sacral Art,male religous Statuary - St. Abbot

Abbots with the Benedictines, the Cistercians and some of the Augustinian and Premonstratensian canons are sovereigns over the abbey and directly subordinate to the Pope. In the Middle Ages, some abbots as princes also had worldly power and jurisdiction in the possessions of the abbey. In special cases, such as the Cistercian sisters of Las Huelgas or in the Italian San Benedetto in Conversano, the abbess of a monastery also had such quasi-bishoply powers and bore the title of prelate.