Liberal Arts Blog— Monasteries (IV) Italy — Monte Cassino (529), Sacra di San Michele (966), La Verna (1224)
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Today’s Topic: Monasteries (IV) Italy — Monte Cassino (529), Sacra di San Michele (966), La Verna (1224)
Italy has approximately 65 Benedictine, 25 Cistercian, 15 Carthusian, 12 Franciscan, 7 Augustinian, and 4 Dominican monasteries. Today, we take a look at three of the most renowned. Monte Cassino Abbey is best known because of the battle fought there during World War II. The Sacra di San Michele is most famous for inspiring Umberto Eco’s “In the Name of the Rose.” And La Verna is a great pilgrimage destination because it is here that St. Francis, one of the most venerated saints of all time, is said to have received the “stigmata” (wounds identical to those of the crucified Christ on his feet, hands, and side). Experts — please chime in. Correct, elaborate, elucidate.
MONTE CASSINO ABBEY — the community for which the Rule of St. Benedict was written (529)
1. Sacked by Lombards in 571 and abandoned. Rebuilt in 718, then destroyed by Saracens in 781. Rebuilt in 949.
2. The Golden Age: 11th-12th century. 3 popes came from the abbey!!!!
3. Destroyed by an earthquake in 1349, and then by French troops in 1799, then dissolved by the Italian government in 1866, and then leveled by Allied bombing between January and May of 1944. Rebuilt after the war. (Located 143 km southeast from Rome.)
NB: the Motto: “Ora et labora” (work and pray). The math: 8 hours of sleep, 8 hours of prayer, 8 hours of manual labor (plus sacred reading and acts of charity). “The remains of Saint Benedict and his twin sister Saint Scholastica are kept in a bronze urn under the basilica’s high altar. Relics of other saints are displayed in the Chapel of Relics.” Has anyone been there? Details appreciated.
LA VERNA — where St. Francis received the “stigmata” in 1224
1. St. Benedict has more monasteries, but St. Francis has way more love. He is the patron saint of animals and nature. Along with Saint Catherine of Siena he is the patron saint of Italy.
2. St. Benedict has his Rule, but St. Francis wrote the “Canticle of the Sun” which is “believed to be among the first works of literature, if not the first, written in the Italian language.” In it, St. Francis thanks God for Brother Sun, Sister Moon, Brother Wind, Sister Water, Brother Fire, and Sister Mother Earth. To me, his poem sounds almost Native American.
3. The Canticle has been put to music by many including Franz Liszt, Amy Beach, and William Walton. Parenthetically, St. Francis is also famous for giving up a life of extreme wealth to embrace a life of poverty.
NB: Located in Tuscany, about 90 kilometers to the east of Florence, and 40 miles to the north of Arezzo.
LA SACRA DI SAN MICHELE — an alpine incarnation of Mont St. Michel — Wow!
1. This is the reason I love writing these posts. I had no idea this place existed until I started researching this post!!! (I don’t know about you, but the above photograph took my breath away.)
2. St. Michael was not a peacenik like St. Francis. He was a fighter. The guy who took down Lucifer (the bad guy). As was said in Ecclesiastes there is a time for peace, and a time for war.
3. So St. Michael’s pilgrimage sites tend to be located on promontories with military value. Here for example the monastery is located where once the Romans set up a fortress on the road to Gaul, and the Lombards did later to protect themselves from Frankish invasions.
NB: Located in the far northwestern Piedmont region of Italy, near the French border, about 40 km west of Turin, the monastery, originally Benedictine, is now under the charge of the Rosminian order.
La Verna Sanctuary:Visiting the Sanctuary and Monte Penna in Casentino
Biographies for Kids: Saint Francis of Assisi
https://www.sacradisanmichele.com/en/
Category:Roman Catholic monasteries in Italy
10 Monasteries You Can Visit in Italy
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