Return

It was Saturday , February 8, 1969, when the Olivetan fathers returned to Rodengo after an absence of no less than 172 years (caused by the Napoleonic suppressions of religious orders). There were three of them: Father Damiano to whom the parish would be entrusted, Father Graziano and Dom Fedele, who would return to Monte Oliveto shortly thereafter. Almost immediately they were joined by Father Antonio, who was recalled after a few months to Monte Oliveto as dean; Father Placido came to replace him. He, too, would have to leave the abbey shortly thereafter because he was elected prior at S. Stefano in Bologna. Finally, Father Michelangelo, current abbot general emeritus of the Congregation of Monte Oliveto, arrived in Rodengo.

They found the abbey in a bad state, completely abandoned, badly reduced. The only decent section was the parish priest's dwelling on the upper floor and four rooms on the ground floor formerly the farmer's rooms, used as parish offices. The people of Rodengo gave the monks a stove for the kitchen, refrigerator, tables and four chairs and helped them with the whitewashing work. The monks' main commitment was the gradual recovery of the monastery and, in addition, they were to assist the parish, which, after the death of Fr. Bernard Cramer, had been left without a pastor...

***

The earliest historical information about Rodengo from the ecclesiastical point of view comes from around the 7th-8th centuries, when the first Christian community is thought to have gathered around a diakonia dedicated to St. Stephen, built on an important Roman road in the Cinculli district, where today we find the hamlet of Pontecingoli.

Toward the end of the 12th century, it is reported that, the church of St. Peter, erected in the "castle," the first nucleus of the abbey that exists today, was officiated by a monk priest.

It was perhaps in the 13th century that the Christian community organized itself around St. Stephen's (which, however, still remains under the jurisdiction of the Pieve di Gussago). Historical documents tell that in the ground in front of the small church of St. Stephen, children under the age of 10 were buried. By apostolic letter of Pope Nicholas V dated September 20, 1448, it was established that Santo Stefano was united with the monastery of San Nicolò, inhabited by Olivetan monks.

In 1567 the parish recorded the presence of:
- church of San Dionigi (boarded up and without an entrance)
- church of San Rocco in Padergnone (erected in the 15th century)
- church of St. Stephen (ancient parish church)
- church of St. Nicholas (abbey church and today also parish church).

Around the first decades of the 1600s the Olivetan community absorbed Santo Stefano. It seems that the baptistery that was in Santo Stefano was transported to the present church of San Nicola.

In 1797, with the suppression of religious orders, the monastic community had to leave the monastery, and the vicinity asked that a former Olivetan monk (Bernardo Chinelli) be confirmed as parish priest with a benefice of a few piò of land.

In 1829, upon the death of the parish priest, a dispute arose over who was entitled to patronage of the parish: the Austrian government, the tax collector who had attorney for the property, the women's hospital beneficiary and owner of the property, or the Bishop. On September 19, 1829, the bishop was granted the right of appointment, which he exercised by appointing Don Pietro Pace of Magno di Inzino as parish priest.

In 1880, an episcopal decree downsized the parish by aggregating the hamlets of Bourbon, Case, Barco and Pianera to the parish of Castegnato.

In 1938, Don Bernardo Cramer became parish priest and began a long series of pastoral activities. In 1968 Fr. Bernard Cramer died, and in 1969 the Benedictine monks of Monte Oliveto returned to the abbey and the parish came under their leadership.

To learn more about the historical events of Rodengo Abbey, visit the section => Art and History