Roman Catholic Diocese of Acquapendente

The Italian Roman Catholic diocese of Acquapendente was an ecclesiastical territory in Lazio. The seat of the bishop was in the cathedral of Acquapendente, dedicated to the Holy Sepulchre (San Sepolcro). The diocese was established in 1649, when it was created in the place of the suppressed diocese of Castro. In 1986, along with other dioceses, it was merged into the diocese of Viterbo, Acquapendente, Bagnoregio, Montefiascone, Tuscania e San Martino al Monte Cimino.[1][2]

Acquapendente Cathedral

History

In 1649, in consequence of a conspiracy, Cristoforo Girarda, a Barnabite of Novara and Bishop of Castro, was assassinated in the Second War of Castro. In punishment of this crime, Pope Innocent X ordered Castro to be destroyed, and raised Acquapendente to the dignity of an episcopal city (Bull, 13 September 1649), directly under the Holy See. Its bishops, however, retained the appellation "post Castrenses." The first incumbent of the new See was the Hieronymite Pompeo Mignucci of Offida, who had been Archbishop of Ragusa. He took possession on 10 January 1650.

Bishop Nicolò Leti (1655–1674) held a diocesan synod in Acquapendente on 9–10 May 1660, and published the Constitutions of the synod.[3] Bishop Florido Pierleoni, C.O. (1802–1829) held a diocesan synod in 1818.[4]

By the middle of 1986, papal policy in the selection of bishops had concentrated in the person of Bishop Luigi Boccadoro: the Diocese of Viterbo e Tuscania, the diocese of Acquapendente (since 1951), the diocese of Montefiascone (since 1951), and the Administratorship of the diocese of Bagnoregio (since 1971); he was also the Abbot Commendatory of Monte Cimino. On September 30, 1986, Pope John Paul II moved to consolidate these several small dioceses by suppressing them and uniting their territories[5] into the diocese of Viterbo e Tuscania, whose name was changed to the Diocese of Viterbo.[6] The diocese of Acquapendente ceased to exist.

The title of Acquapendente, though not the diocese structure, was revived in 1991, to serve as a titular see. It is currently the episcopal title of an auxiliary bishop.

Bishops of Acquapendente

• Pompeo Mignucci, O.S.H. (1650–1654)[7]
• Nicolò Leti (14 Jun 1655 – 30 Sep 1674 Resigned)[8]
• Lodovico Magni, O.F.M. Conv. (1 Oct 1674 – 1680 Died)[9]
• Gian Lorenzo Castiglioni (9 Dec 1680 – 5 Aug 1682 Died)[10]
• Giambattista Febei (12 Jul 1683 – 14 Apr 1688 Died)[11]
• Alessandro Fedele (17 Apr 1690 –1696)[12]
• Nicolò Nardini (21 May 1696 – Jul 1697 Died)[13]
• Ambrosio Angelini (20 Nov 1697 – 9 Dec 1710 Resigned)[14]
• Bernardino Egidio Recchi (26 Jan 1711 – Feb 1728 Died)[15]
• Ferdinando Agostino Bernabei, O.P. (12 Apr 1728 –1729)[16]
• Simone Gritti (23 Dec 1729 – 25 Nov 1743 Resigned)[17]
• Bernardo Bernardi, O.F.M. Conv. (28 Nov 1746 – 31 Oct 1758 Died)[18]
• Giovanni Domenico Santucci (22 Nov 1758 – 4 Jun 1763 Died)[19]
• Clemente Maria (Vincent) Bardini, O.S.B. (18 Jul 1763 – 4 Jul 1790 Died) [20]
• Paolo Bartoli (21 Feb 1794 –1801) [21]
• Florido Pierleoni, C.O. (20 Sep 1802 – 29 Dec 1829 Died)[22]
• Niccola Belletti (15 Mar 1830 –1843)[23]
• Felicissimo Salvini (19 Jun 1843 –1847)[24]
• Giovanni Battista Pellei (14 Jun 1847 – 22 Nov 1877 Died)[25]
• Concetto Focaccetti (1878–1887)[26]
• Gisleno Veneri (23 May 1887 –1919 Retired)[27]
• Tranquillo Guarneri (8 Mar 1920 – 21 Jul 1937 Died)
• Giuseppe Pronti (17 Mar 1938 – 1 Jan 1951 Appointed, Bishop of Nocera Umbra-Gualdo Tadino)
• Luigi Boccadoro (14 Jun 1951 – 27 Mar 1986 Appointed, Bishop of Viterbo, Acquapendente, Bagnoregio, Montefiascone, Tuscania e San Martino al Monte Cimino)

Notes and references

1. "Diocese of Acquapendente" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
2. "Titular Episcopal See of Acquapendente" GCatholic.org. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved February 29, 2016.
3. Nicolò Leti (1665). Constitutiones, et decreta ex dioecesana synodo Aquapenden. Nicolao Laeto episcopo die 9. & 10. Maij 1660 (in Latin). Rome: typis Ignatij de Lazaris.
4. Tommaso Catalucci (1830). Per la morte di Monsignor Florido Pierleoni vescovo d'Acquapendente seguita il dì 29 dicembre 1829 orazioni funebri con iscrizione lapidaria (in Italian). Orvieto: presso Sperandio Pompei. p. 36.
5. "in unam dioecesim iuridice redigeremus, satis enim eas coeptis, institutis, moribus, mente coaluisse....perpetuo unimus, unione, ut dicunt, exstinctiva; quae proinde adquiret atque comprehendet in suo territorio uniuscuiusque harum Ecclesiarum territorium"
6. Acta Apostolicae Sedis Vol. 78 (Città del Vaticano: Typis polyglottis vaticanis 1986), pp. 906-907.
7. Born in Offida (diocese of Ascoli Piceno), Mignucci held the degree of Doctor in utroque iure (Rome, 1617). In his Order he was commendatore di s. Giovanni di Pola e di s. Nicola di Gradisca. He served as Archbishop of Ragusa (1647–1650). He was appointed Bishop of Acquapendente by Pope Innocent X in the consistory of 10 January 1650. He died in October 1654. Cappelletti, Le chiese d'Italia V, pp. 573-574. Gauchat, Hierarchia catholica IV, pp. 88 with note 2; 291 with note 7.
8. Gauchat, p. 88 with note 3. Ritzler-Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica V, p. 92.
9. Magni had been Procurator General of his Order in the Roman Curia.
10. Ritzler-Sefrin, V, p. 92 with note 4.
11. Ritzler-Sefrin, V, p. 92 with note 5.
12. On 20 Feb 1696 Fedele was appointed Bishop of Jesi. Ritzler-Sefrin, V, p. 92 with note 6.
13. Ritzler-Sefrin, V, p. 92 with note 7.
14. Ritzler-Sefrin, V, p. 92 with note 8.
15. Ritzler-Sefrin, V, p. 92 with note 9.
16. On 23 December 1729 Bernabei was appointed Bishop of Osimo e Cingoli. Cappelletti, p. 576. Ritzler-Sefrin, V, p. 92 with note 10.
17. Ritzler-Sefrin, V, p. 92 with note 11.
18. Bernardi: Cappelletti, p. 576. Ritzler-Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VI, p. 92 with note 3.
19. Santucci: Cappelletti, p. 576 (who places the death on 13 June). Ritzler-Sefrin, VI, p. 92 with note 4.
20. Bardini: Cappelletti, p. 576. Ritzler-Sefrin, VI, p. 92 with note 5.
21. On 23 Dec 1801 Bartoli was appointed Bishop of Città di Castello. Cappelletti, p. 577. Ritzler-Sefrin, VI, p. 92 with note 6.
22. Pierleoni: Cappelletti, pp. 577-578. Ritzler-Sefrin, VII, p. 82.
23. On 19 Jun 1843 Belletti was appointed Bishop of Foligno. Cappelletti, p. 578. Ritzler-Sefrin, VII, pp. 83, 199.
24. On 12 April 1847 Salvini was appointed Archbishop of Camerino. The diocese of Acquapendente was offered to Msgr. Brioli, the Vicar-General of Rimini, but he declined the appointment. Cappelletti, p. 578. Ritzler-Sefrin, VII, p. 83; VIII, p. 176.
25. Pellei had been Bishop of Segni (1845–1847). Ritzler-Sefrin, VII, p. 346; VIII, p. 113.
26. Foccaccetti had been Apostolic Administrator of the diocese of Acquapendente from 1867 to 1873, and was titular Bishop of Lystra (Turkey). He was appointed Bishop of Montefiascone on 25 July 1873, and transferred to the diocese of Acquapendente on 15 July 1878. He resigned on 14 May 1887, and was appointed Titular Archbishop of Hierapolis in Phrygia. He died on 26 September 1889. Ritzler-Sefrin, VIII, pp. 113, 305, 356, 393.
27. On his retirement on 15 December 1919, Veneri was appointed titular Bishop of Darnis (Libya). He died on 15 November 1937. Ritzler-Sefrin, VIII, p. 113.

Bibliography

• Gams, Pius Bonifatius (1873). Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae: quotquot innotuerunt a beato Petro apostolo (in Latin). Ratisbon: Typis et Sumptibus Georgii Josephi Manz. p. 660.
• Gauchat, Patritius (Patrice) (1935). Hierarchia catholica. Tomus IV (1592-1667). Münster: Libraria Regensbergiana.
• Ritzler, Remigius; Sefrin, Pirminus (1952). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentis aevi. Tomus V (1667-1730). Patavii: Messagero di S. Antonio.
• Ritzler, Remigius; Sefrin, Pirminus (1958). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentis aevi. Tomus VI (1730-1799). Patavii: Messagero di S. Antonio.
• Ritzler, Remigius; Sefrin, Pirminus (1968). Hierarchia Catholica medii et recentioris aevi (in Latin). Volume VII (1800–1846). Monasterii: Libreria Regensburgiana.
• Remigius Ritzler; Pirminus Sefrin (1978). Hierarchia catholica Medii et recentioris aevi (in Latin). Volume VIII (1846–1903). Il Messaggero di S. Antonio.
• Pięta, Zenon (2002). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentioris aevi (in Latin). Volume IX (1903–1922). Padua: Messagero di San Antonio. ISBN 978-88-250-1000-8.

• Ughelli, Ferdinando; Coleti, Nicolò (1717). Italia sacra: sive De episcopis Italiae et insularum adjacentium (in Latin). Tomus primus. Venice: apud Sebastianum Coleti. pp. 583–585.

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Acquapendente". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.