Saint Ada’s Abbey is one of those buildings in Rosewood that define its character. Completed in 1199, St. Ada’s was chosen to represent the religious within Rosewood City and its surroundings. The Abbot or Abbess administer and take care of the religious clergy in the region that have devoted their lives to Christ.
The Abbot or Abbess are given full authority over their flock, meaning they are exempt from secular law, but must adhere to Biblical and Canon Law. Their purpose is the study of the Bible, of Christ, and of the Seven Virtues. Both men, monks, and women, nuns, coexist within the Abbey, but their roles are separate. They live in their own wings, they eat divided, and their studies are catered to their roles. Those who take the oath and become Monks or Nuns surrender themselves to monastic life, meaning they will spend the rest of their days free of vice and sin, with the Abbot or Abbess as their head.
The Abbey boasts a large kitchen, often used to feed the poor, a large garden, where monks and nuns spend their days tending to its plants, a library with certain texts transcribed from the Imperial Library, used in the study of the Bible. There is also a separate wing designed for the care of destitute and orphaned children. Those very same often choose to take the oath once they come of age. The Abbey organizes pilgrimages, and charitable projects across the City, and welcomes anyone to take the oath and join their covenant.
Generally, most hold it in high regard; both the commoners who often gain from their altruism and the local nobility who appreciate their apathetic stance towards politics. It is not rare to see parents leave their children in their orphanage or to see lords send their children there when they are far removed from the line of succession.
As St. Ada’s is one of the few religious covenants that oversee the religious lives of both men and women, the hierarchy is somewhat different from the rest of Christendom. At the head of the Abbey is the Abbot or Abbess, which at the moment is Abbess Mother Rebecca Decker. The office of the Abbess includes the direct administration of the Abbey, but also the care of the many monasteries and nunneries in and around Rosewood. As such, every large city in the Kingdom of France has only one Abbey within them which represents individual monasteries and covenants. The heads of these monasteries are Fathers Superior, while the nunneries are headed by a Mother Superor. These will also have their own priors and prioresses. The religious of these communities respect the authority of those above them, with the word of the Abbess or Abbot being on the same level as the Pope’s.
