Pietro Casaretto and the beginnings of The Subiaco Congregation O.S.B.

part one: 1810-1843

Introduction

This article began as notes taken from a collection of essays which were produced on the occasion of the first Centenary of our Congregation in 1972[1], which formed the basis of a series of talks given to the young monks of our foundation in Ghana, Kristo Buase monastery, in the summer of 1998.

My interest in Pietro Francesco Casaretto arose when I went to work at S. Ambrogio, Rome, (seat of the Abbot President and his Curia) and realised that I knew almost nothing of our past history.  This is a common fault among monks, who are more aware generally, as is only right, of the origins of their particular monastery (e.g. Prinknash) rather than of the Congregation to which it belongs, as a whole.  At S.Ambrogio, however, the emphasis is necessarily to the contrary, giving those of us who live there the immense privelege of being able to see, as it were from the centre, the beauty and diversity of an entire religious family, with about c.1,200 monks spread over 21 countries in 65 houses, its most recently elevated Abbey as far away as Vietnam, together with c.1,000 nuns and sisters, in 14 countries and over 40 houses, who are “aggregated” to the monks’ Congregation, while retaining their own Constitutions and superiors.

Such fecundity had to have a starting-point.   It is my belief that we owe it to Casaretto and the early monks of his reform movement, to study their ideas as a way of understanding our present situation.  We are what we are, partly because of him.  Such historical research, fashionable everywhere today as a means of “finding one’s roots”, takes on a particular relevance in Ghana, where much emphasis is placed  on the cult of ancestors.  The classes at Kristo Buase monastery were thus presented, from a Christian and monastic perspective, as a rediscovery of our common “spiritual ancestry” in the persons of the 19th century reformers.

Casaretto was a founder. Yet founders of religious congregations are often mysterious and even difficult people.  Those who, for instance, affirm the obvious holiness of Mother Teresa of Calcutta would readily admit that she could appear, at times, stubborn and uncompromising.  Zeal for reform and a consuming desire to make things better do not guarantee that one will always have friends or make easy company. 

Pietro Casaretto, though not a candidate for canonisation, certainly was a man of remarkable vision and audacity, not to say holiness.  As is written of Sir Christopher Wren, architect of St Paul’s Cathedral, London, si monumentum requiris, circumspice (if you seek his monument, look around you).  Had there been no “golden thread” of genuine spirituality, shining through Casaretto’s foibles and blemishes, his work would not have endured and expanded, as is obviously the case.  All of us together - monks, nuns and oblates - are his epitaph, words written by the Holy Spirit on the tablets of the human heart.

*  *  *

Born on 16th February 1810 in Ancona, at a time when Napoleon’s troops were driving out the religious of Rome (including the Benedictine nuns who once inhabited S. Ambrogio) while Pope Pius VII was exiled in France,  Pietro Francesco was the eldest son of Giacomo and Maddalena Casaretto, his father, a prosperous merchant with dealings in many countries of the Mediterranean, his mother, a strong and generous woman of faith, without affectation (according to her son).   Pietro was, from the first, a sickly child.  Very sensitive, with a tendency towards pessimism, discouragement and scrupulosity, these difficulties of health and temperament would, in his adult years, sometimes lead to accusations of laxity, authoritarianism, abrupt changes of mind and a kind of moodiness, which antagonised his enemies and made life a little strenuous for his friends.  

Nevertheless, he must have been a man of great charm and persuasive speech.  Early photographs[2] of show him to have been tall and handsome - and he certainly gained a number of friends in high places, including Pope Pius IX and the King of Piedmont and Sardinia.

Showing signs of a vocation at the age of 15, he went first to the archdiocesan seminary at Ancona but soon wanted to join the Camaldolese at Monte Cònero.  His parents, though devoutly religious themselves, could not tolerate the thought of their son’s frail constitution languishing amid the rigours of the monastery, and persuaded him instead to join the diocesan clergy.  This phase clearly did not last long, however, as on 11 June 1827, aged 17, he entered the Benedictine monastery of S.Maria del Monte, near Cesena, a community which, like many others in Italy at that time, was starting to revive after the ravages of war and expulsion during the Napoleonic period.

The monastic observance there, though generally good, was very much influenced by the piety of the period, rather than by a genuine liturgical spirituality.  Preferred authors for spiritual reading were St Alphonsus together with two others now unknown, Segneri and Scupoli.  We have to remember that the great rediscovery of the Fathers of the Church and monastic authors, now considered as standard  monastic lectio, began only in the latter part of the 19th century and is still in the process of development.  As a result, the monastic theory and practice of Casretto’s era were, to our eyes, somewhat confused.

It is worth mentioning at this point an abuse found in the monastery which Casaretto would always strive to eradicate and which would become, in time, a salient feature of his reform.  The difficulties of the revolutionary period, combined with a general loss of fervour, had made it usual practice for monks of the Cassinese Congregation to retain small sums of money from the community fund, in order to cater for their personal needs.  This tended to get out of hand, with the result that the common life began to suffer.  Casaretto’s Constitutions (1867) would insist that the money chest of the community should have no less than three locks, the keys of which were to be held respectively by the Prior, Bursar and Cellarer, so that any outgoings could only be by mutual consent[3].  This must have been highly impractical, if it was observed at all, but we should understand it in the light of the abuse which it was designed to counteract.

The 17th August 1828 saw young Pietro making his monastic Profession which, though called “Simple”, was for life.  The practice at this time, and indeed, right up to the appearance of the Code of Canon Law of 1917, was for choir monks to take simple perpetual vows followed by Solemn Profession as much as ten years later, even after priestly ordination.  Solemn Vows were thus a ratification of what had already been conscerated for ever.

Pietro then suffered a series of characteristic illnesses.  In July of the following year, 1829, he was struck with tuberculosis and went home to Ancona for a few months.  1830 came and his health was no better.  In 1831 he was sent to Pegli, to the parish of S. Martino, at that time administered by a monk of the Cassinese Congregation, D. Mauro Rapallo.  He managed to undertake some kind of priestly studies under his guidance, but his intellectual formation would remain feeble throughout his life.

1832 saw him well enough to receive the Subdiaconate and Diaconate, but his health soon gave way once more and he was forced to take refuge with his family.  It appears that he was not so ill that he could not make a trip to Constantinople with his uncle, followed by further excursions to Palermo, in Sicily, to Rome, then back to Ancona.

Meanwhile, in the world of national and international politics, the first stirrings of what would later be called the Risorgimento, or movement for the unification of Italy, with its concomitant anti-clericalism, were being felt, while the country felt itself under pressure by turns from Austria, whose troops occupied Bologna, and France, who occupied Ancona, both in 1832.  We can only really understand what would take place in ecclesiastical and religious circles in the light of these commotions.

On the 22nd September 1832, at the age of 22, Casaretto was ordained priest in Ancona, by the Cardinal Archbishop.  Mindful of his health problems, the authorities of the Cassinese sent him to the monastery of Cava, Salerno, towards the end of the year, but the humidity of the south did not suit him either.  It seems strange that he was then allowed to make a trip to Algeria, as a chaplain to the French troops, whose climate can scarcely have been more agreeable.

As with Père Jean-Baptiste Muard, founder of the monastery of La Pierre-qui-Vire in France which was to have an enormous influence on the future of the Congregation, Casaretto’s most enduring ideas of reform came to him during a visit to the Sacro Speco at Subiaco (where St Benedict had lived in a cave).  The latter part of 1833 and the first half of 1834 see him ensconced there with a growing desire for solitude[4]. 

Even the beauties of Subiaco did not suit him for long, however, and he set off for St Paul’s-outside-the-Walls in Rome, so that he could find medical care in the City.  Reading between the lines, and with the greater psychological awareness of today, we may wonder whether the cause of his illnesses was partly psycho-somatic.  His avowed desire for solitude is contradicted by his incessant wanderings.  We shall discover a number of such contradictions as we proceed with the story.

Further changes were in store as, on 17 March 1835 he was assigned to the monastery of S. Severino in Naples.  He never arrived there, however, and, instead, decided to petition his superiors for permission to return to his first love, the Camaldolese.  Permission was granted by the Holy See and he presented himself at Fonte Avellana, where he was clothed again, this time in white, on 2nd June of the same year.  It will not surprise us to learn that his health let him down again and he returned to his family at Ancona where, in 1836, he was assigned as Spiritual Director to the archdiocesan seminary.

History and politics intervened and, with the coming of the plague of cholera among the French troops then in occupation, he asked to be relieved of his seminary duties and went to serve as hospital chaplain for several months.  This appears to have been a great success, indeed, it was one of the “golden threads” of which we spoke earlier. There are numerous testimonies to his devotion and competence at this time, leading eventually to his being decorated by King Louis-Philippe of France[5].  The autumn of 1836 saw him back at the seminary.

One can readily understand that the authorities of the Cassinese Congregation, however sympathetic they might have wished to be towards the young man, found him something of a problem.  It was finally thought best to petition for an indefinite exclaustration (permission to live outside the monastery) which was granted by the Holy See on 2nd June 1837.

The records of the same year give us some insight into his devotional life, especially with regard to the Blessed Virgin.  He had exposed an image of her before the French troops in hospital and, on 8th December 1837, feast of the Immaculate Conception, solemnly consecrated himself to her, a practice which would later be repeated annually by his disciples and is still carried out in many Subiaco houses, including Prinknash.  This fervour of devotion would go hand in hand with a rather minimal monastic observance on his part.  We know that in 1842, his spiritual director, Canon Ubaldo Marini, renewed for life the various dispensations he had already received on account of his health, namely, he was never to fast, not even in Lent (something which was then obligatory even for lay Catholics) and he need only recite the hours of Prime and Compline from the Divine Office[6].  In later years his enemies would seize on these and other points as evidence of his supposedly dissolute life[7].

It was in this same year, 1837, that Casaretto obtained permission to go and live in a little old sanctuary called La Madonna di Portonovo, near Ancona, where he spent his time in prayer and pastoral ministry towards the local peasant population and fishermen. Judging by his previous pastoral experiments, one imagines that this was a success.  He certainly appears to have been happy and the next few years would be a time of relative stability for him.  In 1841, he was joined by a priest and a lay man who, it seems, did not remain very long. 

But the peace was not to last and the Cassinese had not forgotten about their wandering monk.  On the 10th March 1842, the Procurator General, Benedetto Tomasetti, sent Casaretto a letter, asking him to be ready to leave his beloved solitude of Portonovo and return to the parish at Pegli, where Rapallo, by now an old man, was looking for a replacement.

We now see a characteristic move on Casaretto’s part, who always knew how to seize a moment and use it to the advantage of his own projects.  Instead of accepting the request tout court, he prepared a “memorial”, addressed to the Holy Father and his superiors[8], in which he states that he is willing to accept on condition that he is not left isolated from his brethren and that a “true Benedictine community with the entire observance of the Rule” be set up at Pegli.  It would not be too much to say that he knew his request would find all the more favour in the eyes of the authorities since Rapallo’s style of life, as a isolated monk in a parish situation, had latterly been the cause of some complaint[9] and the spirit of the Cassinese was very much set towards the restoration of the glories of its past monasteries.   A certain contradiction can also be seen here.  Casaretto had, of his own volition, isolated himself at Portonovo and appeared to be happy with it, yet now he wants a community life which, up to now, he had not been able to live for any length of time.

The young man got his way and the superiors apparently gave their approbation, although the documents are not now available to us. At any rate, Casaretto set out to see his new project on 12th June 1842, passing through Forlì, Florence, Livorno and Genoa.  This last would be the scene of a particularly important meeting between him and the then General of the Jesuits, Fr Johannes Roothaan, who from that point on held a high opinion of him and supported him in various ways[10].  The Archbishop of Genoa, possibly influenced by the General’s approval, gave his consent to the new foundation and Casaretto made his way to the Minister for External Affairs of the Kingdom of Piedmont and Sardinia, Count Solaro della Margherita, and eventually, to King Charles Albert himself, who gladly gave his approval, monastic reform in his realm being very much according to his wishes.  Soon the necessary rescripts from the Sacred Congregation for Bishops and Religious and the Abbot President were obtained and, on 20th January 1843, Casaretto and the ex-novice master of Subiaco, D. Raffaele Testa[11], having only a few coins in their pockets, arrived at Pegli, to take possession of the parish and monastery, and were received warmly by the local populace. 

On 25th January, the “primitive observance” began.

part two: 1843-1850[12]

On 25th January 1843, Casaretto and Testa took charge of the monastery of S. Martino at Pegli, near Genoa.  The elderly D. Mauro Rapallo (the monk who had been parish priest) remained with them but was, as we said, something of a difficult character.

Before long, some new recruits arrived: these were Colombano Canevello[13] and Guillermo Comanedi, who were clothed in the habit on 29th May 1843.   During the same year, Andrea Torello and Alessandro Minetto[14] became lay brothers and the Abbot of Parma sent D. Claudio Buzzoni to help the new foundation.

Some clue towards understanding the raison d’être of the new community may be found  in a document by one D. Theodoli, 11 December 1842, preserved in the archives of St Paul-outside-the-Walls which says, en passant,

        “at Pegli, they are establishing the perfect common life [my emphasis] and are returning to the first fervour of the exact         observance of the Cassinese Benedictine institute”.

Here we have the nucleus of Casaretto’s idea of reform.  What had been lacking in the monasteries of the Cassinese, in his view, was precisely “the common life”, understood as monastic poverty and regular discipline.  His desire, therefore, was not to create a new observance, but rather to return to the already existing Declarations on the Rule of St Benedict of the Cassinese Congregation which, though theoretically still in vigour, were not practised with any great enthusiasm.  It is in this sense that the phrase primitive observance (later to become part of the title and ethos of the new Congregation) should be understood. 

At the same time, let us not lose sight of the fact that Casaretto and his companions at Pegli were living, of necessity, in a parish[15] where even novices were expected to be involved in the catechesis of the local people[16].  (The pastoral practice would be clarified and modified later).  In these early days, the community had only the parish funds to support themselves - and there were ten mouths to feed by the end of 1843.  The situation must have been quite grim as there was hardly space for them all.  Even Testa became discouraged and thought of leaving the community, but was eventually persuaded to stay on as Novice Master[17].

It is interesting to see how quickly Casaretto’s mind turned to expansion.  Late in 1843 or early 1844, he was already making moves to obtain the S. Maria de Finale[18] (Finalpia) and S. Giuliano D’Albàro[19], old monasteries in need of restoration.  Canevello and Comanedi made their Profession on 16 May 1844.  Soon after, Casaretto took possession of Finalpia, while the community moved into residence at the other monastery of S. Giuliano.

In October 1844, the Cassinese Congregation held its General Chapter at Montecassino, to which august assembly King Charles Albert of Piedmont and Sardinia sent a document, outlining what he expected from monks living within his territories.  The Chapter approved almost all his suggestions, except the one proposing that monastic Profession be made for the Province, rather than for the individual monastery[20].  This same Chapter promoted Casaretto to the rank of abbot.  He was 34 years of age.  It also encouraged the extension of his reform in Liguria to Piedmont, that is, to the two monasteries of Novalesa and Savigliano.

On 1^st November following the Chapter, Casaretto wrote a petition to the Holy See, in his own hand, in which he tried to secure four points:

1.   There was to be no moving of monks from the Genoa area (i.e. where he was currently operating) without the consent of the local Superior (himself).

2.   No monk was to become Novice Master or Superioruitquite  of the “reformed” monasteries (his own) unless he had lived in one of them for two years and had practiced their observances.

3.   No Visitor of the Cassinese Congregation was to have the power to change any of these observances.

4.   The novices of the Novalesa and Savigliano were to be sent for their noviciate to the reformed monasteries of Genoa.

He was obviously trying to consolidate the progress he had made so far.  Alongside those who approved of him enough to elect him abbot were others who doubted him, or felt threatened by his reforms.

A document written by Testa in September 1844[21] gives us some idea of the life at S. Giuiliano.  He speaks of:

v  a life of “study and pastoral ministry”, the latter to be carried out exclusively in the Church of S. Giuliano. 

v  The Office of Matins (Vigils) was said either at dusk or after midnight.

These points are confirmed by an horarium, approved by the Holy See on 4^th August 1846 (see below).  If some of the times seem strange to us now (e.g. Vespers at 14.00) this should be seen in the context of the 19^th century, before the era of the liturgical movement and establishment of the principle of veritas horarum[22], when it was quite normal to anticipate the hours in this way. 

02.00       Vigils (& presumably, Lauds)

04.00       Rest

06.00       Rise

06.15       Study

07.30       Meditation, Prime, Terce & Mass

09.00       Study

11.30       Private Spiritual Reading

11.45       Sext & None

12.15       Dinner

13.00       Recreation

14.00       Vespers

14.30       Study

16.00       Compline

17.00       Study

19.00       Supper

20.00       Rest

That same year of 1846, a canonical visitation had been carried out by the Abbot of Novalesa and the Prior of Savigliano.  The new community and its reformed observance was highly praised.  This encouragement must have led Casaretto to present his Eighteen Articles, (which we print in an appendix to this part of the article).  I think it will be agreed that, given the spirit of the time, there is nothing particularly harsh or burdensome about them.

*  *  *  *  *

We should also be aware of another aspect of Casaretto’s policy.  Side by side with a strong monastic observance, he cultivated a fervour for the missions.  That same year of 1846 he obtained permission from Propaganda Fide, nowadays called the Congregation for the Evangelisation of the Peoples, to found a “monastic seminary” for the foreign missions.  This seminary would have its first location at S.Giuliano d’Albàro.  He tells us quite clearly[23] that the person who had encouraged him to undertake this new project was Fr (later Saint) Vincent Pallotti, his spiritual director, who had, in fact, just died in Rome[24].  It seems that the idea of monastic observance combined with missionary activity could peacefully co-exist in the mind of Casaretto, an important point to remember in assessing his character, and one which would bear much fruit in the early years of the Congregation.

S. Giuliano reached a total of 32 members in 1847 but was plagued with economic difficulties.  Further, there was revolution in the air.  The Risorgimento was moving out of the shadows into the plain light of day.  Further, its principal leaders were anti-clerical.  At the same time, popular feeling was rising against Austria, which then occupied some northern parts of present-day Italy.   King Charles Albert of Piedmont and Sardinia declared war on Austria on 23 March 1848.  Inevitably, the effects of war and the revolutionary movement were felt by the monks as much as by other people.

In order to cope with these new circumstances, Casaretto had transferred twelve of his community to Finalpia (out of the immediate area of the troubles) in the early days of 1848.  In the event, S. Giuiliano was left untouched, partly because some of its lay students, who came from noble families, were able to influence the authorities in their favour.

Under pressure from the revolutionaries, the King abdicated, dying shortly after, in 1849, thus leaving Casaretto bereft of one of his staunchest allies.  The same year saw the abbot made Visitor of the monasteries of Piedmont and superior of the monastery of Savigliano.  Here, however, Casaretto did not have much success and, soon afterwards, offered his resignation as Visitor since, it seems, he found much opposition in these houses.  His resignation would be reluctantly accepted, later on.

The political situation became calmer in late 1849 and the economy of the community also re-stabilised.  But the difficulties of war had one lasting and notable effect on Casaretto’s policy: he had to look abroad for places of refuge and expansion for his growing family of monks.

Some time in 1849, he set off on a tour of Europe:  Marseilles, Lyons, Paris and London, paying a call, on the way, to the monastery of Termonde (now Dendermonde) in Belgium.  Thus began his first contact with what was to become the Flemish Province of our Congregation.  In Paris, five young Englishmen asked to join him; among them, Wilfred Alcock (an old boy of Ampleforth) and Suitbert Palmer, both later founders of Ramsgate.  These came back with him to Genova in the middle of September 1849.

The new and revolutionary government in Sardinia, however, lost no time in passing a law by which all religious orders were to be suppressed.  It could only be a matter of time before this would take effect.  A house had to be found, not too far away, as an immediate refuge.  At this juncture, Casaretto conveniently discovered the Abbey of S. Giovanni, at Parma (outside the revolutionary area).  The Duke of Parma had expelled the former community after a disagreement.  Abbot Casaretto, always one to strike while the iron was hot, entered immediately into negotiations to obtain it.  The conclusion would, however, have to wait a while.

Meanwhile Pius IX, long concerned about the state of the monastery of S. Scolastica at Subiaco, which had not been able to establish a healthy monastic observance even after visitations and Papal visits, had more or less made up his mind to suppress it and give the buildings over to make a diocesan seminary.  The situation was not helped by the fact that some of the Subiaco monks were more in sympathy with the revolutionaries than with the old regime, of which the Papacy was inevitably seen to be a part[25].  The Pope was prevailed upon by friends of the Order not to take so drastic a measure against one of the two most illustrious Benedictine houses and, instead, decided to set up yet another apostolic visitation, as a desperate remedial measure.

At more or less the same time, a papal commission was set up to study the problems of the Cassinese Congregation as a whole.  It had never really recovered the vigour of its monastic observance after the shock of the Napoleonic era, when it had been all but eradicated.    The various manoeuvres of the commission need not concern us here.  Suffice it to say that, having almost despaired of finding suitable monks anywhere in Italy, the Pope was eventually introduced by Card. Lambruschini to the work of Abbot Casaretto and made aware of his successes in Piedmont and Liguria.  The Pope found himself sympathetic to him and won over by his appeal for help.  Following several interviews, and again influenced by Lambruschini, he decided on his own authority to appoint Casaretto as Abbot of S. Scolastica, over the heads of the Cassinese authorities, who had someone else in mind for the post.  This, it may be imagined, would remain a source of irritation for some time and might even be seen as the beginning of the process of detachment of the “Casarettans” from the Cassinese.

Appointed in July 1850, Casaretto reached Subiaco on 24^th July, to find a community barely more than six in number, in a highly demoralised state.  He decided immediately to import monks of the reformed observance from Genova to Subiaco, fifteen of whom arrived on 30^th November.  But their missionary outlook would cause problems, as we shall see.

* * * * *

Appendix to Part Two:

The Eighteen Articles

Approved by the Holy See on 28 July 1846[26]

I.            The perfect common life, which cannot be taken away or altered by any Superior whatever of the Cassinese Congregation, as has been decreed already in our last General Chapter.  Further, every local superior shall renew, each year, in the presence of the whole community, the oath to maintain intact the said common life, together with all other observances and practices duly established in the monastery and, for his part, to prevent every abuse that might be introduced regarding the said observances.

II.        Matins shall be at the second hour after midnight.

III.    Continuous silence shall be observed in the dormitory, church, choir, refectory and other places established by the Holy Rule, which silence shall be more rigorous from the hour of Compline until that of Prime of the following day.

IV.    There shall be seclusion [ritiro] in the Monastery and in each one’s cell, it being prohibited for anyone to leave the enclosure without the permission of the superior and, without the same, for any monk to enter the cell of another, or any of the other places forbidden by our Declarations.  However, each shall be at liberty to leave the house, with whatever companion it shall please the superior to designate, in the manner which follows: that is, once per week during Lent; twice, during holy Advent; three times, during other seasons, exclusive of vigils and feasts of obligation.

V.        During dinner and supper there shall be continuous reading, save on five occasions during the year, in which silence is dispensed at dinner and, on one occasion, at supper.  Equally, the superior may dispense the silence when meals are taken outside the refectory on the so-called days of refreshment in holy Advent, Quinquagesima, and during the four times of recreation which habitually occur, during the year.

VI.    Abstinence from meat shall be observed four times each week (and during the whole of Lent and Advent, except Sundays, and Feasts of Advent) it being well understood that meat shall be taken once only on the other days of the week when it is allowed.  In the refectory, cups and earthenware vessels shall be used in place of glasses and bottles and, in every place in the monastery where the monks eat, they shall use simple cutlery [posate di composizione], silver cutlery being forbidden.

VII.     The outer clothing of the [choir] monks, novices and lay brothers shall be of wool or of black cloth [saja nera], cotton [scotto] or other light materials being always forbidden.  For the sacred functions they shall wear a cowl of cloth, without ornament.  Shirts shall be worn and collars of wool, girded with leather, shoes with iron buttons, white socks (black, when in town) and, during the night, a scapular with hood attached and laces to gird themselves, worn over the little woolen tunic.  They shall wear woolen hats of a decent shape, distinct from that of the lay brothers, and shall slep on a simple straw palliasse, without mattress of any sort.  They shall keep their cells poor, with a single table, kneeler, bookcase, bedstead and only three chairs, all of simple white wood; the same poverty shall be observed with regard to pictures, which must be of simple card, and with regard to crucifixes, reliquaries, etc.  With the sole exception of the Abbot, all the rest shall content themselves with a single cell, unless it should be necessary for the master of novices or the prior to have a second one, for the reception of novices, lay brothers and clerics.  The use of a silver watch shall be permitted only to those monks for whom the superior deems it to be necessary for the carrying out of their duties.

VIII. The lay brothers shall use cloaks of wool or cloth, even in the summer, and the [choir] monks shall the same only in winter, the so called ferraiuolo being prohibited.  These said lay brothers, once established, shall wear the Crown of the Lord [probably a set of penitential spikes] attached to their leather belt, with which they shall strictly confine the scapular.

IX.    The [choir] monks, clerics, novices and lay brothers shall keep their hair cut back as far as the skin and, with the exception of the last mentioned, shall wear the tonsure, or Corona, which shall be substantially larger than the size of the little finger.

X.        When there are oblates, they shall wear the same form and quality of clothing as the monks, except for some sign which shall distinguish them from the others; they shall likewise be bound to all the observances.

XI.    No [choir] monk, novice or lay brother may write or receive letters, commissions or gifts, without placing all of these in the hands of the superior, whose right alone it is to decide whether or not to consign them to the one for whom they were destined and, with regard to letters, to open them and even, if he sees fit, read them, before handing them over; and this according to the Cassinese Declarations.

XII.     Everyone in the monastery shall take care of his own person and of his own cell, and shall never permit that another do these things for him, except in cases of infirmity or when, in the judgment of the superior, they have weighty obligations.  Equally, if the community is complete, a monk or novice shall serve at the first table in the refectory, each day.

XIII. The observance of the horarium (copy here attached)[27] shall be inviolable, all faculties for changing or altering it, on the part of Superiors, being taken away, without the consent of the entire community, the Visitor and the Father President.

XIV.                        The regular fasts shall be observed at the times established by our Declarations, and the chapter of faults, once a week, shall never be omitted.

XV.    The discipline[28] shall be used on all Fridays of the year, and on other days established by our Declarations, and at times indicated by the Superior.

XVI.                        There shall be a Conference[29] on the first Friday of every month, and the Moral Case,[30] or the reading of Sacred Scripture, on the other Fridays.

XVII.                    Once a month, each monk shall make a day’s private retreat, and the last three days of Holy Week shall be observed as a community retreat, together with the eight days of spiritual exercises which they habitually make during the Novena for Pentecost.

XVIII.                Each young professed shall follow the already established use of taking an oath, in the presence of the local superior, to observe the common life, as described in the 33^rd chapter of the Holy Rule of Saint Benedict, with all the other observances herein described.  This oath shall not be dispensed, except by the Supreme Pontiff (permanently) by the General Chapter (temporarily), by the Diet[31] and, in cases of urgent necessity, by the Father President, though always with the consent of the local Superior.

part three: 1851 - 1867[32]

The next period of Casaretto’s life divides roughly into two sections: 1852-58, during which he was President of the Cassinese Congregation; in the second period, 1858-1867, we can discern a gradual detachment of the Casarettans from the Cassinese and the first steps towards becoming a new Congregation.

The role of Pius IX needs to be understood.  Having made himself titular Abbot of Subiaco in 1847[33], the Pope set about trying to reform the house, an operation which ended in 1850 with the appointment of Casaretto as Abbot, as we saw in Part Two of this article.  It is clear, from the documents: that the Pope had it clearly in mind to put Subiaco at the head of a new Province, that Casaretto himself intended to make Subiaco one with his houses in northern Italy and, finally, that the Sacro Speco (then a separate monastery from S. Scolastica at Subiaco) would be added to his province at the retirement of the then abbot.   It is not impossible that some of these “papal” ideas had been deftly inserted into the Holy Father’s mind by conversation with Casaretto.  Pius would continue to be a friend, right up to his death in 1878.

Little by little, the new community from Genoa settled into the monastery of Subiaco and the former community left, one by one, for other pastures.  On 21 March 1851, Wilfrid Alcock (founder of Ramsgate) made his profession along with the German, Ludger Knuffmann.

1851 saw Casaretto in Rome on several occasions, to push for the creation of a “Subiacan Province” and also to enlist help to obtain the monastery of S. Giovanni at Parma.  A decree of the Holy See, 24^th  March 1851, declared Casaretto to be Abbot of Subiaco ad nutum Sanctae Sedis (which meant that he could not be removed by the authorities of the Cassinese Congregation); it went on to declare that the monks of Genoa were one family with Subiaco and were to maintain the same observance.

Regarding Parma, negotiations between the Holy See and Charles III, Duke of Parma, were well advanced.  A Convention was signed between them on 23^rd April 1851, with the express intention of making the monasteries of S. Giuliano d’Albàro (Genoa) and S. Giovanni of Parma members of a new Province.

This was followed closely by a Decree of the Holy See, 28^th May 1851, in which the “Subiacan Province” of the Cassinese Congregation was formally erected, including within it S. Giuliano, Finalpia, S. Scolastica at Subiaco and S. Giovanni at Parma.  It was further decreed that Solemn Vows were to be taken after 10 years of profession, and the strict observance was established.  In the same month, Raffaele Testa was named abbot of S. Giuliano d’Albàro.  The following year, 1852, Casaretto finally obtained legal possession of the monastery at Parma.

From this point onwards, we begin to see a rising tide of opposition to Casaretto among the Cassinese, mixed with not a few voices of approval.  Some feared that now he had, so to speak, “got his hands on” Subiaco, he might push for Montecassino as well...  and then, what next?  One can readily understand that the Casarettans appeared something like a cuckoo in the nest to the rest of the Congregation, which did not share their enthusiasm for reform and were doubtful about the character and motives of Casaretto.

In view of the opposition, it is curious to see that Casaretto was elected Abbot President at the General Chapter of the Cassinese, held in May 1852.  This must mean either that there was less substance to the opposition, at this point, than we might believe or that there was enough confidence in the founder to give him a chance to show his colours.  It is said that he wished to refuse the election, but Card. Cosenza, who was presiding, insisted on his acceptance, in the name of the holy Father.  Casaretto made use of his Constitutional prerogative to choose his monastery of residence and moved to the Sacro Speco, while retaining the government of  S. Scolastica.

Prior to the Chapter, the Congregation for Religious had given certain indications for reform which it would have liked to see adopted.  The following four were accepted:

1.   Emphasis on Poverty and the Common Life.

2.   The need for monastic Enclosure.

3.   The wearing of the habit.

4.   The need for Mental Prayer.

To which, Casaretto and his assistants would soon add five further points:

1.   Emphasis on Silence.

2.   Examination of Conscience twice daily.

3.   Daily Visit to the Blessed Sacrament.

4.   Monthly Retreat.

5.   Annual Eight-Day Retreat.

We see here the influence on Casaretto of his contacts with more modern orders and congregations, such as the Jesuits and the Pallottine fathers.

In the following year, 1853, the Holy see approved yet further changes, at the instigation of Casaretto:

1.   The General Chapter was henceforth to be held every six years and always at Montecassino, with the Diet of superiors at the third year in between chapters, and always at Perugia.

2.   A common noviciate was to be set up for each Province.

Despite all of this, the new prescriptions remained for the most part a dead letter, except in Casaretto’s own reformed monasteries, where they had been in operation even before the Chapter.   Even three years later, at the Diet of 1855 in Subiaco, the reforms had not move forward at all in most houses.

Opposition in certain monasteries made it difficult for Casaretto to visit them, because of his sensitive temperament.  Card. Cosenza, however, insisted that Casaretto, as President, should visit all the houses of his Congregation.  Casaretto demurred, saying that his life would be in danger if he were to go to the monasteries of Sicily, where the opposition was strong. 

Amid this turmoil, however, there was also considerable growth, and not just among the Casarettans.  The General Chapter of 1852 accepted the incorporation into the Cassinese Congregation of the Mission of Western Australia (today the Abbey of New Norcia) founded by the two monk-bishops, Giuseppe M. Serra and Rudesindo Salvado[34].  This move is interesting, in that it clearly shows an atypical missionary thrust on the part of the Cassinese, who, in general, had not sought to have houses outside Italy[35].   We have to leave the story of New Norcia with this simple brief mention, but much more has been, and could be said about this very interesting page of 19^th century monastic history.

In the same era, the two monk-brothers Placid and Maurus Wolter, professed of St Paul’s-outside-the-Walls, returned to their native Germany, where Maurus would become founder and Abbot of Beuron and its Congregation, while Placid would later found Maredsous, in Belgium, which later, under Abbot Columba Marmion, was to have such important links with the Prinknash community (then on Caldey Island) at the time of its conversion to the Catholic church in 1913.  But that is another story.

These two beginnings need to be mentioned, since they show that, whatever difficulties the Cassinese may have been passing through at this time, there was still considerable life in the old branches of the Benedictine tree.

Subiaco in the 1850’s saw perhaps too much expansion.  In 1852 there were 54 religious; in 1854, 70; in 1857, more than 100 (which included the common noviciate for the Subiacan Province whose members came from several different countries and included the founding fathers of Ramsgate).  It is possible that this number was the largest that Subiaco had ever seen in all its long history since the time of St Benedict. 

But one can easily understand the logistical challenges:  how were these young men to be fed and, still more important, how given a monastic formation that was in any sense adequate?  The organisation of studies for such a large number of new recruits must have been a formidable task and one wonders how effective it was.  There were alumni[36] to think of, too.  Furthermore, all of these were “birds of passage” intended for other houses and, in that sense, did not contribute to the building up of a permanent and stable monastic presence at Subiaco, whose two monasteries would suffer the consequences in the following decades. 

According to Fabbri[37], we see here another contradiction in Casaretto: he seems to have wanted to create a kind of army of monks, under one head, like one of the more modern religious congregations, whose members could be sent anywhere, at any time, rather than a stable monastic community in the way envisaged by the Rule of saint Benedict, whose members would remain more or less in the one place.  My own view is that there was no such clearly formulated intention on Casaretto’s part (for Casaretto was not a man of theory).  His monastic ideas would always remain nebulous, divided between a romantic notion of a monastic past (whose glories he had never known and whose life he himself could not lead to any extent) and the genuine initiatives he had received from saintly men of his own epoch, like his spiritual Director, St Vincent Pallotti, whose zeal could not be doubted, even if it was not monastic in character.

Raffaele Testa, now abbot of S. Giuliano d’Albàro, shared some of the reservations of the other members of the Cassinese Congregation.  He could see the dangers of having a Subiacan Province that was shut in on itself and, in later years, would hesitate before voting for the complete separation and formation of the new Congregation.  He also was more traditionally Benedictine in character, inasmuch as he lamented the absence of a fixed and stable community in each Casarettan house and thought that the enormous numbers of students at Subiaco would eventually have a deleterious effect on the community finances and even on the monastic observance itself.  In this he was probably correct.  Though loyal to Casretto, he also considered him to be stubborn.

Meanwhile, the monasteries in the north were not doing well.  The attempt to make a common noviciate for the Lombard-Etruscan-Piedmontese Province failed because a suitable location could not be found for it.  1855 saw the implementation of the Law of Suppression of the Ligurian monasteries.  Casaretto tried to save what he could - but it was useless.   In spite of these trials, however, on 27^th May 1854, a colony of monks left Subiaco to re-open the monastery of S. Giovanni Evangelista at Parma.

Then an incident occurred which would fan the flames of opposition to Casaretto, even among some of his own followers.  The second monastery of Subiaco, the Sacro Speco (where saint Benedict lived in a cave for a time) was joined to the Subiacan Province by decree of the Holy See on 16^th July 1853, according to Casaretto’s wishes, with the proviso that it was henceforth to be considered as one monastery with S. Scolastica, further down the mountainside, where he was already abbot.  On the 14^th November, Casaretto visited the Sacro Speco and gave all the old community a formal precept of obedience to leave and go down to S. Scolastica, without taking anything with them.  A few days later, a new group of monks was sent up to the Sacro Speco to begin the reformed observance, including the midnight office.   But there were hostile reactions to this rather summary imposition of the primitive observance, even from the local clergy and people.

At about the same time, Pius IX, perhaps in the belief that all was now well with Subiaco, named Cardinal Girolamo D’Andrea as commendatory abbot in place of himself[38].  It soon became obvious that the new incumbent disliked Casaretto, and the feeling was mutual.  Local people and enemies within the Cassinese Congregation found in the Cardinal a supporter for their complaints.  D’Andrea even went so far as to open a secret enquiry into the personal life of Casaretto and found a whole list of “faults”:

1.   Casaretto never said more than the hours of Prime and Compline from the Divine Office, but used the Rosary as a substitute [for this, it should be added, he had full permission from legitimate authority].

2.   He often ate meat, morning and evening [no doubt because of his health].

3.   He had acquired large sums of money [probably very true, but in what sense?  In view of the suppression of religious houses, he may well have felt obliged to keep rather more than usual in his own hands].

4.   He hardly ever assisted at community exercises [he was often away from the monastery, visiting Rome, or seeing to the foundation of new houses, making visits as Abbot President, or resting because of his health].

Those who were already disenchanted with Casaretto could conveniently view these points in a hostile light.   I suspect that he was neither as good as some of his followers portrayed him nor as bad as his enemies would like to have believed.

Whatever our opinion, the course was now set for a major crisis in relations with the Cassinese Congregation.  The years 1853-55 would be a time of discouragement for Casaretto, who offered his resignation as Abbot President and Abbot of Subiaco to Pius IX in early 1854.  But it was not accepted.  Only in April 1858, at the General Chapter, would Casaretto be replaced as President by D. Filippo Cultrera and Raffaele Testa as Abbot of Subiaco.  Casaretto was named Visitor of the Subiacan Province, Abbot of S. Giuliano d’Albàro and Administrator of Parma.   

The only good news, from Casaretto’s point of view, seemed to be the lavish praise by the Chapter of the missionary activity of the Subiacans, in particular, its expansion into the English mission by the founding of Ramsgate (1856).  There were encouraging developments in other areas, too.  The monastery of Praglia, then in Austria, now in Italy, was aggregated to the Province in 1857  with the aggregation of Termonde (now Dendermonde) following on 8^th September 1858.  In France, the monastery of La Pierre-qui-Vire, which was to found practically the whole of the French Province, with later developments in the United States and, more recently, in Africa, Madagascar and Vietnam, joined the Subiacan Province on 14^th January 1859.   In Catalonia (Spain), the abbey of Montserrat was aggregated, in 1862.  Taking into account also the Australian mission, we can see that, despite the difficulties, it was a period of quite extraordinary fecundity.

As we said in an earlier part of this article, Casaretto always saw monastic fervour and missionary activity as two parts of one whole.  It was in this line of thinking that he was able, in May 1861, to persuade Pius IX to give him the recently vacated buildings of the monastery of S. Ambrogio, Piazza Mattei, Rome, as the seat of his Missionary College.  It was to be under the authority of Propaganda Fide and not under the Cassinese.   The College itself would not last long: the fall of Rome in 1870 and the subsequent secularisation of religious property made its existence precarious, and it was finally and regretfully closed in 1884.  Some of its functions were later taken over by the new international College of S. Anselmo, on the Aventine (re-founded in 1893).  S.Ambrogio remained for many years the seat of the Procurator General of the new Congregation and, since 1948, has been also the residence of the Abbot President and his Curia.

part four: 1867-1878[39]

It is necessary to say a word about the Cassinese Congregation, from which the Casarettans were soon to detach themselves.  It had been founded in the 15^th century by the Venetian Abbot, Ludovico Barbo, whose tomb lies in the old choir of the monastery of S. Giustina at Padova[40].  Barbo set out to reform the abuses of his time, which included especially the system of commendatory abbots (usually seculars who held the title of “abbot” but who generally used the income of the monastery for their own purposes, without seeing to the spiritual benefit of the monks).  To combat this, the abbot, or father-figure in his monasteries was all but abolished, all power being vested in the General Chapter.  Abbots were appointed initially for only one year, a period which would later be extended to two, then three years.  General Chapter elected a committee called “The Definitors”, whose business it was to make all the appointments of officials within the Congregation.   Everybody was checked by somebody else, even the Abbot President.   The Congregation comprised a total of about 60 Abbeys, all in Italy.  No foundations were sought elsewhere, though one or two had been occasionally allowed.  But, as we have said, all its monasteries had been suppressed at the time of Napoleon and the restored Congregation of the mid-19^th century was but a shadow of its former self, its observance feeble and, in general, a long way from the spirit of the Constitutions.

At the Diet of 1862, it was already apparent that the Subiacan Province was taking a new direction.  First of all, there were English, Belgian, French, Spanish and Italian houses, all of which had a decidely missionary outlook, as we have seen.  This was already alien to the spirit of the Cassinese, which was purely contemplative.

Further, by 1867, the Law of Suppression of Religious Houses was effective in all but the Papal States, which were themselves to fall into secular hands in 1870.   For the moment, the missionary college of S. Ambrogio, Rome, and the two monasteries of Subiaco were safe.  But Casaretto was well aware that he needed to find places of refuge, outside Italy, a point which served only to increase the pressure for missionary expansion. 

Finally, Casaretto decided that he must act.  An extraordinary Diet of the Subiacan Province was held in the Villa Mattei, Rome, beginning on 5^th May 1867.  Representatives of all the nationalities then within the Province were present and the presiding prelate was Archbishop Berardi, taking the place of Card. Antonelli, Protector of the Cassinese Congregation[41].  Casaretto laid before the assembly the following two alternatives:

Either:

1.   They must ask for an Apostolic Visitor to govern the Subiacan Province, which would remove it from the jurisdiction of the Cassinese and place it directly under the Holy See,

Or:

2.   They must seek the status of a Congregation.

It was clear that Casaretto preferred the second option, while insisting that he wanted to preserve some kind of fraternal link with the Cassinese[42].  He had, in fact, already prepared draft Constitutions, and the rest of the meeting was taken up with their discussion.

When it became apparent that the majority was in favour, these Constitutions were submitted to the Holy See, which gave its approval, ad experimentum for a period of ten years, in a decree of 5^th August 1867.   Thus came into being the Cassinese Congregation of the Primitive Observance[43].     

These Constitutions, however, were quite markedly different from those of the old Cassinese.  The figure of  Abbot General (rather than Abbot President) was created, whose powers were considerably increased and included the ability to move any monk from any monastery to another.  After completing studies at S. Ambrogio, a young monk could be assigned to any Province.   In theory, the General remained at Subiaco and the Procurator at S. Ambrogio, though it may be doubted how this worked out in practice, given Casaretto’s propensity to travel and the necessities of his office.

Four Provinces were created, with four Abbot Visitors:  Italian, Anglo-Belgian, French and Spanish.  Since the General Chapter was to meet only every 12 years (as opposed to every 6, in the Cassinese) more power was left in the hands of the General and Visitors in the intervening period.  This was certainly an innovation[44].  It is true that there was to be a Diet, in the 6^th year between General Chapters, but this had only limited legislative powers.

The Visitors had power over their Provinces, including over the noviciate[45]  and clericate and had the appointment of novice masters, cleric masters and confessors.  They had the right to use pontificals and Casaretto intended that these should be in general reserved for them and not used by lesser superiors.

Casaretto also invented the college of  Consultors (now called Assistants) of the Abbot General.  They were to be elected by General Chapter and were 4 in number, normally ex-Visitors or ex-Superiors.

Further innovations included the stipulation that a monastery was normally to be ruled by a Prior, not an Abbot, even if the community were numerous.   These Priors had a 3-year term of office.  Abbot Parry notes the amusing fact that one of the constitutions even goes so far as to say:

        ...in case it should be thought necessary to put an Abbot in charge of a monastery, an eventuality about which care should be taken       that it happens as rarely as possible[46].

In the same vein, although the Provinces were to send a delegate each to the General Chapter, local superiors had no place there.  

There was a number of what can only be regarded as petty and narrow regulations:  a superior could admit a guest for 3 days only;  the Visitor could extend the stay to 8 days; the Abbot General, to 1 month; after that, the case had to go to General Chapter - which met only every 12 years!   In part one of this article, we saw how strict were the regulations for the money chest of the monstery.

A positive innovation, however, was the invention of the Provincial Diet, or Chapter[47], which endures to this day.  The Diet had power over the Visitor and Province in a way analogous to that of the General Chapter over the Abbot General and the whole Congregation.

It will not surprise us to learn that, in the general climate of criticism towards Casaretto, the Constitutions of 1867 were considered from the first as defective and even deemed to be “Jesuitical”, that is to say, breathing the spirit of centralisation rather than our present concept of subsidiarity[48].  The juridical picture was of only one family, throughout the world, regulated by a General Chapter, an Abbot General and the Visitors.  There were no monasteries sui juris.   Again, one can contrast this with our present theory (1996 Const.5).

While one can understand the background of the attempt to check up constantly on everyone and everything, this fact, together with the change of superiors after short periods in office, must have created an uneasy atmosphere of instability.  

Above all, the 1867 Constitutions were completely silent about a major constitutive element of the life as it was then lived: namely, the missions. How were the brethren concerned to live the missionary life within a rigid monastic framework?  The ideal seemed to have been a perfect, contemplative Cassinese monastery of the pre-Napoleonic period, with the missions somehow added on.  This was bound to cause tension and unhappiness.

In 1870, Rome fell and the Papal States ceased to exist.  In a climate of change and uncertainty, Casaretto pressed the Holy Father (still Pius IX) to dispense with the experimental period for the Constitutions (which would have extended until 1877) and on 9^th March 1872, obtained a Decree in which the Cassinese Congregation of the Primitive Observance was definitively erected, being, at the juridical level, a completely separate entity from its mother, the Cassinese Congregation.  Casaretto was confirmed in office as the 1^st Abbot General.

It is worth taking stock of the Congregation, in its nascent state:

·       Italian Province: Subiaco (2), Genova (2), Parma, Praglia (2), the missionary College at S. Ambrogio, Rome, the territorial abbeys of Monaco and Fontevivo (neither of which would last long in the new Congregation), the mission at Gerbi, Tunisia, and the territorial abbey of Montevergine (for the aggregation of which negotiations were still underway at this time).  

·       Anglo-Belgian Province:  Ramsgate, its noviciate at Tenterden, Leopardstown in Ireland, Affligem and Termonde in Belgium.  There were also some nuns at Ramsgate (who later disappeared and were replaced by the present community of nuns at Minster, Thanet, aggregated to our Congregation in 1997) and missions in East Bengal and New Zealand.

·       French Province:  La Pierre-qui-Vire, Belloc, Saint-Pierre-de-Canon (later En Calcat); negotiations were in hand to start a mission in native American territory, USA (later “Sacred Heart”, Oklahoma, now Shawnee Abbey in the American-Cassinese Congregation).

·       Spanish Province:  Montserrat and house at Naples, Italy.

The final years of Pietro Casaretto were marred by controversy and a good deal of physical suffering. 

In 1874, Subiaco was suppressed by the military, leaving only a handful of monks as custodians on behalf of the State, while the noviciate was transferred to Montevergine.   Meanwhile, there were further complaints against Casaretto: this time, that he had taken away precious objects and documents from the Sacro Speco.  This was probably true, but again we must ask: in what sense?  As we hinted before, it is likely that he thought it was necessary to hide them from the secularising forces of the new Italian state.   Knowing a little of his character, however, it may well have been that his intentions were good while his manière de faire left something to be desired, and rankled with friend and foe alike. 

With these complaints from the community ringing in his ears, Casaretto asked Testa to take over again as abbot at Subiaco.  He refused.  Easter 1874 was the occasion of Casaretto’s last visit to Subiaco.  He would never go there again.  Under the psychological strain of controversy, his health gave way and he began to plan his retirement.  Shortly afterwards, he asked and obtained permission from the Holy See to acquire a villa on the Côte d’Azur at Saint-Laurent d’Eze, between Genova and Nice. Yet, for the moment, he continued to govern the new Congregation.

In June 1875 he returned to Rome, then went to Montevergine where on the 4^th June, he offered his resignation.  It was not accepted.  Instead Colombano Canevello (actually Procurator General) was appointed as his deputy and Nicola Canevello, brother of Colombano, was made responsible for the Benedictine Missions.  Casaretto returned to his villa, where he would live practically all the rest of his days, in the company of his chaplain, D. Hildebrand dell’Oro and his faithful lay brother, Gerardo Minetto.     

In April 1876, a Commission of Cardinals was appointed to rule the Congregation[49].  Its work would last four years, culminating in the General Chapter of 1880, the return to normal government of the Congregation and the approval of a completely new set of Constitutions, decidedly different from those  of 1867,which had been written in large measure by Casaretto himself. 

The Commission was given full powers over the fledgling Congregation.  One of its first acts was to definitively accept the proferred resignation of Casaretto as Abbot General and to appoint a rather reluctant Raffaele Testa as his replacement, ad beneplacitum S. Sedis, that is to say, with strictly limited powers.  The Commission was the real controlling force.  Casaretto still dealt with negotiations with the civil powers, on behalf of the Congregation.  The Anglo-Belgian Province was split into two separate Provinces, which remain to this day.

Later that same year, Casaretto was questioned, at his villa, concerning his material administration, with particular regard to the monasteries of Subiaco and Parma, whose effects he was accused of mishandling.   Casaretto expressed himself willing to restore anything that he had taken, but asked to be left in peace as he now had cancer and his health was failing rapidly.  He made a very good impression on his two interviewers, Bernard Moreau, (Abbot of La Pierre-qui-Vire and Visitor of the French Province), and Hildebrand d’Oro (his chaplain).   He also replied to a similar list of complaints in February 1878, but by then, he had been relieved of all his responsibilities towards the Congregation.    Given his sensitivity, it must have been particularly bitter to be suspected of malpractice by his own Congregation.

Pius IX, his friend, supporter and, in a different but complementary way, co-founder of the new Congregation died on 9^th February 1878, an event which must have had a big impact on Casaretto.  From then on, he sank rapidly, finally dying, in the presence of his two faithful companions, on 1^st July.   His tomb is in the chapel of S. Anna in the monastery of S. Giuliano d’Albàro, where his attempt to revive the monastic life in Italy had first begun.

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