Casalattico, The Monastery of San Nazario

Foundation of Monasteries in the Comino Valley (9th-11th century)

A series of monasteries are founded in the Comino Valley following the penetration of the Benedictines of Montecassino into the area between the 9th and 11th centuries.

The Monastery of S. Angelo di Pesco Mascolino and S. Maria della Limata

In the territory of Casalattico, In addition to the monastery of S. Angelo di Pesco Mascolino (11th c.) to which the nearby church of S. Maria della Limata (contrada Plauto di Casalvieri) was associated, there existed earlier, on the left bank of the Melfa, the ancient monastery of San Nazario at S. Andrea.

Its origin probably dates back to the 9th century, right at the beginning of the penetration of the monks of St Benedict in the Valley. As evidenced by the numerous vestiges, the various architectural fragments embedded in the masonry and found in the vicinity, the monastery was built on the remains of an ancient Roman temple along the Melfa river.

Also the Monastery of St Nazarius was a provostry: there was no abbot but, as in S. Angelo di Pesco Mascolino, a provost of Montecassino took care of religious life and its administration.

Destruction and Reconstruction of St Nazarius (9th-11th century)

The primitive monastery of S. Nazario was destroyed by the Saracens: the event occurred between 881, the year in which the Abbey of S. Vincenzo al Volturno was destroyed, 883, the year in which the Abbey of Montecassino was destroyed, and 915, the year of the Battle of Garigliano, when the Saracens were definitively defeated and driven out of our territories.

The Church and the monastery of St Nazarius were rebuilt by a Montecassino monk, Friar Adam, on the express order of the Cassinese abbot Atenolfo, between 1011 and 1022.

Agricultural Development and Economic Growth (11th-14th centuries)

Around the middle of the 11th century, after the rebuilding of the monastery, the princes of Capua, to whom the Comino County, They authorised the construction along the Melfa River of bulkheads, canals and a mill (which still exists today, although it has been transformed) as pertaining to the monastery: works aimed at the agricultural management of the land owned by the monastery.

News of the monastery of S. Nazario located near the locality of S. Andrea di Casale dates back to 1050, when the deacon of the monastic community purchased neighbouring plots of land from some inhabitants of Atina in order to increase its land holdings to ensure its economic autonomy, the goal of all Benedictine communities.

Further news of the monastery is found in the 13th century, when a Fra Giovanni is mentioned as provost of S. Nazario (1245). This was at the time of the Swabian domination of Frederick II and, as was the case with the nearby monastery of S. Angelo di Pesco Mascolino, a few kilometres down the valley, it was in a period of decline due to the Emperor's difficult relations with the Church.

Further historical information comes in 1310, when monastic life had a certain revival. Indeed, towards the end of the 14th century, the provostry of S. Nazario reached the peak of its prosperity, as indirectly testified by its landed estates and the numerous churches in the surrounding area subject to it: let us not forget that a Benedictine monastery was considered by the ‘Rule“ itself, as a centre of spiritual life, but also as a true ”business“ in which the monks” agricultural and artisanal work was aimed at making the monastery autonomous and at maintaining the mother abbey of Montecassino and the order itself, through the payment of an annual “tithe”.

In 1398, S. Nazario had the same monastery of S. Angelo di Pesco Mascolino and the church of S. Maria della Limata di Plauto, which had depended on it since its origins, as its dependencies. Other possessions were in Vicalvi (S. Salvatore), Posta (S. Benedetto), Gallinaro (S. Maria dei Gennari) and Arpino (S. Silvestro, S. Marco, S. Martino and S. Lucia). No other monastery in the valley and in Sora had so many churches and such extensive properties.

Decadence and Transition to Secular Priests (15th-16th century)

On 25 March 1465, the abbot of Montecassino appointed a monk from Casalvieri, Fra Silvestro, as provost of S. Nazario and S. Martino di Alvito. He was the last Benedictine provost of S. Nazario to take up residence in the monastery, since already in 1483 the monastery and its possessions were administered by Fra Amico, a monk from Montecassino. After him, from 1486, the monastery was entrusted by the Montecassino abbots to secular priests.

Survival and Transformation (16th-15th century)

From the beginning of the 16th century, the Benedictine phenomenon in our valley was, in fact, dying out. However, unlike S. Angelo di Pesco Mascolino, which also physically decayed in its structures together with the church of Limata, especially since it was transformed into a grancia (agricultural annexe) from around 1413, the monastery of S. Nazario and its church still survive, albeit modified over time and belonging to the secular clergy.

Antonio Iacobelli