The Archdiocese of Bologna (; ) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Northern Italy. The cathedra is in the cathedral church of San Pietro, Bologna. The current archbishop is Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, who was installed in 2015.
The Archdiocese of Bologna is a metropolitan archdiocese and has three suffragan dioceses within its ecclesiastical province: the Diocese of Imola, the Diocese of Faenza-Modigliana, and the Archdiocese of Ferrara-Comacchio.
History
A detailed list of the various governments that have ruled Bologna is provided by Giovanni Battista Guidicini. In 1527, the Holy See became the absolute ruler of Bologna, and was represented by a Legatus a latere and a Vice-Legate.G. B. Guidicini, Cose notabili della città di Bologna, II (Bologna 1869), pp. 415–422. On 22 February 1530, Pope Clement VII crowned the Emperor Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor in Bologna, the last such event in history.
The bishopric of Bologna was founded in the 3rd century.
Originally it was a suffragan (under the supervision) of the diocese of Milan, but at the end of the 5th century became a suffragan of Ravenna. Because of the schism of the Antipope Clement III, Pope Paschal II, at the Council of Guastalla in October 1106, released Bologna from obedience to the church of Ravenna, and made it directly dependent on the papal See; but on 7 August 1118 Pope Gelasius II restored the previous status.Kehr, pp. 244, 249. Tomba, pp. 39–40. Bishop Victor, therefore, enjoyed the privilege of being consecrated a bishop by Pope Paschal II in 1108. But when he came to die in 1129, the Bolognese resisted the demands of Archbishop Gualterius of Ravenna that he should consecrate the newly elected Bishop Henricus. The papal Legate, Gerardus of S. Croce in Gerusalemme, heard the dispute in his court on 13 April 1130, and Archbishop Gualterius established his right to consecrate the bishops of Bologna.Kehr, p. 250, no. 20. Guidicini, pp. 18–19 (wrongly giving the month of March).
In 973, Bishop Albertus participated in a provincial synod of the ecclesiastical province of Ravenna, presided over by Archbishop Honestus, and held in the village of Marzalia in the diocese of Parma. Bishop Albertus complained to the assembly that his diocese was so poor that he was not able to sustain his clergy or his churches, on top of which Bishop Ubertus of Parma had taken control of certain territories near Parma which were the property of the diocese of Bologna. Ubertus replied that he had received them from his predecessors. The Archbishop and bishops agreed with the Bishop of Parma, chastised Albertus for raising the subject in the synod, and ordering both parties not to raise the matter again.J. D. Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, editio novissima, Tomus XIX (Venice: A. Zatta 1774, p. 41. Savioli, Annali Bolognesi I.i, p. 115; I.ii, pp. 56–57. Guidicini, p. 8.
A major earthquake struck Bologna on Christmas Day, 1222, causing the vaults of the cathedral ceiling to collapse. Another severe earthquake occurred on 21 April 1223, centered at Cremona; and a third centered in Bologna in 1229. Guidicini, Cose notabili della città di Bologna, IV (Bologna 1872), p. 162, also gives the date of 1222. Cappelletti, p. 499, dates the Christmas earthquake to 1223.
In the winter of 1410, Pope Alexander V and the Papal Court arrived in Bologna, on their way from Pistoria (where plague had been detected) toward Rome, which had fallen to papal forces on 1 January 1410. Alexander died, however, while he was still in Bologna, on 4 May, waiting for the pacification of Rome and its neighborhood. A Conclave, therefore, took place in Bologna, beginning on 14 May and concluding on 17 May with the election of Cardinal Baldassare Cossa, the Legate of Bologna, who took the name John XXIII.Hermann Blumenthal, "Johann XXIII., seine Wahl und seine Persönlichkeit. Eine Quellenuntersuchung," Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte 21 (Gotha 1901), 488-516, at 491-492. Ferdinand Gregorovius, History of Rome in the Middle Ages, Volume VI. 2, second edition revised (London: George Bell, 1906) [Book XII, chapter 5], pp. 607–622.
Pope Leo X visited Bologna from 8 December 1515 through 18 February 1516, where he held negotiations with King Francis I of France. Their talks resulted in the abrogation of the French Pragmatic Sanction and the conclusion of a new Concordat between the Papacy and France. Jules Thomas, Le concordat de 1516, ses origines, son histoire au XVIe siècle (Paris: Picard 1910), pp. 307–343.
In 1568, as one of his efforts to implement the decrees of the Council of Trent, Bishop Gabriele Paleotti established the diocesan seminary of Bologna. P. Prodi, "The Application of the Tridentine Decrees: the Organization of the diocese of Bologna during the episcopate of Cardinal Gabriele Paleotti," in: E. Cochrane (ed.), The Late Italian Renaissance 1525–1630, (London: Palgrave Macmillan 1970), p. 232.
The Archdiocese of Bologna maintains a formal diocesan archive — the Archivio Generale Arcivescovile di Bologna — which was founded in 1573 and continues to preserve a significant documentary and historical-ecclesiastical heritage for the archdiocese.
Archdiocese and metropolitan In 1582 the diocese of Bologna was raised to the status of a metropolitan archbishopric by Pope Gregory XIII in the bull Universi orbis of 10 December 1582, which removed it from the ecclesiastical province of Ravenna. It was assigned as suffragans the diocese of Faenza and the diocese of Imola. , containing the Cardinal's inaugural sermon and the text of Gregory XIII's bull. In a decree of the Vatican Sacred Congregation of Bishops of 8 December 1976, a new arrangement of certain dioceses in ecclesiastical provinces was announced; the diocese of Ferrara was made a suffragan of the Archbishop of Bologna, though the Archbishop of Ferrara was allowed to keep the title of archbishop.Acta Apostolicae Sedis Vol. LXIX (Città del Vaticano: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis 1977), pp. 157–158: Ferrariensem Ecclesiam, quin aliquid immutetur de archiepiscopali dignitate, Metropolitanae Ecclesiae Bononiensi adnectit.
Nine of the early bishops have been recognized as saints in popular culture, and three other bishops and three archbishops have been elected to the Papacy as Pope Innocent VII (1404), Pope Nicholas V (1447), Pope Julius II (1503), Pope Gregory XV (1621), Pope Benedict XIV (1740) and Pope Benedict XV (1914).
Cathedral and Chapter
Bishop Adalfredus (after 1031 – 1055) suffered many sleepless nights, worried about the number and behavior of his Canons and their hangers-on. Finally, exasperated, he acted. On 16 August 1045, citing decrees of the holy Fathers that in each Church clerics should be ordained in accordance with the ability of that church to support those clerics ministering at the altar, he issued a decree in which he limited the number of Canons in the Cathedral of Bologna to fifty. Specifically mentioned are the Archpriest, the Cantor, and the Archdeacon. To support them, he granted them three parts of the ten percent tithe which was the episcopal income.Savioli, Annali Bolognesi I.ii, pp. 88–90. Cappelletti, pp. 479–483. Guidicini, p. 11.
The Canons of the Cathedral Chapter were, according to information laid before the pope, interfering with the jurisdiction of the Archdeacon of Bologna. On 28 March 1219, Pope Honorius III wrote to the clergy and people to support the Archdeacon against the rebellion of the Canons. So that the Church of Bologna might not be despoiled of its rights if there were no person in the Chapter to have oversight of it, on 22 April 1219 Honorius granted the Archdeacons of Bologna full and free administration, spiritual and temporal, to correct and reform and decide matters. In separate letters, the Pope warned the Chapter and the Bishop not to interfere with the legitimate and canonical rights and jurisdiction of the Archdeacon.Savioli, II.ii, p. 403, no. 465 (and cf. p. 402, no. 464). August Potthast, Regesta pontificum Romanorum I (Berlin: Rudolf v. Decker 1874), p. 529, no. 6047, 6048, 6049.
In 1687, the Chapter of the Cathedral of S. Peter was composed of four dignities and sixteen Canons. In 1842 there were eighteen Canons.Ritzler-Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica V, p. 124, note 1. The dignities were: the Archdeacon, the Archpriest, the Provost, and the Primicerius.Cappelletti, p. 550.
Synods
A diocesan synod was an irregularly held, but important, meeting of the bishop of a diocese and his clergy. Its purpose was (1) to proclaim generally the various decrees already issued by the bishop; (2) to discuss and ratify measures on which the bishop chose to consult with his clergy; (3) to publish statutes and decrees of the diocesan synod, of the provincial synod, and of the Holy See. John Paul II, Constitutio Apostolica de Synodis Dioecesanis Agendis (March 19, 1997): Acta Apostolicae Sedis 89 (1997), pp. 706–727.
In 1535, a diocesan synod was held by Bishop Agostino Zanetti, the suffragan bishop of Bologna under Cardinal Alessandro Campeggio (1526–1553),Constitutiones Synodales Bononien. m . d . xxxv (publicatae per Augustinum de Zanettis Episc. Sebasten. Vicarium et Suffraganeum Bonon.). (Bononiae, per Fine Bonardum etc., 1535). and another in 1547.Oratio habita ad Patres Synodi Bononiae congregatos in festo penthecostes, sacrifitium peragente R.mo Cardinale s. Crucis, apostolicae sedis Legato, per fratrem Franciscum Salazar, Ord. Min. Observ. (excudebat Magistcr Bartholomaeus de Bonardo, 1547). Ordinationi publicate nella Sinodo Diocesana di Bologna... il di 16 d'ottobre 1566 (In Bologna, per Giovanni Rossi). Cardinal Gabriele Paleotti (1566–1597) held a diocesan synod on 16 October 1566, another in 1580, and another in 1594.J.-D. Mansi (ed.), Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, editio novissima, Tomus XXXVIbis (Paris: Hubert Welter 1913), pp. 393, 799.
Cardinal Alessandro Ludovisi (1612–1621) held a diocesan synod on 11 June 1620.Rinovatione di alcuni ordini, altre volte pubblicati di commissione dell' illustrissimo et reverendissimo sig. Cardinale Ludovisio, arcivescovo di Bologna et principe, fatta nella sinodo dioecesana celebrata alli 11 di giugno MDCXX. In Bologna per Vittore Benacci 1620. Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi (1621–1632) held a Congregation of the diocese's archpriests on 9 March 1623, and then a diocesan synod on 8 June 1623.J.-D. Mansi (ed.), Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, editio novissima, Tomus XXXVIter (Arnhem and Leipzig: Hubert Welter 1924), pp. 96, 97. He held another on 30 May 1624.Ordini nel Sinodo diocesano celebrato nel dì 30. di Maggio 1624. On 8 June 1634, Cardinal Girolamo Colonna (1632–1645) held a diocesan synod. Cardinal Girolamo Boncompagni (1651–1684) presided over a diocesan synod on 15 October 1654. Mansi, Tomus XXXVIter], p. 331. Cardinal Giacomo Boncompagni (1690–1731) presided over a diocesan synod in Bologna on 17–19 June 1698. Mansi, Tomus XXXVIter], p. 699. A diocesan synod was held in Bologna by Cardinal Andrea Giovanetti (1775–1800) on 2–4 September 1788.
Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro held a synod in 1962.Archidiocesi di Bologna, Piccolo sinodo diocesano 1962 (Bologna: UTOA, 1963).
In 1586, Cardinal Paleotti held the first provincial synod of the ecclesiastical province of Bologna.
List of bishops and archbishops An old list of the bishops of Bologna, found along with the records of the synod of 1310, and perhaps compiled around that time, exists. Lanzoni, p. 783. The following is a list of the bishops and archbishops of Bologna from 313 to the present day.Chiesa di Bologna, Cronotassi dei Vescovi ed Arcivescovi diocesani; retrieved: 28 December 2018.
Bishops to 1000