Chronology of Catholic Dioceses:Notes on the Abbey of Santes Creus ("Holy Crosses") / Santa Maria de Santes Creus / Valldaura

Notes on the Abbey of Santes Creus ("Holy Crosses") / Santa Maria de Santes Creus / Valldaura

This Cistercian Abbey within the present confines of the Archdiocese of Tarragona was founded in 1150, with the name of Valldaura. It obtained its de facto exemption in 1168. The abbey was suppressed in 1820, reestablished in 1823, and finally closed in 1835.

There were several abbeys which were territorially exempt - i.e. jurisdictions of their own right, independent from the diocese surrounding them - in Mediaeval Spain. The abbeys were usually founded in the Medieval Age, and, because the historic conditions, were established in the North of Spain. The exemptions and territorial rights of the abbeys are typically feudal, and often the Papal Bulls merely confirm exemptions already existing, de facto.

The exemptions of (ecclesiastical) jurisdiction were abolished, with some exceptions, by the Concordat of 1851. The remaining were formally abolished by the Bull "Quo diversa" in 1873. But, before, in 1835, the dissolution of Religious Orders had closed the majority of abbeys, and only some of them were re-opened after.

-CT (Information from Bob Hilkens and Francisco Vasquez, with info from Teruel/Tejada)

av Webmaster publisert 08.09.2004, sist endret 08.09.2004 - 12:11