MONTEVERGINE, ABBEY OF. - Historic sanctuary on Monte Partenio, at 1,270 m. above sea level, near Avellino. It was founded by St. William of Vercelli between 1114 and 1126 in the place called "Acqua delle colombe" on the ruins of a pagan temple of the goddess Cybele, where, already in the period of the persecutions, St. Felix, bishop of Nola, St. Modestinus, bishop of Antioch, together with Sts. Florentinus and Flavian, and St. Hippolytus had found temporary refuge, and in 685 St. Vitalian, bishop of Capua, who erected there the first chapel in honor of "Sancta Maria de Monte Virgine." The first church was consecrated at Pentecost in 1124 and dedicated to Mary Most Holy. John, bishop of Avellino, by a bull of May 1126, granted the monastery exemption from episcopal jurisdiction.
The holy founder saw other monasteries arise throughout the kingdom of the Normans, and their number increased further after his death, which occurred at S. Salvatore del Goletto, near S. Angelo dei Lombardi, in 1142. Abbot John obtained from Alexander III (1181) approval for the new Institute, militant under the Rule of St. Benedict. The same abbot, as the number of monks and pilgrims kept growing, had a new church built, consecrated on 11 Nov. 1182, in the presence of 13 bishops.
M. soon acquired great political importance as well, through the gift that Henry VI made in 1195 to Abbot Daniel of the Castle and barony of Mercogliano, and through the goods and privileges that the supreme pontiffs and the reigning dynasties lavished upon it. In 1310, Catherine of Valois, by donating to the abbey the precious Byzantine icon, which Baldwin II had stolen from Constantinople, through the unfortunate vicissitudes of the Latin Empire of the East, increased the fame of an already flourishing pilgrimage.
The life of the abbey of M. endured, rich in vitality and splendor, for more than two centuries, until, in 1430, it was given in commendam and in 1515 was sold by the last commendatory abbot, Cardinal d'Aragona, to the Hospital of the A.G.P. of Naples. Pius V, by a bull of Aug. 1588, restored it to the Verginians. Two centuries of prosperity followed, in which the abbey, having returned almost to new life, gradually recovered its original vigor through works of virtue and intellect, until the French suppression first and then that of 1860 dealt it the fatal blow, dispersing its religious and confiscating its goods. The last Verginian abbot, D. G. De Cesare, obtained in 1879 from Leo XIII that the Cassinese Benedictines of the P. O. be recalled.
The present appearance of the Basilica is a remodeling of the 17th century. The interior has three naves, with the chapel of the Madonna in the first half of the right nave. It was begun by Abbot Danuscio and completed (1640) by Abbot Giordano, on a design by Gian Giacomo Conforti. Noteworthy are the historical and artistic memorials: the high altar, a precious Florentine mosaic of the 17th century; a wooden chair (12th century), a reminder of the civil jurisdiction of the abbots; the choir (1573); Cosmatesque mosaic baldachins; Lombard sarcophagi; the mausoleum of Caterina Filangieri; a wooden Crucifix of the 13th century; a Roman sarcophagus; the panel of the Madonna of St. William. Besides the body of the holy founder, 19 bodies of saints and other distinguished relics are venerated. More than 500,000 are the faithful and visitors who come there each year in devout pilgrimage. The Archive, very rich, is kept in the abbatial Palace of Mercogliano, divided into two sections (parchment and paper).
Bibliography7 works
Carlo Rabasca
