Today was spent in Cassino, with lots of walking. I am here because my father came up through Sicily to the Liri Valley just west of here as the Allied troops were breaking through the Gustav Line, established as a defense across Italy from west to east. Breaking this line enabled the Allies to advance to Rome and continue northwards. My father was in the artillery, and after Italy was sent to the Netherlands.
Cassino was totally destroyed by Allied bombing, so the town is all post-1945 builds. Last night it was definitely a youthful town, restaurants, bars and cafes all full of happy, noisy young ones.
The town lies at the foot of a high hill, on the top of which is Monte Cassino. When the Romans were here they built a temple at the top. At the start of the sixth century, Saint Benedict was looking for a place to start a religious house, and chose the same mount. He built a Christian sanctuary over the Roman temple, and from here his teachings about monastic life spread widely, and after his death led to the founding of the order of the Benedictine monks. In 577 the Langobards destroyed this sanctuary. A monastery was rebuilt, but was destroyed completely by the Saracens in 887. Again it was rebuilt. In 1349 a violent earthquake led to a complete rebuild. The monastery was transformed by the Germans into a Gustav Line stronghold, and in February 1944 the Allied bombardment crushed it. Following the end of WWII the Italian State and the Benedictines rebuilt the monastery for the fourth time.
View from my window - the monastery is the small white speck at the top of the hill.
I walked up and back down following a path along the old Medieval road to the Abbey. The building is huge. At a noon service there were at most eight monks in attendance - they must rattle around an awful lot in the buildings! The church is aglitter with gold and marble and mosaics. It is a complete contrast with the stark simplicity of Cistercian churches, like Fossanova (Nov 8 blog). I can certainly see why the Franciscan order was founded as a way to “get back to basics”!
The relics of St Benedict and his sister Saint Scholastica were moved out of the Abbey into safety in Rome by the Germans, and now are back at the Abbey in an amazing crypt which survived the bombardment. At the end of the nineteenth century the crypt was in a terrible state of disrepair and the decision was made to redecorate it. In Germany, a renewal of ecclesiastical art called the Beuron School had arisen about 1868, and artists of this school were chosen to do the mosaics and sculptures for the walls of the crypt. It feels a bit like going into an Egyptian tomb because all the walls are covered with bright mosaics, the figures are flat and static, and there is symbolism which seems quite ancient Egypt at times.
My day continued with a visit to three war cemeteries. I’ll write about that tomorrow.
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