Fossanova Abbey, earlier Fossa Nuova, is a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

that was formerly a

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

located near the railway station of

Priverno Priverno is a town, ''comune'' in the province of Latina, Lazio, central Italy. It was called ''Piperno'' until 1927. It has a station of the Rome-Naples railway mainline. Nearby is the Monti Lepini chain. It was the birthplace of the canonist R ...

in Latina,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, about south-east of

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

History

Fossanova is one of the finest examples of early Burgundian

Gothic architecture Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved f ...

in Italy, dating to around 1135. Consecrated in 1208 by monks of its

motherhouse A motherhouse or mother house is the principal house or community for a Catholic religious community.YourDictionaryMotherhouse/ref> One example is the Missionaries of Charity's motherhouse in Kolkata, which functions as the congregation's headquart ...

of Hautecombe, it retains the bare architecture, the magnificent rose window and finely carved capitals, reflecting the prominent role within the area. In July 1198 Eugenius, the master chamberlain of Apulia and Terra di Lavoro, was ordered by Constance and her son to transfer a land property from the imperial ownership to the Abbey of Fossanova. The property was located near

Aversa Aversa () is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Caserta in Campania, southern Italy, about 24 km north of Naples. It is the centre of an agricultural district, the ''Agro Aversano'', producing wine and cheese (famous for the typical dome ...

and its extension was calculated by John Bassus, chamberlain of the Terra di Lavoro. (PhD dissertation) A monk of Fossanova compiled the '' Annales Ceccanenses'' down to 1218. Another historical source for the same temporal extension are the '' Annales Ceccanenses''. En route to the

Second Council of Lyon The Second Council of Lyon was the fourteenth ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church, convoked on 31 March 1272 and convened in Lyon, Kingdom of Arles (in modern France), in 1274. Pope Gregory X presided over the council, called to ...

in 1274, the Dominican scholastic

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...

died in the abbey on 7 March. In 1461

Pope Pius II Pope Pius II (, ), born Enea Silvio Bartolomeo Piccolomini (; 18 October 1405 – 14 August 1464), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 August 1458 to his death in 1464. Aeneas Silvius was an author, diplomat, ...

signed a

bull A bull is an intact (i.e., not Castration, castrated) adult male of the species ''Bos taurus'' (cattle). More muscular and aggressive than the females of the same species (i.e. cows proper), bulls have long been an important symbol cattle in r ...

returning to the abbey various properties which had been estranged by the previous abbots. The estate list was compiled by

Rodrigo Borgia Pope Alexander VI (, , ; born Roderic Llançol i de Borja; epithet: ''Valentinus'' ("The Kingdom of Valencia, Valencian"); – 18 August 1503) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 11 August 1492 until his death ...

, nephew of

Pope Callixtus III Pope Callixtus III (, , ; 31 December 1378 – 6 August 1458), born Alonso de Borja (), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 April 1455 to his death, in August 1458. Borgia spent his early career as a professor ...

, who was attempting to finance a naval expedition against Turks. Since 1935 pastoral duties in the local abbey parish were entrusted to the care of Franciscan Friars Conventual (OFMConv.), until 2017. Since 2017, the pastoral care of the abbey and its parish have been entrusted to the fathers of the Institute of the Incarnate Word, with the help of the sisters from the same Religious Family, the Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará, who live in a convent at just a few kilometers. The 1973 nunsploitation film The Nun and The Devil obtained permission to shoot scenes in Fossanova Abbey by withholding details of the plot.

Architecture

The frugal Gothic church is cruciform and square-ended, similar to that of Casamari and

Cîteaux Abbey Cîteaux Abbey ( ) is a Catholic abbey located in Saint-Nicolas-lès-Cîteaux, south of Dijon, France. It is notable for being the original house of the Order of Cistercians. Today, it belongs to the Trappists (also called the Cistercians of th ...

. The church is flanked on one side by the

cloister A cloister (from Latin , "enclosure") is a covered walk, open gallery, or open Arcade (architecture), arcade running along the walls of buildings and forming a quadrangle (architecture), quadrangle or garth. The attachment of a cloister to a cat ...

, along with the

refectory A refectory (also frater, frater house, fratery) is a dining room, especially in monastery, monasteries, boarding schools and academic institutions. One of the places the term is most often used today is in graduate seminary, seminaries. The name ...

and

chapter house A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room that is part of a cathedral, monastery or collegiate church in which meetings are held. When attached to a cathedral, the cathedral chapter meets there. In monasteries, the whole communi ...

and on the other side by the

cemetery A cemetery, burial ground, gravesite, graveyard, or a green space called a memorial park or memorial garden, is a place where the remains of many death, dead people are burial, buried or otherwise entombed. The word ''cemetery'' (from Greek ...

. The nave at Fossanova dates from 1187 and the church was consecrated in 1208. The other conventual buildings also are noteworthy. The hospital, guesthouse, gardens, and buildings related to the farm are all scattered throughout the walled enclosure. Buttresses are set against the walls but they are small and more like classical pilaster than

flying buttress The flying buttress (''arc-boutant'', arch buttress) is a specific form of buttress composed of a ramping arch that extends from the upper portion of a wall to a pier of great mass, to convey to the ground the lateral forces that push a wall ou ...

. File:Fossanova Abbey fc02.jpg, File:Fossanova Abbey fc03.jpg,

References

External links

Fossanova Abbey website (it.)

* ttps://archive.today/20130624182020/http://www.comune.priverno.latina.it/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=120&Itemid=168&lang=en Comune di Priverno: Abbazia di Fossanova (eng.)* Cistercian monasteries in Italy Monasteries in Lazio Christian monasteries established in the 1130s Gothic architecture in Lazio Churches in the province of Latina 1135 establishments in Europe {{Italy-struct-stub

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links