Pope to join the millennium celebration of the Camaldolese
March 6, 2012: Pope Benedict XVI has accepted an invitation to preside over the celebration
of Vespers on March 10 at the Monastery of San Gregorio al Celio. It will coincide
with the millennium of the founding of the Mother House of the Camaldolese and the
visit of the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams. The Archbishop will be received
in audience by the Pope at the Vatican in the morning of the same Saturday.
The
occasion also reminds the historical ties that bind the monastic community and the
Anglican Communion. There will be a conference on March 11 titled: Monasticism and
Ecumenism at which the Archbishop of Canterbury is the guest of honor and will make
a speech titled: Virtue and monastic ecumenical hopes. Sun Robert Hale, Prior of New
Camaldoli, respond with a speech titled: The relationship between the monastic community
of San Gregorio al Celio with Canterbury and the Anglican Communion.
The millennium
of the founding of the Holy Hermitage of Camaldoli, Motherhouse of the Camaldolese,
founded by St. Romuald in 1012, is an occasion of profound gratitude to the Lord by
all the Camaldolese. Each phase of the long history of Camaldoli has produced not
only faithful witnesses of the Gospel in the silence of seclusion and solitude, and
in common life shared with his brothers, but also humble and generous service to all.