Born in Ravenna on the Adriatic coast of Italy in 1007, he lost both parents when he was young and was put in the care of a brother, who ensured him an excellent education. In 1035 he became a monk in the branch of the Benedictine Order known as the Camaldolese (founded by St. Romuald); these lived in cells as hermits, somewhat like Carthusians, and spent time in manual labour and study. He rose to be abbot of the community (1043) and to be responsible for other foundations. He proved an excellent spiritual father and was much called upon for advice. He was much concerned with sloppiness in the faith, from chess-playing bishops (!) downwards, and was in tune with the reforms of the then Pope, Leo IX, who was trying to tackle financial corruption in the Church and the ever-thorny question of clerical celibacy. In 1057 he was made a cardinal and bishop of Ostia (the port of Rome) and served as a diplomat on behalf of the even more vigorous reforming Pope, Gregory VII [Hildebrand]. Aware that all this was taking him further from his monastic roots, he begged to be allowed to return to his chosen way of life; this was granted and he spent his old age in his monastery happily making wooden spoons (presumably without symbolic significance). Even in these last years he was called in as a peace-maker, this time in his native city of Ravenna. He died at Faenza in 1072. Deeply devoted to the Virgin Mary and to Christ's Passion, he has some link to England in that he wrote the hymn in honour of St. Gregory the Great "Anglorum iam Apostolus" ["Apostle of the English"].