The Italian Catholic Archdiocese of Siracusa, also known as Syracuse, is in Sicily. It became an archdiocese in 1844. The current Archbishop is Salvatore Pappalardo.
History
claimed to be the second Church founded by St. Peter, after that of Antioch. It also claims that St. Paul preached there. As its first bishop it venerates St. Marcianus, whose dates are uncertain, though some claim he was ordained by S. Peter himself. Little trust can be placed in the authenticity of the list of the seventeen bishops who were predecessors of Chrestus, to whom the Emperor Constantine wrote a letter. In the times of St. Cyprian, Christianity certainly flourished at Syracuse, and the catacombs located there attest to Christian worship there in the 2nd century. Besides its martyred bishops, Syracuse claims other Christian martyrs, such as St. Benignus and St. Evagrius, St. Bassianus ; and the martyrdom of the deacon Euplus and the virgin St. Lucy under Diocletian are thought to be historical. The names of the known bishops of the following century are few in number: Germanus ; Eulalius ; Agatho, during whose rule Pope Vigilius died at Syracuse; another bishop was denounced by Pope Honorius for the protection which he accorded to prostitutes; St. Zozimus, who founded the monastery of Santa Lucia fuori-le-mura; St. Elias. Of Marcianos II it is said that he was consecrated not at Rome, but at Syracuse, since the Emperor Leo the Isaurian had removed Southern Italy from the jurisdiction of Rome, and had then elevated Syracuse to the dignity of a metropolitan see, over the thirteen other dioceses of Sicily. Bishop Stephen II was present at the Second Council of Nicaea, and carried to Constantinople the relics of St. Lucy for safety against the Saracen incursions. Archbishop Gregorios Asbestas was deposed by Ignatius, who had become Patriarch of Constantinople in 847, though Ignatius' election and then his act of deposition of Gregory were condemned by Pope Leo IV. Gregory and two other bishops had appealed to Rome, and Pope Leo insisted that no bishop should be deposed without the consent of Rome. Gregory then became the principal supporter of Patriarch St. Photius, and actually carried out his consecration in 857. He lost his See when Syracuse fell to the Arabs. After Syracuse fell to the Arabs in 878, Bishop Sophronius was thrown into prison at Palermo together with the monk Theodosius, where he died in a dungeon. Until the Norman Conquest in the eleventh century the names of other bishops are not known. The series of bishops begins again in 1093 with Bishop Rogerius, who received the pallium from Pope Urban II. On 19 October 1188 Pope Celestine III wrote to the Archbishop of Monreale, Guglielmo, finally settling the dissention between Siracusa and Monreale over the right to metropolitan status, which had turned into a scandal. The Pope decided that the pallium, which the Archbishops of Siracusa had been accustomed to wear through the indulgence of the Holy See, should not be used by the bishop of Syracuse and his successors. The diocese of Siracusa became suffragan of the archdiocese of Monreale. Among the bishops of this period are:
Jacopo Orozco, who introduced the Roman ritual in place of the Gallican, and who founded the seminary.
Discussions about the small number of bishops on the island of Sicily and the large numbers of Catholics in their dioceses began as early as 1778 in the General Parliament of Sicily. On 5 April 1778 they petitioned King Ferdinand to have the number of dioceses increased to solve the problem, and he graciously agreed to their supplication. In 1802, when the Bishop of Syracuse died, the town Council of Caltagirone petitioned the King again, and in the bull of appointment of the new bishop Pope Pius VII reserved the right to divide the diocese at the appropriate moment. In 1806 the Pope and the Consistorial Congregation assigned the Archbishop of Palermo the task of carrying out the negotiations which would lead to a reordering of the dioceses of Sicily. A new bishop of Siracusa, Filippo Trigona, was appointed in 1807, and both he and the town council of Siracusa were opposed to the plan to diminish the size of the diocese. On 12 September 1816, however, Pope Pius VII proceeded to issue the instructions to detach the new diocese of Caltagirone from Syracuse, and the King followed with executorial letters on 8 April 1817. On 15 May 1844, Pope Gregory XVI created the new diocese of Noto out of territory belonging to the diocese of Siracusa, and the action was approved by King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies on 2 July 1844. Noto was made suffragan to the diocese of Siracusa. On 6 May 1950, Pope Pius XII established the new diocese of Ragusa out of the territory of the Archdiocese of Siracusa, and made it suffragan to the ecclesiastical province of Siracusa. The Archbishop of Siracusa, Ettore Baranzini, was appointed to guide the formation of the new diocese, and on 9 September 1950 the Papal Legate, Cardinal Ernesto Ruffini of Palermo, handed over the new diocese to Archbishop Baranzini. His Auxiliary Bishop, Francesco Pennisi, was appointed Vicar General of Ragusa and took up residence in the town of some 73,000. On 1 October 1955, the definitive separation of the two dioceses took effect, and Bishop Pennisi became the first Bishop of Ragusa.
