Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Acerenza explained

Jurisdiction:Archdiocese
Acerenza
Latin:Archidioecesis Acheruntina
Local:Italian
Country:Italy
Province:Potenza-Muro Lucano-Marsico Nuovo
Area Km2:1,250
Population:40,650
Population As Of:2018
Catholics:40,490
Catholics Percent:99
Parishes:21
Denomination:Catholic Church
Rite:Roman Rite
Established:4th century
Cathedral:Cattedrale dell’Assunzione della B. Maria Vergine
Bishop Title:Archbishop
Bishop:Francesco Sirufo
Website:www.diocesiacerenza.it

The Archdiocese of Acerenza (Latin: Archidioecesis Acheruntina) is a Latin archdiocese of the Catholic Church in southern Italy, included in the provinces of Lecce and Potenza.[1] It has existed as a diocese since the fourth or fifth centuries. In the 11th century it was elevated to an archdiocese. In 1203 it was united with the diocese of Matera to form the Archdiocese of Acerenza and Matera. This was separated again in 1954, recreating the Archdiocese of Acerenza, which briefly became the Diocese of Acerenza in 1976 before reverting to an archdiocese in 1977. Its metropolitan is the Archdiocese of Potenza-Muro Lucano-Marsico Nuovo.[2] [3]

History

Acerenza was certainly an episcopal see in the course of the fifth century, for in 499 we meet with the name of its first known bishop, Justus, in the Acts of the Roman Synod of that year. The town was known in antiquity as the "high nest of Acherontia".[4]

Acerenza was in early imperial times a populous and important town, and a bulwark of the territory of Lucania and Apulia. In the Gothic and Lombard period it fell into decay, but was restored by Grimoald II, Duke of Beneventum (687-689). An Archbishop of Acerenza (Giraldus) appears in 1063 in an act of donation of Robert Guiscard to the monastery of the Santissima Trinità in Venosa.

For a few years after 968 Acerenza adopted the Greek Rite in consequence of an order of the Byzantine Emperor Nicephorus Phocas (963-969), whereby it was made one of five suffragans of the archdiocese of Otranto, and compelled to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the Patriarch of Constantinople.[5]

On 16 June 1102, Pope Paschal II confirmed for the archbishop of Acerenza all his diocese's privileges and possessions, including the suffragan (subordinate) dioceses of Venosa, Gravina, Tricarico, Tursi, and Potenza, whose bishops he had the right of confirming and consecrating.[6]

Pope Urban VI (1378–1389), Bartolommeo Prignano, was once Archbishop of Acerenza.

Acerenza Cathedral is known for a bust which has long been supposed to be that of Saint Canius, patron of the city, to whom the cathedral is dedicated, but which is now judged to be a portrait-bust of Julian the Apostate, though others maintain that it is a bust of the Emperor Frederick II, after the manner of the sculptors of the Antonine age.

List of bishops/archbishops

Bishops of Acerenza

Down to 'Joseph', the names and duration of the bishops are traditional and undocumented.[7]

...

...

Bishops or Archbishops of Acerenza

Archbishops of Acerenza

Archbishops of Acerenza and Matera

From 1203 to 1954 the archbishopric of Acerenza was joined to that of the Diocese of Matera to form the Archbishopric of Acerenza and Matera

Sede vacante (1600–1606)

Archbishops of Acerenza

Acerenza and Matera were separated again into two archdioceses on 2 July 1954

Bibliography

Reference works for bishops

Studies

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Acerenza (Archdiocese) [Catholic-Hierarchy] ]. 2022-09-21 . www.catholic-hierarchy.org.
  2. Web site: Cheney . David M.. Archdiocese of Acerenza . Catholic-Hierarchy.org. June 16, 2018.
  3. Web site: Chow . Gabriel. Archdiocese of Acerenza . GCatholic.org. June 16, 2018.
  4. [Horace]
  5. Moroni, Dizionario, L, 63.
  6. F. Ughelli Italia Sacra VII (Venice 1721), p. 29. P. Kehr Italia pontificia IX, p. 458, no. 9: "munit Acherontinam ecclesiam apost. decreti auctoritate et confirmat, quaecumque metropolitano iure praeteritis temporibus ei pertinuisse noscuntur, videlicet Venusium, Gravinam, Tricaricum, Tursum, Potentiam, ut potestatem habeat in eis episcopos ordinandi ac consecrandi."
  7. Gams, p. 843.
  8. Bishop Justus is the first historically documented bishop of Acerenza, he is recorded as having attended the Synod of Rome in 499.
  9. Gauchat p. 57.
  10. in 1818 the name was changed to "Archdiocese of Acerenza (e Matera)" and in 1822 to "Archdiocese of Acerenza-Matera" (Catholic Hierarchy
  11. the archdiocese of Acerenza became a diocese on 21 August 1976 and an archdiocese again on 3 December 1977 (Catholic Hierarchy)

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