The story
The enchanting Abbey of SS QUIRICO E GIULITTA, in Micigliano, overlooks the Via Salaria and the Velino River. This Monastery is thought to have been founded in the first half of the tenth Century by the Benedictines although, due to the loos of its archive, the information is limited and came to the light only in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The first certain evidence of its existence dates back to 984.
In the Mediaeval age , the Abbey of SS QUIRICO E GIULITTA possessed a role of considerable importance in the territorial organization of the Alta Valle del Velino and its power is attested by the historical documentation on its numerous possessions that, in addition to the group of depended churches widespread along the Alta Valle del Velino and on the high altitude areas, also extend to other neighbouring regions, in particular in Abruzzo acquired at various times and eras. Moreover, it did not depend on the other Benedictine Abbeys of FARFA and MONTECASSINO, which were the most important in the area, but directly from the Holy See.
In 1074 Pope Gregory VII, with the aim of expanding his influence and protecting and defending the possessions of the Abbey, entrusted the monastery to the bishop of Rieti Raniero , but during the battle for investitures, the monastery allied with the emperor. With the invasion of the Normans, in the middle of the twelfth century, the monastery was burned and then rebuilt by Abbot Sinibaldo with subsequent consecration, in 1179, of the Bishop of Rieti Dodone. After the assassination of the abbot, for which some Monks were thought responsible, Pope Innocent III handed over the monastery to the abbot Gervasio of Prèmontrè in 1215. With the support of Frederick II, who in 1217 fully supported this decision, the abbatial territory expanded.
At the end of eighteenth century, the abbey was definitively abandoned. The building, currently renovated, sports touches of Romanesque architecture. Its exterior still exhibits the ancient fortified trim.
The whole complex is also surrounded by a quadrangular wall where in the centre stands the imposing bell tower used then also as a sighting tower, as evidence of this, in fact, you can still admire the loopholes on its south-eastern side towards the access door.
The bell tower, is the most important part of the Abbey, and its facade facing south-east, had to be particularly more prestigious and distinctive than the others precisely because of its direction towards the main entrance. Two facades of the bell tower are not perfectly evident while the other two stand out for their division into three parts by two horizontal cornices where the first and the one in the centre were formerly opened by single-hole and the highest one by a double single-hole. In the pillar that Unites the two monophores, at the top, a human head is distinguished.
One this side, moreover, the masonry changes considerably. Then there are two wedged sculptures in the wall. These are some worked stones that would represent a bishop or abbot with a mitre and pastoral and a lion’s head.
Of particular importance are also the external wall of the boundary wall to the North-Est, a piece of architectural decoration with hanging arches moved by brick cutouts (as in the bell tower of the Church of SANTA MARIA EXTRA MOENIA in Antrodoco), an a mullioned windows with polygonal column currently walled.
It is also important to emphasise that despite the municipal administration of the town of Micigliano having worked one the renovation of this ancient Benedictine monastery that began to see the light again at the end of 1993, today, unfortunately, it still remains as the protagonist of struggles. This time, however, the struggles are in defence of the beauty and history of the Abbey of SS QUIRICO E GIULITTA, and against the disfigurement of the magnificent Landscape that surrounds it.
The SS QUIRICO E GIULITTA, martyrs of the fourth century, are a mother and a son of 3 or 4 years old who, during the persecution of Emperor Diocletian against the first Christian communities, died proud of professing their religious faith. The terrible history was also a teaching and an example for the Christian religion so that they become an object of worship and veneration both in the West and the East side.
Giulitta is a noble woman of a well-to-do royal family, an icon in Licaonia, a central area of present-day Turkey, who having remained a window, converted to Christianity. At the beginning of the fourth century Diocletian began to spread terror to Iconium and the woman fled the city above all to save the life of her little son Quirico by heading to Tarsus in Cicilia. Her move immediately aroused enormous suspicion so much so that she was identified and denounced as Christian. By the point by order of Governor Alexander, she was arrested by subjected to continuous interrogations, obtaining only and always the same answer: ”I’M CHRISTIAN”. After yet another woman’s refusal to deny her faith, the governor had her little son snatched from her arms by placing him on her knees. The child, so, always looking at his mother and hearing her words, continued to repeat too: “I’M CHRISTIAN”. It was then that the governor brutally took the child and, throwing him down the steps on the courthouse, made him bang his head. Quirico died on the spot before the eyes of his mother Giulitta who despite being destroyed by pain thanked the Lord in prayer for welcoming her son in the glory of Paradise. Giulitta was beheaded and the two bodies were thrown out of the city. The next day the two maids buried them. Only with the empire of Constantine that restored peace and truce for the Christians, one of the two handmaids who survived the persecution, was he able to lead the faithful of Tarsus to the place of martyrdom and from there the cult spread. There are many other versions of this tale but this seems to be the most truthful.
SS QUIRICO E GIULITTA are celebrated on JUNE 16th in the West and on JULY 15th in the East side.
The story
The enchanting Abbey of SS QUIRICO E GIULITTA, in Micigliano, overlooks the Via Salaria and the Velino River. This Monastery is thought to have been founded in the first half of the tenth Century by the Benedictines although, due to the loos of its archive, the information is limited and came to the light only in the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The first certain evidence of its existence dates back to 984.
In the Mediaeval age , the Abbey of SS QUIRICO E GIULITTA possessed a role of considerable importance in the territorial organization of the Alta Valle del Velino and its power is attested by the historical documentation on its numerous possessions that, in addition to the group of depended churches widespread along the Alta Valle del Velino and on the high altitude areas, also extend to other neighbouring regions, in particular in Abruzzo acquired at various times and eras. Moreover, it did not depend on the other Benedictine Abbeys of FARFA and MONTECASSINO, which were the most important in the area, but directly from the Holy See.
In 1074 Pope Gregory VII, with the aim of expanding his influence and protecting and defending the possessions of the Abbey, entrusted the monastery to the bishop of Rieti Raniero , but during the battle for investitures, the monastery allied with the emperor. With the invasion of the Normans, in the middle of the twelfth century, the monastery was burned and then rebuilt by Abbot Sinibaldo with subsequent consecration, in 1179, of the Bishop of Rieti Dodone. After the assassination of the abbot, for which some Monks were thought responsible, Pope Innocent III handed over the monastery to the abbot Gervasio of Prèmontrè in 1215. With the support of Frederick II, who in 1217 fully supported this decision, the abbatial territory expanded.
At the end of eighteenth century, the abbey was definitively abandoned. The building, currently renovated, sports touches of Romanesque architecture. Its exterior still exhibits the ancient fortified trim.
The whole complex is also surrounded by a quadrangular wall where in the centre stands the imposing bell tower used then also as a sighting tower, as evidence of this, in fact, you can still admire the loopholes on its south-eastern side towards the access door.
The bell tower, is the most important part of the Abbey, and its facade facing south-east, had to be particularly more prestigious and distinctive than the others precisely because of its direction towards the main entrance. Two facades of the bell tower are not perfectly evident while the other two stand out for their division into three parts by two horizontal cornices where the first and the one in the centre were formerly opened by single-hole and the highest one by a double single-hole. In the pillar that Unites the two monophores, at the top, a human head is distinguished.
One this side, moreover, the masonry changes considerably. Then there are two wedged sculptures in the wall. These are some worked stones that would represent a bishop or abbot with a mitre and pastoral and a lion’s head.
Of particular importance are also the external wall of the boundary wall to the North-Est, a piece of architectural decoration with hanging arches moved by brick cutouts (as in the bell tower of the Church of SANTA MARIA EXTRA MOENIA in Antrodoco), an a mullioned windows with polygonal column currently walled.
It is also important to emphasise that despite the municipal administration of the town of Micigliano having worked one the renovation of this ancient Benedictine monastery that began to see the light again at the end of 1993, today, unfortunately, it still remains as the protagonist of struggles. This time, however, the struggles are in defence of the beauty and history of the Abbey of SS QUIRICO E GIULITTA, and against the disfigurement of the magnificent Landscape that surrounds it.
The SS QUIRICO E GIULITTA, martyrs of the fourth century, are a mother and a son of 3 or 4 years old who, during the persecution of Emperor Diocletian against the first Christian communities, died proud of professing their religious faith. The terrible history was also a teaching and an example for the Christian religion so that they become an object of worship and veneration both in the West and the East side.
Of particular importance are also the external wall of the boundary wall to the North-Est, a piece of architectural decoration with hanging arches moved by brick cutouts (as in the bell tower of the Church of SANTA MARIA EXTRA MOENIA in Antrodoco), an a mullioned windows with polygonal column currently walled.
It is also important to emphasise that despite the municipal administration of the town of Micigliano having worked one the renovation of this ancient Benedictine monastery that began to see the light again at the end of 1993, today, unfortunately, it still remains as the protagonist of struggles. This time, however, the struggles are in defence of the beauty and history of the Abbey of SS QUIRICO E GIULITTA, and against the disfigurement of the magnificent Landscape that surrounds it.
The SS QUIRICO E GIULITTA, martyrs of the fourth century, are a mother and a son of 3 or 4 years old who, during the persecution of Emperor Diocletian against the first Christian communities, died proud of professing their religious faith. The terrible history was also a teaching and an example for the Christian religion so that they become an object of worship and veneration both in the West and the East side.
Giulitta is a noble woman of a well-to-do royal family, an icon in Licaonia, a central area of present-day Turkey, who having remained a window, converted to Christianity. At the beginning of the fourth century Diocletian began to spread terror to Iconium and the woman fled the city above all to save the life of her little son Quirico by heading to Tarsus in Cicilia. Her move immediately aroused enormous suspicion so much so that she was identified and denounced as Christian. By the point by order of Governor Alexander, she was arrested by subjected to continuous interrogations, obtaining only and always the same answer: ”I’M CHRISTIAN”. After yet another woman’s refusal to deny her faith, the governor had her little son snatched from her arms by placing him on her knees. The child, so, always looking at his mother and hearing her words, continued to repeat too: “I’M CHRISTIAN”. It was then that the governor brutally took the child and, throwing him down the steps on the courthouse, made him bang his head.
Quirico died on the spot before the eyes of his mother. Giulitta who despite being destroyed by pain thanked the Lord in prayer for welcoming her son in the glory of Paradise. Giulitta was beheaded and the two bodies were thrown out of the city. The next day the two maids buried them. Only with the empire of Constantine that restored peace and truce for the Christians, one of the two handmaids who survived the persecution, was he able to lead the faithful of Tarsus to the place of martyrdom and from there the cult spread. There are many other versions of this tale but this seems to be the most truthful.
SS QUIRICO E GIULITTA are celebrated on JUNE 16th in the West and on JULY 15th in the East side.