Monte Cassino

Lore & Background

The first monastery was sacked by Lombards around 570 and abandoned. A second monastery was established by Petronax of Brescia around 718, at the suggestion of Pope Gregory II and with the support of Duke Romuald II of Benevento. It was sacked by Saracens in 883 and abandoned again; the community resided at Teano and then Capua before rebuilding in 949. The 11th and 12th centuries were the golden age, when the abbey acquired the Terra Sancti Benedicti and maintained good relations with the Eastern Church. Three popes came from the abbey: Stephen IX, Victor III, and Gelasius II. Decline set in by the 13th century. In 1799 it was sacked by French troops. The abbey was dissolved by the Italian government in 1866 and became a national monument. In 1944, during World War II, it was destroyed by Allied bombing and later rebuilt. After the Second Vatican Council it remained a territorial abbey. In 2014, Pope Francis removed most parishes from its jurisdiction. As of 2015, the monastic community consisted of 13 monks.

In Their Own Story

The dust hasn't settled from the artillery barrage, and the air still tastes of cordite and wet limestone. You crouch behind a shattered trench wall, your rifle barrel warm, and listen to the crack of a MG42 somewhere above the ridge. The abbey looms in the grey morning light—half its roof gone, the great archway hanging open like a broken jaw. A corporal two men ahead of you spits, checks his magazine, and points up the slope. You follow. The stone under your boots is slick with rain and something darker. Somewhere in the nave, a German voice is counting. You don't wait to hear what.

Reader's Guide

The source article does not describe any mission or player-driven assault. It states only that the abbey was destroyed by Allied bombing during the Battle of Monte Cassino in 1944.

Did You Know?

• The abbey was established by Benedict of Nursia himself around 529.
• Three popes were drawn from the abbey: Stephen IX, Victor III, and Gelasius II.
• The monastery was destroyed by Allied bombing in 1944 during World War II.
• In 2014, Pope Francis reduced the abbey's spiritual jurisdiction to the abbey itself.