Bernone, Blessed

BERNONE, Blessed. - Founder of Cluny, b. ca. 850 into a noble family of Burgundy, d. 13 January 927. He entered the Benedictine abbey of St. Martin of Autun, where the reform of St. Benedict of Aniane had been introduced. Through B., around 886, this reform was extended to the abbey of Baume and shortly afterwards (890) also to Gigny, another abbey founded by him. Having gone to Rome, he obtained from Pope Formosus that Gigny with its dependencies be placed under the protection and immediate jurisdiction of the Holy See. The name of B. is chiefly linked to the famous abbey of Cluny, built at the wish of Duke William the Pious of Aquitaine and entrusted to the direction of B., who, with the monks of Baume and Gigny, among whom was St. Odo (v.), also introduced there the customs of St. Benedict of Aniane. The act of foundation of 11 September 909 (according to others 910), also called the "testament of William the Pious," gave the monks freedom to choose the abbot after the death of B.; moreover the abbey was placed under the direct dependence of the Holy See and declared exempt from the interference of any lay power. Other monasteries were entrusted to B., who at his death left their care to his kinsman Guy, who had the government of Baume and Gigny, while Cluny and other dependencies fell to Odo, the true founder of the Cluniac centralization.

Mario Scaduto