Lucidus of Aquara

Saint Lucidus of Aquara was a Benedictine monk and hermit in southern Italy. The Western calendars commemorate him on 28 July as a monk of the monastery of Saint Peter near Aquara; the Italian source shows, however, that he reposed on 5 December 1038 (not 938), at Monte Cassino.

He was born at Aquara around 960, to Albino della Croce and Sabina Nicodemo. Orphaned young, he was entrusted to a paternal uncle, and at about fifteen he entered the Benedictine monastery of Saint Peter near Aquara. From there he passed to the monastery of San Magno near Fondi, then to Monte Cassino, where Aligernus was abbot. After Aligernus died, Princess Aloara of Capua imposed as abbot Manso, her husband's cousin; since the Benedictine rule required the abbot to be chosen from among the monks of the community, some of them, among them Lucidus, left Monte Cassino.

From 986 to 988 he went to Jerusalem with two brethren, then returned and withdrew to the Arsicia cave at Cava dei Tirreni near Salerno, where the abbey of the Most Holy Trinity now stands. As a hermit he reached a high degree of perfection and became known throughout southern Italy; the cave was a place of pilgrimage for those seeking his counsel, and Prince Guaimar of Salerno chose him as his spiritual father. In 1009 he returned to Monte Cassino, and in 1011, in the nearby valley of Albaneta, he built the monastery of Santa Maria dell'Albaneta, where he remained as prior until his death. His relics were kept first at Albaneta, then at the abbey of Saint Peter, and finally in the parish church of Aquara, in a silver statue. After nine centuries of unbroken remembrance and veneration, Pope Leo XIII recognized his cult on 8 January 1880. The same saint is named in the calendars also as Lyutius, a monk of Monte Cassino who died as a hermit at La Cava.