Camaldolites

Camaldolites, a religious order founded in the vale of Camaldoli, near Arezzo, in the Apennines, in 1018, by St Romuald, a Benedictine monk (died 1027), and which spread from Italy into France, Germany, and Poland. The brethren, who wore a white garment, were always characterised for the excessive rigidity of their monastic rule. Their dissensions early broke them up into several congregations; but in the 18th century, under five generals, they numbered 2000. The order is now almost extinct.