CASAMARI, in regio Latium

Ligt in de plaats Veroli, oostelijk gelegen van de plaats Frosinine, in de provincie Frosinone.
U vindt het in een ondiepe kom van een bergdal en behoort tot de belangrijkste kloosters van Latium. Bovendien is het een van de zuiverste voorbeelden van cisterciënzergotiek in Italië. Vermoedelijk bevond zich op deze plek het antieke Cereatae Marianae, de geboorteplaats van Gaius Marius. Het klooster vindt zijn oorsprong in 1095, toen een priestergemeenschap zich hier onderwierp aan de regel van Benedictus. In 1151 werd het overgenomen door de cisterciënzers die het complex volledig verbouwden. De kloosterkerk, die in 1217 door paus Honorius III persoonlijk werd gewijd, was ontworpen door een broer van Wilhelmus van Milaan.
Men betreedt het kloosterterrein door de Casa Abbaziale, een poortgebouw waarvan de bovenverdieping oorspronkelijk dienst deed als woning van de abt. De drieschepigheid van deze kerk wordt weerspiegeld in de plaatsing van de bogen van de voorbal. Het achter deze voorhal oprijzende middenschip domineert door zijn krachtige proporties het basilicale ontwerp. De drie eenvoudige vensteropeningen verlenen de westfaçade een ingetogen uiterlijk. De façade wordt bekroond door een eenvoudig op een tempeltimpaan gelijkend fronton. De zware steunberen zijn eveneens uitdrukkingen in steen van de zelfverkozen armoede zoals die door de kloosterhervormer werd gepropageerd. In dit licht moet ook het reusachtige portaal gezien worden. Bij de versiering van de kapitelen heeft men geheel afgezien van verhalende taferelen. Ze zijn slechts versierd met eenvoudige bladmotieven. Deze strenge eenvoud blijkt eveneens in het interieur dat slechts gedecoreerd is met een triforiumachtige reeks van blinde bogen op de wanden van het hoge middenschip. Het straalt niettemin een sobere, harmonische elegantie uit. In tegenstelling tot oudere kloosters (bijv. Fossanova) zien we hier een overwelving met kruisribgewelven. In de koortravee is dit gewelf zesdelig. Deze ruimte wordt volgens de cisterciënzer traditie rechthoekig afgesloten. Het altaarciborium rond 1670, in de viering is afkomstig uit de kerk SS. Apostoli in Rome.
Kloostercomplex
Het kloostercomplex is aan de zuidzijde van de kerk gerangschikt rondom de kloostergang. De tweelingzuilen daarvan zijn versierd met zeer fraaie kapitelen. Via een door tweelichtopeningen geflankeerd rijkversierd portaal (oostvleugel) komt men in de kapittel zaal. De door vier bundelpijlers in drie schepen met kruisribgewelven verdeelde ruimte verraadt duidelijk Franse invloed. In de noordelijke vleugel van de kloostergang bevindt zich een portaal dat qua profilering niet onderdoet voor het hoofdportaal. Het geeft toegang tot de kerk. Het refectorium, in 1952 gerestaureerd, is 37 meter lang. Zware ronde pijlers verdelen de ruimte in twee schepen. In het kloostermuseum bevinden zich archeologische vondsten van het antieke Cereatae Marianae, alsmede enkele opmerkelijke barokke schilderijen.
Internet
http://www.osb.org/cist/bern.html St. Bernard van Clairveaux
Siti ecclesiastici - istituzionali:  Diocesi di Frosinone - Veroli - Ferentino -Ordine cistercense - Cistercensi - Cistercensi  - L'abbazia di Montecassino  - Musica:  Musica sacra  - Canto gregoriano

The abbey of Casamari
The abbey of Casamari is situated in the territory of Veroli, Frosinone, on the Via Maria, mid-way between Frosinone and Sora, and lies on a rocky hill sloping down to the torrent Amaseno, at about 300 metres above sea-level. It was built on the ruins of an ancient Roman municipium named Cereatae, being dedicated to the goddess Ceres, at Marianae, for it was the birthplace, or at least a residence, of Caius Marius, from whom the abbey later derived its name. The documents witness the presence of a Benedectine monastic community in the 11th century, under the name of Casamari.
The monastery
soon showed a strong vitality both spiritual as well as social and economical, but, in the early 12th century it was affected by a rather long crisis due to a sort of ungovernability (which is witnessed by the frequent resignation of its abbots) caused by both a decline of the Curtis system and the political and religious confusion of that period. During the schism of Anaclet II (1130-1138), when Bernard of Clairvaux, by his persistant work of mediation, became the leading promoter of the Church's unity through the recognition of Innocent II as pope, Italy became acquainted with the Cistercians. She appreciated their spirituality and requested their presence, while all Europe watched and supported the Order's astonishing, miraculous expansion.
It was with that political and religious background that a large number of Benedectine monasteries applied for incorporation to this religious Order which guaranteed absolute faithfulness and the popes themselves promoted an aggregative movement. The abbey of Casamari, too, was incorporated to the Order of Citeaux through Bernard's personal initiative and became the XXIX direct daughter-house of Clairvaux.
The Cistercians started
the construction of the monastery which we can still admire today, following the Order's typical planimetry, pulling down some parts of the ancient Benedectine building and using others as a "valetudinarium" (hospital). In 1203, Pope Innocent III blessed the first stone of the church, the construction of which went on under the management of Fra' Guglielmo of Casamari until 1217. On September 15th of that year; the basilica was consecrated and dedicated to Our Lady Received into Heaven, according to the Order's custom, and to the Roman martyrs, John and Paul.
The rise of European States
on the fall of the pope's temporal power; the captivity in Avignon (1305-1377) and the great western schism (1378-1417) brought about a general crisis of ecclesiastic institutions which necessarily involved all religious Orders. The Cistercian monasteries, which in the age of Communes had been strong representatives of democratic ideals and of a deep Christian attitude, lost their properties and spiritual prestige.
Casamari suffered heavy damages in the early 15th century when Ladislaus of Anjou, after storming Veroli, besieged and plundered the monastery. ln 1417 the mercenary troops of Muzio Attendolo Sforza, at the service of Queen Joan II of Naples and allied to the pope, attacked the armies of Jacopo di Caldora and the Count of Mondrisio, both supporters of Braccio di Montone, who were barricaded in the monastery. It has been said that the western wing if the building was damaged in the clash.
After the war,
the cause of Casamari's decline, and that of other monasteries too, was the institution of the commendam. It was extended to the abbey by Pope Martin V, in 1430, in favour of his nephew Cardinal Prospero Colonna and it was suppressed only in 1850 by Pope Pius IX. In 1623 the community, reduced to eight monks only, joined the Roman Congregation along with eight other abbeys. In 1717 the commendatory Abbot Annibale Albani introduced the reform of La Trappe into the abbey by calling up some monks from Buonsollazzo in Tuscany.
During Napoleon's first campaign
in Italy some French soldiers, on their way back, plundered the monastery and desecrated the Eucharist, although they had been received with open arms by Prior Simon Cardon. Some of the monks were able to escape, but six of them, among whom the prior himself, were slain while gathering the sacred particles. They were thus considered martyrs of the Eucharist and later buried in the abbey church. In 1833 the monks of Casamari reacquired the monastery of San Domenico of Sora and, in 1864, Valvisciolo which, in the meantime, had been restored by Pope Pius IX at his own expense. In 1873, owing to the laws of suppression, the abbey was deprived of its possessions and the following year; was declared a national monument.
In spite of endless change,
Casamari is still one of the Cistercian monasteries in which monastic life has had no interruptions since its foundation, except for the short period 1811-1814. The revival of religious life has been made possible by the institution of seminaries (1916) which have in a short time set many young men on the way to the Cistercian ideal. Thus the abbey, together with its dependent houses, was declared a monastic Congregation by the Holy See in 1929. Its Constitutions were approved provisionally in the same year and permanently on June 13th, 1943 by Pope Pius XII. They were approved again in 1979, after a revision according to the instructions of Vatican II. The general Chapter meets every three years. The abbot of Casamari is always the Abbot President ofthe Congregation and is in office for a nine-year period. Owing in part to the influence of the Trappists' severe observance in the 18th-19th centuries, common prayer; above all liturgy and lectio divina, is very important to the Congregation's spirituality. They spend a large part of their time in work, by which they earn a living for themselves and some aid for the poor and missions. Their occupations vary from teaching to sacred ministry as well as scientific, handicraft and agricultural works. In 1830 the Congregation, entrusted by the Holy See, introduced the Catholic monasticism into Ethiopia and started the education of the first group of Ethiopian postulants. In 1940 the first monastery was founded, and there are now four monasteries and two missions with almost 100 monks. In the meantime, from the mother-house, Casamari, have come other groups of monks, giving life to some new monasteries, one of which is in the United States of America and another in Brazil. According to the latest statistics, the Congregation of Casamari now consists of sixteen monasteries and three residences, with 220 monks.

** Uw accommodatie in geheel Italië kunt U goed boeken via Hotels/Appart.Italië.
** Via Hotels.Appart.Wereldwijd kunt u goed zoeken naar een accommodatie in 71 landen.
** Hoe maak ik een printversie van de pagina"?
** Door Tekengrootte  te wijzigen kunt u de leesbaarheid van de tekst sterk verbeteren.    
** Zie ook onze boeken pagina eens.    ▲