“Tradition is more than the repetition of the past. A wisdom quest or a spiritual practice is something alive; it is enriched and changed by those who receive it, just as a family’s gene pool is enriched and changed through succeeding generations. The very fact that the life we live at Camaldoli today differs from the life lived there by earlier generations is itself a sign that a certain tradition lives on at Camaldoli.”

Matus, Thomas. The Mystery of Romuald and the Five Brothers. Trabuco Canyon, Cal.: Source Books / Hermitage Books, 1994, p. 2. (quoting don Anselmo Giabbani the superior at San Gregorio Camaldolese monastery in Rome)