TRE FONTANE, ABBEY OF

Formerly Santi Vincenzo ed Anastasio (Latin, Trium Fontium ad Aquas Salvias ), Trappist monastery in the suburbs of Rome. It was founded by Pope Honorius I in 625 near the site of St. Paul's martyrdom and was originally given to the benedictines. From the 7th to the 10th century Eastern monks used it as a refuge. It then belonged to cluny until Pope Innocent II transferred it to the cistercians in 1140. Monks came from clairvaux with Bernard Paganelli (later Pope Eugene III) as abbot. In 1449 Cardinal Brando was appointed the first commendatory abbot, but in 1519 Pope Leo X authorized the Cistercians to elect their own claustral prior. The abbey was suppressed in 1812. Franciscans held it from 1826 to 1868, when Cistercians from latrappe took possession. The Italian government confiscated all church lands in 1870, but the trappists remained at Tre Fontane, at first renting, then purchasing the lands (1886). This abbey, which has an abbot nullius, remains today in the hands of the Trappists.

Bibliography: f. ughelli, Italia sacra, ed. n. coleti, 10 v. (Venice 1717–22) v.1. p. le nain de tillemont, Essai de l'histoire de l'ordre de Cîteaux, 9 v. in 12 (Paris 1696–97). a. manrique, Annales cistercienses, 4 v. (Lyons 1642–59) v.3. l. janauschek, Origines Cistercienses, v.1 (Vienna 1877). j. j. gaume, Les Trois Rome, 4 v. (4th ed. 1876) v.3. l. h. cottineau, Répertoire topobibliographique des abbayes et prieurés, 2 v. (Mâcon 1935–39) 2: 2503–04.

[m. b. morris]