NOVALESA. - Benedictine abbey erected in honor of Sts. Peter and Andrew by the Frankish Abbo in 726 on a charming hill between the Bar and Cenischia torrents, on the ancient road of Mont Cenis, 8.5 km from Susa.

It was lavished with gifts by the Carolingian kings, especially by Charlemagne, a friend of Abbot Frodoin, who gave a strong impulse to the abbey. At that same time the monk Attepert composed an evangeliary and the abbot St. Eldrad obtained from Florus of Lyon a leveled text of the Psalms. With the Saracen invasion at the beginning of the 10th century, its monks, together with Abbot Donnivart, took refuge partly in the monastery of Sts. Andrew and Clement in Turin and partly in the newly founded abbey of Breme (v.). Pius VII united N. with Montecassino in 1821; suppressed in 1855, since 1884 it has been the holiday seat of the Convitto nazionale of Turin.

The abbey church was rebuilt by Amadeus II (1712); among the chapels existing in the area of the monastery, mention should be made of that of St. Eldrad, abbot of the monastery between the years 825-27, frescoed in the 13th century; in the apse the Savior with the book, in which is written Lux; at the sides Sts. Michael, Gabriel, Nicholas, and Eldrad. On the vault, scenes from the life of St. Nicholas; in the center the divine Lamb with the four cardinal points. In the crossing, episodes from the life of St. Eldrad; among the reliquaries of the monastery, notable is the silver shrine containing his relics (11th century).

The monastery was dedicated to Sts. Peter and Andrew, but legend sought to derive the name Novalicium from nova lux, asserting that this had been brought there by none other than St. Peter himself, whereas perhaps some «brandes» were brought there that had been deposited at the tomb of the Apostle. The most notable surviving codex of the Library is the one containing the Martyrology of Ado in Carolingian minuscule; other codices of the monastery were identified by C. Cipolla in various libraries (Ricerche sull'antica biblioteca del monastero della N., Turin 1894).

Bibliography11 works

BIBL.: H. Grisar, Mem. archeol. di un'antica abbazia sulla strada del Moncenisio, in Civ. Catt., 1895, III, pp. 730-34; C. Cipolla devoted various studies to the N.: in Memorie Accad. scienze di Torino, 2nd series, 44 (1894), pp. 71-78, 115-50, 193-241, 243-319; 45 (1896), p. 147 ff.; 50 (1900), pp. 137-50; in Atti della stessa Accad., 31 (1895-96), pp. 756-66; 37 (1901-1902), pp. 62-68; and in Bullett. Ist. stor. ital., 22 (1901), pp. 7-34; id., Monumenta Novaliciensia vetustiora (Fonti per la Storia d'Italia, 31-32), 2 vols., Rome 1898, 1901; J. Monticelli, La Valle di Susa e l'ab. della N., Pinerolo 1925; Cottineau, II, col. 2103; N. Gabrielli, Le pitture romaniche (Repertorio delle cose d'arte del Piemonte, 1), Turin 1944, pp. 24-28.

Enrico Josi

@incollection{ec8_novalesa, author = {Josi, Enrico}, title = {Novalesa}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VIII}, pages = {1968}, 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/novalesa} }

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