Roman Catholic Diocese of Locri-Gerace

Diocese of Locri-Gerace Dioecesis Locrensis-Hieracensis
Co-cathedral in Gerace
Location
Country	Italy
Ecclesiastical province	Reggio Calabria-Bova
Statistics
Area
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2004) 134,043 132,511 (98.9%)
Parishes	73
Information
Denomination	Catholic Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	5th century
Cathedral	Cattedrale di S. Maria del Mastro (Locri)
Co-cathedral	Concattedrale di S. Maria Assunta (Gerace)
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Francesco Oliva
Map
File:Roman Catholic Diocese of Locri-Gerace in Italy.svg
Website
www.diocesilocri.it

The Italian Catholic Diocese of Locri-Gerace (Latin: Dioecesis Locrensis-Hieracensis ) is in Calabria. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Reggio Calabria-Bova.

Historically it was the Diocese of Gerace, becoming in 1954 the Diocese of Gerace-Locri and taking the current name in 1986.

History

Gerace probably owes its origin, or at least its importance, to the ruin of the town of Locri Epizephyrii, one of the earliest Greek colonies in Lower Italy, founded by the Ozolian Locrians (684-680 B.C.) and endowed with a code of laws by Zaleucus. Before its total ruin, Locri Epizephrii had a bishop of its own; but in 709, under Bishop Gregory, the see was transferred to Gerace.

The name Gerace is probably derived from Saint Cyriaca, whose church was destroyed by the Saracens in 915. They captured the town in 986, but in 1059 it fell into the hands of the Normans.

Until 1467 the Greek Rite was in use at Gerace, and such had probably been the custom from the beginning. As early as the thirteenth century efforts were made to introduce the Latin Rite, which accounts for the schism between Latins and Greeks about 1250-1253. The latter demanded as bishop the monk Bartenulfo, a Greek, whereas Pope Innocent IV, in 1253, appointed Marco Leone. In 1467, bishop Atanasio Calceofilo introduced the Latin Rite.

Other bishops were:

• Barlaam II (1342), Abbot of San Salvatore at Constantinople, and ambassador from the Emperor Andronicus to Pope Benedict XII, apropos of the union of the two Churches. Barlaam at one time had opposed the idea, but later reversed his position, and Pope Clement VI bestowed on him the see of Gerace. He taught Greek to Petrarch, Boccaccio, and others, and was thus one of the first of the Italian humanists.
• Simon Atumano (1348), humanist
• Bishop Ottaviano Pasqua (1574) wrote a history of the diocese.
• Giovanni Maria Belletti (1625), wrote Disquisitiones Clericales;
• Giuseppe Maria Pellicano (1818) rebuilt the cathedral, destroyed by an earthquake in 1783.

Ordinaries

Diocese of Gerace

Latin Name: Hieracensis
Erected: 5th Century

...

• Athanase Calceofilo (21 Oct 1461 Appointed - 4 Nov 1497 Died)

...

• Jaime de Conchillos, O. de M. (23 Feb 1505 - 25 Feb 1509 Appointed, Bishop of Catania)
• Bandinello Sauli (1509 - 19 Nov 1517 Resigned)
• Francesco Armellini Pantalassi de' Medici (19 Nov 1517 - 6 Jun 1519 Resigned)
• Alessandro Cesarini (Sr.) (6 Jun 1519 - 15 Jun 1519 Resigned)
• Girolamo Planca (15 Jun 1519 - 21 Aug 1534 Died)
• Alessandro Cesarini (Sr.) (21 Aug 1534 - 20 Feb 1538 Resigned)
• Tiberio Muti (20 Feb 1538 - 9 Mar 1552 Appointed, Bishop of Assisi)
• Giovanni Andrea Candido, O.S.Io.Hieros. (19 Mar 1552 - 6 Sep 1574 Died)
• Ottaviano Pasqua (17 Sep 1574 - 8 Jan 1591 Died)
• Vincenzo Bonardo, O.P. (20 Mar 1591 - 11 Mar 1601 Died)
• Orazio Mattei (19 Nov 1601 - 13 Jun 1622 Died)
• Alessandro Bosco (8 Aug 1622 - 29 Jan 1624 Resigned)
• Stefano de Rosis (29 Jan 1624 - 15 Aug 1624 Died)
• Giovanni Maria Belletti (27 Jan 1625 - 25 Feb 1626 Died)
• Lorenzo Tramallo (16 Sep 1626 - 8 Oct 1649 Died)
• Michele Angelo Vincentini (2 May 1650 - 20 Dec 1670 Resigned)
• Stefano Sculco (22 Dec 1670 - 20 Apr 1686 Resigned)
• Tommaso Caracciolo (bishop), O.S.B. (28 Apr 1687 - 31 Mar 1689 Died)
• Domenico Diez de Aux (7 Nov 1689 - 5 Nov 1729 Died)
• Ildefonso del Tufo, O.S.B. (8 Feb 1730 - 7 May 1748 Resigned)
• Domenico Bozzoni (3 Mar 1749 - 21 Dec 1749 Died)
• Cesare Rossi (23 Feb 1750 - 14 Nov 1755 Died)
• Pietro Domenico Scoppa (5 Apr 1756 - 14 Nov 1793 Died)
• Vincenzo Barisani, O.S.A. (18 Dec 1797 - 4 Feb 1806 Died)
• Giuseppe Maria Pellicano (21 Dec 1818 - 19 Jun 1833 Died)
• Luigi Maria Perrone, C.O. (19 Dec 1834 - 14 Mar 1852 Died)
• Pasquale de Lucia (27 Sep 1852 - 11 Jun 1860 Died)
• Francesco Saverio Mangeruva (6 May 1872 - 11 May 1905 Died)
• Giorgio Francesco Delrio (6 Dec 1906 - 16 Dec 1920 Appointed, Archbishop of Oristano)

Diocese of Gerace (-Santa Maria di Polsi)

Latin Name: Hieracensis (-Sanctae Mariae de Pulsi)
Name Changed: 8 April 1920
Metropolitan: Archdiocese of Reggio Calabria

• Giovanni Battista Chiappe (4 Oct 1922 - 26 Aug 1951 Died)
• Pacifico Maria Luigi Perantoni, O.F.M. (31 Jan 1952 - 21 Aug 1962 Appointed, Archbishop of Lanciano e Ortona)

Diocese of Gerace-Locri (-Santa Maria di Polsi)

Latin Name: Hieracensis-Locrensis (-Sanctae Mariae de Pulsi)
Name Changed: 22 February 1954
Metropolitan: Archdiocese of Reggio Calabria

• Michele Alberto Arduino, S.D.B. (21 Oct 1962 - 18 Jun 1972 Died)
• Francesco Tortora, O.M. (21 Oct 1972 - 22 Sep 1988 Resigned)

Diocese of Locri-Gerace (-Santa Maria di Polsi)

Latin Name: Dioecesis Locrensis-Hieracensis (-Sanctae Mariae de Pulsi)
Name Changed: 30 September 1986
Metropolitan: Archdiocese of Reggio Calabria-Bova

• Antonio Ciliberti (7 Dec 1988 - 6 May 1993 Appointed, Archbishop of Matera-Irsina)
• Giancarlo Maria Bregantini, C.S.S. (12 Feb 1994 - 8 Nov 2007 Appointed, Archbishop of Campobasso-Boiano)
• Giuseppe Fiorini Morosini, O.M. (20 Mar 2008 - 13 Jul 2013 Appointed, Archbishop of Reggio Calabria-Bova)
• Francesco Oliva (5 May 2014 - )

Notes

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: