MONTE CASSINO: The mother house of the Benedictine order (50 m. n.w. of Naples). For the story of the foundatipn see Benedict of Nursia, I., § 3. Though repeatedly disturbed by barbarian hordes during the rule of the three abbots following Benedict (d. 543)-Conatantius, Simplicius, and Vita. lis-it was first destroyed by the Lombards in 589, when Bonitus was abbot. The monks escaped to Rome, and Pelagius II. permitted them to build a monastery beside the Lateran, where they remained almost a century and a half,;enjoying the special favor of Gregory the Great, Meanwhile only a few hermits remained at Monte Cassino, and about 653 it was alleged that the bones of Benedict and his sivter Scolastica had been translated to Fleury in France (hence called St. Benoit sur Loire) by Aigulf and his companions. A long controversy consequently arose between the monks of: the restored monastery of Monte Cassino and those of Fleury, and a bull of Pope,Zacharias implies that the bones, in question, were in their original.. grave at Monte

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Camino about 742. The explanation seems to be that merely certain portions of the remains were taken to Fleury.

The monastery of Monte Camino was restored about 720, during the pontificate of Gregory II., by Abbot Petronax of Brescia (d. 750). During his rule, the autograph copy of Benedict's rule, brought to Rome when the monastery was destroyed, is said to have been returned to Monte Camino in 748 by Zacharias, who also granted the monastery special privileges and enriched its library. At this same period, too, began the literary fame of Monte Cassino, and here Paul the Deacon (q.v.), ex-chancellor of the last Lombard King Desiderius, wrote his Hisloria Longobardorum and Expositio in reguZam Stanch Benelicti. The monastery was further enlarged and beautified during the abbacy of Gisolfus (797817), and was enriched by princely gifts in the period immediately following. Abbot Bertharius (856-884) was a distinguished scholar, both as exegete, grammarian, and physician, and his writings on the latter theme make the beginning of Monte Cassino's services to medical science. The monastery possessed an excellent hospital, and thus influenced the Benedictine monastery of Salerno and its medical school.

A second period of devastation and of seventy years' exile was caused in 884 by the Saracens, who murdered Abbot Bertharius at the altar. The surviving monks fled to Teano, where they remained thirty years, after which they went to Capua. Here they degenerated, but, returning to Monte Cassino, Abbot Aligernus (949-985) began a rigid reform and a restoration of the former grandeur of the monastery. Nevertheless, a new period of degeneration came under Abbots Manso (985-996) and Atenulf (1011-1022), until Theobald (1022-35), aided by Odilo of Cluny, restored strict discipline. Under Liderius (1059,87; later Pope Victor III.) Monte Cassino reached its zenith. Desiderius turned all his influence to the advantage of the monastery, increasing the number of the monks, restoring the buildings, and beautifying the basilica with the aid of artists from Upper Italy, Amalfi, and Conetantinople. He fostered the progress of learning by obtaining valuable liturgical books, and enlarged the monastery hospital.

The policy of Desiderius was continued by his successors Oderisius I. (1087-1105) and Bruno (1107-23). Although Monte Cassino's temporal power declined in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries through the hostility of feudal lords and Hohenstaufen emperors, the monastery was still adorned by noteworthy authors, such as Peter the Deacon and by artists, especially painters on glass. In 1240 the monks were expelled by Frederick II. The decline of discipline, moreover, had become so pronounced that it could not be permanently restored even by the efforts of Abbot Bernardus Ayglerius (1263-82), who prepared a new rule, nor by Celestine V., who sought to change the Benedictines into Celestines (1294), nor by John XXII., who made the abbey a bishopric and its monks cathedral clergy (1331). In 1349 an earthquake almost annihilated its buildings, and during the pontificate of Urban V. Abbot Andreas of Faenza

again made a transitory reform of discipline. After the middle of the fifteenth century Monte Camino was ruled by secular abbots in commendam, who shamelessly robbed it and impaired its discipline. Julius II., in 1504, forced it to accept the reform of St. Justina, and in 1515 Abbot Squarcialupi began an extensive renovation of its buildings.

Throughout the sixteenth century Monte Cassino controlled four bishoprics, two principalities, twenty counties, 1,662 churches, and much besides, while its income was reckoned at half a million ducats. Still more important were its spiritual, artistic, and literary treasures. In 1645 its library was the most important in Italy and one of the most valuable in Europe, containing over 1,000 documents from popes, emperors, kings, and princes, and more than 800 manuscripts earlier than the fourteenth century. In 1866 the monastery was made a national monument of the kingdom of Italy and became an educational institution under clerical control, while at the same time its literary treasures became more generally accessible than had been - possible previously. [The monastery of Monte Cassino is a fortress-like structure with a commanding location, 1,715 feet elevation, overlooking the town of Cassino, 851 m. s.s.e. of Rome. In it are forty monks and some 200 pupils. The buildings are on different levels. Lowest is that in which is shown the cell of St. Benedict; highest is the church, which is richly adorned. The noteworthy frescoes in its subterranean chapels are by German Benedictines. Among the objects shown is a figure of the Virgin Mary which is reported to have once spoken. The library is rich in beautifully written manuscripts.]

(O. Zöckler†.)

Bibliography: Sources are to be found in Leo of Ostia, Chronicon Casinenee, e d. Wattenbaeh in MGH, Script., vii (1846), 551-727; Peter the Deacon, De vir. ill., in Angelus de Nuoe, Chronica . . . m onasterii Casinensis, Paris, 1688, cf. Alfani Versus, De situ . . . monasterii Caainensie, in A. F. Osanam, Documents i n6dits, Paris, 1850; and C. Margarini, Bullarium Casinenee, 2 vols., Venioe and Todi, 1750-70. Consult further: E. Gattola, Historia abbatim Casinensis . . Venice, 1733-34; W. Giesebrecht, De litterarum studiia apud Italos, Berlin, 1844; A. Dentier Monattbres d'Italie 2 vols., Paris, 1866; G. Krittzinger, Der Benediktinerorden und die Kultur, Heidelberg, 1876; J. Peter, in Revue chrétienne, July, 1881; H. Rickenbach, Monte Cassino roan miner Grandung bie to miner ht6cheten B lfte . . . , Einsiedeln, 1884-85; Tab ularium Casinense S picileaium Caeinense, and MiecelTgnea Casinense, 3 vols., Monte Cassino, 1887-97; L. Tosti, in his Opera, vols. Iav.-xvi., Rome, 1888-89; G. Grützmacher, Die Bedeutung Benedikes roan Nursia, Berlin, 1892; G. Clauses, Les Origines bhn6dictines, pp . 81110, Paris, 1899; 0. Kaemmel, Herbetbilder aue Italien and Si-eilien, pp. 135-183, Leipsic, 1900; E. Caspar, Petrus Diaconue und die Monte Cassineser Pelschungen, Berlin, 1909; Heimbucher, Orden und Kongregationen, i. 209 sqq., et passim; KL, viii. 1842-47; and also the literature under Benedict of Nursia and the Benedictine Order.