SASSOVIVO. – An ancient Benedictine abbey in the diocese of Foligno, from which it is 3 km distant. The monk Mainardo and the counts Ugolino and Gualterio founded a new Benedictine congregation in 1080, which established itself in the monastery of S. Croce at S. in the diocese of Foligno.
The Congregation spread rapidly, eventually having jurisdiction over more than 90 monasteries, 41 churches, and 7 hospitals. In Rome it possessed the churches of the SS. Quattro Coronati and of the SS. Sergio e Bacco; in Terni, the church of S. Nicola. Paschal II, on 17 March 1116, granted the abbot the church of S. Apollinare in the diocese of Assisi (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 6511). Innocent II, on 21 May 1138, exempted Abbot Michele from all episcopal jurisdiction (ibid., 7898); this was confirmed by Clement III on 4 June 1188 (ibid., 16270). Clement III granted jurisdiction over the church of S. Nicola di Bevagna on 26 October 1189, and on 27 April 1189 over that of S. Nicola di Foligno. Celestine III, on 19 June 1191, confirmed the said privileges and placed the monastery under apostolic protection (ibid., 16723). In 1291 the monastery of S. Stefano di Galliano was incorporated into it; its Archive is now preserved in the archiepiscopal Curia of Spoleto. In 1486 the Olivetan Benedictines took over, followed thereafter by commendatory abbots.
The cloister attached to the abbey was executed by Pietro di Maria, the same artist who created the analogous Roman cloisters of the SS. Quattro Coronati and S. Cosimato (E. Lavagnino, L'arte medievale, Torino 1949, p. 269). At present the bishop of Foligno has granted use of the abbey to the Benedictines of Emmaus Abbey, exiled from Czechoslovakia.