UGO di BONNEVAUX, Saint
Abate, nephew of St. UGO, bishop of Grenoble (d. 1132), son of Raimondo of Châteauneuf, born at Châteauneuf d'Isère, near Valence, c. 1120, died as abbot of Bonnevaux in 1194.
A cleric of the Church of Lyon, he entered the Order of Cîteaux, probably at the abbey of Miroir in the diocese of Lyon. Tempted to return to the world, he was strengthened in his vocation by a letter from St. Bernard (PL 182, 527-28). Abbot of Léoncel near Valence in 1162 or 1163, he received his blessing from Alexander III at Montpellier; then abbot of Bonnevaux, the mother abbey, in 1166. U. took care of the interests of his houses, which were enriched by donations, privileges, and exemption. Among other peace mediations, he intervened with Pons, bishop of Clermont, in the conflict between Barbarossa and Alexander III, negotiating the Peace of Venice (1177) which ended
UG
UGO of CLUNY, Saint
Son of Count Dalmatius of Semur, born at Semur (Burgundy) in 1024, died at Cluny on 28 Apr. 1109. At fourteen a Benedictine at Cluny, at twenty a priest, at twenty-five he already succeeded Odilo as abbot. Under his rule, which lasted six years, Cluny (v.) reached its zenith, thanks to his energetic prudence and wise balance in interpreting the Benedictine Rule.
He exercised a moderating influence among popes, emperors, and kings, whom he frequently visited: present at Canossa, he softened Gregory VII to mercy; he sought to temper the rigor of the legate Hugh of Die, with whom he was for a time associated; and to him is attributed the moderation observed in the government of the Church under Urban II. Also notable is Cluny’s part in the beginnings of the Crusade. The drafting, in 1068, of the *Consuetudines* explains the spread of Cluniac statutes; the *Ordo Cluniacensis* no longer indicates merely a way of interpreting the Rule of St Benedict, but a confederation of abbeys and priories.
By attenuating earlier rigorism, the *Consuetudines* apportion manual, intellectual, and artistic labor among monks, oblates, and servants in balanced measure; liturgy and chant attained perfection in the secluded setting of the majestic basilica of St Peter at Cluny, begun by U. in 1088 and later the model for Cluniac churches throughout Christendom. Priories and abbeys, with flexible diversity, either elected their own superiors or received them from Abbot U., forming an immense, wealthy, and ubiquitous family united by a common Rule. In France, Spain, and Italy—where it counted about 801, 25, and 50 monasteries respectively—the Cluniac Order had only to expand and extend its foundations. It first penetrated England after the Conquest through Lanfranc and Norman abbeys; into Flanders with the support of Countess Clementia; into Germany, where the radiance around Hirsau Abbey proved brilliant but short-lived owing to internal dissensions arising from the struggle between papacy and empire; even Poland, the Latin East, and Byzantium came within Cluny’s orbit. When U. died, the Order, freed from episcopal jurisdiction by exemption privileges, formed at the Pope’s direct service the effective centre and instrument of Church reform. Callistus II recognized U.’s merits by canonizing him in