CASAMARI, Cistercian Congregation of. Cistercian abbey in the diocese of Veroli, located in an area called Cereate, traditionally the birthplace of Gaius Marius, whence the name Casa Marii. Its origins date back to 1005, when four priests from Veroli retired there to lead a life of penance. After about thirty years of communal life, they received the Benedictine habit at the nearby monastery of Sora, founded by St. Abbot Dominic. They established regular monastic life at C. and arranged the monastery around the church dedicated to Sts. John and Paul, electing Benedict, one of the four, as abbot. He expanded the buildings, increased the endowments of the nascent abbey, and his successors built churches in various locations and enlarged its possessions. Abbot John, given the freedom and progress now achieved, obtained from Nicholas II (1059–61) the *praeceptum libertatis monasterii* for himself and his successors, a privilege confirmed by several popes and finally by Honorius III with a bull of 21 April 1222.
Meanwhile, in 1152, the Cistercians from Fossanova replaced the declining Benedictine monks at C., at the initiative of Eugene III. C. is the 29th daughter of Clairvaux. In 1203, Cardinal Cencio Savelli built the present monumental Gothic Cistercian basilica under the direction of Brother William, one of the many *magistri operis* from the Fossanova school. After fourteen years, the same Savelli, now Pope Honorius III, consecrated II. The community grew and flourished, becoming one of the principal monastic centers of central Italy. With the introduction of commendatory abbots came decline. In 1717, C. partially accepted the Trappist reform. Pius IX, on 7 December 1864, erected it into an autonomous Congregation and on 25 February approved its constitutions. As a result, the abbey regained new vigor, regular life revived, and new daughter houses were founded. In 1935, C. was chosen as the seat of the Work for the Formation of Indigenous Monasticism in Ethiopia, which lasted until 1943. In 1929, Pius XI erected C. into a Congregation *sui iuris* with all its daughter houses. Finally, Pius XII, with a brief of 13 July 1943, definitively approved its constitutions. Today the Congregation of C. has 12 houses with about 60 monks. The very rich archives of C. are largely preserved in the Vatican, the rest having been dispersed.