Abbey of Trinità di Cava dei Tirreni

Located in the Province of Salerno. It stands in a gorge of the Finestre Hills near Cava dei Tirreni, and was founded in 980 by Alferio Pappacarbona, a noble of Salerno who became a Cluniac monk. Urban II endowed this monastery with many privileges, making it immediately subject to the Holy See, with jurisdiction over the surrounding territory. In 1394 Boniface IX made it a diocese, but in 1513 Leo X erected the Diocese of Cava, detaching that city from the abbot’s jurisdiction. About the same time the Cluniacs were replaced by Cassinese monks. This monastery, an abbey nullius, possesses a very rich store of public and private documents, which date back to the eighth century, and is now the seat of a national educational establishment, under the care of the Benedictines. The church is famous for its organ. In 1893 the cultus of the first four abbots (Alferius, Leo, Petrus, and Constabilis) was sanctioned. There are 18 parishes with 68 priests, regular and secular, and 28,000 faithful, subject to the abbacy.