Monfero Abbey

Monfero Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery dedicated to Mary, Mother of Jesus, in the province of A Coruña in Galicia, Spain. It is located in Monfero in Ferrolterra in the comarca of Eume, about 22 km to the north-east of Betanzos.HistoryIn the 10th century on the site of an earlier hermitage a Benedictine monastery was founded, dedicated to Saint Mark, and supported by king Bermudo II. It was destroyed by Norman raids, but later reconstructed under Alfonso VII in 1134 in collaboration with several nobles, including Alfonso Bermúdez, Count Pedro Osório and the Counts of Traba, who endowed it.The abbey joined the Cistercian order in 1147 as a daughter house of Sobrado Abbey, of the filiation of Clairvaux.In the 16th century Monfero became part of the Castilian Cistercian Congregation.In the 17th century the Romanesque monastery was struck by lightning and destroyed. It was rebuilt between 1620 and 1658 in the Baroque style. In 1805 the church was again struck by lightning and damaged.