The Abbey of Montecassino

A house of religious and art history

The Abbey of Montecassino is perhaps best known today as having risen anew out of the obliteration left behind by a four-hour Allied aerial blitz during WWII. Lesser known today is the monastery’s historical, religious, architectural, and artistic significance, and the fact that it has been re-built out of rubble over and over again through the centuries.
The Abbey is built on Mount Cassino, a rocky hill about 1700 feet high which overlooks the town of Cassino, 120 km southeast of Rome. First built in 529 CE by Saint Benedict on the site of an old Roman fortification (which had been recently destroyed by Goths), the Abbey of Montecassino became the principle monastery of the Benedictine Order, and one of the great centres of Christian learning and piety. Its influence on European civilization is immeasurable. This is where Saint Benedict wrote the Benedictine Rule that became the founding principle for western monasticism. This is where Thomas Aquinas, from age 5 to 13, prepared for the liberal arts curriculum he was to enter at the University of Naples in 1236.
Unfortunately, throughout the centuries, the site has also been a military strategic object, since the hill on which it is built is the perfect defensive position, dominating the surrounding countryside. Whoever controls this hill controls the entire Liri valley and the famous Roman highway that leads directly to the Eternal City
The Abbey was first destroyed in 584 by the Lombards. It flourished for a long period after its re-establishment in 718. In 787, Charlemagne visited and granted it vast privileges. Then in 883 it was sacked by the Saracens.
After being destroyed again by the Normans in 1046, the buildings were reconstructed on a scale of great magnificence, with artists being brought in from Amalfi, Lombardy, and Constantinople. It reached the height of its fame in the 11th century under Desiderius, who later became Pope Victor III. The monastery was enriched with numerous beautifully illuminated manuscripts, mosaics, enamels, and liturgic goldsmithery. Pope Alexander II consecrated the abbey church, rebuilt and decorated with the utmost splendor, in 1071. With over two hundred monks, the library, the manuscripts produced in the scriptorium, and the school of manuscript illuminators, the Abbey became famous throughout the West.
Then in 1349 an earthquake leveled the Abbey, barely leaving a few walls. Though it was rebuilt, a long period of decline followed. The site was sacked by Napoleon's troops in 1799 and after the dissolution of the Italian monasteries in 1866, the Abbey of Monte Cassino became a national monument.
On February 15, 1944, despite appeals by the Vatican, came the most recent destruction. Since it was along the Nazi defensive Gustav Line, Allies were convinced the Abbey had been transformed into a Nazi fortress. This was denied by the Germans. Along with the 2000 civilians taking shelter among the monks, the monastery housed priceless relics of Catholic history, including a library of over 70,000 volumes, paintings by famous masters, age-old crucifixes, historic wood carvings, and goldsmiths work. Much of the art collection was destroyed in the inevitable attack, including the Beuronese murals in the crypt, but some 1400 invaluable manuscripts, which had been transferred to the Vatican at the start of the war, were safe.
In a real twist, a few senior German officers, in an illegal plan, had begun transporting treasures and works of art to safety some months previously, then handed over the Italian government. This brave action spared some of the church’s most priceless treasures.
Reconstruction, financed by the Italian state, took almost a decade, and today, pilgrims visit the Abbey daily by the hundreds and thousands. After so many historical events, the Abbey of Montecassino truly epitomizes its own motto, "succisa virescit" (cut down, it grows green).

Publication Date: 2004-12-05
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=4678