Abbazia di Sant'Eutizio - Preci
To be visited
Localita: Piedivalle
The Abbey of S. Eutizio, one of the oldest monastic complexes in Italy, stands by a high cliff of travertine, in the center of an area that offers the most important testimonies of pre-Benedictine monasticism.
During the 5th and 6th centuries there was intense hermitic activity in the territory, mainly due to the arrival of Syrian monks, who fled persecution and the struggles associated with the great councils of the East. They settled in caves and simple shacks following an anacoretic lifestyle, but soon developed cenobitic forms of aggregation, anticipating the Rule of St. Benedict by affinity. Indeed, it can be said that it was probably these first ascetics and hermits who inspired Benedict's lifestyle which resulted in the Rule, later adopted by the monks of Sant'Eutizio.
According to historical sources, around 450 the venerable Spes settled near a copious spring (which still flows out from the permeable travertine rock) with a group of hermits present in the area, building an oratory and a "monasterum"; at first, this was probably just a clump of simple huts and hermitage caves.
The actual monastery was founded in 536, when Eutizio became its abbot "... and for having been its enlarger, the monastery was entitled to his name" (Iacobilli).
Over the years the monastic complex, which had adopted the Benedictine Rule, grew greatly in size and power: around the year 1000 it constituted the political and economic fulcrum of the area, which had been laying for centuries in a state of great economic and cultural degradation.
The monks, practicing and spreading their rule of life and the rationality of the division of labour, dedicated themselves to revitalizing the world around them on a spiritual, cultural and economic level.
They played a fundamental role in reorganizing the countryside with the rehabilitation of degraded areas, the creation of a connection network and meeting centers for rural populations.
Among the activities carried out in the Abbey, the scriptoria, common laboratories for copying manuscripts and sacred texts, were most important. Here, the work of the copyists and illuminators was divided according to the various tasks: in addition to the painters (miniatores), there were the calligraphy masters (antiquarii), their assistants (scriptores) and the illuminated initial painters (rubricatores).
The monks also dedicated themselves to the care of the sick and developed microsurgery techniques for the treatment, in particular, of bladder stones and cataracts, as well as fractures.
It can be asserted that the Precian surgical art was born as a consequence of the knowledge and healing arts introduced in the Castoriana Valley by the Syriac monks around the 5th century, and later practiced and handed down by the Benedictines thanks to the ancient codes of medicine preserved in the rich library of the abbey, unfortunately now dispersed.
When the Lateran Council, in 1215, forbade all religious people to practice the art of surgery, allowing them only to cultivate, harvest, transform and use medicinal herbs, the monks kept their knowledge alive by passing it on to the local population: they taught their skills to about thirty families who, by handing down knowledge and instruments from father to son, gave rise to real dynasties of doctors.
The period of greatest success of the Precian surgical school was between the 15th and 16th centuries, when the doctors trained there were sought after by the powerful of the time; their presence was coveted by the hospitals of the most important Italian cities and highly requested by various European courts.
The "preciani surgeons" despite being in possession of a good general medical culture, were specialized almost exclusively in three particular types of intervention: the removal of cataracts, inguinal hernia and lithotomy, or the removal of bladder stones; in the 16th century the percentage of success in this last operation reached an amazing 90%.
The Abbey Today
After a long period of decline that began at the end of the 12th century and culminated with the abandonment of the abbey around 1700, in 1956 the church was reopened for worship and in 1989 the ancient monastic complex became a "reception house" for boarding and prayer, resuming its ancient role as a spiritual and cultural centre. A small museum had also been set up inside the abbey containing paintings from nearby churches, chalices dating back to the 18th century, paterae, as well as surgical instruments from the Preciana School of Surgery.
Due to the serious damage suffered during the 2016 earthquake, the whole complex is still unusable; in October 2022, the restructuring and safety measures of the abbey complex and the travertine cliff above it began.
For further information
https://www.iluoghidelsilenzio.it/abbazia-di-santeutizio-preci/
