ODILONE, saint. — Fifth abbot of Cluny. Born in Auvergne around 962, into the noble family of Mercoeur, he died in 1049. He entered Cluny in 991 and succeeded St. Maiolus in the office of abbot, which he held for more than 50 years. A man of great resources, he expanded and consolidated the Cluniac reform, bringing the number of affiliated houses to 65, whereas until then there had been only 37. He encountered various difficulties from the episcopate in carrying out his activity, which, through papal exemption, was becoming independent.
The conflict over the exemption was particularly violent when Burcardo, archbishop of Vienne, conferred orders at Cluny. Summoned to the Council of Anse (1025) by Bishop Gauzelino of Mâcon, O. produced the bulls of Gregory V (998–99), but in vain. He then appealed to Rome. The incident secured for the Order, from Giovanni XIX, confirmation of its privileges and a severe reprimand for the bishops (28 March 1027; Jaffé-Wattenbach, 4079, 4081–83; Hefele-Leclercq, IV, 1911, 938–39). The struggle resumed under Gauzelino’s successor.
Firm friendships at the papal court enabled O. also to defend the domains of Cluny against invading feudal lords. A man of great charity, during a famine he sold the gifts received from Enrico II in order to assist the needy, whom the chronicler Udalrico counted at as many as 17,000 in a
single year. The incessant wars found in O. a tireless mediator. He intervened with Roberto il Pio, who was at war with the Duchy of Burgundy (1009) and the County of Sens (1016), and with Corrado II, who was threatening Pavia with reprisals (1027). He also became a champion of the «Truce of God». The letter from the bishops of Gaul, gathered in council in Provence and addressed to the clergy of Italy in favor of a suspension of hostilities from Wednesday evening to Monday morning, seems to have been an initiative of O. (Mansi, XIX, 593; Hefele-Leclercq, IV, 971–72).
He was a friend and adviser to popes and princes, including Ugo and Roberto, kings of France, the empress Adelaide, the emperors Enrico II and Corrado II, Sancio of Navarre, and Stefano of Hungary. A great traveler, he came to Italy nine times. To him is owed the institution of the Commemoration of the Faithful Departed on 2 Nov. (Statutum de Defunctis: PL 142, 1032). During the contests over the succession of Burcardo (d. between 1031 and 1033) to the archbishopric of Lyon, the suffragans appealed to O. and even obtained the pallium for him; despite the appeals of Giovanni XIX, he energetically refused the episcopate (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 1095; Gallia Christiana, IV, 82). Worn down by age and infirmities, O. undertook, toward the autumn of 1048, a final visitation of the monasteries. Death overtook him at the priory of Souvigny in Bourbonnais, on the night between 31 Dec. and 1 Jan. 1049, and he was buried there. Canonized by Clemente VI in 1345 (Biblioth. Cluniac., 345–46: PL 142, 1047–48), he is celebrated in France on 2 Jan.
Of his literary work, only a few pages of his extensive correspondence, about fifteen sermons for the principal feasts of the year, and hymns in honor of the Virgin, St. Adelaide, and St. Maiolus survive. — Vedi tav. IV.