Also known as:
German: Wilhelm von Volpiano;
French: Guillaume de Volpiano;
Italian: Guglielmo da Volpiano;
Latin: Willelmus Volpianensis
WILLIAM OF VOLPIANO, Saint. - Benedictine abbot of St. Benignus of Dijon, b. in 962 to Count Robert of Volpiano on the island of San Giulio d'Orta (Novara), d. 1 January 1031 at Fécamp.
G. entered at a very young age San Genuario di Lucedio near Vercelli, where he later became a monk; he studied at Vercelli and Pavia; in 987 he followed Abbot Maiolus to Cluny. In 988 the reform of St-Sernin (near Avignon) was entrusted to him, and in 989 that of St. Benignus of Dijon, where he was elected abbot in 990 and ordained priest by Bishop Bruno.
A fervent disciple of St. Benedict, he soon aroused a new spirit among his monks, whose number increased so greatly that he was able to extend his reform to other monasteries in Lorraine, France and Italy. Among these was the abbey of Fruttuaria (v. IVREA), which G. founded in 1003 with the help of his brothers and of King Arduino, his uncle, and which became a flourishing center of Cluniac reform; from there the spirit of G., around 1070, spread also to St. Blasien and Siegburg in Germany. In G. strength was joined with prudence, and austerity of discipline with gentleness of heart. Toward the people he showed unlimited charity; he established schools of higher learning, but did not neglect the education of the people; he gave a strong impulse to art, in particular to Romanesque architecture in Burgundy, Normandy and Piedmont; his masterpiece remains the church of St. Benignus of Dijon. His cult has not been approved, but he is commemorated in the Martyrologies of the Benedictine Order on 1 January.
Bibliography6 worksVita written by Rodulfus Glaber: PL 142, coll. 697-720; another life edited by E. Bougard, Chronique de l'abbaye de St-Bénigne, Dijon 1875,
BIBL.: Vita written by Rodulfus Glaber: PL 142, coll. 697-720; another life edited by E. Bougard, Chronique de l'abbaye de St-Bénigne, Dijon 1875, pp. 139-78 (cf. Neues Archiv, 49 [1932], pp. 281-331); G. Chevalier published seven sermons and a small treatise De contemplatione divina, ibid., pp. 213-241. Studies: J. Croset-Mouchet, Histoire de la Guillaume (d'Ivrée) de la famille d'Ardoin roi d'Italie, abbé de St-Bénigne de Dijon, Turin 1859 (good biography); E. Sackur, Die Cluniacenser, II, Halle 1894 (v. index); V. Mortet, Recueil des textes relatifs à l'histoire de l'architecture et à la condition des architectes en France au moyen âge, XIe-XIIe siècles, Paris 1911, p. 5 ff.; Cottineau, I, pp. 666-68.
Spätling, Lucchesio. “Guglielmo di Volpiano, santo.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VI, col. 1271. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951. https://azioneromana.com/article/guglielmo-di-volpiano-santo.
MLA
Spätling, Lucchesio. “Guglielmo di Volpiano, santo.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VI, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951, col. 1271. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/guglielmo-di-volpiano-santo.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec6_guglielmo_di_volpiano_santo,
author = {Spätling, Lucchesio},
title = {Guglielmo di Volpiano, santo},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {VI},
pages = {1271},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1951},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/guglielmo-di-volpiano-santo}
}
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