Aldemaro di Capua

Aldemaro di Capua, known in Latin as Aldemarus and often called Aldemar the Wise, was a Benedictine monk and abbot of the eleventh century. Surviving hagiographical accounts agree that he was a native of Capua in southern Italy; the year of his birth is not preserved in any reliable source. He entered the abbey of Monte Cassino, the principal Benedictine house of the region, and there gained a reputation for learning, prudence, and regular observance. Later tradition attached to him the epithet il Saggio on account of that reputation.

From Monte Cassino he was sent back to Capua to serve as tutor to a son of the ruling prince. His abilities then led to his appointment as abbot of the monastery of San Lorenzo in Capua. Narratives of his life state that his government of that house was interrupted by hostility from the prince, described in older English sources as persecution or jealousy, which forced him to abandon the abbacy and leave the city.

He withdrew into the interior of south-central Italy. English martyrological tradition places this retirement in the country of the Marsi and records that he built a monastery there. Other accounts associate him with a foundation at Boiano (Bojano) in Molise and, more lastingly, with the monastery of Santa Lucia at Bucchianico in Abruzzo, in the present province of Chieti. He is credited with establishing several monastic communities in that region and with governing them according to the Rule of Saint Benedict for the remainder of his life.

According to the date received in Benedictine and local calendars, Aldemaro died at Bucchianico on 24 March in or about the year 1080. His body was retained at Bucchianico, where a cult developed and where he is venerated as patron of the town. His feast is kept on 24 March. No papal bull of canonization is recorded; like many local monastic saints of the eleventh century, he was recognized by popular and episcopal cult rather than by a formal process of the later Roman type.