The Territorial Abbacy of Santa Maria of Grottaferrata is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction which administers the

Byzantine Rite The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, is a liturgical rite that is identified with the wide range of cultural, devotional, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christianity, Eastern Chri ...

Abbey of Saint Mary in Grottaferrata located in Grottaferrata,

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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 ...

. The Abbacy and its territory are stauropegic, that is, directly subordinate to a primate or synod, rather than to a local bishop. It is the only remnant of the once-flourishing traditions of Italo-Greek and Italo-Albanian

Eastern Christian monasticism Eastern Christian monasticism is the life followed by monks and nuns of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Church of the East and some Eastern Catholic Churches. History Christian monasticism began in the Eastern Mediterranean ...

. It is also the only monastery of the Italian Basilian Order of Grottaferrata, (abbreviated O.S.B.I.), a

religious order A religious order is a subgroup within a larger confessional community with a distinctive high-religiosity lifestyle and clear membership. Religious orders often trace their lineage from revered teachers, venerate their Organizational founder, ...

of the Italo-Albanian Greek Catholic Church which has played a major role in Albanian history,

Albanian literature Albanian literature stretches back to the Middle Ages and comprises those literary texts and works written in Albanian language, Albanian. It may also refer to literature written by Albanians in Albania, Kosovo and the Albanian diaspora particul ...

, and in the

Albanian diaspora The Albanian diaspora () are the ethnic Albanians and their descendants living outside of Albania, Kosovo, southeastern Montenegro, western North Macedonia, southeastern Serbia, northwestern Greece and Southern Italy. The largest communities ...

. The abbot ordinary is also the superior general of the Italian Basilian Order of Grottaferrata. Though normally led by an abbot, the Abbacy has been under the authority of Bishop (now Cardinal) Marcello Semeraro since

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

named him Apostolic Administrator of the Abbacy on 4 November 2013.

History

The abbey was founded in 1004 by St. Nilus of Rossano, a

Calabrian Greek Calabrian Greek (endonym: , ; Greek Byzantine Catholic Church, on what was believed to be the site where

Cicero Marcus Tullius Cicero ( ; ; 3 January 106 BC – 7 December 43 BC) was a Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar, philosopher, orator, writer and Academic skeptic, who tried to uphold optimate principles during the political crises tha ...

owned a

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the f ...

and wrote his '' Quaestiones tusculanae''. When Nilus was once asked by a Latin Rite monk about the criticisms of the

Cluniac Reforms The Cluniac Reforms (also called the Benedictine Reform) were a series of changes within medieval Christian monasticism, monasticism in the Western Church focused on restoring the traditional monastic life, encouraging art, and caring for the poor. ...

and the

Roman Rite The Roman Rite () is the most common ritual family for performing the ecclesiastical services of the Latin Church, the largest of the ''sui iuris'' particular churches that comprise the Catholic Church. The Roman Rite governs Rite (Christianity) ...

emanating from adherents of the

Photian schism The Photian Schism was a four-year (863–867) schism between the episcopal sees of Rome and Constantinople. The issue centred on the right of the Byzantine Emperor to depose and appoint a patriarch without approval from the papacy. In 857, Ign ...

Constantinople Constantinople (#Names of Constantinople, see other names) was a historical city located on the Bosporus that served as the capital of the Roman Empire, Roman, Byzantine Empire, Byzantine, Latin Empire, Latin, and Ottoman Empire, Ottoman empire ...

, Nilus replied, "However we differ, both do all things for the glory of God. Don't allow yourselves to be disturbed by these criticisms." The monastery has remained in continuous operation since then, but, particularly following the defeat of the uprising led by

Skanderbeg Gjergj Kastrioti (17 January 1468), commonly known as Skanderbeg, was an Albanians, Albanian Albanian nobility, feudal lord and military commander who led Skanderbeg's rebellion, a rebellion against the Ottoman Empire in what is today Albania, ...

and the conquest of the

Albanian people The Albanians are an ethnic group native to the Balkan Peninsula who share a common Albanian ancestry, Albanian culture, culture, Albanian history, history and Albanian language, language. They are the main ethnic group of Albania and Kosovo, ...

by the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

, vocations were sought less and less from local

Italian people Italians (, ) are a European peoples, European ethnic group native to the Italian geographical region. Italians share a common Italian culture, culture, History of Italy, history, Cultural heritage, ancestry and Italian language, language. ...

of the Latin rite, but increasingly among the growing number of Italo-Albanian

refugee A refugee, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), is a person "forced to flee their own country and seek safety in another country. They are unable to return to their own country because of feared persecution as ...

communities in southern Italy. On 1 November 1571, the Italian Basilian Order of Grottaferrata was formally organized and established as part of the

Counter-Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also sometimes called the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to, and as an alternative to or from similar insights as, the Protestant Reformations at the time. It w ...

strengthening of the Eastern Catholic Churches by Cardinal Giulio Antonio Santorio. Among the Albanian refugee communities and Greek villages of the Mezzogiorno, the monks of Grottaferrata set up many daughter foundations, particularly throughout

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

and

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

. It is, however, the only one of these many Italo-Greek Byzantine Catholic monasteries that survives. Throughout the Medieval period and well into the

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

era and it's aftermath, the Italo-Greek people of the

Mezzogiorno Southern Italy (, , or , ; ; ), also known as () or (; ; ; ), is a macroregion of Italy consisting of its southern regions. The term "" today mostly refers to the regions that are associated with the people, lands or culture of the historic ...

increasingly switched from the Greek Byzantine Catholic Church to the

Latin Rite Latin Rite may refer to: *The Latin Church, a ''sui iuris'' church of the Catholic Church *The Latin liturgical rites, a family of Christian rites and uses which includes the Roman Rite *The Roman Rite The Roman Rite () is the most common ritua ...

under pressure from the local hierarchy, who often forcibly closed Byzantine Rite Monasteries and convents. Even though their speakers are now overwhelmingly Roman Rite, several distinct dialects of the

Modern Greek language Modern Greek (, or , ), generally referred to by speakers simply as Greek (, ), refers collectively to the dialects of the Greek language spoken in the modern era, including the official standardized form of the language sometimes referred to ...

are still widely spoken throughout southern Italy. Beginning under

Bernardo Tanucci Bernardo Tanucci (20 February 1698 – 29 April 1783) was an Italian jurist and statesman, who brought an enlightened absolutism style of government to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies for Charles III and his son Ferdinand IV. Biography Early ...

in the 18th-century

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies () was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1861 under the control of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon, Bourbons. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by popula ...

and continuing under the newly constituted

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy (, ) was a unitary state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy wa ...

during the

Risorgimento The unification of Italy ( ), also known as the Risorgimento (; ), was the 19th century political and social movement that in 1861 ended in the annexation of various states of the Italian peninsula and its outlying isles to the Kingdom of ...

in 1866, all others that had survived were closed down and their lands seized and sold when, influenced by the anti-religious currents of The Englightenment, local governments banned

religious orders A religious order is a subgroup within a larger confessional community with a distinctive high-religiosity lifestyle and clear membership. Religious orders often trace their lineage from revered teachers, venerate their founders, and have a d ...

and expelled their members. Only Grottaferrata monastery, which was considered a national monument, was allowed to keep resident monks as its guardians. In the course of time, the Italian secular authorities allowed these monks increasing independence. In the 1880s, the Holy See, seeking the peaceful transformation of the Orthodox Churches into

Eastern Catholic Churches The Eastern Catholic Churches or Oriental Catholic Churches, also known as the Eastern-Rite Catholic Churches, Eastern Rite Catholicism, or simply the Eastern Churches, are 23 Eastern Christian autonomous (''sui iuris'') particular churches of ...

, ordered the

Divine Liturgy Divine Liturgy () or Holy Liturgy is the usual name used in most Eastern Christian rites for the Eucharistic service. The Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Lutheranism, Eastern Lutheran Churches and the Eastern Orthodox Church believe the Divi ...

offered at Grottaferrata purged of all Latin Rite borrowings that had been introduced over the centuries. As the one Byzantine Catholic monastery in Italy not closed down, the monks of Grottaferrata prevented the death of their monastic traditions and have contributed to its rebirth and expansion. As Italo-Albanian refugee monks arrived from the other closed down religious houses replaced the old pro-Latinisation guard in Grottaferrata, they contributed to the rebirth of the Abbey and became notable as

palaeographer Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US) (ultimately from , , 'old', and , , 'to write') is the study and academic discipline of historical writing systems. It encompasses the historicity of manuscripts and texts, subsuming deciphering and dati ...

liturgist Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...

s, and

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

s, as well as the main Albanologists and

Byzantinist Byzantine studies is an interdisciplinary branch of the humanities that addresses the history, culture, demography, dress, religion/theology, art, literature/epigraphy, music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination ...

s of the period. One regular visitor to Grottaferrata during the early 20th-century was Leonid Feodorov, who went on in 1917 to become the first

Exarch An exarch (; from Ancient Greek ἔξαρχος ''exarchos'') was the holder of any of various historical offices, some of them being political or military and others being ecclesiastical. In the late Roman Empire and early Byzantine Empire, ...

of the

Russian Greek Catholic Church The Russian Greek Catholic Church or Russian Byzantine Catholic Church is a ''sui juris, sui iuris'' (self-governing) Byzantine Rite Eastern Catholic Churches, Eastern Catholic particular church that is part of the worldwide Catholic Church. Hi ...

. These same monks were active promoters of reunion between West and East, with missionary evangelization of ethnicities in

the Balkans The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throug ...

that had converted to

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

under Ottoman Turkish rule, particularly after 1912 in newly

Independent Albania Independent Albania () was a parliamentary state declared in Vlorë (at the time part of Ottoman Empire) on 28 November 1912 during the First Balkan War. Its assembly was constituted on the same day while its government and senate were establish ...

. The effects of this mission, generally welcomed in a positive way before communism in Albania, quickly created a very close religious and cultural bridge between the Albanian-speaking refugee communities of southern Italy and the Catholic Church in Albania, resulting in the resurrection of the Albanian Greek-Catholic Church and the ordination of various missionary priests. Josif Papamihali

Among these stands out the martyr and saint of Albania, who graduated from the

Pontifical Greek College of Saint Athanasius The Pontifical Greek College of St. Athanasius (; ) is a Pontifical College in Rome that observes the Byzantine rite. It was founded in 1577 by Pope Gregory XIII as a college for the training of priests and seminarians who worshipped accordin ...

in Rome and deeply loved the Abbey and the culture of the Italo-Albanian people, Blessed Josif Papamihali (1912-1948). Papamihali went to become a confessor and apostle of Eastern Catholicism, who was persecuted, arrested, sentenced to a labour camp, where he was buried alive by his guards after falling from exhaustion in a marsh. After the fall of communism in Albania, he was beatified in

Shkodër Shkodër ( , ; sq-definite, Shkodra; historically known as Scodra or Scutari) is the List of cities and towns in Albania, fifth-most-populous city of Albania and the seat of Shkodër County and Shkodër Municipality. Shkodër has been List of o ...

along with thirty-seven other fellow Albanian Catholic Martyrs on 5 November 2016. On 26 September 1937, the abbey was made a territorial abbacy. The Territorial Abbey also operates a rectory church in central Rome, Saint Basil at the Gardens of Sallust. Abbot Apolemone Agreste, whose coat of arms appears on the arches within, had a church dedicated to Saint Basil built on St. Basil Street in Rome, not far from the Piazza Grimana, now the

Piazza Barberini Piazza Barberini is a large piazza in the ''centro storico'' or city center of Rome, Italy and situated on the Quirinal Hill. It was created in the 16th century but many of the surrounding buildings have subsequently been rebuilt. History The s ...

. Attached to it was a hospice. The monks of the Order of St. Basil had it restored in 1682, as an inscription on the doorway testifies.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary of Grottaferrata, Territorial Abbey of Eastern Catholic monks Eastern Christian monasticism Greek Byzantine Catholic Church Italo-Albanian Catholic Church Territorial abbeys Grottaferrata

History

See also

References