Majolus of Cluny

Who was Majolus of Cluny?

Saint Majolus of Cluny was an abbot of Cluny. As a youth Majolus fled his family's estates near Rietz to stay with relatives at Mâcon due to the Muslim invasions. Majolus studied at Lyon and later became archdeacon of Mâcon.

Offered the bishopric of Besançon, he became a monk of Cluny instead. In 954, he was named abbot-coadjutor to Aymard. Two years later, he became full abbot of Cluny.

At several times, he refused the papacy.

Majolus, along with his successor Odilo of Mercouer, were supporters of the Ottonian emperors of Germany. He reformed many German monasteries at the request of Otto the Great and settled a disagreement between Adelaide and her son, Otto II.

The Arabs of Fraxinet in Provence captured Majolus in 972 as he crossed the Saint Bernard Pass. Majolus was ransomed by the monks of Cluny for a thousand pounds of silver. This outrage upon the greatest monk in the Christian West was followed by the extermination of Fraxinet by the lords of Provence in 975.

During his abbacy the replacement abbey church of Cluny was consecrated in 981.

Shortly before his death, he made Saint Odilo his coadjutor. Majolus died while on his way to Saint-Denis.