medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

On Saturday, March 4, 2006, at 8:17 am, Phyllis wrote:

> Today (4. March) is the feast day of:
>
> Peter of Cava (d. 1123) The Salernitan Pietro Pappacarbone was a
> nephew of St. Alferius, founder of the monastery of Cava. He
> joined
> his uncle and soon got a reputation for great holiness. In time,
> though, P. was attracted by the fame of Cluny, and went off to
> become
> a monk there, taking a few monks of Cava along with him. He was
> sent
> back to Cava after a few years and in time was elected abbot. The
> monks didn't like P's efforts to introduce Cluniac customs, though.
> Eventually this was worked out and Cava flourished under P.

As abbot of the monastery of the Most Holy Trinity at La Cava -- today's
Cava dei Tirreni (SA) --, P. is Peter I. His Vita was written by his
late twelfth-century successor Peter II as part a combined _Vitae
quatuor priorum abbatum Cavensium_. All four of these first abbots
(Alferius, Leo I, Peter I, Constabilis) are considered saints; their
cults, with individual feast days, were confirmed in 1893.

The abbey was Cluniac until the early sixteenth century, when it became
part of the Cassinese family of the Order of Saint Benedict. Founded
and initially run by Salernitan nobles, it was patronized by the last
Lombard princes of Salerno (Guaimar III, Guaimar IV, Gisulf II). It was
likewise favored by Robert Guiscard and Roger I, who during P.'s
lifetime established daughter houses of the same dedication to serve as
cathedral chapters at their respective capitals of Venosa and Mileto.
The house founded by Roger I in the late eleventh century to serve as
the cathedral chapter at recently Muslim Catania (later known as San
Niccolo' l'Arena) was also Cavensian. The abbey had extensive holdings
and extensive commercial interests, both local and overseas; the latter
were served by two little ports it ultimately came to control, Cetara
(where in P.'s day the abbey maintained a ship of its own) and Vietri.

P. was thus at the head of a major (and very wealthy) regional
institution. Subsequent expansion and rebuilding has vastly altered the
abbey's appearance, but in the parts closest to the mountain (Monte
Finestre, a.k.a. Monte Pertuso) against one of whose flanks it is built
there are notable medieval survivals. Though perhaps slightly later,
the east side of the cloister may be from P.'s tenure as abbot:
Plan:
http://tinyurl.com/r3fbg
Views:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/87698289/1087699105036367367BEqzgg
http://community.webshots.com/photo/87698289/1087699228036367367DUGmCv
http://community.webshots.com/photo/87698289/1087699168036367367PWsYPj
http://community.webshots.com/photo/87698289/1087699330036367367jslREb

These views will provide some idea of the position of the cloister
vis-a-vis the mountain:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/87698289/1087699372036367367aVpbda
http://community.webshots.com/photo/87698289/1087699426036367367NSMari

The abbey church was dedicated by Urban II in 1092. Its cosmatesque
ambo dates from the abbacy of the bl. Marinus (1146-1170):
http://tinyurl.com/ozn96
But this view of the crypt is much as P. would have seen it (though the
lighting is better and those shallow steps are of course modern):
http://community.webshots.com/photo/87698289/1087699978036367367ARXVyn

A couple of centuries later, the Sienese sculptor Tino da Camaino (d.
ca. 1337), who spent his last years in Naples working for various
Angevin patrons, also decorated the abbey church at La Cava. Some of
his pieces still at the abbey are shown here:
http://www.arte-argomenti.org/schede/pisano/camaino.html
and here is a view of another (St. Matthew):
http://www.arte-argomenti.org/schede/pisano/cava/camaino3.jpg

Much of the slope below the abbey buildings is given over to plantations
of lemon and orange trees. But the abbey, located as it is on the
southern side of the Monti Lattari, also has its chestnut woods:
http://www.tuttosucava.it/castagne.jpg

Best,
John Dillon

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