Saint Alferius

Having been appointed ambassador to the King of France, he fell ill while traveling to his post and made a vow to become a religious if he recovered. After his recovery, he met Saint Odil o, who broug saint Odilon Abbot of Cluny who had a church built in Saint-Flour. ht him to Cluny , whe Cluny Burgundian abbey where Callixtus II was elected. re he intended to spend the rest of his days. However, the princes of Salerno recalled him and entrusted him with the task of refounding the religious houses of their principality. Finding the reform he attempted to be impossible, he withdrew to a cave in the Apennines, where many disciples soon came to place themselves under his guidance. But he would only accept twelve.

Being near death, he had a revelation that his spiritual posterity would be innumerable. On the day of Maundy Thursday 1050, he celebrated Mass, washed the feet of his religious, and retired to a secluded cell where shortly after his religious found him dead: he had lived one hundred and twenty years.

Some time after the death of Saint Alferius, there were up to three thousand religious and thirty-one churches at La Cava. The first nine abbots of La Cava hold the title of Saint or Blessed: the double office of Saint Alferius and Saint Leo of Lucca, of Saint Peter of Policastro and of Saint Constabilis, his immediate successors, was celebrated there. Commemoration was also made of the B. Simon, fifth abbot; of the R. Falcon, his successor; of the B. Benincasa, eighth abbot; and of the R. Leonard, eleventh abbot.

The current monastery of the Holy Trinity of La Cav monastère actuel de la Sainte-Trinité de La Cava Major Benedictine monastery located near Salerno. a has fallen far from its former splendor: as at the Abbey of Monte Cassino, only twenty to thirty religious, a small seminary, and a few novices now populate these immense buildings and this vast church, where long lines of Benedictine monks once crowded. While losing its possessions an moines bénédictins Religious order occupying the monastery of Honnecourt. d its vast personnel, which allowed it to send, as to the powerful Abbey of Monreale in Sicil y, colonies of one hundred religious, t abbaye puissante de Montréal, en Sicile Sicilian abbey historically linked to La Cava. he abbey has at least preserved its treasure of charters, an illustrious memorial of its glory, its ancient scholarship, and its useful labors.

All these pieces of parchment relate to the history of Italy.

To him, therefore, who might feel the vocation to write the annals of Italy, to the man of faith and talent who would consent to devote his vigils to this serious and fruitful labor, we point out this source of precious materials. He will find here thirty thousand original charters of the Lombard kings, of the princes o rois Lombards Germanic people in conflict with the papacy in the 8th century. r archbishops of Salerno, of the kings of Sicily and Aragon, etc., etc. The history of Italy under the domination of the Lombards and the Norman princes is entirely contained within these loose sheets. These are like so many blocks of marble of great value, which, gathered by a skillful hand, could form a superb monument...

But treasures of another kind, better known, more cherished by the people, and above all more accessible to the poor of Jesus Christ, are preserved at the Abbey of La Cava.

These are the relics of the Saints and in particular those of Saint sainte Félicité Roman martyr to whom Boniface had a particular devotion. Felicity, that noble Roman lady who, after seeing her seven sons all die as Christian heroes rather than renounce their faith, herself suffered a heroic martyrdom three months later, under the Emperor Antoninus. When, a few years ago, the dreadful scourge of cholera was ravaging several provinces of Italy, when Rome and Naples had already paid their tribute to the horrible malady, all the good people of these mountains came to prostrate themselves at the feet of the remains of the illustrious Saint, beseeching her to be propitious to them. The Saint listened to this suppliant voice; none of the villagers were struck. And, since then, when the day of her feast returns, the crowd flocks to the church of La Cava, to show its gratitude to its powerful protectress.

Ughelli, *Italia sacra; Dictionnaire des abbayes*, etc.