The Diocese of Nebbio was a Roman Catholic diocese located in the town of Saint-Florent in Corsica. The Cathedral is on a low hill one mile from the port of Saint-Florent. In the Medieval period the Bishop of Nebbio was also the temporal lord of nearly all the lands in his diocese. In 1667, Nebbio was completely abandoned and the bishop lived in Saint-Florent, a town of about 200 inhabitants, under the dominion of the Republic of Genoa. The diocese had some 22 places. The Cathedral Chapter had two dignities, the Archdeacon and the Provost, and three Canons. In 1770 the diocese was under the dominion of the King of France, and Saint-Fleur had about 600 inhabitants. The Chapter of the Cathedral still existed, with two dignities and six Canons. The diocese of Nebbio was suppressed by the National Constituent Assembly through the Civil Constitution of the Clergy in 1790. In 1801, under the Consulate, it was suppressed through the Concordat of 1801, which was given effect by a bull of Pope Pius VII of 29 November 1801. The diocese of Nebbio and its territory were assigned to the Diocese of Ajaccio.
History
The mythical founding of the five cities of Corsica, in which Nebbino was a nephew of the founder, Corso, is retailed by Anton-Pietro Filippini. Filippini attributes the founding of the cathedral, dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, to the year 824, though Ughelli wrote that the bell tower belonged to AD 700. Ughelli claims a bishop named Martin, who is supposed to have attended the Lateran Synod under Pope Martinus I in 649, but, as Giuseppe Cappelletti points out, neither the name of the bishop nor the name of the See can be found in the manuscripts relating to the Synod. When he was in Pisa, fleeing from Emperor Henry V, Pope Gelasius appointed the Bishop of Pisa to be the Metropolitan of three of the dioceses on the island of Corsica, Aleria, Mariana, and Nebbio. Bishop Peter was sent to Corsica along with Cardinal Peter of Santa Susanna in 1119, where they held a Synod in Mariana and consecrated the little cathedral there. The Archbishop of Genoa became the Metropolitan of Nebbio under Pope Innocent II in 1133. By a decree of the Constituent Assembly on 12 July 1790, the number of dioceses on the island of Corsica had been reduced from five to one. The 'Diocese de Corse' was to be situated in the city of Ajaccio. In accordance with the Civil Constitution of the Clergy, which was approved by King Louis XVI on 26 December 1790, each new departement in France was expected to elect its 'Constitutional Bishop'. The electors, who did not have to be Catholics, duly met and elected Msgr. Ignace-François Guasco, the Provost of the Cathedral Chapter of Mariana, as the 'Bishop of Corse'. Bishop Dominique de Santini of Nebbio went into exile in 1791, and found refuge in Rome. His diocese was never restored, and the 'Diocese of Corse' became the Diocese of Ajaccio after the signing of the Concordat of 1801 and papal enabling legislation.
