NOVALESA. — Benedictine abbey erected in honor of SS. Peter and Andrew by the Frank Abbo in 726, on a delightful hill between the Bar and Cenischia streams, along the ancient road to Mont Cenis, 8.5 km from Susa.
It was showered with gifts by the Carolingian kings, especially by Charlemagne, a friend of Abbot Frodoinus, who gave vigorous impetus to the abbey. At that same time the monk Attepert composed a Gospel book, and Abbot St. Eldrado obtained from Floro of Lyon a revised text of the Psalms. With the Saracen invasion at the beginning of the 10th century, its monks, together with Abbot Donnivartus, took refuge, some in the monastery of SS. Andrew and Clement in Turin and others in Breme (v.). Pius VII united N. with Montecassino in 1821; suppressed in 1855, since 1884 it has been the summer residence of the Turin National Boarding School.
The abbey church was rebuilt by Amedeo II (1712); among the chapels existing in the monastery grounds, that of St. Eldrado, abbot of the monastery between 825 and 827, deserves mention. It was frescoed in the 13th century; in the apse is the Savior with the book in which Lux is written; on either side are SS. Michael, Gabriel, Nicholas, and Eldrado. On the vault are scenes from the life of St. Nicholas; in the center, the Divine Lamb with the four cardinal points. In the crossing are episodes from the life of St. Eldrado; among the monastery’s reliquaries, noteworthy is the silver reliquary containing his relics (11th century).
The monastery was dedicated to SS. Peter and Andrew, but legend attempted to derive the name Novalicium from nova lux, asserting that this light had been brought there by none other than St. Peter himself, whereas perhaps some “brandes” had been brought there that had been deposited at the Apostle’s tomb. The most notable surviving codex in the Library is the one containing the Martyrology of Ado in Carolingian minuscule; other monastery codices were identified by C. Cipolla in various libraries (Ricerche sull'antica biblioteca del monastero della N., Turin 1894).