dimanche 29 avril 2012

Saint HUGUES de CLUNY, abbé bénédictin et confessur



SAINT HUGUES de CLUNY

Abbé

(1024-1109)

Saint Hugues était originaire d'une noble et riche famille de Bourgogne. En vain son père lui fit donner une éducation toute militaire: les chevaux, les armes et la chasse n'avaient aucun charme pour l'enfant; son bonheur était de se retirer à l'écart, de visiter les églises et de lire nos saints livres.

A seize ans, Hugues alla frapper à la porte du monastère de Cluny: "Quel trésor, dit un des plus vénérables moines, reçoit ce jour le couvent de Cluny!"

A vingt-cinq ans, le jeune moine était prieur du monastère, et peu de temps après, le saint abbé Odilon étant mort, il fut porté en triomphe et malgré lui sur le trône abbatial. Les honneurs, loin d'être une épreuve pour sa vertu, devinrent le signal d'un accroissement dans la perfection.

Dès lors Hugues exerça dans l'Église entière, par la confiance que lui témoignèrent les Papes, une immense et très salutaire influence; il assista le Pape Étienne X sur son lit de mort; il fut vénéré et consulté par les Papes saint Grégoire VII, Urbain II et Pascal II, qui avaient été ses enfants, moines de Cluny, avant de monter sur le siège de saint Pierre.

Hugues fut toujours inébranlable dans la défense des droits de l'Église contre les princes de ce monde, et nul plus que lui ne combattit avec vigueur les abus qui avaient envahi le clergé à cette époque troublée.

Ayant reçu l'annonce surnaturelle de sa mort prochaine, il s'y prépara par un redoublement d'austérités et de ferveur. Malgré ses quatre-vingt-cinq ans, il porta jusqu'au bout, pendant le Carême de 1109, le poids du travail et des pénitences monastiques. Le Jeudi Saint, il se rendit au chapitre et fit distribuer aux pauvres les aumônes ordinaires, lava les pieds de ses frères et fit couler leurs larmes dans une exhortation touchante sur l'Évangile.

Il assista à tous les offices du Vendredi saint et du Samedi saint, et put encore célébrer la solennité de Pâques; mais le soir, épuisé, il dut se mettre au lit et reçut le saint Viatique:

"Reconnaissez-vous, lui dit-on, le Corps sacré du Sauveur?

-- Oui, répondit-il, je Le reconnais et je L'adore!"

Il mourut étendu sur la cendre et le cilice. "A l'heure où les derniers rayons du soleil s'éteignent à l'horizon, écrit son biographe, s'éteignit aussi ce grand soleil de l'Ordre monastique." Hugues avait été lié avec saint Udalric, saint Pierre Damien, saint Bruno et un bon nombre d'autres Saints. Sous son autorité, l'Ordre de Cluny comptait plus de trente mille moines.

Abbé L. Jaud, Vie des Saints pour tous les jours de l'année, Tours, Mame, 1950.

SOURCE : http://messe.forumactif.org/t1734-saint-hugues-de-cluny-29-avril

Saint Hugues de Cluny

Sixième abbé de Cluny (✝ 1109)

Hugues le Grand ou Hugues de Semur.

Le fils du comte de Semur en Brionnais obtint de faire ses études chez son oncle évêque d'Auxerre, ce qui le conduisit, à l'âge 15 ans, aux portes de l'abbaye de Cluny alors que son père voulait en faire un chevalier. Dix ans après il en était le Père Abbé et il fut l'un des artisans les plus dynamiques de la réforme monastique. Malgré sa grande influence auprès de l'empereur, ce fut en vain qu'il tenta de le réconcilier avec le Pape Grégoire VII après l'affaire de Canossa. Il participa à de nombreux conciles régionaux et à de nombreux synodes diocésains, en particulier dans le midi de la France. Il appuya la reconquête de l'Espagne par le roi Alphonse VI de Castille. Il porta à son apogée le rayonnement spirituel de Cluny et c'est lui qui entreprit la construction de la troisième basilique.

Du 1er au 4 octobre 2009, à l’occasion du neuvième centenaire de la mort d’Hugues de Semur, sixième abbé de Cluny, et dans le cadre de Cluny 2010, les Amis de la Basilique romane de Paray-le-Monial, ont organisé un colloque international sur Hugues de Semur, Paray-le-Monial et l’Europe Clunisienne. (source: Narthex - blog abbaye de Cluny)

À Cluny en Bourgogne, l’an 1109, saint Hugues, abbé, qui gouverna saintement son monastère et ses filiales durant soixante-et-un ans, porté sans cesse aux aumônes et à la prière, gardien et promoteur très attentif de la discipline monastique, fidèle ardent de la sainte Église dont il fut le défenseur et qu’il s’appliqua à développer.

Martyrologe romain

SOURCE : http://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1055/Saint-Hugues-de-Cluny.html

Saint Hugues

Hugues, fils de Dalmace, comte de Semur, naquit en 1024. Agé de sept ans il partit chez son grand-oncle Hugues, évêque d’Auxerre, afin d’y recevoir une éducation religieuse, plutôt que d’opter pour la carrière des armes.

Il entra à l’âge de 13 ans à l’abbaye Saint Marcel de Chalon, et de là à Cluny, deux ans plus tard. Odilon le fit ordonner prêtre en 1044, et le nomma Grand Prieur de Cluny en 1048. Il lui succéda comme abbé l’année suivante.

L’histoire d’Hugues est celle de l’abbaye et de l’ordre de Cluny pendant soixante années...

Dès l’année de son élection il fut impliqué dans les grandes questions de l’Eglise. Il participa au Concile de Reims, présidé par Léon IX, et suivit ce dernier à Rome pour le Concile de Pâques 1050.

Là il se lia d’amitié avec Frédéric, abbé du Mont Cassin, et avec Hildebrand, abbé de Saint Paul. Il fut à plusieurs reprises nommé légat du pape, envoyé en missions difficiles dans l’empire de Germanie et même en Hongrie.

Frédéric fut élu pape sous le nom de Etienne X, tandis que Hildebrand devint pape quelques années plus tard sous le nom de Grégoire VII.

Saint Hugues rencontra également à plusieurs reprises Pierre Damien, grand conseiller des papes pour la réforme de l’Eglise.

Hugues mourut le 29 avril 1109, qui était le mercredi de l’octave de Pâques.

Calixte II, qui avait été élu pape à Cluny même en 1119, revint à Cluny le 1er janvier suivant et ordonna de solenniser par un culte liturgique l’anniversaire de la mort d’Hugues. Le culte de Saint Hugues fut célébré dès cette date, dans l’ordre clunisien.

SOURCE : http://www.abbayes.fr/histoire/benedictins/hugues.htm

Hugues de Cluny (1024-1109), parfois appelé Hugues le Grand ou Hugues de Semur, est le 6ème abbé de Cluny, de (1049 à 1109). Il a été canonisé par l'Église catholique ; sa fête est le 29 Avril. Il est issu d'une famille aristocratique de châtelains, liée aux Carolingiens et peut-être aux Capétiens. Son père est Dalmace Ier, baron de Semur en Brionnais (1020-1068), dont le nom Dalmatius est de souche Gallo Romaine, et issu de Brioude. Les barons de Donzy en Nivernais, les Damas, sires de Cousan en Forez, les comtes de Chalons, etc., sont ses parents. Entré au monastère à l'âge de 15 ans, il est nommé prieur à 20 ans. En (1049), il devient l'abbé de Cluny où il est formé par son prédécesseur, Odilon de Cluny. En (1054), avec son frère Geoffroy, il fonde le 1er prieuré de bénédictines de Marcigny, dépendant de Cluny. Sous son abbatiat, l'ordre de Cluny va s'étendre de l'Angleterre à la Pologne et de l'Allemagne à l'Italie et l'Espagne. Il mit en chantier la 3ème Abbatiale de Cluny, qui deviendra au début du (XIIIème siècle) la plus grande construction en Europe et le demeurera jusqu'au (XVIème siècle). Hugues fut le principal artisan du mouvement monastique clunisien pendant le dernier quart du (XIème siècle).

Les relations d'Hugues avec Ferdinand Ier et Alphonse VI de Castille, ainsi que son influence sur le Pape Urbain II, qui fut avant son élection grand prieur à Cluny même sous l'abbatiat d'Hugues, firent de ce dernier l'une des plus puissantes et influentes figures de la fin du (XIème siècle). De plus, comme parrain d'Henri IV, empereur d'Allemagne, il joua également un rôle dans son conflit avec le Pape Grégoire VII au cours de la Querelle des Investitures. Il refusa l’offre de Guillaume le Conquérant de réformer les monastères saxons.

SOURCE : http://monumentshistoriques.free.fr/personnages/hugues.html

St. Hugh the Great

Abbot of Cluny, born at Semur (Brionnais in the Diocese of Autun, 1024; died at Cluny, 28 April, 1109.

His early life

The eldest son of Count Dalmatius of Semur and Aremberge (Aremburgis) of Vergy, Hugh was descended from the noblest families in Burgundy. Dalmatius, devoted to war and the chase, desired that Hugh should adopt the knightly calling and succeed to the ancestral estates; his mother, however, influenced it is said by a vision vouchsafed to a priest whom she consulted, wished her son to dedicate himself to the service of God. From his earliest years Hugh gave indication of such extraordinary earnestness and piety that his father, recognizing his evident aversion from the so-called gentle pursuits, entrusted him to his grand-uncle Hugh, Bishop of Auxerre, for preparation for the priesthood. Under the protection of this relative, Hugh received his early education at the monastery school attached to the Priory of St. Marcellus. At the age of fourteen he entered the novitiate at Cluny, where he displayed such religious fervour that he was allowed to make his vows in the following year without completing the severe novitiate usual at this monastery. The special privilege of the Cluniac Congregation enabled him to become deacon at eighteen and priest at twenty. In recognition of his wonderful zeal for the discipline of the order, and of the confidence awakened by his conspicuous talent for government, he was quickly, in spite of his youth, chosen grand prior. In this capacity he was charged with the whole domestic direction of the cloister in both spiritual and temporal affairs, and represented the abbot during his absence (Cfr. D'Achery, "Spicilegium", 2nd ed., I, 686). On the death of St. Odilo on 1 January, 1049, after a prolonged administration of nigh on half a century, Hugh was unanimously elected abbot, and was solemnly installed by Archbishop Hugh of Besançon on the Feast of the Chair of Peter at Antioch (22 February), 1049.

Hugh as abbot

Hugh's character bears many points of resemblance to that of his great contemporary and friend, St. Gregory VII. Both were animated with a burning zeal to extirpate the abuses then prevalent among the clergy, to crush investiture with its corollaries, simony and clerical incontinence, and to rescue Christian society from the confusion into which the reckless ambition and avarice of rulers and the consequent political instability had thrown it. The emperor claimed the right to appoint bishops, abbots, even the pope himself (see CONFLICT OF INVESTITURES), and in too many cases his selection was swayed entirely by political motives to the exclusion of every thought of religious fitness. To prevent the Church from lapsing into a mere appanage of the State and to re-establish ecclesiastical discipline were the great objects alike of Gregory and Hugh, and if, in certain cases, Gregory allowed his zeal to outstrip his discretion, he found in Hugh an unflinching ally, and to the Benedictine Order, particularly the Cluniac branch, belongs the chief credit of promulgating among the people and carrying into effect in Western Europe the many salutary reforms emanating from the Holy See. In founding Cluny in 910, and endowing it with his entire domains, William the Pious of Aquitaine had placed it under the direct protection of Rome. Thus Cluny, with its network of daughter-foundations (see Cluny, Congregation of; Gallia Christ., II, 374), was a formidable weapon for reform in the hands of the successive popes. Hugh entrusted the election of the superiors of all cloisters and churches subject to him into spiritual hands, promised them — in addition to the privileges of the congregation — the support and protection of Cluny, and thus saved hundreds of cloisters from the cupidity of secular lords, who were very loath to interfere with the rights of a congregation so powerful and enjoying such high favour with emperors and kings. To secure this protection numbers of cloisters became affiliated with Cluny; new houses were opened in France, Germany, Spain, and Italy, while under Hugh was also founded at St. Pancras near Lewes the first Benedictine house in England. (See, however, ST. AUGUSTINE OF CANTERBURY; ST. DUNSTAN.) Since the superiors of most of these homes were either directly or indirectly nominated by Hugh, and since, as abbot, he had to ratify the elections, it is easy to understand how important a role he played in the great struggle between imperialism and the Holy See.

As early as 1049, at the age of twenty-five, Hugh appeared at the Council of Reims. Here, at the request, and in the presence of Leo IX, he expressed so energetically against the reigning abuses that even the simoniacal bishops could not withstand his zeal. This advocacy contributed largely to the passing of many remedial ordinances concerning church discipline (cfr. Labbe, "Conc.", IX, 1045-6), and led Leo IX to take Hugh with him to Rome that he might have the assistance and advice of the young abbot at the great council to be held in 1050, at which the question of clerical discipline was to be decided and the heresy of Berengarius condemned (cfr. Hefele, "Conciliengesch.", IV, 741). Leo's successor, Victor II, also held Hugh in the highest esteem, and confirmed in 1055 all the privileges of Cluny. On Hildebrand's arrival in France as papal legate (1054), he hastened first to Cluny to consult with Hugh and secure his assistance at the Council of Tours. Stephen IX, immediately on his elevation, summoned Hugh to Rome, made him the companion of his journeys, and finally died in his arms at Florence (1058). Hugh was also the companion of Nicholas II, and under him took part in the Council of Rome which promulgated the important decree concerning papal elections (Easter, 1059). He was then sent to France with Cardinal Stephan, a Monk of Monte Cassino, to effect the execution of the decrees of the Roman synod, and proceeded to Aquitaine, while his colleague repaired to the northwest. The active support of the numerous cloisters subject to Cluny enabled him to discharge his mission with the greatest success. He assembled councils at Avignon and Vienne, and managed to win the support of the bishops for many important reforms. In the same year (10) he presided over the Synod of Toulouse. At the Council of Rome in 1063 he defended the privileges of Cluny which had been recklessly attacked in France. Alexander II sent St. Peter Damian, Cardinal Bishop of Ostia, as legate to France to adjudicate in this and other matters, meanwhile ratifying all the privileges held by Hugh's predecessors. After a stay at Cluny, during which he conceived the high admiration and veneration for the monastery and its abbot reflected in his letters (cfr. "Epist.", VI, 2, 4, 5 in P.L., XCLIV, 378), the legate held a council at Châlons, which decided in favour of Hugh.

Scarcely had Hildebrand ascended the Chair of Peter as Gregory VII when he wrote to Cluny to secure Hugh's cooperation in promoting his various reforms. Hugh was entrusted to deal with the delicate case of the unworthy Archbishop Manasse of Reims, as well as with commissions in connection with the expedition of Count Evroul of Roucy against the Saracens in Spain. Frequently urged by Gregory to come to Rome, Hugh was unable to leave France until after the lamentable occurrences of 1076 (see GREGORY VII), but then hastened to visit the pope at Canossa. With the assistance of Countess Mathilda, he managed to bring about the reconciliation — unfortunately of short duration — between Gregory and Henry IV, who had already addressed a letter full of affection declaring his great desire for the peace of the Church (cfr. "Hist. Lit. de la France", loc. cit. infra). Hugh was subsequently engaged with the papal legate in Spain in the matter of ecclesiastical reform, and, as a result of his diligence and the high favour he enjoyed with Alphonsus VI of Castille, the Mozarabic was replaced by the Roman Ritual throughout that monarch's realm. Thanks to the assistance of the many Cluniac foundations in Catalonia, Castille, Leon, Aragon, etc., and the many bishops chosen from their inmates, he was also enabled to give a great impetus to ecclesiastical reform in these countries. In 1077 he was commissioned to presides over the Council of Langres, and later to undertake the removal of the Bishop of Orléans and the Archbishop of Reims. Gregory wrote him many affectionate letters, and at the Roman synod in 1081 referred to Hugh in terms of praise seldom used by a successor of Peter concerning a living person. That this appreciation was not confined to the Holy Father is evident from the fact that, when asked by Gregory whether his opinion was shared by them, all present answered: "Placet, laudamus" (Bullar. Clun., p. 21).

On the revival of the quarrel between Henry IV and the Holy See, Hugh set out immediately for Rome, but was seized on the way and conducted before the monarch. So earnestly did he urge Henry to make his submission to Peter's successor that he seemed again to have bridged the quarrel, if this were not another example of the king's well-known duplicity. It is scarcely necessary to state that Hugo's intimacy with the Holy See continued unchanged under Urban II and Paschal II, since both issued from the ranks of his monks, Surrounded by cardinals and bishops, Urban consecrated on 25 October, 1095, the high altar of the new church at Cluny, and granted the monastery new privileges, which were augmented by Paschal during his visit in 1107. At the great Council of Clermont in 1095, whose decision to organize the First Crusade was a clear indication of the great religious enthusiasm resulting from Gregory's and Hugh's labours, the abbot performed most valuable services in the composition and promulgation of the decrees, for which he was specially thanked by the pope. Until the death, in 1106, of Henry IV, who in that year addressed two letters to his ":dearest father", begging for his prayers and his intercession with the Holy See (cfr. "Hist. Lit. de la France", loc. cit. infra), Hugh never relaxed his efforts to bring about a reconciliation between the spiritual and temporal powers.

In the spring of 1109, Hugh, worn out with years and labours, and feeling his end approaching, asked for the Last Sacraments, summoned around him his spiritual children, and, having given each the kiss of peace, dismissed them with the greeting: Benedicite. Then, asking to be conveyed to the Chapel of our Blessed Lady, he laid himself in sackcloth and ashes before her altar, and thus breathed forth his soul to his Creator on the evening of Easter Monday (28 April). His tomb in the church was soon the scene of miracles, and to it Pope Gelasius I made a pilgrimage in 1119, dying at Cluny on 20 January. Elected at the monastery on 2 February, Callistus II began immediately the process of canonization, and, on 6 January, 1120, declared Hugh a saint, appointing 29 April his feast-day. In honour of St. Hugh the Abbot of Cluny was henceforth accorded the title and dignity of a cardinal. At the instance of Honorius III the translation of the saint's remains took place on 23 May, 1220, but, during the uprising of the Huguenots (1575), the remains and the costly shrine disappeared with the exception of a few relics.

Hugh's personality and influence

In the case of comparatively few of our saints has the decision of their own and subsequent ages been so unanimous as in that of St. Hugh. Living in an age of misrepresentation and abuse, when the Church had to contend with far grater domestic and external inimical forces than those marshalled by the so-called Reformation, not a single voice was raised against his character — for we disregard the criticism of the French bishop, who in the heat of a quarrel pronounced hasty words afterwards to be recalled, and who was subsequently one of Hugh's panegyrists. In one of his letters Gregory declares that he confidently expects the success of ecclesiastical reform in France through God's mercy and the instrumentality of Hugh, "whom no imprecation, no applause or favours, no personal motives can divert from the path of rectitude" (Gregorii VII Registr., IV, 22). In the "Life of Bishop Arnulf of Soissons", Arnulf says of Hugh: "Most pure in though and deed, he as the promoter and perfect guardian of monastic discipline and the regular life, the unfailing support of the true religious and of men of probity, the vigorous champion and defender of the Holy Church" (Mabillon, op. cit. infra, saec. VI, pars II, P. 532). And of his closing years Bishop Bruno of Segni writes: "Now aged and burdened with years, reverenced by all and loved by all, he still governs that venerable monastery [sc. Cluny] with the same consummate wisdom — a man in all things most laudable, difficult of comparison, and of wonderful sanctity" (Muratori, "Rerum Ital. script.", III, pt. ii, 347).

Emperors and kings vied with the sovereign pontiffs in bestowing on Hugh marks of their veneration and esteem. Henry the Black, in a letter which has come down to us, addresses Hugh as his "very dear father, worthy of every respect", declares that he owes his own return to health and the happy birth of his child to the abbot's prayers and urges him to come to the Court at Cologne the following Easter to stand sponsor for this son (the future Henry IV). During her widowhood Empress Agnes wrote to Hugh in terms no less respectful and affectionate, asking him to pray for the happy repose of her husband's soul and for the prosperous reign of her son. Reference has been already made to the letters sent to Hugh by Henry IV, who, notwithstanding his prolonged struggle to make the Church subservient to the imperial power, seems never to have lost his affection and profound respect for his saintly godfather. In recognition of the benefits derived from the Cluniac foundations, Ferdinand the Great of Castille and Leon (d. 1065) made his kingdom tributary to Cluny; his sons Sancho and Alfonso VI doubled the tribute, and the latter, in addition to introducing the Roman Ritual at Hugh's request, carried on a most affectionate correspondence with the abbot. In 1081 Hugh was chosen by the kings and princes of the various Christian kingdoms of Spain as arbiter to decide the question of succession. When Robert II of Burgundy refused to attend the Council of Autun (1065), at which his presence was necessary, Hugo was sent to summon the duke, and remonstrated with him so eloquently in the interests of peace that Robert accompanied the abbot unresistingly to the council, became reconciled with those who had put his son to death, and promised to respect thenceforth the property of the Church.

William the Conqueror of England, shortly after the Battle of Hastings (1066), made rich presents to Cluny and begged to be admitted a confrater of the abbey like the Spanish kings. He subsequently begged Hugh to send six monks to England to minister to the spiritual needs of the Court, and renewed his request in 1078, promising to appoint twelve of the Cluniac Congregation to bishoprics and abbacies within the kingdom. Hugh disabused his mind on the subject of ecclesiastical appointments, and, when founding a little later the Priorate of St. Pancras at Lewes, took every precaution to secure in the case of it and its dependent cloisters freedom of election and respect for canon law. How necessary this precaution was, the Investiture war, which broke out under William's sons, clearly indicated. The champion of the Church in this struggle, St. Anselm of Canterbury, was one of the many bishops who consulted Hugh in their difficulties and trials, and on three occasions — once during his exile from England — visited the abbot at Cluny.

For the monks under is care Hugh was a model of fatherly forethought, of devotion to discipline and prayer, and unhesitating obedience to the Holy See. In furtherance of the great objects of his order, the service of God and personal sanctification, he strove to impart the utmost possible splendour and solemnity to the liturgical services at Cluny. Some of his liturgical ordinances, such as the singing of the Veni Creator at Tierce on Pentecost Sunday (subsequently also within the octave), have since been extended to the entire Roman Church. He began the magnificent church at Cluny — now unfortunately entirely disappeared — which was, until the erection of St. Peter's at Rome, the largest church in Christendom, and was esteemed the finest example of the Romanesque style in France. For the part played by Cluny in the evolution of this style and for its special school of sculpture, the reader must be referred to treatises on the history of architecture. Hugh gave the first impulse to the introduction of the strict cloister into the convents of nuns, prescribing it first for that of Marcigny, of which his sister became first prioress in 1061 (Cucherat, op. cit. infra), and where his mother also took the veil. Renowned for his charity towards the suffering poor, he built a hospital for lepers, where he himself performed the most menial duties. It is impossible to trace here the effect which his granting of personal and civic freedom to the bondsmen and colonists feudatory to Cluny, and the fostering of tradesmen's guilds — the nuclei from which most of the modern cities of Europe sprang — have had on civilization.

Although his favourite study was the Scriptures, St. Hugh encouraged science in every possible way, and showed his deep interest in education by teaching in person in the school attached to the monastery. Notwithstanding the exceeding activity of his life he found time to carry on an extensive correspondence. Almost all his letters and his "Life of the Blessed Virgin", for whom as well as for the souls in purgatory he had a great devotion, have been lost. However, his extant letters and his "Sermo" in honour of the martyred Saint Marcellus are sufficient to show "how well he could write and with what skill he could speak to the heart" (Hist. Lit. de la France, IX, 479).

Sources


The sources for Hugh's biography are the Vitae of RAINALD, HILDEDETER, the monk HUGO, GILO, and ANONYMUS PRIMUS and SECUNDUS. The Vitae of Rainald and Anonymus Primus. together with a melded Synopsis of the former also by Rainald are given in Acta S.S., III, Apr., 648 58; those of Hildebert, Hugo and Anonymus Secundus in Bibliotheca Cluniacensis, ed. MARRIER and DU CHESNE (Paris, 1614), 413 38; 447 62, 557-69, LEHMANN, Forschungen zur Gesch. des Abtes Hugo I von Cluny (Gottingen, 1869) is a careful consideration of the information contained in all the above Vitae except that by Gilo. The Vita of Gilo was first edited by L'HUILLIER, Vie de St-Hugues (Solesmes, 1888), probably the best biography et written. For the Cluniac discipline see HEROOTT, Vetus disciplina monastica (Paris, 1726), 371 sqq., and P.L., XCLIX (Paris, 1882). The following works may also be consulted: DUCKETT, Charters and Records of Cluni (Lewes, 1890); IDEM, Record-Evidences among Archives of the Ancient Abbey of Cluni from 1077 to 1537 (Lewes, 1886), containing documents in connection with the foundation of the order in England; MABILLON, Annales O.S.B., III V (Paris, 1703-38); SAINTE-MARTHE, Gallia Christ., IV (Paris, 1728), 1117; HELVOT, Hist. des ordres religieux, V (Paris, 1792); CHAMPLY, Hist. de Cluny (Macon, 1866); Hist. Lit. de la France, IX, 465 sqq.; HEIMBUCHER, Die Orden u. Kongreg. der kath. Kirche, I (Paderborn, 1896), 116 sqq.; BAUMER in Kirchenlex., s.v.; BOURGAIN, Chaire Francaise, XII s. (1879), 72; BRIAL, Rec. hist. France, XIV (1896), exi, 71 3; PIGNOT, Hist. de Cluny, II (Paris, 1868), 1-372; WATTENBACH, Deutsch. Geschichtsquell., II (1874), 150; CUCHERAT, Cluny au onzième siècle (Autun, 1886); BERNARD and BRUEL, Recueil des chartes de l'Abbaye de Cluny (Paris, 1876-); GREEVEN, Die Wirksankeit der Cluniacenser auf kirchl. u. polit. Gebiete im 11. Jahrhunderete (Wesel, 1870).

Kennedy, Thomas. "St. Hugh the Great." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 31 Mar. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07524a.htm>.

Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Michael T. Barrett. Dedicated to the Poor Souls in Purgatory.


Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. June 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.

SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07524a.htm

April 29
St. Hugh, Abbot of Cluni, Confessor
HE was a prince related to the sovereign house of the dukes of Burgundy, and had his education under the tuition of his pious mother, and under the care of Hugh, bishop of Auxerre, his great uncle. From his infancy he was exceedingly given to prayer and meditation, and his life was remarkably innocent and holy. The world he always looked upon as a tempestuous sea, worked up by the storms of human passions, and concealing rocks and shelves everywhere under its boisterous waves. In obedience to the will of his father, he learned the exercises of fencing and riding. But one day hearing an account of the wonderful sanctity of the monks of Cluni, under St. Odilo, he was so moved, that he set out that moment, and going thither, humbly begged the monastic habit. After a rigid novitiate, he made his profession in 1039, being sixteen years old. His extraordinary virtue, especially his admirable humility, obedience, charity, sweetness, prudence, and zeal, gained him the respect of the whole community; and, upon the death of St. Odilo, in 1049, though only twenty-five years old, he succeeded to the government of that great abbey, which he held sixty-two years. He received to the religious profession, Hugh, duke of Burgundy, and died on the 29th of April, in 1109, aged eighty-five. 1 He was canonized twelve years after his death by Pope Calixtus II. See his life written in the same age, by Hildebert, bishop of Mans, afterwards archbishop of Tours, among his works published by Dom. Beaugendre, in 1705; also in Papebroke, 29 Apr. p. 628 and 658. See likewise Ceillier, t. 21, p. 353; Mabil. l. 71; Annal. Bened. and t. p. 9. Actor.

Note 1. Several of the letters of St. Hugh of Cluni are extant. In one to William the Conqueror, who had offered him for his house one hundred pounds for every monk he would send into England, he answered that he would give that sum himself for every good monk he could procure for his monastery, if such a thing were to be purchased. The true reason of his refusal was, his fear of the monks he should send falling into relaxations by living in monasteries not reformed. He left many wise statutes for his monks, and others for the nuns of Marcigni, of which monastery he was the founder. See them published by Dom. Marrier, and H. Duchesne, in their Bibliotheca Cluniacensis, p. 500. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73).  Volume IV: April. The Lives of the Saints.  1866.

SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/4/293.html

Hugh of Cluny, OSB Abbot (RM)
(also known as Hugh the Great)


Born at Semur (Samur, near Autun), Burgundy, France, in 1024; died at Cluny in 1109; canonized by Pope Callistus III in 1120.


Hugh, eldest son of Count Dalmatius of Semur, entered the monastery at Cluny, France, at age 15. It was unusual that a nobleman would allow his heir to chose this vocation so early in life, especially when he seems destined to a notable career in the world. Nevertheless, Hugh's father may have realized that his son was more suited for the monastery, than the court. The youth was overly studious and too clumsy to be a knight. In fact, though, Hugh may have professed himself a monk at Cluny (c. 1040) in defiance of his father.

Hugh was ordained five years later, was named prior shortly thereafter, and in 1049, at the tender age of 25, succeeded Saint Odilo as abbot. By then, Hugh had grown tall and handsome, able and sympathetic, focussed yet detached--the perfect person to executive the plans God had for him. The abbacy carried with it the leadership of the powerful Benedictine confederation that depended upon Cluny. He also continued Saint Odilo's policy of bringing the more than 200 constituent monasteries of the congregation into closer dependence on the mother house. In the 60 years of Hugh's governance, the number of dependents expanded from about 60 to about 2,000 with various forms of association, in Italy, France, Spain, and England.

Hugh attended the Council of Rheims and eloquently supported the reforms of Pope Saint Leo IX, denouncing simony and the relaxation of clerical discipline. Hugh went back to Rome with Leo, attended a synod condemning Berengarius of Tours in 1050, and in 1057, as papal legate, effected peace between Emperor Henry IV and King Andrew of Hungary.

Hugh assisted Pope Nicholas II in drawing up the decree on papal elections at a council in Rome in 1059 and continued in close relationship with the Holy See when Hildebrand, who had been a monk at Cluny, was elected pope as Gregory VII. Hugh worked closely with Gregory to reform the Church and revive spiritual life in it. In 1068, settled the usage for the whole Cluniac order. In 1095, he had Pope Urban II consecrate the high altar of the basilica at Cluny, then the largest church in Christendom, and was a leader at the Council of Clermont in organizing the First Crusade.

He served nine popes, was adviser of emperors, kings, bishops, and religious superiors. Hugh's list of friends could be a 'who's who' of the period: Saint Anselm, Blessed Urban II, and Saint Peter Damien. Hugh's integrity and generosity were known to all; when Saint Anselm fell out with King William II of England, it was to Hugh at Cluny that he first went for counsel. He also mediated in the bitter feud between Pope Gregory and Emperor Henry IV at Canossa in 1077. Hugh also founded a hospital at Marcigny in which he loved to wait upon the lepers with his own hands.

He championed reforms wherever he went. Universally admired for his intellectual and spiritual attainments and as a simple man of great prudence and justice, he exercised a dominant influence on the political and ecclesiastical affairs of his times. Hugh was a man of eminent psychological insight and diplomatic ability. Hugh's saintly life impressed such varied men as Saint Peter Damian and William the Conqueror (Attwater, Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Gill, Husenbeth).

SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0429.shtml

Sant' Ugo di Cluny Abate


Brionnais (Autun), 1024 - Cluny (Francia), 29 aprile 1109

Ugo il Grande fu il quarto abate della celebre abbazia benedettina di Cluny, centro della rinascita religiosa, e non solo, che investì l'Europa dell'XI secolo. Nato nel 1024, eletto a venticinque anni alla guida della comunità monastica francese, governò numerosi monasteri. Fu consigliere di re e papi, tra i quali Gregorio VII (Ildebrando di Soana) che prima di accedere al soglio pontificio era stato un suo monaco. Morì nel 1109. (Avvenire)

Martirologio Romano: A Cluny in Burgundia, nell’odierna Francia, sant’Ugo, abate, che per sessantuno anni resse santamente il monastero di questo luogo, sempre dedito alle elemosine e alla preghiera, custode e instancabile promotore della disciplina monastica, fervido amministratore e propagatore della santa Chiesa.

Le notizie su questo santo abate dell’abbazia benedettina di Cluny in Francia, fondata nel 910 da Guglielmo il Pio, duca di Aquitania, ci pervengono da ben quattro ‘Vite’ tutte scritte dal 1120 al 1125, praticamente quasi contemporanee, essendo s. Ugo morto nel 1109. 

Egli nacque nel 1024 a Brionnais nella diocesi di Autun, primo degli otto figli del conte Dalmazio di Semur e imparentato con i duchi di Aquitania e con i conti di Poitou. 

Contrariamente ai desideri paterni di farlo diventare un cavaliere, Ugo appoggiato dalla madre, si indirizzò verso gli studi, insistendo riuscì ad entrare nel convento di S. Marcello di Chalon nel 1037, per ricevere un’adeguata educazione. 

Questo convento era stato donato a Cluny da un suo parente, il vescovo di Auxerre, Ugo conte di Chalon. Nel 1039, vincendo ancora l’opposizione del padre, entrò a 15 anni, come novizio nell’abbazia di Cluny e qui nel 1044 a venti anni fece la sua professione e ordinato sacerdote; tre o quattro anni dopo a soli 24 anni, divenne priore maggiore nella celebre abbazia. 

Nel 1048 venne inviato in Germania in missione presso l’imperatore Enrico IV, era ancora in viaggio, quando il 1° gennaio 1049 morì l’abate di Cluny, s. Odilone, Ugo fu eletto come successore il 20 febbraio, insediandosi due giorni dopo. 

Il suo abbaziato durò moltissimo, circa 61 anni e fu diviso tra i periodi trascorsi a Cluny ed i numerosi viaggi nelle varie Case dell’Ordine benedettino, dipendenti dall’abbazia cluniacense e in vari Paesi stranieri; come è noto i viaggi di allora erano fatti a piedi o a dorso di mulo o cavallo, quindi i tempi erano lunghi ed i percorsi pieni di pericoli e difficoltà. 

I suoi viaggi e le date sono state accuratamente tracciate in tutti i particolari, da studiosi della materia; nel 1049 fu a Reims per il Concilio là svoltasi; poi accompagnò fino a Roma il papa Leone IX dove prese parte al Sinodo del 1050; nella Pasqua del 1051 si trovava a Colonia per il battesimo del figlio dell’imperatore Enrico III. 

Ancora lo si trova in Ungheria per fare opera di riconciliazione fra l’imperatore suddetto ed il re Andrea I, durante il viaggio di ritorno, fu catturato dai banditi e liberato poi dopo il pagamento di un riscatto. Nel 1055 e 1056 partecipò a dei Concili in Italia e in Francia; negli anni successivi fu di nuovo a Roma ad un Sinodo e a Firenze per la morte di papa Stefano IX; partecipò al Concilio Lateranense del 1059, presiedette in Francia alcuni Concili Provinciali, tornò a Roma per il Sinodo del 1063, poi è di nuovo in Francia con s. Pier Damiani, che partecipa al Concilio di Chalon, per dirimere una controversia instauratasi tra Cluny e il vescovo di Mâcon. 

Continuando in questa incredibile missione itinerante, tanto faticosa per quell’epoca, Ugo prosegue nella sua opera di legato pontificio nel Mezzogiorno della Francia; nel 1072 è alla Dieta di Worms in Germania, e nel 1073 è in Spagna. Negli anni successivi farà da mediatore tra il papa e l’imperatore a Canossa, incontrerà nei loro luoghi di residenza Guglielmo il Conquistatore, papa Gregorio VII, l’imperatore Enrico IV, il re di Spagna Alfonso VI; nel 1093-94 è al monastero di S. Biagio nella Foresta Nera. 

Quando risiede a Cluny, accoglie papa Urbano II nel 1095, s. Anselmo d’Aosta nel 1097, papa Pasquale II nel 1106. Concluse la sua laboriosissima vita ad 85 anni, il 29 aprile 1109 a Cluny. 

Durante il periodo della sua carica di abate, Cluny raggiunse il suo massimo splendore, nonostante che la stessa abbazia risentì per altri versi, delle sue continue e prolungate assenze; Ugo non era incline ad allargare ulteriormente le fondazioni monastiche, che si ricollegavano all’abbazia madre di Cluny, specie se lontane come in Inghilterra; ad ogni modo se splendore vi fu, dopo la sua morte cominciò un periodo di decadenza di Cluny, che gli studiosi fanno risalire già ad alcune iniziative di Ugo. 

Infatti l’Abbazia fu ridimensionata nel numero di monaci, perché molti furono mandati a popolare le nuove fondazioni; una conseguenza fu che si abbreviò il tempo del noviziato e il tempo della formazione e già nel 1075-1086 la Comunità del monastero dava segni di stanchezza; il progredire della prosperità materiale, provocò fra i monaci una diminuzione dello spirito di povertà e di austerità e un interesse maggiore verso le costruzioni; si mendicava, più che lavorare. 

La provvisoria decadenza dell’Istituzione, com’è nella logica delle cose terrene e che accadde dopo un periodo di splendore, fu certamente ritardata dalla forte personalità del santo abate, durante i sessanta lunghi anni del suo governo. 

Per quanto riguarda il culto, per s. Ugo c’è una particolarità; quando all’inizio del 1120, papa Callisto II visitò Cluny, gli venne chiesto, in base ad alcuni documenti, di riconoscere la santità del grande abate, santità che fino a pochissimo tempo prima, veniva perlopiù dichiarata a grande richiesta popolare. 

Il papa non ritenne sufficienti i documenti presentati e chiese allora un interrogatorio di testimoni; questo è uno dei più antichi casi di una ricerca storica preliminare ad una canonizzazione. Soddisfatto ciò il papa il 6 gennaio dello stesso anno 1120, dichiarò santo Ugo di Cluny, fissandone la festa al 29 aprile. 

Successivamente in parecchi monasteri benedettini, la festa fu unificata nello stesso giorno, per i quattro santi abati di Cluny, Oddone, Maiolo, Odilone e Ugo.
La grande reputazione del santo abate, fu associata a quella di altri due grandi personaggi della Chiesa, suoi contemporanei, papa s. Gregorio VII (1020-1085) e s. Anselmo d’Aosta (1033-1109). 

Le sue reliquie furono nel 1220 deposte in una cassa per la venerazione dei fedeli, su autorizzazione di papa Onorio III. Nel 1562 gli Ugonotti (in Francia, i protestanti seguaci di Calvino) saccheggiarono l’abbazia di Cluny e il corpo del santo, dopo un tentativo di salvataggio portandolo nel castello di Lourdon, fu bruciato e disperso al vento con altre reliquie; si salvò solo un frammento del femore.

Autore:
Antonio Borrelli

Voir aussi : http://www.dieu-parmi-nous.com/NIC/Hugues.de.Cluny.pdf

http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/bec_0373-6237_1900_num_61_1_452603

http://www.narthex.fr/blogs/abbaye-de-cluny-910-2010/hugues-de-semur-1ere-partie