The abbey of San Benedetto in Polirone.
The abbey of San Benedetto in Polirone stands in the Italian comune San Benedetto Po, near Mantua. The abbey was founded in 1007 by Tedald, count of Canossa, the paternal grandfather of Matilda of Canossa, countess of Tuscany, with a grant to the Benedictine monks, of half his land lying between the rivers Po and Lirone, prompting the title "in Polirone". Polirone was the monastery most closely associated with his grand-daughter, Matilda, who granted estates and dependencies. Boniface III, Margrave of Tuscany made further grants and commissioned a larger church, housing the remains of the hermit, Simeon of Polirone (died 1016).[1] In 1077 the community passed into the reformed Benedictines under the Abbey of Cluny. At the time of the Gregorian reforms, the abbot was one of the principal proponents of the papacy in the Investiture Conflict.[2] From 1115 until 1632, the abbey church housed thearca raised on eight columns housing the mortal remains of Matilda of Canossa, who had selected Polirone as her memorial place, rather than the ancestral mortuary church of Canossa.[3] For centuries she was accorded almost the veneration of a founding patron saint at Polirone.[4] Her body was transferred to the Basilica of St. Peter, Rome, in 1632. read
Size: 3631px × 3063px
Photo credit: © lugris / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: abbey, age, benedetto, benedictines, canossa, hobby, italy, lirone, lugris2, mantova, mantua, matilda, matilde, medieval, middle, philately, po, polirone, postage, river, san, stamp, stamps, tedald, tourism, travel
