GORZE (GORZIA). - Town in Lorraine, 20 km southwest of Metz, with remains of a Roman aqueduct from the 4th century. It was a fortified center of the territory of Metz of the same name and the seat of one of the most influential Benedictine abbeys.
The abbey of G. (monasterium S. Gorgonii or Gurgitanum) was founded on May 22, 749 by Chrodegang, bishop of Metz; in 756 it was placed under the protection of the episcopal curia of Metz; in 765 it received the relics of the martyr Gorgonius; in the 9th century, given in commendam, it declined (825-933); Bishop Adalbero of Metz reoccupied it (933) and laid the foundations of the reform of G., which flourished again under the abbots Aginold (933-67), John of Vandières (967-976), Immo (977-1016), Sigefrid (1016-55), Henry the Good (1055-93) and Theodwin (1126-32); from its monastic school came Adalbero of Reims (d. 989), Adalbert of Metz (d. 1005), the chancellor Heribert of Cologne (d. 1021), Herrand of Halberstadt (d. 1102); John of G., who was legate of Otto the Great at the court of Abd al-Rahman III in Cordoba, and the abbot Theodwin (d. 1147), who was named cardinal legate for Germany. During the feudal era (1147-1445) G. was a fortress and the monks seniores; the abbot had barons and a small army at his disposal.
A new period of commendams ran from 1445 to 1580. The occupation of Lorraine by Francis I brought ruin between 1542 and 1556 to the abbey church of St. Peter, consecrated on June 26, 1068. Gregory XIII suppressed the abbey and with the bull In supereminenti of Dec. 5, 1572 assigned part of its goods to the new Jesuit College at Pont-à-Mousson. The reform movement of Bishop Adalbero in 933 was favored by the feudal lords and by the Ottonians and spread to 170 communities branched into the following ten groups of filiations: 1) the Lorraine group, the most genuine, the fruit of G., with over 31 communities (e.g., St. Aper in Toul, Stablo, Moyenmoutier); 2) the Trier group, centered on St. Maximin, with over 18 monasteries; 3) the Regensburg group, centered on St. Emmeram, with over 18 communities (Schwarzach on the Main, Lorsch, Bleidenstadt, Fulda, etc.); 4) the Niederaltaich group with about 15 monasteries, among them St. Leno near Brescia and for a time Monte Cassino; 5) the Lorsch group, with about 12 monasteries; 6) the Fulda group, with about 10 communities; 7) the Mainz group, with about 3 monasteries; 8) the Alemannic group, centered on Einsiedeln, with about 12 monasteries; 9) the mixed observance of Lorraine (St. Victor, Verdun), with over 33 monasteries; 10) the New G. group, centered on Schwarzach on the Main and Ilsenburg in Saxony, with about 20 communities. Unlike the Cluniac movement, these communities had no centralizing tendencies, but maintained the free election of the abbot with the right to dispose of goods, had faith in the feudal organization, and preserved until the 13th century the style of the Anianian habit.
The abbeys of Reichenau, St. Emmeram of Regensburg, Niederaltaich, etc. flourished until 1122; among the saints and blesseds are counted John of G., Guibert of Gembloux, Sandrad of St. Maximin, Rambold of Regensburg, Gotthard of Niederaltaich, Druthmar of New Corvey, Egbert of Münsterschwarzach, etc.
Bibliography12 works
Cassio Hallinger