Abbey of Farfa

Farfa Abbey
View of the Abbey
42°13′16.66″N 12°43′7.27″E / 42.2212944°N 12.7186861°E / 42.2212944; 12.7186861
Location	Farfa, Fara in Sabina
Country	Italy
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Website	Official website
History
Dedication	Holy Mary
Architecture
Status	Territorial abbey
Functional status	Active
Architectural type	Church
Style	Carolingian, Baroque
Completed	913
Administration
Diocese	Rieti
Province	Rieti

Farfa
Frazione
The main street of the hamlet below the abbey
Farfa Location of Farfa in Italy
Coordinates: 42°13′16.66″N 12°43′7.27″E / 42.2212944°N 12.7186861°E / 42.2212944; 12.7186861Coordinates: 42°13′16.66″N 12°43′7.27″E / 42.2212944°N 12.7186861°E / 42.2212944; 12.7186861
Country	Italy
Region	Lazio
Province	Rieti (RI)
Comune	Fara in Sabina
Elevation	138 m (453 ft)
Population (2011)
• Total	42
Demonym(s)
Time zone	CET (UTC+1)
• Summer (DST)	CEST (UTC+2)
Postal code	02032
Dialing code	(+39) 0765

Farfa Abbey (Italian: Abbazia di Farfa) is a territorial abbey in northern Lazio, central Italy. It is one of the most famous abbeys of Europe. It belongs to the Benedictine Order and is located about 60 km from Rome, in the commune of Fara Sabina, of which is also a hamlet (frazione).

A legend in the 12th-century Chronicon Farfense (Chronicle of Farfa) dates the founding of a monastery at Farfa to the time of the Emperors Julian, or Gratian, and attributes the founding to Laurence of Syria, who had come to Rome with his sister, Susannah, together with other monks, and had been made Bishop of Spoleto. According to the tradition, after being named bishop, he became enamoured of the monastic life, and chose a forested hill near the Farfa stream, a tributary of the Tiber, to build a church and a monastery. Archaeological discoveries in 1888 find strong evidence that the first monastic establishment was built on the ruins of a pagan temple. This first monastery was devastated by the Vandals in the fifth century. Only a handful of sixth-century finds document the early presence of the monastic community.

In the seventh century, a wave of Irish monasticism spread over Italy. The foundation the Abbey of Saint Columbanus in Bobbio. and of Farfa by monks from Gaul, about 681, heralded a revival of the great Benedictine tradition in Italy. The Constructio Monasterii Farfensis, which dates probably from 857, relates at length the story of its principal founder Thomas of Maurienne; he had made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and spent three years there. While in prayer before the Holy Sepulchre, the Virgin Mary in a vision warned him to return to Italy, and restore Farfa; and the Duke of Spoleto. Faroald II, who had also had a vision, was commanded to aid in this work. At a very early date we find traces of this legend in connexion with the foundation by three nobles from Benevento of the monastery of St Vincent on the Volturno, over which Farfa claimed jurisdiction. Thomas died in 720; and for more than a century Frankish abbots ruled at Farfa.