Enciclopedia Cattolica

GUGLIELMO DA VERCELLI, SANTO

Guglielmo Da Vercelli, Saint

Volume VI · p. 755 · 1951

English translation · Testo originale italiano

GUGLIELMO da VERCELLI, santo. - Fondatore degli eremiti di Montevergine, n. a Vercelli verso il 1085, m. nel monastero di Guglieto presso Nusco
GUGLIELMO da VERCELLI, santo. - Fondatore degli eremiti di Montevergine, n. a Vercelli verso il 1085, m. nel monastero di Guglieto presso Nusco

Machine translation of the 1948–1954 Italian original. The original text is authoritative.

GUGLIELMO da VERCELLI, Saint. — Founder of the hermits of Montevergine, born in Vercelli around 1085, died in the monastery of Guglieto near Nusco (Avellino) in 1142. From his youth, he devoted himself to a life of penance and pilgrimage. After an unsuccessful journey to the Holy Land, he settled at Montevergine, also called «Mons Virgilii» and «Mons Virginis», near Avellino, where around 1114 he founded a hermitage that, due to his renown and the support of King Roger II, became a large monastery. From this, in 1119, there arose the Benedictine monastic congregation that bore his name.

Together with some disciples and with the favor of the same king, G. built other monasteries, including female ones, in various cities and towns of southern Italy, including the one of Guglielmo, where he died, while his institutions spread widely. His feast is celebrated on June 25, the day of his death.

BIBL.: Acta SS. Iunii, VII, Paris 1867, pp. 112-139; C. Mercurio, Una leggenda medievale di S. G. da V., in Rivista storica bened., 1 (1906), pp. 312-331; 2 (1907), pp. 74-100, 345-70; E. De Palma, Intorno alla leggenda: De vita et obitu s. Giulielmi, in Irpinia, 4 (1932), pp. 59-75; Martyr. Romain, p. 254.