Almo (Alano), Abbot

ALMO (ALANO), abbot. - Alnus is a form due to an error by Dempster, but the true name is Alanus: a Cistercian abbot, died 28 June 1236. From the abbey of Melrose (Scotland), Benedictine until 1136, he came on 13 Dec. 1229 as abbot, with the prescribed number of 12 monks, to Balmerino, a monastery then being built by Queen Ermengarda, widow of King Guglielmo I (1165–1214). He was considered the greatest scholar of his age, but we do not possess his two works: De perfectione religiosa and the Acta reginae Ermengardae, composed to honor the memory of the foundress of Balmerino, who died in 1233 and was buried in the monastic church. He died in the repute of sanctity. Although he is not entered in the catalogue of the blessed of the Cistercian Order compiled by Henriquez, he is mentioned in the Calendarium Benedictinum of A. M. Zimmermann (Metten, ed. 1934).