Trying to get away from it all

	St. Romanus When: died c. 460 Where: Switzerland What: Monk and abbot Feast: Feb. 28

One United States airline has a series of ads in which characters find themselves in an embarrassing situation. At that point, the announcer asks, "Want to get away from it all?" The solution is simple, fly away to some glamour spot.

St. Romanus seems to have had something like that in mind at age 35. It's not clear what he had done in his early life, but, spurred on by a mid-life crisis or a religious conversion, he decided that he wanted to get away from it all.

His solution was to move to a forested area in the Jura Mountains in Switzerland, along its northwestern border with France, today the heart of the Swiss watchmaking industry.

In the 5th century, the area was fairly isolated, and Romanus went there to become a hermit. He took a guidebook with him -- Cassian's Lives of the Fathers of the Desert, plus some seeds and tools.

To make sure he was alone, Romanus selected a high, difficult to reach area where the Bienne and Alière rivers meet. He found a large fir tree to live under and spent his time praying, reading and gardening.

Initially, his only company were wild animals and a few hunters. But it didn't last long. Soon, his brother, Lupicinus, joined him. He was followed by a couple other men.

Then, their sister and several women joined them.

To meet the needs of their growing community, Romanus and Lupicinus built monasteries, at Condat and at Leuconne two miles to the north. For the women, they built a convent at La Beaume in what is now the village of Saint-Romain-de-la-Roche.

The two brothers served jointly as abbots. Lupicinus had a reputation for being a little more strict. For example, Lupicinus, who lived at Leuconne, heard that the monks at Condat were making their food more appetizing, so he went and ordered them to stop.

Despite their location in the mountains of Switzerland, the monks were intent on living the way the desert monks had. The differences in climates forced some modifications, but they still wore wooden sandals and animal skin clothes that kept them dry, but which did little to protect them from the harsh winter cold or the hot summer sun. The monks spent many hours a day in manual work, never ate meat and had milk and eggs only when they were sick.

Once, while on a pilgrimage, Romanus cured two lepers. Word quickly spread and when he reached Geneva, he was welcomed by the bishop, clergy and all the people.

He was buried in the church of his sister's convent.