brothers Nicholas and Sommaria Angelo, Cardinal, in 1401 called the monks Olivetani aVillanova Sillaro. In 1424 began the construction of the church and monastery, and in 1427 the Cardinal made the sale of all of his possessions to the monks Olivetani, in the person of Fra Francesco da Piacenza, with the obligation to complete the construction of the complex.
Monks Olivetani had been given the castle with the villa and the adjacent lands ".. et domum magnum seu palatium situm prope sanctum Martinum" ie via San Francesco in Lodi where was the church of S. Martino, because you could live in a time of war.
legacies of the summary were included in the vineyards, meadows, pastures, water rights Sillaro, to the mouth in Lambro, the irrigation channels derived and fishing rights.
With Apostolic Brief of Martin V in 1426 granted by the real benefits associated with belonging to the church of San Biagio Commenda Hospital, located in the village of Port Cremonese of Lodi and that these goods were later could finance the building of St Christopher.
In 1468 the Olivetans managed to evade the jurisdiction of the new landowners in the area, the Rho and bought the estate of Villanova, with the consent of the Duke of Milan.
The Olivetani to complete the work of building the church in the first half of the fifteenth century and the monastery from 1473 to 1474 for work and drawings of the brothers Ambrogio and Giovanni Fugazza, factory convent was continued from 1493 to 1500 Ambrose and Francis Fugazza grandchildren.
With great solemnity in 1496 the church was consecrated by the Bishop of Lodi Villanova Carlo Pallavicini.
The considerable prestige, the consistency of the heritage, the close link with other neighboring settlements gave prestige to the monks Olivetan throughout lodigense, with the applicant's presence and guidance of a large Abbe Don Domenico Airoldi, which in four periods, after having been driving for four times as Abbot General retired abbot at Villanova Sillaro coma.
But at the dawn of the new century, the incursions of foreign armed repeatedly put to the test the monastery of Villanova, with battles and looting, forcing a temporary abandonment of the monastic community to repair the monastery of St. Sepulchre in Piacenza in an attempt to create a home safer for the monks near the city.
is that in 1517 the prior, Fra Filippo Villani decided to build in Lodi in the villages of Port Cremonese the Church of the Annunciation where to lay the foundation stone was called Francesco Lodi Ladin and Bishop of Laodicea and canon of the Cathedral of Lodi. Already in 1524 he was appointed the first priority of Fra Marco da Cremona, lived there six monks and their maintenance was provided by the monastery of Villanova.
Soon, however, was all burned to the fury of battles and wars that lasted until the Peace of 1559 between Spain, France and the Empire.
monks from Villanova in 1553 on 11 February after finding the suitable location in the village of San Biagio said Cremonese next door to the adjoining monastery on the other hand, bought space in the city, and it was providential because in 1554 the governor of Count Giovanni Francesco Lodi by destroying villages extramural did destroy the monastery of the Annunciation.
OF SAINT CHRISTOPHER LODI
Carcano was Don Ambrose of Milan, abbot of Villanova, once appointed Abbot of Santa Maria Nova in Rome that he was able to agree with the Commendatory humiliated the monastery of San Cristoforo di Lodi, Count Roberto Malatesta in order to obtain the union Olivetano Order.
In 1552 December 5 Pope Julius III with a bubble joined the monastery of St. Christopher of the Humiliated Order Oliveto. At that time the complex was inhabited by only two religious humiliation, the transition was easy, but the building was in a ruinous state.
E 'moving chronicle of taking the monastery of St. Christopher. In 1553 Don
Lodi refrigerated abbot of Villanova and the same Sand Cellarer father Vincenzo, with the monks of the Annunziata went to St. Christopher with a solemn procession. Don Angelo Maia sang the Mass of Lodi invoking the Holy Spirit. They settled in the monastery eight monks and two lay brothers, receiving with a deed of the notary Louis Bracco possession of the place through an agent of Count Malatesta, while the official and final step was reached with the act of March 26, 1561 notarized by Giovanni Antonio Confanendus.
But it was always the monastery of Villanova which fulfilled all the obligations and duties of alms and bread to the poor. Indeed Villanova in the economic possibilities of those years were discrete because several farms were bought by the monastery is in the area of \u200b\u200bCountry near San Colombano al Lambro, the first pertaining to the Canons of the Cathedral of Lodi. Then there was the sale of the property of Our Lady of tiles from Milan to the brothers of the monastery of St. Victor, which increased the budget.
The August 20, 1570 Don Protasio Canterbury, Abbot General establishes the economic independence of the monastery of Saint Christopher and recognized the ownership and operation of a mill, and the possessions of Paterno Cadilana with oratory, with all their rents and levels. A document states, however, the economic hardship of the settlement that over time had caused a continuous increase in debt.
A Villanova remained pension payments agreed to Roberto Malatesta as Commendatory former rectory of the humble.
The first stone church was laid February 24, 1565, under the jurisdiction of the abbot Gaspare Brenna in the presence of the Bishop of Bobbio Francesco Castiglione. She was held a solemn prayer by Don Giovanni Battista da Milano in honor of the congregation and the monastery, followed by an essay between majesty and lightness. Gabiano James, author of Praise poem in Latin hexameters.
I work for the construction of the church, the project of the Milan Pellegrini Tibaldi can be considered closed April 27, 1580 with the consecration of the temple, in the presence of the abbot of Villanova Don Ambrose Micheli, and of about seventy monks from different monasteries Olivetan, who were admired in a long procession through the streets of the city, bursting firecrackers and more than forty in a sign of celebration.
By June 5, 1587, inaugurated the church, began the foundation stone for the construction of the monastery, on June 28 began work under the direction of Frank and Dino Species Piantanida da Fermo.
Even if there was a distinction and autonomy of San Cristoforo by Villanova since 1570, were the revenues of the House in Santa Maria Villanova that were made available to the Engineer Piantanida charge of the work to be performed at St. Christopher with a contract of work to be performed in fourteen years.
The work was estimated at 11 April 1595 by Camillo Polla said Rabbi public architect of the city of Lodi, while the design of the church and monastery was the Pilgrims Riba was born in 1527 in
The beautiful lantern cost 1347 lire and money 1893.
the bell tower with four bells cost 3700 lire.
Some columns of the cloister of marble gneiss came from the now demolished building of the Annunciation, and preciously reused.
The setting of the church was very similar to the body of San Vittore in Milan, church also Olivetan, inspired by the Roman basilicas of Constantine and Maxentius, according to the typical architectural practice renaissance inaugurated by Leon Battista Alberti, in a carefully calculated combination of vertical and horizontal, between majesty and lightness.
In 1608 we still have other expenses for the construction of the Church .
The facade was left unfinished in some brick that contrasts with the clear majestic interior.
In the church there were several paintings on the sides of the chapels as
- a Madonna in Glory with St. Christopher, and Magdalene and holy angels of 1684
- a Saint Christopher and landing of a dragon 1659.Queste two blades was present until 1797, then go to the Brera Gallery and now the first to Bruzzano (S. Maria Assunta), the second in the church of S. Bartolomeo Ossona (I).
This work was possible because over the years St. Christopher received many additional assets, with testamentary bequests and legacies, and we know that in 1619 the monastery had as many as 12 monks.
Also in 1695 the poet Francesco De Lemene leave cash for the purchase of possession Regan.
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THE CHOIR OF WOODEN Fra Giovanni da Verona
The choir inlaid by Fra Giovanni da Verona, executed for the church 's Annunziata, designed with 35 inlays, commissioned by the prior of Villanova Fra Filippo Villani, but they were only 23 made, the artist died February 10, 1525. Of these 23 many were lost in a fire in the period between the suppression of the Annunciation and the transfer of the monks to St. Christopher when remained on deposit with the nuns of St. Clare, and in the church of San Cristoforo it came only eleven remained in the choir until the church was desecrated. In 1960 the Bishop Tarcisio Vincenzo Benedetti made them take place in the Cathedral and just returned to its original Romanesque times.
ABOLITION OF THE MONASTERY
Political changes followed military conflicts led St. Christopher to be first transformed into a military hospital since February 9, 1701 and 1736 with the Habsburgs and the alternation of the presence of the English. Great festivities were celebrated to celebrate the feast of the Immaculate Conception in the church of St. Christopher. Also in the church of St. Christopher in 1792 it instituted
But in civil-political court which the concept belongs to the State legislature and have not strictly spiritual aspects of church life, for which the assets and the income of the monasteries flow into a fund administered by the religion been in favor of the clergy involved in the care of souls and Education is called in the clearest terms suppression, abuse of civil power to the confiscation and expropriation of real property.
The monastery of San Cristoforo di Lodi survived until 1798, when it was finally overwhelmed by the Napoleonic suppression.
early as 1796, the Commissioner of the French War Lavergne had given the order of evacuation of the monastery that was turned into a military hospital.
dl in the historical town of Lodi will keep the action by August 21, 1797 it was decided the temporary transfer of the furnishings of the church of San Cristoforo Villanova Sillaro (ASC.Lo, Napoleon b. fasc.8 171).
T June 23, 1798 Joseph Crociolani, notary collegiate fire the instrument of suppression and abolition of Olivetan monastery of St. Christopher in the town of Lodi (paper 1821).
The act was read in the home of the Olivetani Cellarer Seghizzi, who had been transferred from one year to the convent of Saint Agnes in the parish of San Lorenzo.
For the determination of the assets were written inventories of passive and active substances of the monastery ceased, the furnishings of the monastery, the church and sacristy.
The pastor the church of San Rocco in Borgo D'Schenini Joseph Ada and the chaplain subsidiary Alessandro Brunetti made application for the allocation of the benefit to the church that the marble altar of the Crucifix of the suppressed church of San Cristoforo (ASC.Lo, Napoleonic b.112 fasc. 2146).
The reopening of the church of St. Christopher.
After a century and a half after its desecration, completely abandoned, and use unsuitable to the shrine, on 8 December 1956, the church of San Cristoforo fully restored was reopened for worship with a solemn blessing. The presence of the Friars Minor which was entrusted to the church until the early eighties, was truly exemplary because they were credited with having performed with commendable zeal and ability in the difficult effort of the restoration of the church.
STORY OF A RECOVERY. WITHIN THE PROVINCE OF LODI.
In 1982 the Superintendence
In 1995 he began looking for a building broad historical and prestigious initiative until the monastery St. Christopher's for a good forum and final
of the Province of Lodi, favored the immediate availability of the premises of the historical monuments.
repurchased by the local State Property in 1998
The process was faster than any rosier forecast and the realization in the principle of conservation lines originating in the protection of the historic complex
together with the equally important to ensure the best functionality.
is already concluded contracts in October 1999, work began in March 2003, albeit with some obstacle to necessary changes along the way has led to the conclusion of the work at a cost of six million exceeds the cost of three million for the purchase of the complex which also includes San Domenico.
It 's a wonderful complex consists of a basement, a ground floor, first and second floor along with plans for a mezzanine area of \u200b\u200bover 4,000 meters
acclaim and the delight of the monks Olivetan for this courageous recovery of their monastery, made him famous and historical evidence of large-media is the phrase printed on the restoration project of St. Christopher said
" The dawn of the new millennium, this monumental return to Lodi and the institutions that represent them, reopening a historic corner of the city, remained closed, with no history for too long.
Olivetani revives the story of the monks. Thanks!
