"In Coenaculo" - Silverstream Priory (November-December 2015) | Page 7

S

24, 2015 marked the 80th anniversary of the death of Abbot Celestino Maria Colombo, O.S.B., a monk
of the Benedictine Congregation of
Saint Mary of Monte Oliveto. The commemoration of Abbot Celestino’s death prompts
us to share with our friends the unique place that
this holy Benedictine of the last century has come
to hold in the life of Silverstream Priory.
Born in Milan on 28 February
1874, Filippo Colombo entered the
Olivetan Benedictine monastery
of Seregno on 13 November 1895,
receiving the name in religion
of Dom Celestino Maria. Dom
Celestino was ordained a priest
before the completion of his
year of noviceship on 24 August
1896; made simple profession
in September 1897 and solemn
profession in 1902. In 1907, Dom
Celestino was appointed prior and
parish priest of the Olivetan Abbey
of Santa Maria in Campis in Foligno.
The church of Santa Maria in Campis was
originally entrusted to the White Monks (Benedictines) of Corpus Christi in 1373, later becoming
the principal abbey of the Congregation of the
«Corpocristiani». In 1582 the White Monks of
Corpus Christi were incorporated into the Congregation of Saint Mary of Monte Oliveto by decree of
Pope Gregory XIII.
Who were these White Monks of Corpus
Christi? The founder of the Benedictine Congregation of Corpus Christi was Blessed Andrea di Paolo,
a diocesan priest, and then a Benedictine monk
of the Abbey of Gualdo Tadino in the province of
Pergugia. In 1264 Saint Thomas Aquinas composed
the magnificent Mass and Office for the feast of
Corpus Christi, stirring up an intense devotion to
the Most Holy Sacrament of the Altar. Caught up
in the grace of this Eucharistic revival, Andrea di
Paolo together with a small group of disciples, left
the Abbey of Gualdo Tadino to initiate a more explicitly Eucharistic expression of Benedictine life.
The Congregation of Corpus Christ flourished for
nearly three-hundred years, spreading throughout
Umbria and the Marches. At its height, the Congregation had as many as twenty monasteries of monks
and one of nuns, Santa Maria di Betlem, in Foligno.
The Corpocristiani, also known as the Monks
of the Most Blessed Sacrament, were distinguished
by their white cuculla with a large hood and ameptember

ple sleeves. A few 15th century depictions of the
Corpcristiani remain in the abbey church of Santa
Maria in Campis at Foligno. The coat of arms of
the Congregation was a chalice surmounted by a
Sacred Host, flanked by angels in adoration. By the
mid-1500s, the White Monks of Corpus Christi were reduced in number. Antonio Carafa, the
Cardinal-Protector of both the Olivetans and the
Corpocristiani proposed a fusion of the two
Congregations, which fusion was decreed
by Pope Gregory XIII on 1 March
1582. A clause in the decree of fusion
prescribed that the abbot of Santa
Maria in Campis should always
be a