San Giovanni in Venere Abbey
Encyclopedia
Venus (mythology)
Venus is a Roman goddess principally associated with love, beauty, sex,sexual seduction and fertility, who played a key role in many Roman religious festivals and myths...
") is a monastery complex in the comune
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...
of Fossacesia
Fossacesia
Fossacesia is a city in the province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region of Italy. The town is located on a small hill on the left of the Sangro River's mouth, c. 2 km from the Adriatic Sea....
, in Abruzzo
Abruzzo
Abruzzo is a region in Italy, its western border lying less than due east of Rome. Abruzzo borders the region of Marche to the north, Lazio to the west and south-west, Molise to the south-east, and the Adriatic Sea to the east...
, central Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. it is located on a hill facing the Adriatic Sea
Adriatic Sea
The Adriatic Sea is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkan peninsula, and the system of the Apennine Mountains from that of the Dinaric Alps and adjacent ranges...
, at 107 m over the sea level.
It includes a basilica and the monastery proper, both built in the early 13th century on a pre-existing convent.
History
The reference to Venus derives from the traditional presence of a temple of the goddess in the site, which would have been built in 80 BC. Portus Veneris was the name of a Byzantine landing place at the mouth of the Sangro river (the Byzantines controlled parts of southern Italy until the 11th century).Again according the tradition, the origins of the monastery were connected to a small cellarius (small recovery) for Benedictine monks, with a chapel, built by one Martin around 540
540
Year 540 was a leap year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Iustinus without colleague...
AD by demolishing the temple. Recent excavations have showed the presence of an early construction and tombs dating from the 6th-7th centuries. The first document mentioning Sancti Johannes in foce de fluvio Sangro (St. John's near the Sangro mouth) dates from 829.
The monastery expanded around the year 1000. Thrasimund I and Thrasimund II, Counts of Chieti, had the cellarius enlarged into an abbey depending from Monte Cassino
Monte Cassino
Monte Cassino is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, Italy, c. to the west of the town of Cassino and altitude. St. Benedict of Nursia established his first monastery, the source of the Benedictine Order, here around 529. It was the site of Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944...
, and made extensive donations to it. In 1043 the abbey was placed under imperial
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
protection. Around 1060, abbot Oderisius I, fearing an advance of the Normans towards Chieti
Chieti
Chieti is a city and comune in Central Italy, 200 km northeast of Rome. It is the capital of the Province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region...
, fortified the monastery and founded the castrum (castle) of Rocca San Giovanni
Rocca San Giovanni
Rocca San Giovanni is a comune and town in the province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region of Italy.-Main sights:The main attraction of the neighbourhood is the Abbey of San Giovanni in Venere. Other sights in Rocca San Giovanni include:...
.
In the 12th century the abbey reached the climax of its splendour. In 1165 abbot Oderisius II had a new church built and the monastery further enlarged. While the former, apart sculptures and canvasses, is still the same, the latter is today only a small fraction of the edifice: in the year 1200 it housed 80-120 Benedictines monks, it has several studios, laboratories, a large library and a rich archive (whose texts are now in Rome), two cloisters, a bakery, an ambulatory, stables a recovery for pilgrims and much other features.
Saint Berardo
Saint Berardo
Saint Berardo is an Italian saint, patron saint of the city and diocese of Teramo.-Life:Saint Berardo was born into the noble family da Pagliara, whose castle bore their name near the town of Isola del Gran Sasso in the Abruzzo region of Italy...
retired in the abbey in the 12th century. In that period the abbot was the most powerful feudatary of the Kingdom of Sicily
Kingdom of Sicily
The Kingdom of Sicily was a state that existed in the south of Italy from its founding by Roger II in 1130 until 1816. It was a successor state of the County of Sicily, which had been founded in 1071 during the Norman conquest of southern Italy...
, possessing much of today's provinces of Chieti
Province of Chieti
The Province of Chieti is a province in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Chieti.It has an area of 2,588 km², and a total population of 381,993...
and Pescara
Province of Pescara
The Province of Pescara is a province in the Abruzzo region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Pescara.It has an area of 1,225 km², and a total population of 295,463 . There are 46 comunes in the province. At May 31, 2005, the main communes by population are:For a complete list, see Comunes of...
, and other lands from Ravenna
Ravenna
Ravenna is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and the second largest comune in Italy by land area, although, at , it is little more than half the size of the largest comune, Rome...
to Benevento
Benevento
Benevento is a town and comune of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, 50 km northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill 130 m above sea-level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino and Sabato...
. He could provide 95 knights and 126 infantry in case of war. The abbot was a nullius diocesis, its abbot acting as bishop.
The abbey started to decline from the 14th century, when it was forced to sell much of its territories. In 1394 the Roman Curia subjected it to commendatory abbots, named by the Pope. In 1585 Pope Sixtus V
Pope Sixtus V
Pope Sixtus V , born Felice Peretti di Montalto, was Pope from 1585 to 1590.-Early life:The chronicler Andrija Zmajević states that Felice's family originated from modern-day Montenegro...
gave the abbey and what remained of its fief to the Oratory of St. Philip Neri. In 1871 the new-born Kingdom of Italy confiscated the monastery and its asset.
Ten years later the abbey was declared national monument and assigned to the same Philippines monks. After another period of decay, and a series of damages during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the abbey is now cared by a community of Passionist
Passionist
The Passionists are a Roman Catholic religious order founded by Saint Paul of the Cross . Professed members use the initials C.P. after their names.-History:St...
s. The church and what remains of the monastery was restored starting from the 1950s.
Church
The church has the typical structure of the Cistercian basilicasCistercian architecture
Cistercian architecture is a style of architecture associated with the churches, monasteries and abbeys of the Roman Catholic Cistercian Order. It was headed by Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux , who believed that churches should avoid superfluous ornamentation so as not to distract from the religious life...
, with a nave and two aisles separated by ogival arches and wooden ceiling. The main façade is characterized by a large marble portal (called Portale della Luna, "Moon portal"), decorated with high-reliefs and other re-used material. On the southern side are the Portale delle Donne ("Women's Portal"), also with marble decorations, and the bell tower, which is now shorter than originally and which was also used as a defensive structure. Opposite to the façade are three apse
Apse
In architecture, the apse is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome...
s, with arcade decorations and mullioned windows of Arabic influence.
In the interior, the apses are decorated with 13th century frescoes. Under the high altar is the crypt
Crypt
In architecture, a crypt is a stone chamber or vault beneath the floor of a burial vault possibly containing sarcophagi, coffins or relics....
, with Roman columns. Under the main entrance is another room, which was carved out in the 13th century from the apse of the Palaeo-Christian structure.