ilmamilio.it
In Grottaferrata this afternoon at 5.30 pm in the conference room of the Abbey of San Nilo, the presentation for the celebrations for the Millennial of the Abbey Basilica of Santa Maria. In the presence of the religious, civil and military authorities, the director of the structure Father Francesco De Feo, the mayor Mirko Di Bernardo, the vice president of the Lazio region Daniele Leodori, cardinal Marcello Semeraro, prefect of the congregation for the cause of the saints and other guests illustrious.
In 2024 the millenary of the consecration of the abbey Basilica of Santa Maria di Grottaferrata, built by Saints Nilo and Bartolomeo, will be celebrated. For the occasion, a Committee with various articulations has been set up which will take care of the organization of conferences and will take care of planning events aimed at witnessing the vitality of the Abbey. Following the press conference, the Byzantine music concert performed by the San Basilio Choir directed by the young don Claudio at the Byzantine basilica.
For some time now, scientific activity has been underway for the identification of the issues that will be the subject of four conferences in preparation, which will take place between 2024 and 2025. The major scholars of Byzantine at an artistic, historical-philological level have been involved and liturgical of the Pontifical Universities and other national and international universities. The Ca ‘Foscari of Venice and Rome Tor Vergata with pleasure have joined the project and are giving their contribution.
As part of the celebrations for the Millennium, concerts of Byzantine melurgy and readings of sacred texts aimed at rediscovering the spiritual and cultural treasure of the East in dialogue with the West are planned.
“At the center of the initiatives there will obviously be the spiritual element – explains the Hegumen, Father Francesco De Feo – This Millennial is an opportunity to be lived as an event of faith and spirituality in the wake of what the Virgin Mary asked of Nile and Bartholomew in the famous crypt, that is, to found a place that would gather his children in a life of praise to the Lord ”.
The Basilica of Santa Maria in Grottaferrata, strongly desired by San Nilo after the apparition of the Virgin at the end of her earthly life, was built by San Bartolomeo and was consecrated on December 17, 1024, presumably by Pope John XIX. It stands on the land donated in 1004 by Count Gregorio I of Tusculum to the group of monks led by San Nilo di Rossano. Today it is the last monastery of the Greek Byzantine rite on Italian soil dependent on the Holy See and preserves within it precious artistic testimonies in which the two cultural and spiritual traditions of the Greek East and the Latin West, following the events that have characterized the history, they developed in a unique coexistence in its peculiarity. The Basilian monks, Catholics of the Greek rite, live and work in the Abbey today.