Bononius, St.

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BONONIUS, ST.

Abbot; b. Bologna, Italy, c. mid-tenth century; d. Lucedio, Italy, Aug. 30, 1026. He first became a bene dictine monk in the monastery of San Stefano in his native city. Later he set out for Cairo with the intention of becoming a hermit at Mt. Sinai, and thus he is often called the apostle of Egypt. In 990 he was recalled to Italy by Bp. Peter of Vercelli (d. 997) and became abbot of Lucedio in Piedmont, where he applied himself to the work of monastic reform until his death. He was canonized by Pope John XIX. There is another tradition concerning the life of Bononius, propagated by the camaldolese, in which he is said to have been a student of romuald, the founder of that order.

Feast: Aug. 30.

Bibliography: Vita. Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores 30.2:102630. g. b. mittarelli and a. costadoni, Annales Camaldulenses, 9 v. (Venice 175573) 1:396399. Bibliotheca hagiograpica latina antiquae et mediae aetatis (Brussels 18981901) 1:142124. Analecta Bollandiana 48 (1930) 411412.

[k. nolan]