Morimondo Abbey ( it, Abbazia di Morimondo) is a former

Cistercian The Cistercians, () officially the Order of Cistercians ( la, (Sacer) Ordo Cisterciensis, 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 ...

monastery located at

Morimondo Morimondo ( lmo, Morimond or locally ''Marmond'' ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Milan in the Italian region Lombardy, located about southwest of Milan. It is home to the Abbey of Morimondo Morimondo Abbey ( it, Abb ...

, a few kilometers south of Abbiategrasso in the

Metropolitan City of Milan The Metropolitan City of Milan ( it, città metropolitana di Milano; lmo, label=Milanese, cittaa metropolitana de Milan ) is a metropolitan city (not to be confused with the metropolitan area) in the Lombardy region, Italy. It is the second mos ...

Lombardy Lombardy ( it, Lombardia, Lombard language, Lombard: ''Lombardia'' or ''Lumbardia' '') is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in the northern-central part of the country and has a population of about 10 ...

, northern Italy. The surviving structure is Romanesque and

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

. It was founded in 1134 as a daughter house of Morimond Abbey near Dijon, from which it took its name (meaning "die to the world").

History

Origins

The history of the abbey begins on October 4, 1134 when a group of founding monks arrived from the mother house of

Morimond Morimond Abbey is a religious complex in Parnoy-en-Bassigny, Haute-Marne department, in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France. It was the fourth of the four great daughter abbeys of Cîteaux Abbey, of primary importance in the spread of the Cis ...

in France. The monks settled in Coronate (now a '' frazione'' of Morimondo) and later chose the location for their monastery in Morimondo, about a mile away. Probably, the monastery was already partially built when they moved to Morimondo on November 11, 1136. Soon after its foundation the abbey acquired patrons and postulants from all social classes and the community of the monks had a rapid growth in the number of vocations. Even before the construction of the church, the monks founded two further communities, in Acquafredda near Como (1143) and in Casalvolone near Novara (1169). Further proofs of the flourishing activity in Morimondo was the Scriptorium, aimed at creating the monastic library and at supplying the two new daughter houses with some basic books, and the large agricultural holdings of the motherhouse, on which several granges were in fact settled in the surroundings. The building of the church began in 1182 and was finished in 1296. There was a delay with respect to the building of the monastery and it was due to disputes with the clergy of Casorate, a village few miles from Morimondo. A long period of interruptions (probably a few years) occurred after December 1237 when the monastery was assaulted by Pavian troops and various monks were killed. Indeed, militants from Pavia and Milan often looted the area and wars hampered the success of the abbey.

Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on ...

and his troops looted Morimondo in 1161. An interruptions occurred also in 1245 due, once again, to the raids of the imperial troops.

14th and 15th centuries

At its peak the community numbered 50 choir monks and 200 ''

conversi Lay brother is a largely extinct term referring to religious brothers, particularly in the Catholic Church, who focused upon manual service and secular matters, and were distinguished from choir monks or friars in that they did not pray in choir, ...

'' (

lay brothers Lay brother is a largely extinct term referring to religious brothers, particularly in the Catholic Church, who focused upon manual service and secular matters, and were distinguished from choir monks or friars in that they did not pray in choir, ...

who had become members of the monastic community, without the obligation to full choir office, and were in charge of the management of the productive activities of the monastery and relations with the outside world). A slow decline began in the 14th century due to different circumstances. One of them was the looting in 1314 but most damaging was the introduction of the commendatory system in 1450, a conversion which occurred in many abbeys with

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

Giovanni Visconti, Archbishop of Milan, Commendatory Abbot of Morimondo. Abbots after Giovanni Visconti include

Branda Castiglioni, a humanist, and Giovanni de' Medici, later Pope Leo X. Being concerned to revive the spiritual life of Morimondo, in 1499 Giovanni de' Medici sent eight monks from the

abbey of Settimo Fiorentino to Morimondo.

16th-18th centuries

The restored stability led to reconstruction of the cloister around the year 1500, the reconstruction of the portal of the sacristy, the painting of the fresco of the ''Madonna and Child'' (1515) attributed to Bernardino Luini, and finally the carved wooden choir of 1522. In 1564 the abbey became a parish after a decision of St. Charles Borromeo, archbishop of Milan, and the change gave new fervour to Morimondo. In the same year Borromeo stripped the Abbey of its land-holdings, in order to give financial aid to the Ospedale Maggiore of Milan. Another fervent period was in the 17th century when the abbot Antonio Libanori (1648-1652) from

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

was able to effect a revival of the cultural and spiritual life of the monastic community. During the 18th century, palaces were built at the north and west sides of the cloister. The abbey was suppressed on May 31, 1798 in the wake of the French Revolution; the Cistercian monks were expelled, and the illuminated manuscript of the library were dispersed.

19th-21st centuries

From 1805 to 1950, priests at the former monastic church continued to minister to the parish. In 1941 the Blessed

Ildefonso Schuster, archbishop of Milan, wishing to restore the monastery, made contact with the Trappist Fathers of the Cistercian Order of the

Tre Fontane Abbey Tre Fontane Abbey ( en, Three Fountains Abbey; la, Abbatia trium fontium ad Aquas Salvias), or the Abbey of Saints Vincent and Anastasius, is a Roman Catholic abbey in Rome, held by monks of the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance, better k ...

in Rome, but with no success. Then, in 1950, the Congregation of the

Oblates of the Virgin Mary The Oblates of the Virgin Mary (Italian: ''Oblati di Maria Vergine'') is a religious institute of priests and brothers founded by Bruno Lanteri (1759–1830) in the Kingdom of Sardinia in the early 19th century. The institute is characterized by a ...

was settled in the monastery. In 1991,

Carlo Maria Martini entrusted the pastoral care of the parish to the Congregation of the Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary with a new call to revive the abbey of Morimondo as a center of spirituality. The "Fondazione Abbatia Sancte Marie de Morimundo" aims at promoting the cultural and religious heritage of the abbey by organizing seminars, exhibitions, visits to the church and nearby building. The abbey has been used as a set for ''

Cado dalle nubi Cado dalle nubi is a 2009 Italian comedy film directed by Gennaro Nunziante. Plot Checco is a good guy from Polignano a Mare (Apulia), who loves music. He is ignorant and clumsy, and as a result is increasingly ridiculed. When his girlfriend d ...

'', a 2006 movie on immigration from South Italy starring

Checco Zalone Luca Pasquale MediciZalone, Checco
in ''

Benedetti dal Signore ''Benedetti dal Signore (Blessed by the Lord)'' is a 2004 Italian comedy television series set in a convent of Franciscan friars. See also *List of Italian television series The following is a list of television series produced in Italy: ...

'', a 2004 Italian television series set in a convent of Franciscan friars. The abbey has given the name to the Rotary Club Morimondo Abbazia which was founded in 2013, a parallel being acknowledged between the compassionate and industrious attitude of Cistercian monks and the rotarian commitment to "service above self". The Foundation Abbatia Sancte Marie de Morimundo was established on April 17, 1993 as a non-profit private foundation recognized on July 12, 1994 by the Italian Ministry of Cultural and Environmental Heritage (act no. 149, entry 1800/a). The Foundation is named after the

ex libris Ex Libris may refer to: *An Ex Libris (bookplate), a label affixed to a book to indicate ownership *Ex Libris (band), a Dutch metal band *Ex Libris (bookshop), a Swiss retail company * "Ex Libris" (''Charmed''), a 2000 episode of the television ser ...

of the illuminated manuscripts produced in the monastic scriptorium in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The aims of the Foundation are to develop cultural and religious activities at Morimondo Abbey and to promote the maintenance of the architectural heritage of the monastery. In December 2007, the Lombardy Region has recognized the monastery as a regional museum, run by the Foundation Abbatia Sancte Marie de Morimundo. The museum is divided into two sections: - The Museum of the Abbey, which was created to promote the whole buildings of the Cistercian abbey (cloister, chapter house, working rooms of the monks, hall of the founders, porch, dining hall, dormitory) - The Civic Museum Angelo Comolli, an

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

painter and fresco painter.Visita Milano
website.

The monastery

A peculiarity of Morimondo Abbey is that the buildings of the monastery are built on several floors due to being built on the side of a depression. The cloister occupies the third floor above iitwo levels of large rooms with a vaulted ceiling supported by columns. Moreover, the monks' dormitory (originally a single room) is just over the chapter house. The presence of different levels is apparent in and southern parts of the monastery, but it can be seen also in the Lay brothers' buildings.

The Church

While Morimondo Abbey is the fourth

monastery founded in Italy (1134) and the first in

, the abbey church is quite different from all other 12th century Cistercian buildings. The church construction being postponed till 1182, previous architectural experiences were exploited and surpassed. In fact, the Cistercian architecture in Morimondo Abbey adopts some

gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

features, e.g. the cross vaulted arches, which can also create rectangular spans. Spans with a rectangular basis in the nave are paired with spans with a square basis in the side naves and the sense of verticality is dramatically increased. The magnificence of Morimondo is related to its eight spans while previous abbey churches are smaller. The majesty of the church of Morimondo comes mainly from its total austerity and the image of order given by the bricks used in the building. The Renaissance and

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

styles did not alter the spirit of the twelfth century building.

Wooden choirstalls

The current wooden choirstalls replaces the original stalls and was fabricated in 1522 by Francesco Giramo, an artist from Abbiategrasso. It is an interesting example of Renaissance wooden furniture as shown by the compact and architectural design, which is after the style promoted in

by Bramante, and by the technique used to engrave the figures, which were curved with woodcuts made with hot iron. The represented symbols hint to its use as a place of worship. Although derived from classical antiquity according to the Renaissance style, they represent spiritual values such as generosity of God’s gifts (the fruit basket) or the saving action of Christ (the fish).

Cloister

In the cloister the layout typical of a

monastery is still legible despite successive interventions (the three arcades built in 1500 - 1505 and the north and west sides raised in mid eighteenth century). The

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 ...

is fully maintaining its original features, and the refectory and the kitchen, now having a beautiful seventeenth-century style, is nevertheless reminiscent of the original layout.

The granges

The term

grange Grange may refer to: Buildings * Grange House, Scotland, built in 1564, and demolished in 1906 * Grange Estate, Pennsylvania, built in 1682 * Monastic grange, a farming estate belonging to a monastery Geography Australia * Grange, South Austral ...

(from Latin granea, a building for grain storage) was used to designate a rural productive site. It was built on a pre-existing agricultural structure, or from scratch. The grange had great autonomy from the home abbey, although a Lay Brother was ruling the grange. Necessities were growing with the number of monks and the development of the structure. Agriculture was the main source of material goods and the granges were the frame allowing for an effective agricultural activity. They also served as a repository of corn and equipment and as Lay Brother dwellings.

List of abbots (incomplete)

Abbots * Gualguerius (or Gualcherio, or Gualchezio, 1134-1145, first abbot) * Peter (1145-?) * Arnold (? -?) * Rogerio (?. 1195) * William (?. 1201) * Bertram from Vedano (13th century) Abbots and Commanders * Giovanni Visconti (1441?-1447?, then Archbishop of Milan) * Astorgio Agnesi Astorgio Agnensi (1391–1451) was an Italian Roman Catholic bishop and cardinal, multiple papal governor and multiple Curiate official. Biography Astorgio Agnensi was born in Naples in 1391. He was elected Bishop of Mileto on 18 September 141 ...

(1450-1451, Archbishop of Benevento) * Battista Maletta (1452-1462, former abbot at Chiaravalle della Colomba Abbey) * Matteo Castiglioni (1463-1475) * Branda Castiglioni (1475-1487, then cardinal) * Giovanni Giacomo Sclafenati">Giovanni Giacomo Schiaffinato (1487, Bishop of Parma) * Giovanni de' Medici (1487-1495, then pope Leo X) * Giovanni Giacomo Schiaffinato (1495-1497) *

Cesare Borgia Cesare Borgia (; ca-valencia, Cèsar Borja ; es, link=no, César Borja ; 13 September 1475 – 12 March 1507) was an Italian ex- cardinal and '' condottiero'' (mercenary leader) of Aragonese (Spanish) origin, whose fight for power was a major ...

(1498) *

Federico Sanseverino Federico di Sanseverino (died 1516) was an Italian Roman Catholic cardinal of the 16th century. Biography Federico di Sanseverino was born in Naples in 1475 or 1477. He was the son of Roberto Sanseverino d'Aragona, a general of the papal army ...

(1498-1516, then cardinal) * Giulio de' Medici (1516-1521, then pope Clement VII) * Innocenzo Ciocchi del Monte (?-1556) ... * Antonio Libanorio (1648-1652) ... * Francesco Lonati (1730-1737)

References

{{Coord, 45.3500, N, 8.9500, E, source:wikidata, display=title Cistercian monasteries in Italy Monasteries in Lombardy 1134 establishments in Europe 12th-century establishments in Italy Christian monasteries established in the 12th century Churches in the metropolitan city of Milan Romanesque architecture in Lombardy Gothic architecture in Lombardy Religious buildings and structures completed in 1134