St. Odilo of Cluny: Feast Day, Patronage & Prayers
Feast day: Not on the General Roman Calendar.
Patron of: The souls in purgatory (by long association with All Souls' Day).
About St. Odilo of Cluny
St. Odilo was born around 962 into a noble family of Auvergne, in central France. According to tradition, he was healed of a childhood illness after his parents brought him to a church of Our Lady, and he later entered the great Benedictine abbey of Cluny in Burgundy. In 994, still a young man, he became its abbot and led the monastery for more than fifty years, a time when Cluny and its network of houses were a center of reform and prayer for the whole Western Church.
Odilo was known for his gentleness and generosity, especially in times of famine, when he sold even sacred vessels to feed the hungry. He was said to prefer to be judged for too much mercy than for too much severity. He promoted the Truce of God, which sought to limit violence in feudal warfare. Above all, he is remembered for establishing, around the year 998, a yearly commemoration of all the faithful departed on November 2 in the Cluniac monasteries, a custom that spread through the whole Church as All Souls' Day. He died in 1049.
Prayers to St. Odilo of Cluny on Daily Catholic Prayers
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