Basilians

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Basil the Great in a 15th century manuscript from Dionysiou

The Catholic monastic order of the Basilians includes both Uniate and Latin communities. Historically, this also included the Greek-speaking monks in the Latin West. In the Norman Kingdom of Sicily , these were initially classified in the local organizational structure of the Roman Church, but they were only grouped together as orders in modern times.

On the concept of the Basilian

A self-contained "St. Basil's Rule" in the sense of the Benedictine rule or later Western order rules does not exist, but there are a number of writings and sermons on monastic life that go back to Basil and other Greek and Egyptian monk fathers.

The Orthodox churches have no monastic orders, so it is not correct to call their monks "Basilians", although their way of life is the origin of the Catholic Basilians. In the West , the loosely organized monks of the Egyptian-Greek tradition were displaced from the 6th century onwards by the rapidly growing first real order, that of the Benedictines . Only a few monasteries of the Greek way of life were able to maintain their independence in the West; these were later organized as the Basilian order, their way of life was called the Basilius rule. Thus they were adapted to the western order system.

history

middle Ages

San Filippo di Fragalà (Demenna)

In the south of Italy, which was under Byzantine rule in individual areas until 1071, there were numerous Greek monks, many of whom were anchorites , but also coinobitic communities that had no systematic connections with one another. The extent to which migration of monks played a role during iconoclasm cannot be quantified. Life in the monastery was regulated by the typicon , mostly written by the founder, in which the thoughts of St. Basil of Caesarea could be processed. A distinction is made between three groups of Typika: the old Calabrian, to which the Patirion at Rossano and Grottaferrata belong, the Calabrian-Sicilian with San Salvatore at Messina and Carbone, and the Otrantin group with San Nicola di Casole . The typicon of the Johannes Prodromos monastery on the island of Pantelleria is dated to the 8th century, but its handwritten tradition does not begin until the 16th century.

A major area especially eremitical living monks was Merkourion ( Greek Μερχουρίου), an area on the Pollino in Calabria , where Nilus of Rossano had made his first monastic experiences before San Adriano in San Demetrio Corone founded. In southern Calabria, a number of Greek monasteries only emerged as new foundations in the Norman period , sometimes decisively supported by Greek court officials. Smaller Greek monasteries in north-eastern Sicily and in Val Demenna can already be documented in the last decades of Muslim rule. One of the larger centers was San Filippo di Fragalà , which was also placed under the supervision of the Archimandrite of San Salvatore in 1133 , but retained its own abbot and its own subordinate branches.

The network of Greek monasteries on the Salentine Peninsula was less dense , especially San Nicola di Casole near Otranto . Examples of the coexistence between Greek and Latin monasticism are both the stay of Nilus von Rossano in a monastery given to him by Montecassino , and later the subordination of Greek monasteries in Calabria to large Latin abbeys such as Cava or Montecassino for the purpose of economic security, without this a change of rite was connected. This was also encouraged by the Norman rulers.

The Patirion near Rossano (Calabria)

Since many of the Greek monasteries, according to the ideas of Roger I of Sicily , who was also Count of Calabria, were not included in the existing church organization - in Sicily it was still under construction, in Calabria in transition - Roger II decided to join the Years 1131 to 1133 with the Archimandritate of San Salvatore in Messina to create a judicial and pastoral point to which most of the Greek monasteries in Sicily and in southern Calabria were subordinated. As the system proved its worth, the guardianship government for Wilhelm II in January 1168 transferred the supervision of Greek monasteries in Lucania and Basilicata to the Archimandrites of S. Elias and Anastasius in Carbone. The Archimandrite in S. Adriano was responsible for monasteries in Northern Calabria and on the Sila. S. Maria Hodogitria near Rossano, also under the direction of an archimandrite, did not receive any management functions, but remained independent, since Pope Paschal II had granted him the exemption in 1105 .

After a positive development under the Normans, a gradual decline began in the course of the 13th century. One indicator is the taxes levied by the Roman Curia , about which documents have been available since the beginning of the 14th century: Most of the Greek monasteries were only recorded with the minimum tax, in numerous cases propter paupertatem (because of poverty) on the servitient tax when filling was made waived. Only Grottaferrata and Messina were better off, with 500 and 400 florins respectively. A third of this annual income was to be paid as a service tax, but the payment could also be deferred and made in installments, whereby the successor in office had to take on the outstanding debts of his predecessor.

Distribution of servitia income for Italy

The insolvent Greek monasteries in Calabria included S. Adriano 1402, S.Giovanni di Laura 1346, 1362, S. Pancrazio di Scilla 1351, S. Salvatore de Calomeno 1346, 1350, 1386, 1396.

The Greek language skills of the monks were mostly quite poor in the 15th century. Texts in Volgare were therefore recorded in Greek script . The first cardinal protector of the Basilians was Bessarion since 1446, who in that year held a general chapter of the Greek monasteries that were not yet organized across the board. Bessarion was commander of San Salvatore di Messina (from 1456) and of Grottaferrata (from 1462). Bessarion also put together a rule of the order with Italian and Latin translations. From 1457 to 1458 Athanasius Chalkeopoulos made a visit to the Greek monasteries in Calabria, which gave a largely dreary picture of the economic and spiritual conditions.

Modern times

In the 16th century the cardinals Guglielmo Sirleto and Giulio Antonio Santoro were protectors of the Basilians. In 1573 the Reform Congregation for the Greeks was founded, which was also responsible for the Basilians, and in 1577 the Collegio Greco . In 1579 the first general chapter of the Reformed Basilians took place, who had united with the Spanish Basilians founded around 1560 and whose statutes followed the model of the Benedictine Congregation of Montecassino .

The General Chapter met in S. Filareto in the Diocese of Mileto. By order of Cardinal Guglielmo Sirleto, the Benedictine Abbot Paulus from Castrovillari presided. Nicola Antonio Ruffo, Abbot of S. Nicola di Butramo in the Diocese of Gerace, was elected as the first Abbot General. Ruffo was believed to be Calabrese but not of Greek descent. He had been ordained as a Latin secular priest, then joined the Greek monasticism with the permission of his bishop and became archimandrite of S. Bartolomeo di Trigono in the diocese of Mileto . He arranged for the typicon to be translated in Volgare, but had this recorded in Greek. In 1573 he turned to Pope Gregory XIII. : His monastery has numerous worshipers who do not belong to the Greek language group. For their needs the celebration in the Latin rite is necessary, for which he brings the prerequisites. Ruffo also asserts that the priests of Grottaferrata and S. Giovanni di Stilo, as priests ordained in Greek, now celebrated the Latin liturgy. The Pope allows the rite to be changed, threatens suspension if he should return to the Greek rite, but obliges Ruffo to remain in the order.

For the Greek monasteries assigned as coming, the rule was that they could only join the Basilian Congregation with the consent of the Comingate or after his death.

The Spanish government offered resistance. A request to close the Basilian monasteries in the Kingdom of Sicily was dealt with in the consistory in 1585, but was rejected.

Lore situation

Original documents have only survived in isolated cases and are now usually no longer stored in the original archive on site. The Fondo Basiliani in the Vatican Library contains copies made by the Abbot General of the Basilians, Pietro Menniti, at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries. Originally, the Summa bullarum et constitutionum apostolicarum pro ordine sp Basilii Magni was available in one copy each in San Salvatore in Messina and in S. Basilius de Urbe. The visitation report of Chalkeopoulos passed from Cardinal Sirleto to his successor Santoro and came with his library to the papal library. It has been in the library of the Grottaferrata Abbey since 1909.

present

In addition to the Basilians in the monastery of Santa Maria di Grottaferrata , the last monastery of the Italian congregation founded in the 16th century, there are the following Basilian religious orders:

In 2013, Pope Francis appointed Marcello Semeraro to the post of Apostolic Administrator ad nutum Sanctae Sedis of the Abbey of Santa Maria di Grottaferrata . On April 4, 2016, Marcello Semeraro was also appointed Pontifical Delegate of the Basilian Order of Italy.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Vera von Falkenhausen : I Bizantini in Italia . In: I bizantini in Italia . Milano 1982, pp. 1-136
  2. ↑ Typikon des Lukas ( Memento of July 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), in English. Translation of Dumbarton Oaks PDF 64kb
  3. ↑ Casole ( Memento of July 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), PDF 62 kB
  4. ↑ Pantelleria ( Memento of July 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), PDF 52k
  5. ^ Horst Enzensberger : I Greci nel Regno di Sicilia. Aspetti della loro vita religiosa, sociale, economica alla luce del diritto canonico latino e di altre fonti latine . (Rassegna Storica online, 1.2000) p. 36f. PDF, 220 kB ( Memento from June 10, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ^ Marie-Hyacinthe Laurent - André Guillou, Le "Liber visitationis" d'Athanase Chalkéopoulos ...
  7. ^ Enzensberger: Ordo Sancti Basilii. Pp. 1146f., 1150f.
  8. ^ Gustavo Breccia: Archivum Basilianum. Pietro Menniti e il destino degli archivi monastici italo - greci . In: Sources and research from Italian archives and libraries . Volume 71, 1991, pp. 14-105.
  9. ↑ Cronotassi degli Egumeni e degli Archimandriti , Abbey of Santa Maria di Grottaferrata, accessed on January 8, 2019 (it.)
  10. ↑ a b Cronotassi degli Egumeni e degli Archimandriti , Santa Maria di Grottaferrata, accessed on January 8, 2019 (it.)

swell

  • Pontificia Commissio ad Redigendum Codicem Iuris Canonici Orientalis. Fontes. Series III. Acta romanorum pontificum e regestis vaticanis aliisque fontibus Città del Vaticano 1943
  • Rationes decimarum Italiae: Apulia - Lucania - Calabria , a cura di Domenico Vendola. Città del Vaticano 1939; Sicilia , a cura di Pietro Sella. Città del Vaticano 1944 [Studi e testi 84; 112]. The volumes are accompanied by maps on which the dioceses, monasteries and churches mentioned in the texts are drawn.
  • Pietro Pompilio Rodotà: Dell 'origine, progresso e stato presente del rito greco in Italia osservato dai greci, monaci basiliani, e albanesi. ( Libro primo: Dei greci, 1758 ; Libro secondo: Dei monaci basiliani, 1760 & Libro terzo: Degli albanesi, chiese greche modern e Collegio greco in Roma, 1763) Rome 1758–1763
  • Francesco Russo: Regesto Vaticano per la Calabria. Vol. I – III, Roma 1974–1977. The third volume extends to 1537, the indices for volumes I – V were published in 1980.
  • MH Laurent and André Guillou: Le “Liber visitationis” d'Athanase Chalkéopoulos (1457–1458). Contribution to the history of the monachisme grec en Italie méridionale . Città del Vaticano 1960 (Studi e testi 208)
  • Ada Debiasi Gonzato: Canones Septembris . Roma 1966 (Analecta Hymnica Graeca e codicibus eruta Italiae inferioris, I)

literature

  • Horst Enzensberger : Basilian . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages (LexMA). Volume 1, Artemis & Winkler, Munich / Zurich 1980, ISBN 3-7608-8901-8 , Sp. 1523-1525.
  • Horst Enzensberger: The Ordo S. Basilii, a monastic structure of the Roman Church (12th-16th centuries) . In: La chiesa greca in Italia dall'VIII al XV secolo. Padova 1973, pp. 1139-1151
  • Mario Scaduto: Il monachismo basiliano nella Sicilia medievale. Rinascita e decadenza sec. XI-XIV. Ristampa anastatica dell'edizione 1947 con aggiunte e correzioni. Roma 1982 (Storia e letteratura. Raccolta di studi e testi, 18)
  • Silvano Borsari: Il monachesimo bizantino nella Sicilia e nell'Italia meridionale prenormanna . 1963
  • Peter Herd : The Papacy and the Greek Church in Southern Italy from the 11th to the 13th Century . In: German Archive for Research into the Middle Ages. Volume 26, 1970, pp. 1-46
  • Olivetta Schena: Note sulla presenza e sulla cultura dei Basiliani in Sardegna nel medioevo . In: Archivio storico sardo. Volume 30, 1976, pp. 78-90 (note on 1335: Certificate in Sardinian, written in Greek letters)
  • Vera von Falkenhausen: Il monachesimo italo - greco ei suoi rapporti con il monachesimo benedettino . In: L'esperienza monastica benedettina e la Puglia. Volume I, Galatina 1983, pp. 119-135
  • Basileo di Cesarea: la sua età e il Basilianesimo in Sicilia. Atti del Congresso Internazionale, Messina 3-6 December 1979 . Messina 1983.
  • G. Ciotta: Basiliani . In: Enciclopedia dell 'Arte Medievale , Rome 1992 ( online at treccani.it)
  • Thomas Hofmann: Papacy and the Greek Church in southern Italy in the post-Norman period: (13th – 15th centuries); a contribution to the history of southern Italy in the high and late Middle Ages . Diss. Phil. Wuerzburg 1994
  • Thomas Hofmann: Monaci italo-greci . In: Enciclopedia Federiciana , Rome 2005 ( online at treccani.it)
  • Paul David Hester: Monasticism and Spirituality of the Italo - Greeks. Thessalonike 1992 [Analekta Vlatadon, Volume 55]

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