Sobrado Abbey (known in Galician as “Mosteiro de Santa María de Sobrado dos Monxes” and in Castilian as “Monasterio de Santa María de Sobrado de los Monjes”) was initially founded in the tenth century by Count Hermengildo and his wife Paterna. It became affiliated with the Cistercian Order as a daughter house of Clairvaux in 1142, making it one of the Order’s earlier houses on the Iberian peninsula.
Location
Background on the Cistercians
According to the traditional foundation narrative, Cistercian monasticism dates to 1098, arising from a conscious effort to reform monastic life and return to a “purer” adherence to the sixth-century Benedictine Rule. The Cistercians are known for eschewing the luxuries that had become common in eleventh-century monasteries and for their austere artistic and architectural style, which lacked elaborate ornamentation. As the foundation narrative goes, in 1098, Robert, abbot of Molesme, and a group of followers abandoned their abbey to start a new community that was more isolated and more obedient to the Rule. They founded this new community at Cîteaux, though they struggled during their early years. Bernard (1090-1153) joined the monastery with a group of friends in 1112, and his activity a prolific writer, preacher, and abbot of the newly founded Cistercian house Clairvaux appears to have rejuvenated the Order, spurring its expansion over the subsequent decades.
In addition to simplicity and austerity, the Cistercians valued manual labor such as work in the fields. As the Benedictine Rule instructed: “Idleness is the enemy of the soul. The brethren, therefore, must be occupied at stated hours in manual labor.” Monks, however, did not do all the work necessary for running the monastery themselves; Cistercians are well-known for their acceptance of lay brothers (conversi), often drawn from lower social classes than the monks, who performed necessary physical labor for the survival and success of the monastic community.
Over the course of the twelfth century, the Cistercian Order expanded significantly from its original house at Cîteaux, establishing monasteries in Scandinavia, the British Isles, Eastern Europe, and Iberia. Some new houses were established from scratch by existing “mother” houses, which sent monks to the new “daughter” houses and also equipped them with necessary manuscripts. Others, including Sobrado and Oia in Galicia, were already established monastic communities that were then incorporated into the Cistercian Order (though they were still integrated into the Cistercian filiation network; Clairvaux became the mother house of Sobrado). Abbots of mother houses were required to visit their daughter houses to ensure that they were following correct Cistercian practices.
The Cistercian General Chapter was the highest authority in the Order; every September, abbots convened at Cîteaux for General Chapter meetings to discuss problems, petitions, and new rules and regulations. Abbots from nearby foundations were required to attend annually, while those coming from faraway were obliged to attend less often. Thanks to Cistercian filiation networks and General Chapter meetings, the Order generally upheld an impressive level of standardization and organization across a broad geographical area.
No system is perfect–the Cistercian General Chapter often rebuked abbots who failed to attend Chapter meetings and in 1257 chastised the abbot of Sobrado, “who did not express sufficient cause for his delay away from the General Chapter.” The abbot was suspended from office for six days and instructed to attend the next Chapter meeting.1
Santa María de Sobrado
Several rooms survive from the Middle Ages, including the late twelfth- or thirteenth-century chapter house, the twelfth-century chapel of St. John the Baptist, and the thirteenth-century kitchen.
Located next to the refectory, the kitchen was in use from its construction in the thirteenth century until the desamortización in the nineteenth (also known as the “Spanish confiscation,” desamortización denotes the seizure of Church assets by the Spanish government). In the center of the kitchen, four large columns surround and support the chimney.
1 Canivez, Statuta, vol. 2, Year 1257, #40, 432.
References & Further Reading
Primary Sources
Canivez, Joseph-Marie, ed. Statuta Capitulorum Generalium Ordinis Cisterciensis, 8 vols. Louvain: Bureaux de la Revue, 1933-41.
Secondary Works
Burton, Janet, and Julie Kerr. The Cistercians in the Middle Ages. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2011.
“Cistercian Life.” The Cistercians in Yorkshire. Project directed by Sarah Foot.
D’Emilio, James, ed. and trans. Culture and Society in Medieval Galicia: A Cultural Crossroads at the Edge of Europe. Leiden: Brill, 2015.
Jamroziak, Emilia. The Cistercians in Medieval Europe, 1090-1500. New York: Routledge, 2013.
Ordóñez, Santiago. Sobrado dos Monxes: Primer monasterio cisterciense de España. León: Edilesa, 1998.