Texts and Context: Readings and Readers in the Roman Monastery of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme

In 1873 the Kingdom of Italy, after the conquest of Rome, confiscated the properties of the Church, including the Cistercian library of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme: thus began the “war of codes”. The collection was really very precious: not only medieval manuscripts and rare printed books, but also modern manuscripts of considerable interest. These volumes, that are a tangible testimony of the theological and cultural interests of the monks, show traces of the life within the walls of the monastery and offer an original look at the Roman Cistercian reality during the last centuries of the papal dominion over the Urbe.