Abbazia di San Benedetto al Monte Subasio
(11th century)
The earliest surviving document relating to the abbey dates to 1041, which was probably soon after its establishment. It was listed among the possessions of the Abbazia di Farfa in 1051 but this seems to have been a short-lived arrangement: it does not appear in similar lists after 1084.
Abbot Aginaldo founded a second church and adjacent priory of San Paolo in Assisi in 1071. During the 12th
century, this complex was known as San Paolo
dell Abbadia in recognition of its continuing dependence on San
Benedetto.
The abbey reached its peak of prosperity in the 13th century:
in 1207, Abbot Tebaldo gave the Portiuncula to St Francis; and
in 1212, Abbot Maccabeo transfromed the church of San Donato (which had been adapted from the Temple "to Minerva") the newly-formed Commune
The abbey passed to the Cistercians in 1260.
 Fresco (ca. 1290) of St Francis giving |
In the civil disturbance of 1399, Ceccolino Michelotti seized the monastery. The small number of monks who still lived there moved to San Paolo. The Commune, which was then controlled by Broglia di Trino, attacked and partially destroyed the abbey, and it was subsequently abandoned. The campanile, which is seen (on the right) in a fresco in San Francesco, was never rebuilt.
In 1409, the abbey passed in commendum to Cardinal Antonio Caetani. In ca. 1450, it passed to Cardinal Latino Orsini, who transferred to his nephew, Cosimo Orsini in 1453. Cardinal Orsini was much concerned with monastic reform. In 1468, he persuaded Pope Paul II to grant San Salvatore in Lauro in Rome (which he had had rebuilt and endowed) to the Congregation of Canons Secular of San Giorgio in Alga, a strict congregation that had been formed in the Pope’s native Venice. In the same letter, the Pope united San Benedetto al Subasio with San Giorgio in Alga. The canons financed a major restoration of the abbey in 1601 and retained its ownership until their suppression in 1652.
The abbey reverted to a series of commendaroy abbots, the last of whom, Cardinal Antonio Pallotta, died in 1854. It passed to the Congregazione di propaganda Fide until 1860, when it passed into private ownership. The abbey passed to the Benedictines of San Pietro in 1945. It is currently in restoration.
Photo courtesy of Paolo Rossi
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