medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture

On Sunday, March 12, 2006, at 4:56 pm, Phyllis wrote:

> Today (13. March) is the feast day of:

> Heldrad (d. c. 842)  Heldrad was a noble of Provence who inherited 
> a 
> fortune and gave it away to churches and the poor, then setting out 
> to find a strict and pious monastery.  H. finally settled on 
> Novalese in Italy, in time becoming abbot.
 
Phyllis' source seems to have suffered a misprint (or to have repeated
one from one of _its_ sources): the monastery in question is of course
the abbey of Sts. Peter and Andrew at Novalesa (not 'Novalese'), in
Piedmont on the Italian side of the pass of Mont-Cenis/Moncenisio. 
Founded in 726 and devastated by a Muslim raid in about 906, after which
the community relocated to its daughter house at Breme in southern
Lombardy, the monastery here experienced an uptick in in its fortunes in
the eleventh century, when as a priory of Breme it was substantially
rebuilt and also received a written history in the form of its
imaginative chronicle, the _Chronicon Novaliciense_.  Heldrad (in modern
scholarship sometimes referred to as Eldrad) is one of its heroes, but
neither from this source nor from his Life (BHL 2445) do we really know
much about him.  In his time, though, the abbey operated a hospice at
the Mt. Cenis Passand also had a priory further to the southwest at
Pagno (fairly close to the Lautaret Pass); their establishment is
sometimes attributed to him.

The monastery at Novalesa was secularized in 1798 but was re-acquired by
Benedictines in the early 1970s and resettled in 1972 with monks from
Venice.  Restoration of the surviving buildings and
conservation/restoration of their surviving mural paintings begain
almost immediately.  Some of the results are indicated below.

The abbey in winter:
http://www.abbazianovalesa.org/images/dallalto-n_piero_small.jpg

Chapel of Sts. Eldrad and Nicholas (10th-11th cent.; internal frescoes,
2d half of 11th cent.):
http://www.abbazianovalesa.org/s.Eldrado.htm
http://www.vdveer.myadsl.nl/assets/images/novalesa1.jpg
According to this account of the Novalesa chapels, that Last Judgment
suffered very badly from 19th-century restoration attempts:
http://tinyurl.com/6ok8y
apse frescoes:
http://www.abbazianovalesa.org/abside_eldrado.htm
cycle of St. Eldrad:
http://www.abbazianovalesa.org/ciclo_s.eldrado.htm
cycle of St. Nicholas:
http://www.abbazianovalesa.org/ciclo_s.nicola.htm
An illustrated, Italian-language account of the Eledrad and Nicholas
cycles is here:
http://tinyurl.com/6ut3n

The 18th-cent. abbey chapel has fragmentary frescoing from its 11th-cent.
predecessor in the presbytery.  Shown is the stoning of St. Stephen:
http://www.abbazianovalesa.org/images/affresco-s.stef_small.jpg

12th-cent. fresco from cloister:
http://www.abbazianovalesa.org/images/01010094_small.jpg

The abbey also has several free-standing chapels on the premises.  Shown
are:
the Mary chapel (8th cent.; restored in 11th):
http://www.abbazianovalesa.org/S_Maria.htm

St. Michael chapel (8th-9th cent.(:
http://www.abbazianovalesa.org/s.michele.htm

Holy Savior chapel (11th cent.):
http://www.abbazianovalesa.org/salvatore.htm

Best,
John Dillon
(last year's post, lightly altered)

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