Territorial Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore Abbatia Territorialis Sanctae Mariae Montis Oliveti Maioris | |
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![]() Cathedral | |
Location | |
Country | Italy |
Metropolitan | Immediately subject to the Holy See |
Statistics | |
Area | 49 km2 (19 sq mi) |
Population - Total - Catholics | (as of 2004) 500 500 (100%) |
Information | |
Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
Rite | Roman Rite |
Cathedral | Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore |
Current leadership | |
Abbot | Diego Gualtiero Maria Rosa |
The Abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore is a large Benedictine monastery in the Italian region of Tuscany, 10 km south of Asciano.[1] Its buildings, which are mostly of red brick, are conspicuous against the grey clayey and sandy soil—the Crete senesi which give this area of Tuscany its name.
It is a territorial abbey whose abbot functions as the ordinary of the land within the abbey's possession, even though he is not consecrated as a bishop.
It is the mother-house of the Olivetans and the monastery later took the name of Monte Oliveto Maggiore ("the greater") to distinguish it from successive foundations at Florence, San Gimignano, Naples and elsewhere.