The Abbey of the Holy Spirit at Morrone (Italian:Abbazia di Santo Spirito al Morrone), known by various titles, is a former monastery some five kilometers outside of the town of Sulmona, at the base of Monte Morrone, in the Province of L'Aquila, region of Abruzzo, Italy.
The present monastery was built in the early 18th century after an earthquake had nearly leveled the former 13th-century monastery founded by Pietro Angelerio da Isernia, subsequently elected Pope Celestine V. Pietro Angelerio had been a hermit at the Mountain, at what is now the Eremo di San Onofrio in Monte Morrone. For centuries, this was the main abbey of the Celestine order, a Benedictine order offshoot. By the 19th century, the abbey was deconsecrated, functioning more recently as a prison. [1] In the last decades, restoration has proceeded and it now serves as a Museum
The site has carried a number of names, Abbazia di Santo Spirito al Morrone with its church of Santo Spirito; Badia Morronese; or the Abbazia di Santo Spirito a Sulmona.
The first buildings at the site arose by 1293, and were both enlarged over the centuries and devastated by earthquakes in 1456 and catastrophically in 1706. This led to major reconstruction in the present Baroque-style.
With the Napoleonic suppression of the monastic orders, in 1807 the convent became host of the Collegio dei tre Abruzzi and an Ospizio di mendicità (poorhouse), till it was made into a prison until well into the 20th century. [2]
The Abbey was taken over by the Wehrmacht during World War 2 and used as a prison and site of execution for captured members of the Italian resistance. A memorial plaque commemorates local shepherd Michele del Greco, who was executed on December 22, 1943 for helping allied POW's.
After the 1706 earthquake, the church (Italian:chiesa di Santo Spirito a Morrone) was built anew an undulating facade with broken friezes, inspired by Francesco Borromini's church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane in Rome, was added to the church of Santo Spirito a Morrone. The local design is attributed to Donato Rocco. This facade has a clock (1730) added to the tympanum. The bell-tower was originally built in 1596 and based on that of the church dell'Annunziata in Sulmona.
The interior of the church while maintaining some of the chapel space, was reshaped into a Greek-cross layout. The walls and ceiling have baroque stucco decoration.
Among the original altarpieces in the church is a Descent of the Holy Spirit; others are now conserved in the Museo Civico in town, including a Madonna and Child, a Lactating Madonna and Saints, and a Glory with Celestine V (1750), all by Giovanni Conca, brother of Sebastiano Conca. Also in the Museum are the altarpieces of Saints Caterina e Lucia, and St Benedict writing the Rule (1758) by Anton Raphael Mengs.
The wooden choir stools of the church escaped the earthquake of 1706, and are now conserved in the Civic Museum. The organ, built in 1681, has artwork by Giovan Battista Del Frate and gilding Caldarella di Santo Stefano. In the choir, devoid of its polychrome marble altar are openings, one leading to an original part of the church building with ancient frescoes, the other to the Caldora chapel. [3] The 15th-century Cappella Caldora is a masterwork in the complex, with its funeral monument sculpted in 1412 by Gualtiero d'Alemagna is frescoed by Giovanni di Sulmona with episodes of the Life of Christ. [4]
Pope Celestine V, born Pietro Angelerio, also known as Pietro da Morrone, Peter of Morrone, and Peter Celestine, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States for five months from 5 July to 13 December 1294, when he resigned. He was also a monk and hermit who founded the order of the Celestines as a branch of the Benedictine order.
The province of L'Aquila is the largest, most mountainous and least densely populated province of the Abruzzo region of Italy. It comprises about half the landmass of Abruzzo and occupies the western part of the region. It has borders with the provinces of Teramo to the north, Pescara and Chieti to the east, Isernia to the south and Frosinone, Rome and Rieti to the west. Its capital is the city of L'Aquila.
Santa Maria di Collemaggio is a large medieval church in L'Aquila, central Italy. It was the site of the original Papal Jubilee, a penitential observation devised by Pope Celestine V, who is buried there. The church, which therefore ranks as a basilica because of its importance in religious history, sits in isolation at the end of a long rectangular sward of grass at the southwest edge of the town.
Sulmona is a comune (municipality) in the province of L'Aquila, in the Italian region of Abruzzo. It is located in the Valle Peligna, a plain once occupied by a lake that disappeared in prehistoric times. In the ancient era, it was one of the most important cities of the Paeligni and is known for being the native town of the Roman poet Ovid, of whom there is a bronze statue, located on the town's main road.
Pacentro is a comune of 1,279 inhabitants of the province of L'Aquila in Abruzzo, Italy. It is a well-preserved historic medieval village located in central Italy, several kilometers from the City of Sulmona about 170 kilometres (110 mi) east of Rome. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia.
Santo Spirito or Spirito Santo may refer to:
Palena is a comune and town in the province of Chieti in the Abruzzo region of Italy.
Bugnara is a comune and village in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of southern Italy. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia.
Campo di Giove is a town and comune in the province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of central Italy. Its territory is included in the Majella National Park. Located at the foot of the southwestern slope of the Majella, it is a holiday resort in summer and winter, thanks to the presence of a ski station. In English, its name means 'Campus Jovis'.
Pratola Peligna is a comune and town in the Province of L'Aquila in the Abruzzo region of Italy. As of 2015, it has a population of 7,652 inhabitants.
San Pietro a Majella is a church in Naples, Italy. The term may also refer to the adjacent Naples music conservatory, which occupies the premises of the monastery that used to form a single complex with the church.
Tourism in Abruzzo has become one of the most prosperous sectors in the economy of Abruzzo, and in recent years has seen a remarkable growth attracting numerous tourists from Italy and Europe. According to statistics, in 2021 arrivals totaled 1,330,887. A total of 5,197,765 arrivals were tourists, a figure that puts the region seventeenth among the Italian regions for numbers of tourists per year. A moderate support to tourism is also given to the Abruzzo Airport with many low cost and charter flights connecting the entire region with the rest of Europe.
Abbazia di San Bartolomeo is a Benedictine abbey in Carpineto della Nora, Province of Pescara (Abruzzo). It was declared a national monument in 1902.
Chiesa di Santa Maria ad Cryptas is a Middle Ages church in Fossa, Province of L'Aquila (Abruzzo).
Abbazia di San Martino in Valle is a medieval abbey in Fara San Martino, Province of Chieti (Abruzzo).
Eremo di Santo Spirito a Majella is an hermitage located in Roccamorice, Province of Pescara.
Eremo di Sant'Onofrio al Morrone is an hermitage located in Sulmona, Province of L'Aquila ., dating back to the thirteenth century. A monk by the name of Pietro Angelerio living at this hermitage later became Pope Celestine V. The hermitage is located at an altitude of 620 meters, and can only be reached via a steep path from the village of Badia, on the eastern edge of the Valle Peligna.
Museo d'Arte Sacra della Marsica is a museum of religious art in Celano, Province of L'Aquila (Abruzzo).
Domenico Angeloni was an Italian priest, theologist, and mathematician.
Sagizzano was an ancient village in the Peligna Valley, Italy that existed between the 10th and 14th centuries. It was located in the Fonte d'Amore area near the hermitage of Sant'Onofrio al Morrone and the terraces of the temple of Hercules Curinus in the foothills of the Mount Morrone near contemporary Sulmona (AQ), in Abruzzo, Italy.
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