Territorial Abbacy of Saint Mary of Grottaferrata

Territorial Abbacy of Saint Mary of Grottaferrata Beatissimæ Mariæ Cryptæferratæ [1] Santa Maria di Grottaferrata
Cathedral of Exarchial Monastery of St. Mary of Grottaferrata
Location
Country	Italy
Ecclesiastical province	Holy See[1]
Statistics
Parishes	1
Churches	1
Schools	1
Members	87[2]
Information
Denomination	Italo-Albanian Catholic Church
Rite	Byzantine Rite
Established	1937[1]
Cathedral	Exarchial Monastery of St. Mary of Grottaferrata[3]
Patron saint	Nilo da Rossano[1]
Secular priests	10
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Abbot Ordinary[1]	Vacant
Apostolic Administrator	Marcello Semeraro
Website
abbaziagreca.it

The Territorial Abbacy of Santa Maria of Grottaferrata is an ecclesiastical jurisdiction which administers the Abbey of Saint Mary in Grottaferrata located in Grottaferrata, Rome, Lazio, Italy. The Abbacy and its territory are stauropegic, that is, directly subordinate to a primate or synod, rather than to a local bishop. It is the only remnant of the once-flourishing Italo-Greek monastic tradition. It is the only monastery of the Italian Basilian Order of Grottaferrata, (abbreviated O.S.B.I.), a religious order of the Italo-Albanian Catholic Church. The abbot ordinary is also the superior general of the Italian Basilian Order of Grottaferrata.^[1] Though normally led by a bishop, the Abbacy has been under the authority of Bishop Marcello Semeraro since Pope Francis named him Apostolic Administer of the Abbacy on 4 November 2013.^[4]

The abbey was founded in 1004^[5] by Nilus of Rossano, a monk of Greek descent from Calabria. It has remained in continuous operation since then. It is the only one of the Italo-Greek monasteries that has survived. Most of them gradually fell into decadence and were seized by the Kingdom of Italy when it secularized religious orders in 1866. Only the Grottaferrata monastery, considered a national monument, was allowed to continue with the monks as its guardians. In the course of time, the civil authorities have allowed them increasing independence.^{[citation needed]}

On 1 November 1571, the Italian Basilian Order of Grottaferrata was established.^[6]

In the 1880s, the Holy See in anticipation of rapprochement with the Orthodox churches, ordered the liturgy of the monastery to be purged of the Latin elements that had been introduced over the centuries.^[7] Vocations were no longer sought from the general Italian population, but instead chiefly among Italo-Albanians, and the monks set up new monasteries in Sicily and Calabria.

On 26 September 1937, the abbey was made a territorial abbacy.^[8]

The Territorial Abbey also operates a rectory church in central Rome, Saint Basil at the Sallust Gardens.^[9] Abbot Apolemone Agreste, whose coat of arms appears on the arches within, had a church dedicated to Saint Basil built on St. Basil Street in Rome, not far from the Piazza Grimana, now the Piazza Barberini. Attached to it was a hospice. The monks of the Order of St. Basil had it restored in 1682, as an inscription on the doorway testifies.^[10]

See also[]

• Arbëreshë people
• Byzantine Rite
• Italo-Albanian Catholic Church

References[]