PEOPLE KNOWN FOR: monasticism
pope
St. Gregory the Great ; Western feast day, September 3 [formerly March 12, still observed in the East]) was the pope from 590 to 604, a reformer and excellent administrator, “founder” of the medieval papacy,...
Italian monk
St. Benedict ; feast day July 11, formerly March 21) was the founder of the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino and father of Western monasticism; the Rule that he established became the norm for monastic...
French abbot
Saint Odo of Cluny ; feast day November 18) was the second abbot of Cluny (927–942) and an important monastic reformer. Most of the details of Odo’s youth are recorded by his first biographer, the monk...
Spanish cardinal
Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros was a prelate, religious reformer, and twice regent of Spain (1506, 1516–17). In 1507 he became both a cardinal and the grand inquisitor of Spain, and during his public life...
Egyptian monk
St. Anthony of Egypt ; feast day January 17) was a religious hermit and one of the earliest Desert Fathers, considered the founder and father of organized Christian monasticism. His rule (book of observances)...
Greek abbot
Saint Nilus of Ancyra ; feast day November 12) was a Greek Byzantine abbot and author of extensive ascetical literature that influenced both Eastern and Western monasticism. He also participated in the...
Spanish mystic
St. John of the Cross ; canonized 1726; feast day December 14) was one of the greatest Christian mystics and Spanish poets, doctor of the church, reformer of Spanish monasticism, and cofounder of the contemplative...
Egyptian monk
Macarius the Egyptian ; feast day January 15) was a monk and ascetic who, as one of the Desert Fathers, advanced the ideal of monasticism in Egypt and influenced its development throughout Christendom....
Greek monk-theologian
Theodore Ascidas was a monk-theologian and archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, who was the leading advocate of a Platonist school of Christian theology and a principal consultant at the second Council...
Orthodox patriarch
Euthymius Of Tŭrnovo was an Orthodox patriarch of Tŭrnovo, near modern Sofia, monastic scholar and linguist whose extensive literary activity spearheaded the late medieval renaissance in Bulgaria and erected...
English archbishop
Saint Dunstan of Canterbury ; feast day May 19) was an English abbot, celebrated archbishop of Canterbury, and a chief adviser to the kings of Wessex, who is best known for the major monastic reforms that...
Asian saint
Saint Theodosius of Palestine ; feast day January 11) was a principal proponent of orthodoxy in the Christological controversy (a dispute centring on the nature and person of Christ) and one of the fathers...
Russian Orthodox abbot and theologian
Saint Joseph of Volokolamsk ; canonized 1578; feast day September 9) was a Russian Orthodox abbot and theologian whose monastic reform emphasized strict community life and social work. Joseph’s monastic...
Christian theologian
Pelagius was a monk and theologian whose heterodox theological system known as Pelagianism emphasized the primacy of human effort in spiritual salvation. Coming to Rome about 380, Pelagius, though not...
French ascetic
Peter the Hermit was an ascetic and monastic founder, considered one of the most important preachers of the First Crusade. He was also, with Walter Sansavoir, one of the leaders of the so-called People’s...
Russian saint
Saint Sergius of Radonezh was a Russian Orthodox monk whose spiritual doctrine and social programs made him one of Russia’s most respected spiritual leaders. His monastery of the Trinity became the Russian...
English saint
St. Oswald of York ; feast day February 28) was an Anglo-Saxon archbishop who was a leading figure in the 10th-century movement of monastic and feudalistic reforms. Under the spiritual direction of his...
patriarch of Constantinople
Philotheus Kokkinos was a theologian, monk, and patriarch of Constantinople, a leader of the Byzantine monastic and religious revival in the 14th century. His numerous theological, liturgical, and canonical...
American religious leader
Harriet Starr Cannon was a 19th-century American religious leader, a cofounder of the Community of St. Mary, an Episcopal sisterhood that focuses on child health and welfare. Cannon was orphaned at age...
monk
St. John Cassian ; Eastern feast day February 29 (observed on February 28 during non-leap years); Western feast day July 23) was an ascetic, monk, theologian, and founder and first abbot of the famous...
Palestinian monk
Saint Sabas ; feast day December 5) was a Christian Palestinian monk, champion of orthodoxy in the 5th-century controversies over the nature of Christ. He founded the monastery known as the Great Laura...
patriarch of Constantinople
Athanasius I was a Byzantine monk and patriarch of Constantinople, who directed the opposition to the reunion of Greek and Latin churches decreed by the Second Council of Lyon in 1274. His efforts in reforming...
Serbian monk
St. Sava ; feast day January 14) was a monk, founder, and first archbishop of the independent Serbian Orthodox Church. His policy of recognizing the jurisdiction of the patriarch of Constantinople (now...
French abbess
Jacqueline-Marie-Angélique Arnauld was a monastic reformer who was abbess of the important Jansenist centre of Port-Royal de Paris. She was one of six sisters of the prominent Jansenist theologian Antoine...
Chinese monk
Ch’ang-ch’un was a Taoist monk and alchemist who journeyed from China across the heartland of Asia to visit Genghis Khan, the famed Mongol conqueror, at his encampment north of the Hindu Kush mountains....
Egyptian religious reformer
Shenute was a monastic reformer, abbot of the White Monastery, near Atripe in Upper Egypt, who is regarded as a saint in the Coptic (Egyptian Christian) Church. Shenute entered monastic life as a youth...
English monk
Byrhtferth of Ramsey was an English monk, among the most learned and well-read scholars of the 10th and 11th centuries, who is best known for his Enchiridion, a scientific textbook. Byrhtferth was a monk...
French mystic
Mary Of The Incarnation was a mystic whose activity and influence in religious affairs inspired most of the leading French ecclesiastics of her time. Although Mary wished to be a nun, her parents insisted...
French monk
Franciscus Ludovicus Blosius was a Benedictine monastic reformer and mystical writer. Of noble birth, he was a page at the court of the future emperor Charles V and received his early education from the...
Roman Catholic saint
St. Robert of Molesme ; canonized 1222; feast day April 29) was a French Benedictine monk and abbot, monastic reformer, and founder of Cîteaux (Latin: Cistercium) Abbey (1098), which developed into the...
Russian mystic
Saint Nil Sorsky ; feast day May 7) was the first Russian mystic to write about the contemplative life and to formulate a guide for spiritual self-perfection. After a trip to Constantinople and Mount Athos,...
Italian saint
St. Francis of Assisi ; canonized July 16, 1228; feast day October 4) was the founder of the Franciscan orders of the Friars Minor (Ordo Fratrum Minorum), the women’s Order of St. Clare (the Poor Clares),...
Christian scholar
St. Jerome ; feast day September 30) was a biblical translator and monastic leader, traditionally regarded as the most learned of the Latin Fathers. He lived for a time as a hermit, became a priest, served...
bishop of Caesarea
St. Basil the Great ; Western feast day January 2; Eastern feast day January 1) was an early Church Father who defended the orthodox faith against the Arian heresy. As bishop of Caesarea, he wrote several...
Galatian monk, bishop, and chronicler
Palladius was a Galatian monk, bishop, and chronicler whose Lausiac History, an account of early Egyptian and Middle Eastern Christian monasticism, provides the most valuable single source for the origins...
Roman monk
Arsenius the Great ; feast day July 19) was a Roman noble, later monk of Egypt, whose asceticism among the Christian hermits in the Libyan Desert caused him to be ranked among the celebrated Desert Fathers...
Greek Orthodox metropolitan
Eustathius of Thessalonica was a metropolitan (archbishop) of Thessalonica (c. 1175–94), humanist scholar, author, and Greek Orthodox reformer whose chronicles, oratory, and pedagogy show him to be one...
English biographer and historian
Edmer was an English biographer of St. Anselm and historian whose accounts are a uniquely accurate and credible portrait of the 12th-century monastic community at Canterbury. Born into a wealthy family...
German historian
Ekkehard IV was a teacher, glossarist, writer, famous as one of the principal authors of Casus Sancti Galli (“The Events of Sankt Gallen [St. Gall]”)—an important history of the monastery. He grew up at...
Byzantine monk
John Moschus was a Byzantine monk and writer whose work Pratum spirituale (“The Spiritual Meadow”), describing monastic spiritual experiences throughout the Middle East, became a popular example of ascetic...
British cardinal
Francis Aidan Gasquet was an English Roman Catholic historian, a cardinal from 1914, and prefect of the Vatican archives from 1917. Educated at Downside School (Somerset), Gasquet entered the Benedictine...
French philosopher
Francis Of Meyronnes was a Franciscan monk, one of the principal philosopher–theologians of 14th-century Scholasticism and a leading advocate of the subtle system of Realism proposed by the English Scholastic...
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