Verginians, Benedictine Congregation of. — Founded at Montevergine (q.v.) by St William of Vercelli (q.v.) between 1114 and 1126.
At the founder’s death (25 June 1142) the monasteries of the Congregation of Montevergine were spread throughout the Norman Kingdom. Among the most celebrated were: S. Maria a Tuenda, near Salerno; S. Lorenzo in Salerno; S. Giovanni at Marcapio (Cubante, Benevento); S. Salvatore at Golzo, later called S. Guglielmo al Golzo, all founded by St William of Vercelli; and also S. Giovanni at Avellino (1125), S. Maria del Perno at Atella (1125), S. Gennaro at Terranova (1133), S. Maria del Plesco, later S. Maria Annunziata, at Casamarciano (1134), S. Maria di Montevergine at Aversa (1134), S. Giovanni del Palco at Nocera de’ Pagani (1134), S. Giovanni d’Acquara at Castelbaronia (1136). The Congregation also possessed extensive lands with temporal jurisdiction, which later became one of the most powerful in the region. The work of St William flourished in the first two centuries in the Norman Kingdom, where the monasteries were served by men of holy life, such as Blessed Albert at Montevergine, St John, first abbot of S. Giovanni degli Eremiti in Palermo, Blessed John I, fourth abbot of Montevergine, Blessed Pascian, abbot of S. Onofrio di Massa in Lucania, and St Donatus, tenth abbot of Montevergine. In 1181 Abbot John obtained from Alexander III recognition of the new Institute, which was already operating under the Rule of St Benedict. This was the golden age of the mother house and of the other monasteries of the Congregation, which lasted until the mid-fourteenth century. A period of religious decline followed, bringing the Verginiani days of bitterness and bewilderment until 1588, when Sixtus V, by freeing Montevergine from the unhappy comedy contrived by Abbot D. Palamede dell’Anno, restored the Congregation to its original splendour: new monasteries arose and devotion to the Madonna in the Sanctuary of Montevergine intensified. During the suppressions of the nineteenth century, the Congregation found a way to salvation through union with the Cassinese Benedictine Congregation of the Primitive Observance, which enabled Montevergine to escape the common ruin (1879).