Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Spoleto-Norcia


The Italian Catholic Archdiocese of Spoleto-Norcia, historically the Diocese of Spoleto, and an archdiocese since 1821, is directly subject to the Holy See.

History

Civil affairs

, the Roman Spoletium, surrendered in the Gothic war to the Byzantine general, Constantine; but in 546 it was recovered by Totila, and it was not retaken by the Byzantines until 552, when Narses restored the fortifications. In 572 Spoleto became the seat of a Lombard duke, Faroald.
Under Hildebrand, the Duchy of Spoleto was promised to the Holy See by the King of the Franks, and the duke himself was named by Pope Adrian, but the succeeding dukes were named by the Frankish emperors. Winigisus aided Pope Leo III against his enemies.
Duke Lambert distinguished himself in the wars against the Saracens, but disgraced himself by at Rome in 867; he was afterwards deposed, then restored, but was a second time excommunicated by Pope John VIII. In 883 Guido II of Spoleto united under his sway the entire dukedom, which from this time was called the Duchy of Spoleto and Camerino. After the death of Charles the Fat, Guido had himself crowned Roman Emperor and King of Italy under Pope Stephen V ; Pope Formosus in 892 also crowned his son Lambert II, who succeeded his father in the dukedom, kingdom, and empire.
Alberico I, Duke of Camerino, and afterwards of Spoleto, married the notorious Marozia; he was killed by the Romans in 924. His son Alberico II made himself also master of Rome and remained there until the election to the papacy of his son John XII.
During the conflict between the papacy and the Emperor Henry IV, the latter named other dukes of Spoleto. After this the dukedom was in the family of the Werners of Urslingen, Margraves of Ancona.
On 28 July 1155, the city of Spoleto was completely destroyed by the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.
In August 1433, the Emperor Sigismund paid a visit to Spoleto, following his coronation in Rome by Pope Eugenius IV on 31 May 1433.

Papal affairs

The popes maintained at Spoleto a governor, who was often a cardinal. As early as the thirteenth century, and more frequently in the fourteenth, Spoleto was involved in wars with Perugia, Terni, and other cities; in 1324 it was almost destroyed by the Perugians. In 1319 the struggle between the Guelphs and Ghibellines tore the city. Cardinal Albornoz favoured the city for the services which it rendered in the restoration of the papal power, and made it independent of Perugia.
At the beginning of the Western Schism, Pietro di Prato succeeded in occupying Spoleto for the antipope Clement VII, but was expelled by Pope Boniface IX. King Ladislaus of Naples, in 1414 endeavoured in vain to make himself master of the city. Pope Eugenius IV named as governor the Abbot of Monte Cassino, Piero Tomacelli, who was tyrannical to such an extent that the people besieged him in his castle, and in 1438 summoned the bands of Piccinino to free them. In 1480 Cardinal Vitelleschi ended the tyranny of Piero and of the Trinci of Foligno.
On 15 January 1820, Spoleto became a metropolitan see, thanks to a bull of Pope Pius VII entitled Pervetustam Episcopalium, and the ancient Diocese of Norcia was revived, with its territory taken from that of Spoleto.

Bishops

Spoleto venerates as its apostle St. Brictius, who is also venerated in other cities of Umbria and Tuscany. The legend of his life is full of anachronisms.
Another martyred bishop was St. Saturnius.
At the time of Bishop Petrus Spoleto was under Arian rule. It is told that an Arian bishop in Spoleto wished to enter the Church of San Pietro, then the cathedral, by force, but was stricken with blindness.
Bishop Alfonso Visconti began the construction of the diocesan seminary.
After the death of Cardinal Locatelli on 13 February 1811, King Napoleon of Italy on 14 April 1813 nominated Canon and Archpriest Antonio de Longo of Florence to be Bishop of Spoleto; the Canons of Spoleto were unwilling to obey the imperial-royal command, and were therefore nearly all exiled. Pope Pius VII was in no position to intervene, since he himself was a prisoner of the Emperor Napoleon at Fontainebleau.

Chapter and cathedral

Bishop Adalbert laid the foundations of the new cathedral, dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Saint Primianus. He also moved the episcopal residence within the city to the monastery of S. Eufemia.
Having destroyed the city in 1155, in 1185 Frederick Barbarossa presented to the cathedral the so-called Madonna of St. Luke, a Byzantine work with inscriptions of a dialogue between Mary and Jesus.
In 1417, on the death of Bishop Jacopo, who was a partisan of Pope John XXIII, the clergy wished to proceed to the election of a new bishop, but the people prevented them, proclaiming as bishop Nicolò Vivari, the nominee of Pope Gregory XII. Again in 1433 the clergy wished to revive their right of electing a bishop, but the intervention of Pope Eugenius IV prevented them.
In 1691 the cathedral Chapter was composed of two dignities and twelve Canons.

Synods

In 1468, Cardinal Berardo Eroli held a diocesan synod, attended by approximately 230 priests.
Bishop Pietro Orsini held a diocesan synod in Spoleto in 1583, and had the decisions published.
A diocesan synod was held by Archbishop Giovanni de' Conti Sabbioni on 10–12 May 1842.

Bishops of Spoleto

to 1200

*
Elevated: 15 January 1821