Abbey and Diocese of Bobbio

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The diocese (Ebovium, orBobium;Dioecesis Eboviensis, orBobiensis), which is suffragan to theArchiepiscopal See of Genoa, is coterminous with the civil district of Bobbio. This district is situated in the Province of Pavia and contains, besides Bobbio, its chief town, only two small villages and eighteen communes. Thediocese was suppressed from 1803 to 1817, during which time it was annexed to Alexandria, then to Casala.Pius VII re-established it in 1818. Under Bishop Antonio Gianelli a congregation ofpriests was formed in 1839 under the title of Oblates ofSt. Alphonsus Liguori. They devote themselves especially to hearingconfessions inprisons andhospitals, as well as to spreading good literature among the people. Bobbio also possesses a Congregation of Daughters of Mary, popularly known asGianelliane.

History

The origin of the See of Bobbio, indeed of the town itself, is due to the establishment of amonastery here by theIrish saint, Columban, in 614. The Lombards, with other savage tribes, had invaded northernItaly under their leader Alboin in 568. A half-Arian, half-heathen horde, wherever they passed all the horrors of wanton destruction and cruelty marked their track. But at length the new barbarian ruler Agilulph, became less hostile and by degrees even not unfavorably disposed towards theCatholicFaith. Queen Theodelinda, whom he married in 590, was a ferventCatholic; she had wonderful influence over her consort, and at last he was converted by the preaching of Columban. From the day of hisbaptism, Agilulph displayed greatzeal for the conversion of his subjects, and for this purpose gave St. Columban a ruined church and devastated district known as Ebovium, which, before the Lombards seized it, had formed part of thePatrimony of St. Peter. Columban had set his heart on this secluded place, for while intent on instructing the Lombards he chose solitude for hismonks and himself. By the side of this little church, which was dedicated to St. Peter, soon arose the walls of anabbey. Here the nucleus of what was to be the most celebratedlibrary inItaly was formed by the Mss. which Columban had brought fromIreland and the treatises of which he himself was the author.

The sainted founder of Bobbio was laid to rest (23 November, 615), but hiscrosier passed into worthy hands. The names ofSt. Attala (627) andSt. Bertulf (640) will live forever inecclesiastical history. Both were conspicuous forholiness and learning, and both inherited Columban's apostolic spirit. It was indeed sorely needed, for a reaction towardsArianism set in, which became formidable under theArian king, Rotharis (636-652). Arioald, the immediate predecessor of Rotharis, whobecame aCatholic, had before hisconversion caused St. Bladulf, amonk of Bobbio, to be assassinated, because Bladulf would not salute him, as being anArian. It is said that Attala restored Bladulf to life and delivered Arioald from a diabolical possession, the punishment of his crime; and that this two-foldmiracle led to Arioald's conversion. In 628, whenSt. Bertulf made apilgrimage toRome, Honorius I exempted Bobbio from episcopaljurisdiction, thus making theabbeyimmediately subject to theHoly See. Under the nextabbot, Bobolen, therule of St. Benedict was introduced. At first its observance was optional, but in e course oftime it superseded the more austere rule hitherto in use, and Bobbio joined the Congregation ofMonte Cassino. In 643, at the request of Rotharis and Queen Gundelberga,Pope Theodore I granted to theAbbot of Bobbio the use of themitre and other pontificals. It has even been asserted that Bobbio had abishop, named Peter Aldus, as early as the seventh century, but according to the best authorities (Ughelli,Gams, and others), the See of Bobbio was not founded till four centuries later, although recent investigation has shown that the name of its firstbishop really was Peter Aldus (Savio, 158).

From the seventh century on, in the midst of widespread turmoil andignorance, Bobbio remained a home ofpiety and culture. Through the efforts of St. Columban's disciples, increasing numbers of the Lombards were received into theChurch. But during the first half of the seventh century, the large tract of country lying betweenTurin andVerona,Genoa andMilan, was in a very irreligious and disturbed state; and evenidolatry was not unknown. In fact not until the reign of the usurper Grimoald (663-673), himself a convert, was the bulk of the nation brought into theChurch. But from that timeArianism disappeared in the West. The historians of theabbey regard as one of its chief glories the prominent part which it took in the final contest with thisheresy. Theodelinda's nephew, thepious Arribert (653--663), restored all the lands of Bobbio which belonged by right to the Prince of theApostles. Arribert II also gladly confirmed this restitution toJohn VII in 707. The unruly Lombards soon dispossessed thepope, but in 756Aistulf was compelled by Pepin to give up the lands. In 774Charlemagne made liberal grants to the Abbey. In 1153Frederick Barbarossa confirmed by two charters variousrights and possessions. Thus it came to pass that theabbots were for centuries entrusted with a large administration of temporals.

The fame of Bobbio reached the shores ofIreland, and the memory of Columban was dear to the hearts of his countrymen. Bobolen's successor wasSt. Comgall who had resigned hissee inIreland in order to become amonk of Bobbio; St. Cummian who did the same died in theabbey about 730 (Holder-Egger in "Mon. Germ. Hist."); and the learned St. Dungal (d. after 827) bequeathed to theabbey his valuablelibrary, consisting of some seventy volumes, among which was the famous "Antiphonary of Bangor". A tenth-century catalogue, published by Muratori, shows that at that period every branch ofknowledge, divine and human, was represented in thislibrary. Many of the books have been lost, the rest have long since been dispersed and are still reckoned among the chief treasures of the later collections which possess them. In 1616Cardinal Federigo Borromeo took for theAmbrosian Library ofMilan eighty-six volumes, including the famous "Bobbio Missal", written about 911, the Antiphonary of Bangor", and the palimpsests ofUlfila's Gothic version of theBible. Twenty-six volumes were given, in 1618, toPaul V for the Vatican Library. Many others were sent toTurin, where, besides those in the Royal Archives, there were seventy-one in the University Library until the disastrous fire of 26 January, 1904. As scholars of later ages have owed a great deal to the Bobbiomanuscripts, so, too, did those of the tenth century. Gerard of Aurillac, for example, who was afterwardsPope Sylvester II, becameAbbot of Bobbio in 982; and with the aid of the numerous ancient treatises which he found there he composed his celebrated work on geometry. And indeed it appears that at a time when Greek was almost unknown in westernEurope, theIrishmonks of Bobbio readAristotle and Demosthenes in the original tongue.

In the year 1014, the EmperorHenry II, on the occasion of his owncoronation inRome, obtained fromBenedict VIII the erection of Bobbio as asee. Peter Aldus, its firstbishop, had beenAbbot of Bobbio since 999, and his episcopal successors for a long time lived in theabbey, where many of them had beenmonks. According toUghelli and others, Bobbio was made a suffragansee ofGenoa in 1133; but Savio finds this subordination mentioned for the first time in aBull ofAlexander III,dated 19 April, 1161. From time to time disputes arose between thebishop and themonks, and in 1199Innocent III issued twoBulls, restoring theabbey in spirituals and temporals, and empowering thebishop to depose anabbot if within a certain time he did not obey.

Bobbio's greatestbishops have been

St. Columban'sabbey and church were taken from theBenedictines by the French soldiers in 1803; what remains of theabbey is now used as a municipalschool, and the church, where therelics of Sts. Columban, Attala, Bertulf, Cummian, and others repose, is now aparish church, served bysecular priests. The altars and the sarcophagi in thecrypt present beautiful specimens of the interlaced ornamentation which is characteristic ofIrish art. In theCathedral of Bobbio there is a beautiful tabernacle in theRavenna style.

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