Roman Catholic Saint. Nilus the Younger, also known as San Nilo di Rossano, was born to a Greek family in Rossano around the year 910, in the Byzantine area of Calabria. For a time he was married, or lived unlawfully, and had a daughter. Sickness brought about his conversion, leading him to become a monk and a propagator of the rule of Saint Basil in Italy. Known for his ascetic life, virtues and theological learning, after living for a period as a hermit, he went on to spend terms in various monasteries, which he either founded or restored. Present for some time at the Abbey of Montecassino and at the Alexius Monastery of Rome, when Pope Gregory V was driven out of Rome, Nilus opposed the usurpation of Philogatos of Piacenza as antipope. Successively, when Philogatos was tortured and mutilated, he reproached Gregory and the Emperor Otto III for this crime. However, his major work remains the foundation of the famous Greek Monastery of Grottaferrata, near Frascati, on lands granted him by Gregory, Count of Tusculum. Counted as its first abbot, the abbey continues to run in the Byzantine Rite. Spending the end of his life partly at Saint Agata Monastery in Tusculum and partly in a hermitage at Valleluce near Gaeta, he passed away at Saint Agata's in 1004. His feast is celebrated on September 26, in both the Byzantine Calendar and the Roman Martyrology.
Roman Catholic Saint. Nilus the Younger, also known as San Nilo di Rossano, was born to a Greek family in Rossano around the year 910, in the Byzantine area of Calabria. For a time he was married, or lived unlawfully, and had a daughter. Sickness brought about his conversion, leading him to become a monk and a propagator of the rule of Saint Basil in Italy. Known for his ascetic life, virtues and theological learning, after living for a period as a hermit, he went on to spend terms in various monasteries, which he either founded or restored. Present for some time at the Abbey of Montecassino and at the Alexius Monastery of Rome, when Pope Gregory V was driven out of Rome, Nilus opposed the usurpation of Philogatos of Piacenza as antipope. Successively, when Philogatos was tortured and mutilated, he reproached Gregory and the Emperor Otto III for this crime. However, his major work remains the foundation of the famous Greek Monastery of Grottaferrata, near Frascati, on lands granted him by Gregory, Count of Tusculum. Counted as its first abbot, the abbey continues to run in the Byzantine Rite. Spending the end of his life partly at Saint Agata Monastery in Tusculum and partly in a hermitage at Valleluce near Gaeta, he passed away at Saint Agata's in 1004. His feast is celebrated on September 26, in both the Byzantine Calendar and the Roman Martyrology.
Bio by: Eman Bonnici
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