Monte Cas(s)ino, the first Benedictine convent ever established, "the venerable mother of Western monachism," and for a thousand years the spot especial- ly dear to the great Benedictine order, was so named after the place in which it was located.
Benedict of Nursia (q. v.) having been induced by the representations of the jiriest Florentius to settle in the Campania, near Naples, found on a mountain, near the old Castrum Casinum, a temple of Apollo and a shrine of Venus, which were still resorted to by the hea- then inhabitants. He converted them, destroyed the temple and shrine, and in their place erected a chapel dedicated to St, Martin, and soon after commenced build- ing a convent for himself and his followers, which sub- sequently received the name of Monte Cassino. The undertaking succeeded in spite of difficulties of all kinds (it is said the devil made the stones so heavy that it was impossible to lift them, etc.!), and was terminated in 529. The convent was, of course, subject to the rule of Benedict, who remained its abbot until his death, March 21, 543. He was succeeded by the abbots Con- stantine, Simplicius, and Vitalis, under whose govern- ment the convent, although often invaded by the bar- barians, continued to prosper, owing chiefly to the mir- acles performed by the relics of its founder. In 580 Monte Cassino was stormed by the Lombards. The ab- bot and monks, taking with them their most valuable ornaments, and the original copy of their rule, fled to Rome, where they were well received by pope Pelagius II. They soon built a new convent by the side of the Quirinal Palace, and remained in possession of it during 140 years. Gregory the Great proved particularly ^^■ell- disposed towards the order, inciting them to turn their attention towards missions, and particularly to Eng- land, from whence they spread to Scotland, Ireland, and Germany. St, Willibrod introduced the order in Fries- land, and under St. Bonifacius it acquired supremacy throughout Germany, In 720 pope Grcgor\- II appoint- ed the Brescian Petronax to build a new convent and a church on the ruins of Monte Cassino, which was then only inhabited hy hermits, and the church was conse- crated by pope Zacharias himself in 748, Petronax was appointed abbot, and the pope confirmed all the dona- tions made to the convent, exempting it at the same time from episcopal jurisdiction, and restoring to it the autograph rule of St. Benedict. But in the mean time the convent had met with an irreparable loss : a French monk, Aigulf de Fleury, had in G33 taken from the ruins the remains of the saint, and carried them to his own convent, which henceforth had taken the name of St. Benoit sur Loire. Abbot Petronax died May 6, 740. Under his successors Monte Cassino became a cen- tre of learning. Prof. Leo, in his Gesch. v. Italien, says : "Benevento and the convent of Monte Cassino must be considered as having been for a time, in the beginning of the Middle Ages, the most important abode of scien- tific activity. Africa, Greece, and the Western German countries met there ; and from the meeting of the dis- tinguished men of these different countries resulted nat- urally a higher intellectual life than could be found anywhere else; for there neither trade nor the coarse enjoyments of immoderate eating or drinking, which en- gross all in the sea-towns and on the northern coasts, were the adversaries of science" (ii, 21). Among its eminent men we may mention Paulus, the son of Warnefried, the historian of the Lombards, whom, after in sorrow at the fate of his country he had retired to Jlonte Cassino, Charlemagne repeatedly invited to his court, and who wrote the Uomiliarium, and taught Greek to the cler-
gy. Under his influence Charlemagne granted great privileges to the order, and subjected all the convents of his empire to their rule. The relations between Rome and Monte Cassino were always erf the most friendly character; and while, down to the 8th century, it was Rome that encouraged and sustained the convent in its progress, the latter came in the troubled times of the xth, 9th, and 10th centuries to be considered by the Romish clergy as the centre of scientific culture. However, in' 884, the Saracens attacked the convent, slew the abbot, Bertharius, at the altar, and destroyed Monte Cassino and St, Salvator ; and the monks had to flee witli their treasures to the convent of Teano. In 88G, monk Er- chembert, at the head of some of the order, made an at- tempt to restore the convent; but they were driven off by Greek robbers, and remained until" the death of ab- bot Leo in 915 at Teano, gradually losing their impor- tance. The count of Teano was thus enabled to seize without opposition some of the property of the convent; those of Capua appropriated also a part, and, finally, after the death of Leo, the young archdeacon, John of Capua, a cousin of the duke of Capua, became the ab- bot of the remaining Cassinites, who now removed to Capua. There they built the church of St, Benedetto, together with a rich college of canons. But they now commenced gradually relaxing the severity of their rule, and we find pope Agapetus II complaining bitterly of their insubordination. In 949 abbot Aligernus suc- ceeded b}^ his zeal in restoring Monte Cassino ; through the protection of the princes of Capua he regained the possessions taken from it in former times; he invited colonists, with whom he concluded a "placitum libel- lari statuto," and built for them in several places church- es and chapels. He obliged the monks to devote them- selves to agriculture and to literary labors, and enforced the discipline. He obtained also from the emperors Otto I and II the confirmation of the possessions and privileges of the convent, and used every exertion to restore it to its former splendor. He remained abbot thirty-five j-ears, and is called the third founder of ]\Ionte Cassino. His successor, Manso (986), only sought to increase the temporal welfare of the convent, regard- less of discipline. He led a princely life, and the dis- order became so great during his administration that Nilus, visiting the convent, exclaimed: "Let us quick- ly, my brethren, leave this place, which will soon be visited by the anger of God." Manso, deceived by some of his own monks, died of grief in 996. Nothing partic- ular occurred imder the succeeding abbots Athenulph (1011-22), Theobald (1022-35), Richerius (1038-55), Frederick (1057-58). Under abbot Desiderius (1058-87) the order commenced to improve again ; he was a son of a duke of Benevento, and had been educated in the convent De la Casa; Leo IX made him cardinal deacon of St. Sergius and Bacchus, and on JNIarch 26, 1059, Nicholas II appointed him cardinal priest of the title of St. Cecilia. The next day he was appointed abbot of Monte Cassino, He restored the building, the church was consecrated by pope Alexander II in person, and the number of the monks increased to two hundred. At the same time the discipline was strictly enforced, and scientific studies vigorously resumed (see Giese- brecht, De lift, stvdiis apud Italos primis medii cevi sceculis (Berol. 1845). Gregorys YII himself designated Desiderius as his successor, and he was finally made pope, somewhat by force, in 1086, as Victor III. He ever re- gretted having left his convent, and finally returned to die in the place he loved so dearly, after reigning eight years. His successor as abbot was Oderisius I (1087-1105). Under him the convent received various valuable endowments, a hospital was added to the al- ready existing buildings, and these completed in a very handsome manner. Pdpe Urban II confirmed by a bull all the donations wliich had been made to the convent, and replaced the abbey of (ilanfeuil, in France, founded by St. Maurus, under the rule of Monte Cassino. LTn- der the successors of Oderisius I the reputation of Monte