Saint Udalric (Ulric) of Cluny

His fervent devotion to the mysteries of the Savior's passion led him to undertake a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Upon his return, he went to Rome with a pious scholastic or schoolmaster from Regensburg, named Gerald, and from there to France, where they took their vows in the monastery of Cluny, then directed by the illustrious Sain l'illustre saint Hugues Master and mentor of Peter the Venerable. t Hugh. Under the guidance of this excellent leader, Udalric made great progress in perfection. His prayers became more frequent and longer, his fasts and mortifications more austere, his labors more continuous and harder. He kept the deepest silence, always walked with his eyes cast down, and was as obedient as a child. The fruits of such a holy life were peace of soul, gentleness, affability, and profound humility. In a word, his life was the model of all virtues.

Saint Hugh, appreciating such rare merit, raised Udalric to the priesthood, made him his chaplain and advisor, and even appointed him confessor of the monastery. Such a choice could not fail to be approved. People flocked from all sides to the holy religious, and they considered themselves fortunate if they could entrust the matter of their salvation to him. He responded to this general trust with sincere affection, winning all hearts through his kindness, his affability, and his zeal for the happiness of his brothers.

A few years later, he was appointed prior of M arcigny-les-Nonnains Marcigny-les-Nonnains Priory where Udalric was appointed prior. (Marciniacum, Côte-d'Or). Leading a very harsh life in this monastery, spending a large part of the day and even the night writing, he contracted violent headaches there. One day, when he was suffering the most, he washed his forehead with wormwood, some drops of which entered his eye. This accident, which nearly cost him his sight, compelled Saint Hugh to recall him to Cluny.

When he was reinstated there, he was sent to Germany to found a monastery. Mont-Roger, in the diocese of Mainz, seemed suitable to him for this purpose; unable to begin the work immediately because of the winter, he went to bury himself with his brothers in a solitude to attend quietly to the exercises of penance. This solitude, however, could not shield him from the eagerness of the people. They came from all parts to him to receive healing for the maladies of the soul and body. Having returned to Cluny after the foundation of Mont-Roger (Mons sancti Remigii), he was sent as prior to Payerne, in the diocese of Lausanne. There, his zeal having drawn some persecutions upon him, Saint Hugh charged him with founding and directing a monastery near Vieux-Brisach, in the Grand Duchy of Baden.

The holy man soon perceived that this place was not solitary enough for a convent, whose tranquility and silence would have been too often disturbed by the dwellings scattered around. He therefore sought to establish his spiritual sons in a place more removed from the tumult of the world. After having examined various places, he fixed his choice on a solitude, surrounded by woods and mountains, which had always borne the name of Cell. He went to Bu rcha Cell Solitude where Udalric founded an important monastery. rd of Hasenburg, Bishop of Basel, concluded an exchange with him, and received from him the property of Cell in perpetuity. Soon the church was seen to rise, which was dedicated to the apostles Saint Peter and Saint Paul. All the Christian virtues illustrated this holy retreat and attracted a great number of souls eager for their salvation. Severe in the admission of religious, when rich ones presented themselves, Udalric would represent to them in the greatest detail the rigors of monastic discipline and the poverty of the house; and it was only after having tested their constancy and the purity of their intentions several times that he granted them entry into his community.

He also established a monastery for nuns at Boleswiller. It was in this house that, through the invocation of the most Holy Trinity, he healed a girl of a chancre she had on her face. Previously, at Griningen, he had delivered a woman possessed by the devil; and, later, by the sole invocation of the holy name of Jesus, he extinguished a fire. Such mastery over nature is proof of a high degree of holiness. Indeed, his words and actions revealed an angelic purity of heart, and an ardent desire to do good to others, a modesty that never faltered, and extraordinary gentleness and uprightness. One could not tire of admiring the patience and equanimity he showed in adversity, and his moderation and humility in success. As for the observance of monastic discipline and the rule, his subordinates had in him the most perfect example, an example that spoke incessantly. His principle regarding mortification was to eat only when nature compelled him to. He was a friend of silence and possessed the gift of contemplation to the highest degree. Often he was seen entirely immersed in it, as if he were before the throne of the eternal Judge, his face bathed in tears. A religious having asked him on this subject why he was night and day in sadness and tears, he replied with a deep sense of humility: "I weep to wash myself, through the tears of penance, from the stains of sin; what draws these tears from me are the miseries of this life and the distance from our heavenly homeland; I weep because we religious are worth more by our numbers than by our merits." He was no less distinguished by his affability toward strangers and by his charity for the poor, whose every need was the object of his fatherly solicitude. He was even seen taking off his own clothes to give them to the needy.

To so many virtues, Udalric also joined the gift of miracles, a high wisdom, and an erudition that spread his reputation everywhere. He composed, at the request of A bbot William of Hirschau, tw l'abbé Guillaume de Hirschau German reformist abbot who requested the writings of Ulrich. o books on the customs of Cluny, which were introduced into many monasteries in Germany.

The Saint, before his death, had yet another harsh trial to endure, so that the measure of his merits might be filled; during the last years of his life, he was entirely deprived of sight, probably as a result of the accident that had befallen him at Marcigny. After this most painful loss, he devoted himself with renewed fervor to prayer and the contemplation of eternal truths. He died probably on July 10, around the year 1093; for it is on this day that the monks of Cluny have always celebrated his feast. He was buried in the cloister, and later, at the request of Saint Hugh of Cluny, raised from the earth by the pious Bishop Gebhard of Constance, and transferred to the priory church.

The only work that remains to us of Saint Ulrich is the Collectio n of the ancient usages or customs of Cluny, wr Recueil des anciens usages ou coutumes de Cluny Work describing Cluniac monastic life. itten for the monasteries of Germany.

Taken from the Légendaire d'Autun, by Abbé Pequegnot. — Cf. Mabillon and the Acta Sanctorum.