A fourteenth-century Sienese nobleman who founded the Olivetan Benedictines and died caring for plague victims during the Black Death in Siena.

Saint Bernardo Tolomei (1272-1348) was born into a prominent Sienese noble family and had a successful career as a jurist and teacher before withdrawing, along with two companions, to a remote site outside Siena to live in prayer and penance. There, in 1313, he founded what became the Benedictine Congregation of Our Lady of Mount Olivet, known as the Olivetans, adopting the Rule of Saint Benedict and building a monastery, Monte Oliveto Maggiore, that became renowned for its learning and its later Renaissance art. Tolomei served as the congregation’s superior for over three decades as it grew and gained papal approval. In 1348, when the Black Death struck Siena with devastating force, he left the safety of the monastery to nurse the sick and dying in the city, ultimately contracting the plague himself and dying that August, along with a number of his monks who had joined him in the same charitable mission.

Quick Facts

• Born: May 10, 1272, Siena, Italy
• Died: August 20, 1348, Siena, Italy (age approximately 76)
• Founder of the Olivetans, Benedictine Congregation of Our Lady of Mount Olivet, 1313
• Feast Day: August 19 (some calendars August 20/21)
• Canonized: April 26, 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI
• Patronage: the Olivetan Congregation and those who care for plague and epidemic victims

Who Was Saint Bernardo Tolomei?

Born Giovanni Tolomei into a wealthy and influential Sienese family, he trained as a lawyer and taught rhetoric and philosophy before a serious illness, traditionally described as a temporary loss of sight, prompted a profound conversion. Taking the religious name Bernardo, he withdrew with two friends, Patrizio Patrizi and Ambrogio Piccolomini, to a secluded, desert-like tract of land called Accona outside Siena, where they began a life of extreme austerity. As their community grew, Bernardo sought and received approval from the Bishop of Arezzo and later from Pope Clement VI to formally establish the Olivetan congregation under the Rule of Saint Benedict, building the monastery of Monte Oliveto Maggiore into a center of monastic discipline, art, and learning that still stands today.

Historical Setting

Bernardo’s founding years coincided with a period of intense civic and religious life in the Italian city-states, when wealthy laypeople frequently withdrew from public careers to pursue radical religious vocations, part of a broader medieval pattern of reform-minded eremitical and monastic movements. His death in 1348 places him at the very outbreak of the Black Death, the catastrophic pandemic that killed a large share of Europe’s population within a few years and struck Siena with particular severity, decimating the city and effectively halting its cathedral’s ambitious expansion. Religious communities throughout the affected regions faced excruciating choices about whether to flee infected areas or remain to serve the dying, and Tolomei’s decision to go into the city rather than shelter his monks placed him squarely among those who chose direct service at maximum personal risk.

Why the Church Venerates Saint Bernardo Tolomei

The Church honors Bernardo Tolomei both for founding a lasting monastic congregation devoted to prayer, learning, and hospitality, and for the heroic charity of his final act, choosing to nurse plague victims in Siena when he could have remained in the relative safety of his monastery. His death alongside brother monks who joined him in that mission is remembered as a direct imitation of Christ’s self-giving love, laying down his life in service of the sick and dying during one of history’s deadliest pandemics. This combination of institutional founder and martyr-like servant of the plague-stricken has made him a particularly resonant figure in later centuries marked by their own epidemics.

Canonization and Feast Day

Bernardo Tolomei was beatified in 1644 and finally canonized by Pope Benedict XVI on April 26, 2009, more than 650 years after his death. His feast is kept by the Olivetan Congregation on August 19, close to the anniversary of his death from plague on August 20, 1348. His canonization drew renewed attention to his example of self-sacrificial care for the sick, a theme with obvious resonance for the contemporary Church’s own experiences of epidemic disease.

What Catholics Can Learn Today

Saint Bernardo’s story speaks directly to questions of risk, duty, and charity that resurface whenever disease threatens a community. He had built a stable, disciplined monastic life removed from the dangers of the city, yet when catastrophe struck he chose to enter the danger rather than avoid it, understanding his vocation as one of active service rather than mere self-preservation. His example challenges modern Catholics to consider how genuine charity sometimes demands real personal risk, and how communities built for prayer and discipline can also become launching points for courageous service when crisis demands it.

A Prayer to Saint Bernardo Tolomei

Saint Bernardo Tolomei, founder and father to your monastic brothers, who left the safety of your monastery to nurse the plague-stricken of Siena and gave your life in that service, intercede for all who care for the sick at cost to themselves. Grant us your courage in the face of danger, your compassion for the suffering, and your willingness to lay down comfort and safety for the sake of others. Amen.

Sources

• Vatican.va, biography from the canonization of Bernardo Tolomei, 2009
• Catholic Encyclopedia (New Advent), entry on the Olivetans
• Butler’s Lives of the Saints, revised edition
• Congregazione Benedettina di Santa Maria di Monte Oliveto, historical records of the founding