupposes a biblical ground for all. It assumes the importance of Lectio Divina in all of its varied forms, not just the classical form of Lectio Divina, but basically life as Lectio Divina, lived Lectio. It centers on the biblical portrayal of salvation history, surely,

[31:41]

but in a more specific way it is especially drawn to the way of wisdom, to the sapiential books of the Old Testament, and of course to the corpus of the New Testament. It looks to the Rule of Benedict as its monastic guide, and it also highly values, from the beginning, from Romualdian times, also the great desert tradition of monastic culture. Just parenthetically, remember that both of these, both the Rule of Benedict and the desert tradition, are also both highly biblical, in nature. Being monastic is being called by the Word of God. And monastic spirituality, when lived authentically, dwells with that Word,

[32:43]

in an ongoing encounter, in an ongoing relationship. Monastics are challenged by the Word, they're also formed by that Word, and comforted by that Word. And monastic spirituality moves into liturgy. For in liturgy, that monastic spirituality takes symbolical expression in a more mature form. Liturgy celebrates life, and celebrates salvation history. Such, as such, enables a practical mysticism to occur in the monastery, for the monk or nun, whose heart is open to that lived Lectio. Liturgy, after all, intensifies our baptismal commitment. That is what the monastic charism is, is it not?

[33:45]

An intensification of the baptismal commitment. The commodity of spirituality is not only monastic, it is also Benedictine monastic. It assumes a relationship of intimacy with Christ. Life itself becomes a commentary on the Word, a living testimony to the unfolding of salvation history within the context of lived encounter of relationship. And herein one finds the historical unraveling or unfolding of that baptismal vocation, within the context of the vocation to the monastery. It can be seen as sacramental, that is, strengthening baptism. It can be experienced as an elaboration of baptism,

[34:50]

or an explicitation of baptism. But the rule of Benedict is its truly core document. For commodities of Benedictine monastic spirituality, life itself has sacrality, is sacred. And so the classic Benedictine vows of conversatio morum, obedience and stability, are envisioned within that context of sacredness. That is, conversatio morum, or conversion, is a daily dynamic of participation in the life of Christ, if it is lived consciously. That stability within the commodities context is that paradise, is that stability of the cell and stability of the human heart

[35:53]

and stability of the community, within that context of charism, of grace. Of paradise. And obedience is seen, as in every other context in religious life, I believe, as the imitation of Christ. Again, a conscious participation in the life of Christ. But the rule's flexibility, according to conditions and times, depending on where the monastery is and what its history is, what its conditions are, the rule allows the virtue of discretion to function, if not flourish, in the life of the Spirit. And this fits well into the Romualdian commodities tradition. If the primacy of love is going to be our law, and since the generalship of Benedetto Collati,

[36:58]

that has been his banner that he's waved, the primacy of love above all, if that's going to be our law as commodities monastics, the primacy of the Holy Spirit, it seems to me, is to be our guide. I'm sure St. Romuald would agree with that. He certainly lived that way. And a pluralism of interpretation is therefore provided by the rule of Benedict. And the commodities constitutions incarnate that kind of principle, of flexibility, of pluralism. And, of course, they all tie together to make the commodities spirituality both monastic and Benedictine. This is from our constitutions. This legislative document of the commodities Benedictine congregation does not stand by itself.

[38:01]

It is to be understood as a contemporary interpretation and application of the rule of St. Benedict. For although the constitutions interpret the rule, they cannot be understood apart from it. Or from the whole of Benedictine spirituality and history, including the experience of St. Romuald." The commodity spirituality is not only monastic spirituality and conditioned Benedictine monastic spirituality, but it is also contemplative, foundationally so. Again, from the constitutions, numbers three and four. The commodities congregation consists of hermitages and monasteries. The hermitage is the characteristic element of the congregation and as such, orients the spiritual life of all its members.

[39:06]

In both hermitage and monastery, the monks attend to the contemplative life above all else. Each monk, then, is to engage in the daily work which is his duty as a Christian and a monk. From the Rule of Benedict, chapter 48, and Gaudium et Spes, 67. In his work, as in his practice of Christian mortification and ardent prayer, let him open his heart to the attentive hearing and meditating of God's Word. When Rudolf of Camaldoli, the fourth prior of Camaldoli, in his work regarding contemplation, used the simile of Leah and Rachel, he affirmed contemplation as the primary work for Camaldoli's monks.

[40:09]

And in this regard, Rudolf, Kaladi points out, depends directly from Gregory the Great and Augustine of Hippo. And Kaladi repeats this again and again in a number of his articles that were published. Well, I won't say that. But Kaladi often repeats himself. And so if you read a couple of his articles, you can pretty well get the gist of where he's going and where he's been. His great hero is Gregory the Great. But even though the context is primary, it is not exclusively so, Kaladi says. The active life is seen by Rudolf as an ascetical preparation necessary for the contemplative life. This is Rudolf. Saint Peter Damian sees the active life as something to be tolerated

[41:11]

in view of contemplation and its fruits. While the contemplative life is to be something loved for itself. It's just a different way of looking at things. For Peter Damian, the active life to be tolerated the most would be priestly ministry. And this was borne out by the subsequent history of Fonte Avalon. A lot of active church life flowed from Fonte Avalon. Here also, Peter Damian depends from Augustine of Hippo on his own treatment of contemplation and its place within the tradition. But Kamadhi's tradition confirms the time-tested principle of the unity between action and contemplation. No matter which lens our forebears used to speak of the two,

[42:12]

they were always seen as a unity within the tradition and within the life of the monastery. When we talk about Kamadhi's spirituality, naturally enough, we're also concerned with certain historical and ecclesial developments which affected the formation of that spirituality. We've looked at some of the history, some of the historical markers which couldn't help but affect the life of Kamadhi. And we know that Kamadhi's spirituality did not develop in some kind of vacuum over the centuries. It was always conditioned by history, by the times, by traditions, by reforms, by the very grace of God. During the 14th and 15th centuries, the Devozio Moderna movement,

[43:18]

which accentuated individualism and interiorization, as well as the movement of humanism, which accented an Eastern classical mentality, and again individualism, were the two major lines of renewal in the Church. Christian humanism, certainly, was the renewal of the Church. And mystical currents during these centuries accentuated the voice of the Holy Spirit and freedom in that Holy Spirit. Kamadhi's spirituality during this time was nourished by Christian humanism, whose most eloquent spokesman may very well have been our own Ambrocio Traversa, called by Corzano, quote, the true master of Christian Hellenism. Ambrose translated extensive portions of St. Basil,

[44:25]

John Chrysostom, Paul, Bernard, Jerome, Gregory the Great, John Climacus, and others. And humanism promoted a learned piety, which saw a rebirth in the study of the Holy Scriptures and the study of the Fathers of the Church, mainly promoted by people like Ambrose Traversari, who also promoted a unity within plurality, expressed again, and he uses this simile, by the union of the active and contemplative dimensions seen concretely within the Kamaldi tradition in the joining of the Hermitage and the Synagogue. And Traversari used that simile to promote his work of unity within plurality. Of course, he was involved with the union of East and West Churches. Traversari was followed by a line of Kamaldi's Christian humanists

[45:32]

who remained faithful to his spiritual line of thinking, monks like Mariotto Allegri, whom I mentioned, and Pietro Delfino, as well as other humanists who interpreted things a little bit differently, but important humanists in Kamaldi's humanists, nonetheless, people like Paolo Giustiniani and Pietro Quirini. Kamaldi's spirituality, at this time, talked and held on to the Benedictine doctrine of communion, again, using the example of the wedding, the marriage between Hermitage and monastery, at a time when individualism was running rampant. And that's certainly to be understood, because, as I mentioned, both Devozio Moderna and humanism promoted individualism. This period of Kamaldi's history continued the spiritual climate.

[46:41]

This is from Kalahi, and it's an interesting point, and I didn't study it further. It would be interesting to develop it further, to find out exactly what he's talking about. He points out that this period of Kamaldi's history continued a spiritual climate, which was promoted and can stem back all the way from Benedict of Anion's liturgical life within the Carolingian period, as well as the whole Cuniac tradition, liturgically speaking. But for myself, I didn't have time to analyze this point in specific. It should also be borne in mind that, although quite different from one another, and they are quite different from one another, there were a number of male and female Kamaldi saints during this time,

[47:43]

as different as night is from day, from the whole spectrum, saints-wise. I would like now to give some contemporary views on Kamaldi spirituality from our own tradition. And this section really is meant to be a culling of various strands of the Kamaldi spiritual fabric, and as such would probably be best understood through just quiet listening type of meditation approach. The first quote, and this will be a series of quotes, is from our Constitution. Just keep bracketed in the back of your mind on our spirituality. The Kamaldi's hermitage is a special fruit of St. Romuald's broad and varied monastic experience as reformer and founder.

[48:45]

The hermitage retains elements of cenobitic living, at the same time offering the possibility of greater solitude and freedom in the inner life, including the possibility of reclusion. It's from the introduction. From number 26, the monastic community is an extension and a reflection of the mystery of the Church. Like the Church, it is in Christ as a sacrament or sign, an instrument of intimate union with God and of the unity of the entire human race, quoting Lumen Gentium. Number 65, monks center their lives on the encounter with God, which finds expression in forms of prayer handed down in the monastic and patristic traditions.

[49:48]

When a monk is inspired to seek greater intimacy with God in the hermitage, his aim is to reach the full maturity of monastic life in a prayerful dialogue with the Father, and to make this dialogue ever more constant and intense. Number 91, each community is to establish times and places which safeguard that climate of silence, which is the natural basis for an authentic life of listening, prayer, and communion with God and neighbor. From our 1987 general chapter statements, silence welcomes the Word, and the Word, by means of faith,

[50:51]

creates new and wonderful works of God in our own times. What we offer is simply that, that which every person can discover in the secret place of the heart, that in which every Christian believes and hopes and loves. We invite all our Kamaldolese brothers and sisters to take to heart the work of dialogue and unity among religions. From prior general Benedetto Calati, my critical hermeneutic of the rule has been the priority of the person. When one says the primacy of love, one does not mean an idea, an abstraction,

[51:56]

but the concrete manifestation of the person within whom the Holy Spirit enters the covenant of love. Choosing the centrality of the person brings risk, insecurity, and fragility. The faith service of our guest ministry must always increasingly recognize and welcome the gift of ecumenism for the entire Church's benefit. From prior general Emanuele Baccini, when the stimulus toward renewal is taken seriously and with love, in a renewal which is not only about forms,

[52:58]

but which attempts to conjoin a recovery of roots and enculturation within a changed historical context, one faces a tiring and complex undertaking. One finds oneself before a global challenge turned toward interior knowledge, availability, and also human weakness. To accept it is to accept entrance into a process within which the work of discernment and renewal is endless. It is a way of being. Our history is a concrete case of dialogue within the monastic world. You'll remember yesterday afternoon. It is one of the possible journeys of renewal and monastic presence today. Every process of renewal requires the individualization

[54:03]

of the fundamental values which are at stake. Of the strategic difficulties around which the dialogue develops, to construct progressively a consensus, to exercise discernment. The more that renewal points to the essential issues, all the more must the dialogue and the transformation open themselves up to a long commitment. From our next prayer general, from Robert Hale. He's going to listen to this too. Kamaldolins trace their spiritual lineage back to the early fathers and mothers of the desert, to the early ascetics before them, to the Essenes, and especially to key biblical figures, the prophets,

[55:03]

the sapiential voices, the apostolic community, and above all, Christ himself, the archetypal monk. The Kamaldolin spirit has a universal openness affirmed by the present constitutions of the congregation regarding spiritual ecumenism. The Vatican has also commended this ministry to the Kamaldolins. When I painted my own version of the Kamaldolins coat of arms, or la stemma kamaldolese, the two doves, or as it were, peacocks, with the chalice on either side of the chalice, and the star arising out of that, I found myself painting a chalice which became really a baptismal font

[56:11]

rather than a chalice. And I found that I was doing that because I wanted to explicitate more clearly the baptismal commitment, baptismal connections within the Kamaldolins charism, what we are about, what we are doing there. And I think now we are at that font of baptism today, trying to bring together the various aspects of what makes Kamaldolins spirituality, Kamaldolins. In my own way of thinking and synthesizing what has been there from the beginning with what has happened during subsequent history, and where we Kamaldolins find ourselves these days, I've come up with those elements, which I have diagrammed for you there,

[57:13]

with all those arrows going every which way, which says something about the connections, the interconnections among the elements. It seems to me that that characteristic of Kamaldian spirituality, that is, the small-scale element, is somehow characteristic of our spirituality. And to me it's the most mysterious of all the elements. I can't quite clearly articulate why. It's just a spiritual intuition that it is small-scale, it's meant to be, it works that way, it has from the beginning, and it's part of who we are. We tend to do things on small scale. And that our spirituality is also one which embraces solitude, perhaps more so than in other spiritualities,

[58:15]

in other monastic spiritualities. Because it is a constitutive element, it has the Romaldian stamp on it very clearly. One cannot escape Romuald's embrace of solitude. And our own historical consciousness throughout our Kamaldi centuries of how important solitude has been and is for us. But the koinonia, which I, as you can see, it has all arrows going towards it, I think is the key element of our spirituality, that is, the fellowship, which is what we're about here, at Big Sur and every other house, and between our network of ablés and monks and nuns. That that koinonia was the aim of Romuald

[59:20]

in gathering disparate elements into a shared solitude from the beginning of our movement. It is a fellowship, a consciousness of fellowship which goes hand in hand certainly with Vatican II nowadays in its ecclesial dimension, but I think it always did. The Kamaldi spirituality was always conscious of the Church and Church needs, and the importance of fellowship on the small-scale, at-home, ground level which the monastery expressed concretely. And that this was to be seen as prophetic witness to the world. Also, it seems to me that that old phrase,

[60:21]

going back to the beginning again, privilege of love, with that Romualdian emphasis again and that stamp of original charism. Embraced in this century by Benedetto Calati with his stressing again, again, again, throughout his 18 years as prior general, the importance in our family of the centrality of the human person, the development of each person within community, the recognition and development of gifts and the embrace of each person within community, fellowship, really characterizes our Kamaldi's ethos today. If you want to give it a phrase, you can give it the Calati phrase, the primacy of love.

[61:21]

I think that has become a very important constitutive element of our Kamaldi's spiritual consciousness. Ecumenism for the Kamaldi's is nothing new, although we have the invitation of the Vatican to be involved directly in ecumenical work now in ways that other groups have not been designated as such. Romuald himself, in the Mission to the East, from the beginnings, gave way to that element, which for Romuald himself was a mystery, I'm sure. Traversari and his main energy and thrust for the active church background was in the ecumenical form,

[62:24]

with the dialogue between the East and Western churches. That ecumenical aspect of our spirituality is certainly a charism, yes, but also a duty of our contemporary Kamaldi's spirituality. And I don't think we even question that here. It's become so natural to us that I would find it rather odd if anyone were going to argue with that. It's just so much a part of who we are as Kamaldi's, also at Kamaldi in Italy. And the dialogue which flows from that ecumenical encounter, that is, monks and nuns in dialogue among people, all the people on the way, really centers on that key monastic charism,

[63:28]

which can perhaps clearly be seen in that old ancient adage from the Egyptian desert, if you have a heart, you can be saved. Because the Kamaldi's Benedictine monastic thrust into ecumenism is one of the heart. It's on a small scale, yes, we're small, but it's enlivened by the heart awareness and the authenticity of it. Without being pretentious, without wearing trumpets, we're just there as one heart meeting another heart. And I think perhaps that's why it is so real for us, without even thinking about it. It's part of who we are. I think Kamaldi is why we would add, yes, a heart, but a heart that's nourished by solitude, because that's who we are. And our hearts are a little bit different, thanks to that constitutive part of our life

[64:32]

which we are insured by our constitutions. Also, our Kamaldi spirituality is distinctly Benedictine. It has been substantially so from the beginning. Romuald, again, was a Benedictine monk. He died a Benedictine monk, a casse. Now, since 1966, we are all juridically Benedictines. And so, hand in hand with the Benedictine ethos, our aim is fellowship, because that's what Benedict was about. And the methodology of that fellowship, again, is love, is the primacy of love and the centrality of the human person. It seems to me also that our small-scale side of our spirituality

[65:35]

helps to incarnate that ground of dialogue with which we're involved, because unless you're doing it at home base and right at the root level, heart to heart, the dialogue really doesn't take root. It doesn't go... I mean, there are nice, flashy ecumenical events and whatnot, and that's good for everyone. But our work as commodities in the ecumenical field is just heart to heart work, and it's on a small scale. But that's where it's most real for people, I think, for all of us. And it's certainly also, and that's why another arrow is going around there, it's more in touch with our own Benedictine ground, that small scale. Because if you remember, Benedict himself, in his lifetime, in his early foundations, was building on a small scale. Suddenly he started twelve little foundations all around the monastery where he was living. Very small foundation.

[66:36]

That koinonia, that fellowship which is at the center of our spirituality, it seems to me, is the core within which we are conscious of Christ in all these aspects of our spirituality. And that's why I put it at the center. Because it's the way we live the life of Christ. It's the way we participate in the Christian mystery on a daily basis. That's why we are together, living alone. That can all be solitaries. You will remember that in our first session focusing on primitive Rewaldian spirituality, we saw how that spirituality was built on love. And then in our look at the triple goods, we saw how the spirituality of the Rewaldian reform embraced even missionary life, and even martyrdom,

[67:44]

in the overflowing love which stemmed from that experience of koinonia. Through our overview of the general history of the Kamaldolis, we couldn't help but see how that history proved a repeated experience and tested love throughout the centuries. And now what I need to add to our little schema of love is that as Kamaldolis spirituality embraces a real unity within its diversity, that unity is real insofar as it is preserved in love. In its own charismatic way, in its own prophetic way, Kamaldolis spirituality subsists, exists, and is nourished by the primacy of love.

[68:44]

And so I think in many ways Kalati's phrase is absolutely central to who we are as Kamaldolis, that is, in the primacy of love. That is the key. And you will find it at the center of our koinonia, of our church life shared together. I would like to thank you all for participating. It's been very good for me as a Kamaldolis monk to develop this little offering and to take it back east and to share it here and in October to share it in Berkeley. I think it's just a step on the way. It's even only a step on the way of articulating our Kamaldolis tradition on the American scene, contemporary American scene. It's a step in discovering who we are and what we're about,

[69:48]

where we've come from and how that's conditioned. This is not the answer. It's what I've come up with, what I've been able to discern. And I hope it's helpful to all of you in your own life, in your own connection with things Kamaldolis and people Kamaldolis. I'd also especially like to point out a thanks to Brother Gabriel who helped set up and who has faithfully helped in the technical aspect of this workshop. And I'd like to ask you for your prayers during the coming weeks as I prepare to go to Epiphany out east. I'm excited, very excited about it. But I love the Hermitage too, and I know it's going to be difficult. Thank you.

[70:47]

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