La Trinità della Cava
Encyclopedia
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
abbey located near Cava de' Tirreni
Cava de' Tirreni
Cava de’ Tirreni is a city and comune in the region of Campania, Italy, in the province of Salerno, 10 km northwest of the town of Salerno...
, in the province of Salerno
Province of Salerno
The Province of Salerno is a province in the Campania region of Italy.-Geography:The largest towns in the province are: Salerno, the capital, which has a population of 139,579; Cava de' Tirreni with a population of 53,488; Battipaglia with a population of 51,115; and Nocera Inferiore which has a...
, southern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. It stands in a gorge of the Finestre Hills.
History
It was founded in 1011 by Alferius of PappacarbonaAlferius
Saint Alferius was an Italian abbot and saint. He was the founder of the monastery of La Trinità della Cava, located at Cava de' Tirreni.-Veneration:...
, a noble of Salerno who became a Cluniac monk and had lived as a hermit in the vicinity since 1011. Pope Urban II
Pope Urban II
Pope Urban II , born Otho de Lagery , was Pope from 12 March 1088 until his death on July 29 1099...
endowed this monastery with many privileges, making it immediately subject to the Holy See, with jurisdiction over the surrounding territory.
The first four abbots were canonized as saints on December 21, 1893, by Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII , born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci to an Italian comital family, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903...
.
In 1394, Pope Boniface IX
Pope Boniface IX
Pope Boniface IX , born Piero Tomacelli, was the second Roman Pope of the Western Schism from November 2, 1389, until October 1, 1404...
elevated it to a diocese, with the abbots functioning as bishops. In 1513, Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X
Pope Leo X , born Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, was the Pope from 1513 to his death in 1521. He was the last non-priest to be elected Pope. He is known for granting indulgences for those who donated to reconstruct St. Peter's Basilica and his challenging of Martin Luther's 95 Theses...
separated the two offices, detaching the city of Cava from the abbot's jurisdiction. About the same time the Cluniacs were replaced by Cassinese monks.
The monastery was closed under Napoleon but the community remained relatively unscathed, thanks to Abbot Carlo Mazzacane, and was restored after his fall. The abbey still provides the surrounding parishes with clergy.
The church and the greater part of the buildings were entirely modernized in 1796. The old Gothic
Gothic architecture
Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....
cloisters are preserved. The church contains a fine organ and several ancient sarcophagi.
The monastery contains rich archives of public and private documents, which date back to the 8th century, e.g., the Codex Legum Longobardorum of 1004 (the oldest digest of Lombard law), and the La Cava Bible
La Cava Bible
The La Cava Bible or Codex Cavensis is a 9th century Latin illuminated Bible, which was produced in Spain, probably in the Kingdom of Asturias during the reign of Alfonso II...
) and fine incunabula. The monastery later became the seat of a national educational establishment, under the care of the Benedictines.
The church of the monastery has the tombs of Queen Sibylla of Burgundy (died 1150), second consort of King Roger II of Sicily
Roger II of Sicily
Roger II was King of Sicily, son of Roger I of Sicily and successor to his brother Simon. He began his rule as Count of Sicily in 1105, later became Duke of Apulia and Calabria , then King of Sicily...
, and a number of notable ecclesiastics.
Abbots
- Saint Alferius of PappacarbonaAlferiusSaint Alferius was an Italian abbot and saint. He was the founder of the monastery of La Trinità della Cava, located at Cava de' Tirreni.-Veneration:...
(1011-1050) - Saint Leo I of Cava (1050-79)
- Saint Peter of PappacarbonePeter of PappacarboneSaint Peter of Pappacarbone was an Italian abbot, bishop, and saint. He was abbot of La Trinità della Cava, located at Cava de' Tirreni. Born in Salerno, he had first been a monk at Cava under Leo I of Cava. He then was at Cluny from 1062 to 1068 and later became bishop of Policastro in...
(1079-1122) - Saint ConstabilisConstabilisSaint Constabilis was an Italian abbot and saint. He was abbot of La Trinità della Cava, located at Cava de' Tirreni, from 1122 to 1124....
(1122-1124) - Blessed Simeon (1124-1140)
- Blessed Beato Falcone (1140-1146)
- Blessed 1146-1170: Beato Marino
- Blessed Benincasa (1171-1194)
- Blessed Peter II (1195-1208)
- Blessed Balsamo (1208-1232)
- Blessed Leonard (1232-1255)
- Blessed Leo II (1266-1295)
- Blessed Philip de Haya (1316-1331)
- Blessed Maynerio (1342-1366)
Bishop-Abbots
- John of Aragon
- Oliverio Carafa
Abbots
- Crisostomo d'Alessandro (1512-1517)
- Gerolamo Guevara (1528-1552)
- Pellegrino Dell'Erre (1549-1550)
- Vittorino Manso (1588-1592)
- Giulio Vecchioni (1630-1633)
- Gregorio Lottieri (1640-1642)
- Giuseppe Lomellino (1647-1651)
- Severino Boccia (1671-1677)
- Gaetano Dattilo (1772-1778)
- Raffaele Pasca (1781-1787)
- Tommaso Capomazza (1793-1801)
- Carlo Mazzacane (1801-1824)
- Pietro Candida (1844-1849)
- Onofrio Granata (1849-1858)
- Michele Morcaldi (1878-1894)
- Benedetto Bonazzi (1894-1902)
- Silvano de Stefano (1902-1908)
- Angelo Maria Ettinger (1910-1918)
- Giuseppe Placido M. Nicolini (1919-1928)
- Ildefonso Rea (1929-1945)
- Mauro De Caro (1946-1956)
- Fausto Mezza (1956-1967)
- Michele Alfredo Marra (1969-1992)
- Benedetto Maria Salvatore Chianetta (since 1995)