Saint Odo of Cluny

Saint Odo of Cluny (born 878 or 879, probably in Aquitaine [France]—died Nov. 18, 942, Tours, Touraine [France]; feast day November 18) was the second abbot of Cluny (927–942) and an important monastic reformer.

Early life

Most of the details of Odo’s youth are recorded by his first biographer, the monk John of Salerno, who, writing after Odo’s death (perhaps in the 950s), presented his account of Odo’s childhood as a verbatim confession from the abbot himself. When Odo was an infant, his parents dedicated him to St. Martin, a 4th-century bishop of Tours. Later, however, they forgot the dedication—which had been an impulsive and secret vow—and prepared him for a life in the world. Odo was given a rudimentary education and sent to the court of Duke William I (the Pious) of Aquitaine to become a warrior. At the age of 19, Odo learned of his aborted dedication and immediately abandoned William’s court for the canonry of St. Martin. He also spent some time in Paris in the early 900s, studying with the renowned scholar Remigius of Auxerre (c. 841–c. 908). When Odo finally decided to become a monk (at about the age of 30), he took 100 books with him to his first monastic home, Baume, where he became schoolmaster under Abbot Berno.

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A member of the entourage of Duke William, Berno was abbot of a small group of monasteries, and in 910 he became the first abbot of Cluny as well. The monastery had been recently founded by the duke and his wife, Ingelberga, and Odo may have been involved in drawing up Cluny’s founding charter (the original charter is extant and is signed by an “Oddo laeuita”—“Oddo, levite,” meaning “deacon”). The charter, which would have great influence on the history of the church, freed the monastery from any earthly domination, put it under the control of the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul and the protection of the pope, and enjoined it to follow the Benedictine Rule, the guidelines of monastic life compiled by Benedict of Nursia in the 6th century.

Abbot of Cluny

When Berno drew up his will in 926, he split the small collection of monasteries under his authority into two parts, leaving Odo the half that included Cluny, Massay, and Déols. Upon Berno’s death in 927, Odo became abbot of Cluny and began to appeal to kings and popes for privileges to guarantee the provisions of Cluny’s charter. In his very first year as abbot, he obtained a charter from the West Frankish king Rudolf (923–936) to this effect. In 931 he gained one from Pope John XI that went further, granting Cluny the right to receive any monk of any other monastery, because most of the others “swerve from their purpose.” Thus, Odo cultivated the image of Cluny as a model monastery, and he was soon called upon to reform or even take over (as abbot himself) a number of other monasteries and bring them to the observance of the Benedictine Rule. These were Romainmôtier (929), Aurillac (c. 930), Fleury (c. 930), Sarlat (c. 930), Tulle (c. 930), Saint-Allyre of Clermont (c. 933), Saint-Pierre-le-Vif (Sens) (c. 938), St. Paul Major (Rome) (936), St. Elias in Nepi (c. 940), Farfa (c. 940), St. Mary on the Aventine (c. 940), Montecassino (c. 940), and Saint-Julien of Tours (942). In general, these monasteries were expected to adhere to the requirements regarding diet, silence, prayer, chastity, and enclosure enjoined by the Rule as interpreted by the Cluniacs, whose particular emphasis was on prayer.

Most of these monasteries were located in southern France or Italy, where Odo had particularly close personal ties with local magnates. He played the role of peacemaker between Alberic II, prince of Rome (932–954), and King Hugh of Italy (926–945) during their struggle for preeminence, and Alberic turned to him to reform various monasteries in and around Rome. Odo also cultivated a local network of donors in the neighbourhood of Cluny. During his abbacy there were at least 82 donations of land to Cluny, an average of 5.5 per year, most given by property owners living in Cluny’s vicinity. That compares favourably with the rate of donations under Berno—about 1.2 per year—though it by no means anticipates the leap under Odo’s successor, Abbot Aymard (942–964), who garnered about 12 donations per year.

Donations to monasteries helped tie the lay world to the monks, who were seen as intercessors before God. Land donations joined the property of laypeople to the lands of St. Peter (to whom Cluny had been given), binding local families to the saint. Many donations were offered pro anima—for the salvation of the donor’s soul. Monks in general were specialists in prayer, but the Cluniac monks were considered prayer’s dazzling virtuosos. Later sources suggest that most of their day was spent in the choir, offering up chanted psalmody to God for the salvation of the souls of Christians. Very special donors were interceded for by name; others participated anonymously but vicariously in the monk’s “work of God”—the monastic liturgy.

Along with his other duties, Odo wrote a number of important works, which reveal an original mind attempting to make sense of 10th-century society. They are particularly interesting for what they have to say about the “order of fighters”—the warriors of Odo’s day. On this point the two most important works are the Collationes (“Conferences”) and the De vita sancti Gerardi (Life of St. Gerald of Aurillac). The Collationes is both a commentary on the virtues and vices of men in society and a spiritual meditation modeled on a work of the same name by the monk and theologian John Cassian (360–435). De vita sancti Gerardi presents an exemplary warrior who fights only for peace, refuses to shed blood, attends Mass regularly, and is a model of humility, sobriety, and other virtues. The life of Gerald is one of the first depictions of a saintly layman—rather than a bishop, monk, or king—in medieval literature.

Legacy

Despite these achievements, Odo was not at first recognized at Cluny itself as a major figure. Although his first biography was written shortly after his death, no readings from it were used to mark Odo’s feast day at Cluny, which was observed relatively perfunctorily. According to Cluny’s fifth abbot, Odilo (994–1049), whereas William of Aquitaine was “the most Christian duke,” Odo was simply “most praiseworthy” for his devotion to the cult of St. Martin. Odo’s memory acquired new importance only in the time of Cluny’s sixth abbot, Hugh (1049–1109). A chapel was built at the monastery in his honour, his feast was celebrated with greater solemnity, and at least one new version of his biography was written. By the abbacy of Peter the Venerable (1122–56), Odo had become known at Cluny as the “first father of the Cluniac order.”

Modern scholars no longer think of Odo as the founder of Cluny’s order—the network of monasteries subject to the abbot of Cluny and following the Cluniac reform—because the link between the houses that he reformed was much too amorphous to be called an order. But Odo nevertheless remains extremely important in Cluniac history. His cultivation of special relations with Rome laid the foundations for the mutual alliance between Cluny and the papacy that came into being in the 11th century, and his reform of monastic houses spread Cluny’s name and reputation.