Abbey of Montecassino historical timeline

Last updated on October 8, 2026

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312 B.C. The Volsci, who had built the first citadel on the summit of Monte Cassino, are defeated in the area by the Romans, who name the settlement Casinum and put a temple to Apollo on the citadel. Excavation has found no trace of the temple, though an amphitheatre, a theatre and a mausoleum survive from the Roman town.
529 Benedict of Nursia establishes the first house of the Benedictine order here, on the pagan site. Gregory the Great records that he smashed the idol, overturned the altar and cut down the sacred grove, then reused the temple as an oratory to St Martin and built a second to St John the Baptist where the altar had stood. He writes the Rule for this community, founds what is considered Europe's first hospital of the new era, receives a visit from Totila king of the Ostrogoths around 543, and dies here.
580 Lombards demolish the monastery -- the first of five destructions. They sack it again in 581 under Abbot Bonitus and the surviving monks flee to Rome for more than a century, Benedict's body going as far as Fleury.
718 Abbot Petronax of Brescia re-establishes the monastery at the suggestion of Gregory II and with the support of the Lombard duke Romuald II of Benevento. Among the monks are Carloman son of Charles Martel, Ratchis, and Paul the Deacon.
744 A donation by Gisulf II of Benevento creates the Terra Sancti Benedicti, the abbey's secular lands, subject to the abbot and to nobody else but the pope. The monastery becomes the capital of a small state between Lombard Benevento and the Byzantine coastal cities.
884 Saracens sack and burn the abbey and kill Abbot Bertharius. The community lives at Teano and from 914 at Capua until the monastery is rebuilt in 949; during the exile the Cluniac reforms are introduced.
1058 Desiderius becomes abbot and begins the golden age. He rebuilds on a scale of great magnificence with artists from Amalfi, Lombardy and Constantinople, and after 1066 sends envoys to Constantinople to hire Byzantine mosaicists, having a great number of young monks trained by them. The church is consecrated by Alexander II in 1071. In 1057 Victor II had already recognised the abbot of Monte Cassino as taking precedence over all other abbots; three popes come from the abbey.
1349 An earthquake destroys the buildings, and the long decline begins. In 1369 Urban V demands a contribution from every Benedictine monastery to fund the rebuilding; in 1454 the abbey is placed in commendam, and in 1504 made subject to Santa Giustina in Padua.
1799 French Revolutionary troops sack Monte Cassino.
1866 The Italian government dissolves the abbey. It becomes a national monument with the monks as custodians of its treasures.
1943 In December some 1,400 irreplaceable manuscript codices, abbey documents and the collections of the Keats-Shelley Memorial House in Rome are sent here for safekeeping. German officers Lt Col Julius Schlegel and Capt Maximilian Becker of the Hermann Göring division have them transferred to the Vatican at the start of the battle.
1944 On 15 February the abbey is nearly destroyed by American-led air raids, ordered by General Sir Harold Alexander on reports that German forces were occupying it. No German troops were present. The only people the bombing killed inside were 230 Italian civilians sheltering there, and German paratroopers then occupied the ruins because they made excellent defensive cover.
1964 Paul VI consecrates the rebuilt basilica on 24 October, after a reconstruction supported in the early 1950s by Luigi Einaudi, President of the Republic.
2014 On 23 October Pope Francis removes all 53 parishes from the abbey's jurisdiction, reducing its spiritual authority to the abbey itself while keeping its status as a territorial abbey, and appoints Donato Ogliari as the 192nd successor of Saint Benedict. The community numbers 13 monks in 2015.

Verified against Wikipedia, October 2026.

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Checked against Wikipedia — The history of Monte Cassino is linked to the nearby town of Cassino, first settled in the fifth century BC by the Volsci who built a citadel on the summit; the Volsci in the area were defeated by the Romans in 312 BC, who named the settlement Casinum and built a temple to Apollo at the citadel, and while modern excavations have found no remains of the temple, monumental remains of an amphitheatre, a theatre and a mausoleum show the wealth of the Roman town, The Abbey of Monte Cassino is a Benedictine monastery on a rocky hill about 130 kilometres south-east of Rome in the Latin Valley, located on the site of the ancient Roman town of Casinum, and is the first house of the Benedictine Order, established by Benedict of Nursia himself around 529; it was for the community of Monte Cassino that the Rule of Saint Benedict was composed, According to Gregory the Great's Life of Saint Benedict the monastery was constructed on an older pagan site, a temple of Apollo crowning the hill around which a grove dedicated to demon worship had grown up; Benedict's first act was to smash the sculpture of Apollo and destroy the altar, after which he reused the temple, dedicating it to Saint Martin, and built another chapel dedicated to John the Baptist on the site of the altar, Once established at Monte Cassino Benedict never left: he wrote the Benedictine Rule that became the founding principle for Western monasticism, received a visit from Totila king of the Ostrogoths perhaps in 543, and died there, dying in the oratory of St Martin and being buried in the oratory of St John; the Rule mandated the moral obligation to care for the sick, and at Monte Cassino Benedict founded a hospital considered today to have been the first in Europe of the new era, Monte Cassino was sacked or destroyed a number of times -- "The first to demolish it were Lombards on foot in 580; the last were Allied bombers in 1944" -- the Lombards sacking the abbey in 581 during the abbacy of Bonitus with the surviving monks fleeing to Rome for more than a century and the body of St Benedict being transferred to Fleury, and in 884 Saracens sacking and burning it with Abbot Bertharius killed in the attack, The second monastery was established by Petronax of Brescia around 718 at the suggestion of Pope Gregory II and with the support of the Lombard Duke Romuald II of Benevento, with Carloman son of Charles Martel, Ratchis and Paul the Deacon among the monks; in 744 a donation of Gisulf II of Benevento created the Terra Sancti Benedicti, the secular lands of the abbacy subject to the abbot and nobody else save the pope, making the monastery the capital of a state between the Lombard principality of Benevento and the Byzantine coastal city-states; after the 883 sack the community resided at Teano and from 914 at Capua before the monastery was rebuilt in 949, the Cluniac Reforms being introduced during the exile, Monte Cassino reached the apex of its fame in the 11th century under Abbot Desiderius, abbot 1058-1087, who later became Pope Victor III; the buildings were reconstructed on a scale of great magnificence with artists brought from Amalfi, Lombardy and even Constantinople to supervise the works, and the abbey church was consecrated in 1071 by Pope Alexander II. In 1057 Pope Victor II recognised the abbot of Monte Cassino as having precedence over all other abbots, and three popes were drawn from the abbey, An earthquake damaged the abbey in 1349 and marked the beginning of a long period of decline, with Pope Urban V in 1369 demanding a contribution from all Benedictine monasteries to fund the rebuilding; in 1454 the abbey was placed in commendam and in 1504 made subject to the Abbey of Santa Giustina in Padua; in 1799 Monte Cassino was sacked by French troops during the French Revolutionary Wars, and the abbey was dissolved by the Italian government in 1866, the building becoming a national monument with the monks as custodians of its treasures, In December 1943 some 1,400 irreplaceable manuscript codices, chiefly patristic and historical, in addition to a vast number of documents relating to the history of the abbey and the collections of the Keats-Shelley Memorial House in Rome, had been sent to the abbey archives for safekeeping, and German officers Lt Col Julius Schlegel and Capt Maximilian Becker, both from the Panzer-Division Hermann Göring, had them transferred to the Vatican at the beginning of the battle, During the Battle of Monte Cassino from January to May 1944 the abbey was heavily damaged, and on 15 February 1944 it was nearly destroyed in a series of heavy American-led air raids ordered by General Sir Harold Alexander with the support of numerous Allied commanders, on several reports from British Indian Army officers suggesting that German forces were occupying the monastery, which was considered a key observation post by all those fighting in the field; however during the bombing no German troops were present in the abbey, and subsequent investigations found that the only people killed in the monastery by the bombing were 230 Italian civilians seeking refuge there, after which the ruins were occupied by German Fallschirmjäger paratroopers of the 1st Parachute Division because the ruins provided excellent defensive cover, The abbey was rebuilt after the war, with the President of the Italian Republic Luigi Einaudi giving considerable support to the rebuilding in the early 1950s, and Pope Paul VI consecrated the rebuilt basilica on 24 October 1964; during reconstruction the abbey library was housed at the Pontifical Abbey of St Jerome-in-the-City, On 23 October 2014 Pope Francis applied the norms of the motu proprio Ecclesia Catholica to the abbey, removing from its jurisdiction all 53 parishes and reducing its spiritual jurisdiction to the abbey itself while retaining its status as a territorial abbey, and appointed Father Donato Ogliari as the 192nd successor of Saint Benedict; as of 2015 the monastic community consists of 13 monks (October 2026).

Abbey of Montecassino historical timeline

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