St. William of Vercelli

St. William of Vercelli (1085 – 25 June 1142) was born at Vercelli in northern Italy and, orphaned young, embraced a life of penance and pilgrimage. After journeying to Compostela and setting out for the Holy Land, he was turned by circumstances and counsel toward a life of solitude in his own land. Around 1119 he withdrew to a mountain between Nola and Benevento, later called Monte Vergine, where disciples gathered around him.

There he founded a monastery and the religious congregation known as the Williamites or the Congregation of Monte Vergine, marked by strict austerity, manual labor, and devotion to the Blessed Virgin. He also founded other communities and won the esteem and protection of King Roger II of Sicily, whom he counseled. Living to the end in penance and prayer, he died at one of his foundations in 1142 and has long been venerated as a saint, patron of the region around Avellino.