MONASTERY OUR LADY OF SAINT JOSEPH OF THE TRAPPIST NUNS

HISTORICAL NOTES AND DESCRIPTION

The monastic complex of Vitorchiano where more than seventy Trappist nuns live the cloister following the Rule of St. Benedict in the Trappist Cistercian form, is a recently built building located along Via della Stazione.

The laying of the first stone dates back to 1953 and the nuns have lived here since 1957, after the transfer from the monastery of Grottaferrata, on the Roman hills, which has become too small for the community.

The monastery is built around the square cloister and develops inside the cloister. The western wing overlooks the part of the monastery reserved for the reception of guests. From here the presbytery is visible, flanked by the chapel from which guests can participate in the liturgy celebrated by the nuns at night and seven times a day.

Next to the entrance door of the Chapel of the Guests is the tapestry by the Romanian Orthodox painter Camillian Demetrescu, depicting the Blessed Gabriella and her offering for the ecumenical cause. On the wall of the presbytery stands a wooden sculptural group depicting the Madonna and Child with musician angels, by the Breton sculptor Jean Fréour of Nantes, who in his work tries to reconcile Breton and classical sculpture. Next to the chapel is the porter’s lodge.

An old farmhouse, built in 1881, where the local Bishop had lived in the early years, serves as a guesthouse, mainly available to relatives visiting the nuns. Later the house was bought by the Roman Count Gauttieri, who intended to use it as a summer residence. It was he who expanded the house and built it as it is in the current layout. On the two facades overlooking the main road it is possible to recognize the coat of arms of this family, also taken up on the peperino amphorae that line the driveway.

In front of the guesthouse building, obtained from the renovation of the old barn, is the Chapel of Blessed Maria Gabriella Sagheddu, a Trappist nun, beatified in 1983 by Pope John Paul II for having offered her life for Christian unity. The Chapel, called the Unity Chapel, houses the embossed copper urn made by B. Cellanetti. It contains the body of the blessed Gabriella and is surmounted by a terracotta statue by the sculptor A. Ambrosioni. Inside the chapel we also find the backlit reproduction of some frescoes from the catacombs of S. Callisto in Rome and an original capital from the second century, on which the tabernacle rests. In the area dedicated to guests there is also a small resale of monastic products. Here the nuns offer, in addition to the products of other monasteries, the fruit of their work, in particular jams packaged without preservatives, tickets and images for various important occasions, glued icons, wine and oil, the result of work in the countryside. In fact, the nuns during the day experience an alternation of prayer, reading and manual work, according to the Rule of St. Benedict.

ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

A. di Bello, Vitorchiano, Monastero Nostra Signora di San Giuseppe, in “Analisi delle potenzialità connesse con la valorizzazione dei conventi e monasteri della provincia di Viterbo”. Institute of Political Studies ”S. Pius V “. Rome 2005. Pp. 177 – 179.

A cordial thanks to the Trappists of Vitorchiano for their availability and for the precious contribution of the photographic and documentary materials provided.