St. Majolus of Cluny

Benedictine abbot, friend of emperors and popes, also called Maieul. He was born at Avignon, France. A Saracen invasion in the region of his estate near Rietz forced him to go to Macon, Burgundy, and then to Lyons, where he received the rank of arch-deacon and then became bishop of Besancon. In order to escape from this position, Majolus entered the Benedictine abbey of Cluny. He became abbot there in 965. and he reformed monastic institutions for Emperor Otto the Great. He supposedly refused positions of honor, including the papacy. Majolus mediated a dispute between Empress St. Adelaide and her son, Otto II. In 991, Majolus named St. Odilo his coadjutor and retired to a life of prayer. He died on the way to reform St. Denis Abbey, near Paris, at the request of Hugh Capet.