Abbot Oliva
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Oliva (c. 971-1046), also spelled Oliba, was the count of Berga (998-1003) and Ripoll and later bishop of Vic (1018-1046) and abbot of Sant Miquel de Cuixà. He was the son of a noble Catalan house who abdicated his secular possessions to take up the Benedictine habit in the Monastery of Santa Maria de Ripoll. He is considered one of the spiritual founders of Catalonia and perhaps the most important prelate of his age in the Iberian Peninsula.
Subsequently raised to the bishopric of Vic and the abbacy of Cuixà, he was a great writer and from his scriptorium at Ripoll flowed a ceaseless stream of works enlightening us about his world. Most importantly, however, are the Arabic manuscripts he translated into Latin for the benefit of all Europe.
He promoted the movement of Peace and Truce of God (Pau i treva (Catalan)), towards 1022 and in 1027. The agreement of this Treaty with other bishops and noblemen took place in Toulouges (Roussillon) and was said that all, noblemen, knights, farmers and monks, agreed to make, days in which nobody could quarrel with anybody and in which the fugitives could take refuge in churches and places holy, sure of being protected and respected, some days every year, be days of Peace.
He founded or reformed the monasteries of Montserrat (1025), Fluvià, and Canigó, and consecrated numerous other churches. It was he who created the Assemblies of Peace and Truce in connection with the Peace and Truce of God movements, the seeds of the future Catalan courts, to aid the nobles in the administration of the realm. He improved the decoration of his own church at Ripoll and rededicated it on 15 January 1032. He was a close advisor to Count Berengar Raymond I of Barcelona and reconstructed the cathedral of Vic with the support of his Countess Ermesinda. The new cathedral was rededicated to Peter and Paul on 31 August 1038. He died at his monastery at Cuixà in 1046.
Many Catalan institutions of education or other intellectual pursuits have taken up his name, including the Fundació Abat Oliba (see external link below).
[edit] Sources
- Menéndez Pidal, Ramón. The Cid and his Spain. 1929.
- This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.
[edit] External links
| Preceded by none |
Count of Berga 988-1003 |
Succeeded by Wilfred |
