From: richarra@gmail.com   
      
   June 25th - St. William or St. Guglielmo of Vercelli   
   (hermit, Abbot, adviser to a King)   
      
   St. William was born in 1085 at Vercelli in the Piedmont region of Italy of   
   noble and wealthy parents. When he was still very young, he determined to   
   renounce the world and become a hermit.   
      
   He built his first hermit's hut on Monte Solicoli, and then went to Monte   
   Vergine. Many disciples came to him there, attracted by the sanctity of his   
   life and many miracles he performed. Soon a community formed, of which he   
   became the Abbot, and a church to Our Lady was built at the site. For this   
   reason, the mountain became known as Monte Vergine [the Mount of the   
   Virgin].   
      
   After a while, however, the monks began to complain that St. William's rule   
   was too strict and life too austere. He therefore decided to leave Monte   
   Vergine. He went to Southern Italy and founded a new hermitage on Monte   
   Laceno, then others at Basilicata, Conza, Guglietto, and Salerno. He also   
   became an adviser to King Roger I of Naples. St. William died at Guglietto   
   on June 25, 1142.   
      
   The first congregation of Monte Vergine dissolved. The monastery, however,   
   remained and came into the hands of the religious of Our Lady of Monte   
   Cassino, who wear the white habit of St. William to remember the founder of   
   the monastery.   
      
   The following extraordinary fact is recorded about the Monte Vergine   
   monastery, where the monks still lead a life of penance and austerity.   
   According to the rule, it is not permitted to eat meat, eggs, milk, or   
   cheese. If someone tried to violate this regulation, storm clouds would   
   appear in the sky and the lightning would destroy the illicit foodstuff that   
   had been brought into the monastery.   
      
   Something similar was recorded happen at the Camaldula of St. Romualdo. If   
   someone tried to bring food not permitted by the rule into the hermitage, it   
   would quickly become corrupted and infested with worms.   
      
   This happened on many occasions, and always with the same result. It is the   
   way God chose to show that He desires the traditions of penance and   
   austerity of the great St. William, as well as St. Romualdo, to be   
   maintained.   
      
      
   Comments of the late Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (died 1995)   
      
   This selection shows how beautiful the Middle Ages was and the admirable   
   harmonic contrasts it had.   
      
   In the Middle Ages the Catholic Church stimulated intellectual work in an   
   extraordinary way, but she also encouraged manual labor, which is its   
   harmonic contrary, the apparent opposite of intellectual work. The Church   
   stimulated the strong and intense active life of society, but harmonically   
   she also stimulated some religious families to retire from the active life,   
   move to solitary places and live together praying and worshiping God.   
   Further, she stimulated some souls to retire far from any human society and   
   live completely alone. Doing this the Catholic Church maintained the   
   eremitic vocation she gave birth to in the first centuries of her history.   
      
   There is a harmonic contrast in the teeming life of the medieval cities and   
   the serenity of the meditative life of hermits, who think only on the things   
   of God. These are just some examples of the many harmonic contraries of that   
   blessed epoch, fruit of the Catholic spirit.   
      
   This harmony that existed in the Middle Ages as a consequence of the   
   evangelization of the Church was a very important factor to maintain the   
   psychological balance of men. Without the sanctity of the Catholic Church,   
   this harmony would not be possible. If she were not authentic, she would   
   stimulate either the eremitic vocation or the active life of the cities too   
   much. Since the Catholic Church is true and holy, she stimulates the   
   harmonic contrasts perfectly and produces a superb equilibrium of soul,   
   which is a characteristic fruit of the Holy Church.   
      
   You have the example of this harmony of the Middle Ages in the life of the   
   holy Abbot, St. William. He was a noble, and as such destined for a life of   
   battles and court, a life of government and activity. He left behind   
   everything and went to a completely isolated place to glorify Our Lady. He   
   chose a mountain, probably to avoid the inopportune visits of the curious.   
   It was a cold and austere place, he began a life of penance. Then an   
   admirable thing happened that often occurs in the History of the Church.   
   When souls isolate themselves solely for the love of God, they attract   
   others. Other hermits gathered around him and formed a community.   
      
   You can imagine the scene. Along the road at the foot of the mountain pass   
   groups of knights traveling and talking, then students singing and laughing,   
   then some pilgrims praying. At the top of the mountain a large cross and a   
   hermitage can be distinguished. One traveler asks another, "Who lives   
   there?" The other answers, "It is William, the noble from Vercelli, who left   
   everything for the love of God."   
      
   How can this not be attractive? Who would not say - I want to stop and see   
   William the noble. The news spreads. A man who needs help to resolve a   
   problem goes to William, who prays for him and the problem is resolved. Soon   
   everyone wants to go there to see him, pray and ask advice; some who go have   
   the desire to stay. This explains the attraction he exerted and the   
   disciples he made.   
      
   Then a tragic thing happened. He was the father of a religious family, but   
   the disciples revolted against the rule he made. He became an inconvenience   
   for them. He had to leave. He was virtually excluded from his own order.   
   Those who had left everything to follow William now obliged William to leave   
   them. So he started down the mountain, suffering but serene, praying, set   
   out on an unknown road and began to walk south, step by step, mile after   
   mile.   
      
   He arrived in Naples. You can imagine St. William arriving at the famous   
   bay, seeing the volcano Vesuvius smoking, walking through the beautiful,   
   animated Naples, passing by the busy port and seeing the prestigious palace   
   of the King of Naples, one of the most powerful men of the Italian   
   Peninsula. Naples was a center of culture and civilization with a brilliant   
   court, a center of good taste. The selection doesn't say how, but news of   
   the presence of St. William reached the ears of the Monarch. He contacted   
   St. William and his life changed. St. William became his counselor. With the   
   same tranquility he had as Abbot of Monte Vergine, that he conserved as a   
   pilgrim, he maintained as a counselor to a King. William became the Angel of   
   the Kingdom of Naples.   
      
   After his death, the institution he founded disappeared, and the monastery   
   was given to the Benedictines of Monte Cassino. As you know, the   
      
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