Abbot Nilus

Saint Nilus of Rossano, known as Abbot Nilus or Nilus the Younger, was born in 910 in Rossano, Calabria, then a part of the Byzantine Empire in southern Italy. Of Greek parentage, he was given a solid education in Greek letters and Christian doctrine. In his younger years he married and had a daughter. After a period of secular life, he experienced a call to monasticism. Leaving his family, he entered upon the religious life in a Basilian monastery before adopting the eremitical life in the wilderness of Calabria.

As a hermit and later as abbot, Nilus gathered disciples and founded several monasteries that observed the Byzantine rite and the monastic rule of Saint Basil the Great. He was renowned for his ascetic practices, his interpretation of Scripture, and the spiritual counsel he offered to both monks and laypeople. During a time of frequent raids by Muslim forces from Sicily, he provided leadership and aid to the Christian population of the region. His communities became important centers for the preservation of Greek culture and Orthodox spirituality in Italy.

In later decades, Nilus moved his community northward to Campania, establishing a house at Valleluce near the great Benedictine abbey of Monte Cassino. He formed a friendship with the monks there while remaining faithful to his Eastern traditions. Emperor Otto III, impressed by Nilus's sanctity, consulted him on spiritual matters and attempted to appoint him to high office, including the abbacy of Monte Cassino, but Nilus consistently refused such honors. Around the year 1004, Nilus founded what would become his most enduring legacy, the monastery of Grottaferrata dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, located in the Alban Hills near Rome.

Nilus died on 26 September 1005 at Grottaferrata and was buried in the church of the new monastery. He was venerated as a saint from the time of his death. The life of Saint Nilus was written by his disciple and successor Bartholomew. The Abbey of Grottaferrata continues to this day as a monastery of Byzantine rite monks of the Italo-Albanian Catholic Church. Saint Nilus is the patron of Grottaferrata and is also venerated in Rossano. His feast day is 26 September.