NONANTOLA, ABBAZIA nullius di. - Founded in 751-52 in honor of the Sts. Apostles, to whose name that of St. Sylvester was added from 756, by St. Anselm, formerly a Lombard duke (v. ANSELMO di N.). The abbey soon became and remained for many centuries a lively center of monastic culture. From 1411 it passed into commendam and often to the Este family; in 1514 it was given to the Cistercians and in 1768 Clement XIII suppressed it. It was re-established by Pius VII on Jan. 23, 1821 and given in commendam to the archbishop pro tempore of Modena; it was secularized in 1866. In 1926 it was united in perpetuity to the archbishopric of Modena. It has its own Chapter (since 1928), minor Seminary and Curia, with 31 parishes and 57,646 inhabitants.

After various vicissitudes in the 12th century the abbey church was rebuilt imitating the forms of the cathedral of Modena, designed by Lanfranco, while in the portal (ca. 1121) the reflections of the manner of Wiligelmo are evident. The church, disfigured by restorations and remodelings, especially during the Baroque age, was restored in the second decade of our century. Today it appears as a basilica with three naves with a large crypt supported by 92 small columns. In the presbytery is the mausoleum of St. Sylvester (1380) decorated with sculptures depicting episodes from the life of the Saint. On the altars are works by M. Lambertini, F. Bianchi Ferrari and the Carracci. In the adjoining seminary are a library and an archive of great importance. Preserved there are, among other things, two very interesting codices bound in silver and ivory. These are a Gradual and a Gospel book; this one, of the 12th century, is called that of Countess Matilda and is decorated with precious miniatures of Byzantine taste. A notable number of codices of N., which present a characteristic type of Italian pre-Caroline script, specific to that scriptorium, are today in the National Library of Rome, in the Sessoriano collection. What remains of the ancient very rich abbey treasury is in the inner chapel of St. Charles Borromeo, formerly abbot commendatory of N. - See plate CXXII.

Plate CXXII Above: ABBEY CHURCH seen from the apses (founded in the 8th cent., rebuilt in the 12th cent.) - Nonantola. Below: THE CRYPT OF THE ABBEY CHURCH - Nonantola.(fot. Orlandini) · (per cortesia della Legazione di Norvegia)

Plate CXXII Above: ABBEY CHURCH seen from the apses (founded in the 8th cent., rebuilt in the 12th cent.) - Nonantola. Below: THE CRYPT OF THE ABBEY CHURCH - Nonantola.(fot. Orlandini) · (per cortesia della Legazione di Norvegia)

Bibliography7 works

BIBL.: G. Tiraboschi, Storia dell'augusta Badia di S. Silvestro di N., 2 vols., Modena 1784-85 (with diplomatic code); A. Gaudenzi, Il monastero di N., il Ducato di Persiceto e la Chiesa di Bologna, in Bullettino dell'Ist. storico ital., 22 (1901), pp. 77-214; 36-37 (1916), pp. 7-570; L. Bianchi, La pieve di S. Michele arcangelo in N., Città del Vaticano 1937; Cottineau, II, col. 2087 ff.; G. Fasoli, L'abbazia di N. fra l'VIII e l'XI sec. nelle ricerche storiche, in Studia et documenta historiae et juris, new series, 2 (1943), pp. 90-142; A. Mercati, Gregorio VII a N., in Studi gregoriani, I, Rome 1947, pp. 413-16.

Emilio Lavagnino

NONANTOLA - Evangeliary called "of Countess Matilda" (12th century) - Seminary, Library.(phot. Orlandini)

@incollection{ec8_nonantola_abbazia_nullius_di, author = {Lavagnino, Emilio}, title = {Nonantola, abbazia nullius di}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VIII}, pages = {1928--1929}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1952}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/nonantola-abbazia-nullius-di} }

One of some 20,000 entries brought back from the twelve printed volumes (1948–54). Spotted something? Help us improve it.

Nonantola, Abbey Nullius of

About this entry