#benedictineabbey

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Maria Laach Benedictine Abbey ( Glees / Germany )

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By Rachel Hiser Remmes

St. Benedict’s Basilica at Montecassino was dedicated on October 1, 1071. The ceremony was one of the most celebrated and spectacular events of the medieval period and was attended by nobility, significant clerical figures, and Pope Gregory VII. While dedication ceremonies during the Middle Ages were traditionally extravagant and sensual affairs, the dedication of a basilica at Montecassino, the most powerful monastery in Italy during the eleventh-century, far outdid the spectacle and pageantry of any other contemporary dedication ceremony.

Moreover, the magnitude of this event was perpetuated by the political environment during which it occurred. The notable abbot of Montecassino, Abbot Desiderius, who had vehemently fought for the rebuilding of the monastery’s basilica - even at the expense of the good opinion of his fellow monks - was both a key figure in the Pro-Gregorian Reform movement and a mediator between the Norman and Lombard powers to the south and the papacy to the north. In many ways, then, the opulent, “red carpet” event declared Montecassino’s wealth and power to all of medieval Christendom and placed Desiderius at the center of its key position.

Although little remains of the eleventh-century building, which was bombed by Allied forces during World War II, an elaborate manuscript, which was commissioned for the church’s dedication, survives and gives us an insight into the prominence of the event, the church, and the role of Abbot Desiderius. The frontispiece of The Codex Benedictus (Vat. Lat. 1202), which has been fully digitized by the Vatican Library, shows Abbot Desiderius presenting St. Benedict with a copy of the manuscript itself as both figures are placed, presumably, within the space of the new basilica. Later illustrations in the manuscript also detail the building and dedication of the original basilica by St. Benedict, to which Desiderius’ church was a successor. Moreover, Desiderius claimed to have discovered St. Benedict’s remains when preparing to build the new basilica.

Cowdery, H.E.J. The Age of Abbot Desiderius: Montecassino, the Papacy, the Normans in the Eleventh and Twelfth Centuries. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983.

Montecassino, monastery buildings, reconstruction by K. J. conant.

Montecassino, Interior of Desiderius Basilica, Reconstruction by Conant and Willard, built 1066-1071.

Monte Cassino, abbey, reconstruction, end of 11th century, (Schlosser).

Crypt of St. Benedict, Detail of mosaic vault.

View of Abbey of Montecassino, founded 529, rebuilt after 1944.

Desiderius and St. Benedict Frontispiece, The Codex Benedictus (Rome, BAV, MS Vat. Lat. 1202), fol. 2r. 

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[lebjaperal]

THE BENEDICTINE ABBEY OF OUR LADY OF MONTSERRAT IN MANILA AND SAN BEDA UNIVERSITY In the last six years, I have always celebrated my birthday at the Benedictine Abbey of Our Lady of Montserrat in San Miguel, Manila because my birthday also happens to be the Solemnity of Our Lady of Montserrat. While the feast day of Our Lady of Montserrat in Catalonia, Spain is celebrated on April 27, the feast day of Our Lady of Montserrat in Manila is celebrated on September 12 to commemorate the arrival in the Philippines of the first group of Benedictine monks from Catalonia, Spain in 1895. The thirteen Benedictine monks from Spain, led by the Abbot of the Montserrat Abbey, Fr. José Deas y Villar, OSB, brought with them to the Philippines the image of Our Lady of Montserrat, which can still be seen in the Chapter Room of the abbey. This year is extra special because it is the 125th anniversary of the arrival in the Philippines of the first group of Benedictine monks. Originally, the Benedictine monks were sent to Surigao in 1895 to do missionary work. The outbreak of the revolution against Spain in 1896 forced the monks to return to Manila. While some monks remained in Surigao until 1909, most of the monks transferred to a house in Tanduay, Quiapo, which was acquired in 1896. In 1901, the monks opened a school, El Colegio de San Beda, at the corner of Arlegui and Tanduay Streets. It was named after the English Benedictine scholar, St. Bede the Venerable. According to the 1939 Philippine Historical Committee markers, the priorate of the Benedictines was erected in Manila in 1904. In the same year, the Confraternity of the Santo Niño de Jesús de Praga was established in the college. Twenty years later, the priory was raised to an abbey. The following year, Fr. Raimundo Salinas, OSB became the abbey's first abbot. #benedictineabbey #abbeyofourladyofmontserratmanila #thetimetrekker https://www.instagram.com/p/CFONOQcBjge/?igshid=1hma149k3tu10