GORZE (GORZIA). — A city in Lorraine, 20 km southwest of Metz, with remains of a 4th-century Roman aqueduct. It was a fortified center in the same territory as Metz and the seat of one of the most influential Benedictine abbeys.
GORZE — Historical map of the reform movement of the abbey of G. (10th–12th c.)
The abbey of G. (monasterium S. Gorgonii or Gurgitanum) was founded on 22 May 749 by Crodegango, 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, granted in commendam, it declined (825–933). Bishop Adalbero of Metz restored it (933) and laid the foundations for the reform of G., which flourished under the abbots Aginold (933–967), John of Vandières (967–976), Immo (977–1016), Sigisbert (1016–1055), Henry the Good (1055–1093), and Theoduin (1126–1132). From its monastic school emerged Adalbero of Reims (d. 989), Adalbert of Metz (d. 1005), the chancellor Heribert of Cologne (d. 1021), Errando of Halberstadt (d. 1102), John of G., who served as legate of Otto the Great at the court of Abd al-Rahman III in Córdoba, and Abbot Theoduin (d. 1147), who was appointed cardinal-legate for Germany. During the feudal period (1147–1445), G. was a fortress and the monks were seniores; the abbot held baronial rank and commanded a small army.
A new period of commendam followed from 1445 to 1580. The occupation of Lorraine by Francis the Monk (1542–1556) brought ruin, and the abbatial church of St Peter, consecrated on 26 June 1068, was destroyed. Gregory XIII suppressed the abbey and, with the bull In supereminenti of 5 December 1572, assigned part of its property to the new Jesuit college at Pont-à-Mousson. The reform movement initiated by Bishop Adalbero in 933 was supported by feudal lords and the Ottonian emperors and spread to some 170 communities organized into ten groups of filiation:
1) the Lorraine group, the most authentic fruit of G., with over 31 communities (e.g., St Aper in Toul, Stavelot, Moyenmoutier);
2) the Trier group, centered on St Maximin, with over 18 monasteries;
3) the Regensburg group, centered on St Emmeram, with over 18 houses (Schwarzach on the Main, Lorsch, Bleidenstadt, Fulda, etc.);
4) the Niederaltaich group, with about 15 monasteries, including St Lorenz near Brescia and, for a time, Monte Cassino;
5) the Lorsch group, with about 12 monasteries;
6) the Fulda group, with about 10 houses;
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 Viton, Verdun), with over 33 monasteries;
10) the New G. group, centered on Schwarzach on the Main and Isenburg in Saxony, with about 20 houses.
Unlike the Cluniac movement, these communities did not adopt centralizing tendencies but maintained free election of the abbot with the right to dispose of property, remained faithful to feudal organization, and preserved until the 13th century the distinctive Aniane habit.
Abbeys such as Reichenau, St Emmeram of Regensburg, and Niederaltaich flourished until 1122. Among the saints and blesseds are John of G., Guibert of Gembloux, Sandrad of St Maximin, Rambold of Regensburg, Godehard of Niederaltaich, Druthmar of New Corbie, Egbert of Münster-Schwarzach, and others.
