The Diocese of Lucera-Troia (), sometimes called Nocera, is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Apulia, in southern Italy, with its episcopal seat at Lucera Cathedral. The diocese reached its present configuration in 1986, by combining the older diocese of Lucera with the diocese of Troia,"Diocese of Lucera-Troia" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved February 29, 2016"Diocese of Lucera-Troi" GCatholic.org. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved February 29, 2016 the seat of which was Troia Cathedral, now a co-cathedral of the united diocese.

Ecclesiastical history Lucera Local tradition traces the origin of the bishopric of Lucera to the third century and Saint Bassus.Bassus, and a successor named Pardus, are parenthesized by Gams, p. 891 column 1; and are named with question marks by Lanzoni, p. 275. Two other imaginary bishops, Johannes and Marcus, first appear in a martyrology written in the 11th or 12th century, whose authority is usually rejected.Lanzoni, p. 276: "Io credo che l'autore della Vita intendesse di scrivere la storia di quel s. Marco, vescovo di Aeca, confessore, che visse appunto nel iv secolo. Ma egli seppe poco o nulla del suo eroe; e per accreditare le fantasticherie che avrebbe narrato, ricorse al volgare espediente degli autori dei romanzi antichi...."

Pope Gelasius I (492–496) wrote to two local bishops, complaining about the attack on the Monastery in Fundo Luciano in the territory of the diocese of Lucera led by two priests of the diocese of Lucera, and orders the bishops to advise the (unnamed) bishop of Lucera to go to the monastery to ensure that attacks against the clergy should not take place.Kehr IX, pp. 157-158, nos. 1-2. Giorgio Otranto, “Due epistole di papa Gelasio I (492-496) sulla comunita cristiana di Lucera,” , in: Vetera Christianorum vol. 14 (1977):, pp. 123-137.

The city of Lucera was destroyed in 663, on orders of the Emperor Constans II during a campaign against the Lombards, but the city quickly recovered and was a Lombard stronghold.Paul the Deacon, Historia Langobardorum, Book 5, ch. 7. Julie Anne Taylor, Muslims in Medieval Italy (New York-Toronto-London: Lexington Books/Rowman & Littlefield 2003), p. 34.

The first historically certain named bishop is Marcus, who attended the Roman council of Pope Zacharias in 743.Kehr IX, p. 154.

Lucera fell under Byzantine control in 983.Antonetti, "Alcune note...," p. 100, with note 6.

The Muslim colony in Lucera It was in the 1220s, under Bishop Bartolomaeus, that Frederick II began the settlement of Sicilian Saracens at Lucera.Vittorio Fiori, Lucera: tra cristiani e musulmani (self published PDF). Antonetti, "Su Bartolomeo, vescovo di Lucera," pp. 104-105. In 1234, the community was granted the right to hold a fair by Frederick.Christoph T. Maier, "Crusade and rhetoric against the Muslim colony of Lucera: Eudes of Châteauroux's Sermones de Rebellione Sarracenorum Lucherie in Apulia," in: Journal of Mcdicval History 21 (1995), pp. 343-385, at p. 345.

In the 1230s, Pope Gregory IX (Ugo dei Conti di Segni) began sending Dominican preachers into south Italy, particularly to Aversa and Naples to root out heresy. They were also commissioned to convert the Muslims.Meier, p. 346. He also embarked on a campaign to impose a uniform (Latin) baptismal rite on towns which followed the Greek rite. His initiatives were directly challenging to the emperor's policies, and caused considerable trouble for King Frederick and for the bishop of Lucera. In reply, in 1236, Frederick informed the pope that the removal of the Saracens from the mountains of Sicily had made the island much safer, and that, in Lucera, a third of the Muslims had become Christians.Taylor, pp. 50-51. But at the end of the 13th century, the majority population of Lucera was still Muslim.Taylor, pp. 154-155.

Following the death of Frederick II in 1250, his sons, Conrad IV and then Conradin, continued the Hohenstaufen struggle with the papacy. The infant Conradin was under the regency of his uncle Manfred, Prince of Taranto, who had usurped the regency in May 1254, which had been assigned to Innocent IV. The pope died in Naples on 7 December 1254.

Crusade against Lucera and Manfred On 7 May 1255,August Potthast, Regesta pontificum Romanorum Vol. 2 (Berlin: De Decker 1875), p. 1305, no. 15841. therefore, Alexander issued the bull "Pia Matris ecclesiae",Text: "Annales de Burton," , in: H.R. Luard (ed.), Annales Monastici Vol. 1 (London: Longman Green 1864), pp. 352-353: "Nam Memfredus, ipsius Frederici filius, eidem Ecclesiæ, ad evacuandam ejus in hac parte sollicitudinem, suorumque labores fidelium non veritus cum infidelibus obviare, Saracenis Nuchariæ [Luceriae] detestabiliter et impudenter adhæsit, eisque nefando foedere copulatus, eorum præcipue contra Christianos præelegit et assumpsit auxilium ...Quocirca discretioni vestræ per apostolica scripta mandamus, quatenus tam per vos, quam per alios quos ad hoc idoneos esse noveritis, proponentes juxta datam vobis a Deo prudentiam per regnum Angliæ ac alias terras carissimi in Christo filii nostri illustris regis Angliæ fidelibus verbum crucis, eos ut contra Mamfredum et Saracenos, tanquam contra ipsius hostes fidei, signum crucis assumant...." in which he declared holy war against Manfred and the Muslims of Lucera. Alexander IV, sent a papal army, headed by Cardinal Ottaviano degli Ubaldini,Meier, "Crusade and rhetoric...", p. 349. against Lucera, where Manfred had been welcomed and taken up residence, but it was defeated in May 1255, and the crusade was a failure.Steven Runciman, The Sicilian Vespers (Cambridge: CUP 1958), pp. 33-35. Bulls calling to renew the crusade were issued, nonetheless, by Urban IV and Clement IV,A copy of Clement's bull, entitled "Pia matris ecclesiae" dated 2 May 1265, and repeating the title and words of Alexander IV's bull, is addressed to Cardinal Simon de Brion, the papal legate in France, ordering him to preach the crusade and see to it that Charles of Anjou and his troops take the cross. E. Martène and U. Durand, Thesaurus novus anecdotorum Vol. 2 (Paris: 1717), pp. 70-71. also without success.Meier, "Crusade and rhetoric...," pp. 348-350. Norman Housley, The Italian Crusades. The Papal—Angevin Alliance and the Crusades against Christian Lay Powers, 1254-1343, (Oxford: Clarendon 1982), pp. 18-19.

In August 1300, an attack on the Muslim community, organized and led by the Angevin King Charles II of Naples, destroyed nearly all the Muslim colony and killed hundreds. The bishop and clergy were active participants, and appropriated a considerable share of the booty.Taylor, pp. 179-181.

Suppression of dioceses in favor of Lucera The city of Castel Fiorentino (Farentino) was founded in 1015 by the Byzantine catapan Basil Mesardonites. It was the place of Emperor Frederick II's death in 1250. Following the death of the last bishop of Farentino, who was elected in 1391 and died in 1410, the diocese of Farentino was suppressed, and its territory was added to that of the diocese of Lucera.Eubel, Hierarchia catholica I, p. 251 with note 3. Kehr IX, p. 169: "Civitate Fiorentina labente iam saec. XIV ultimus ep. a. 1391 electus est, quo mortuo episcopatus suppressus et dioecesis Lucerinae sedi incorporata est."

In 1425,Kehr IX, p. 148: "Exstitit episcopatus admodum exiguus usque ad a. 1425, quo unitus est Lucerino episcopatui." the diocese of Tortiboli (Tertiveri)- first mentioned in 1067Kehr IX, p. 148, no. 1. - was united to Lucera. In 1969, the name (though not the diocese) was revived under its Latin name Tortibulum.David Cheney. Catholic-Hierarchy.org, Titular Bishop of Tortibulum; retrieved: 31 August 2022.

In 1609, 1687, and 1759, the diocese of Lucera is attested as a suffragan of the archdiocese of Benevento.Gauchat, p. 225, note 1. The city of Lucera had about 8,000 inhabitants. Ritzler and Sefrin V, p. 248, note 1; VI, p. 267, note 1.

Troia

The Byzantine Empire held southern Italy from the 9th to the first quarter of the 11th century. The Protospatharius, Basileios Boioannes, who was κατεπάνω Ἰταλίας from 1017–1028, made Troia the capital of the entire Byzantine Capitanate.Vera von Falkenhausen, "Die Capitanata in byzantinischer Zeit," , in: Quellen und Forschungen aus italienischen Archiven und Bibliotheken vol. 96 (2016), pp. 35-36. The "Chronicle of Montecassino says, "ea tempestate supradictus Boiano catapanus cum iam dudum Troiam in capite Apulie construxisset, Draconariam quoque et Florentinum ac Civitatem et reliquia municipia, que vulgo Capitinata dicuntur, edificavit et ex circumpositis terris habitatores convocans deinceps habitari constituit." W. Holtzmann, "Der Katepan Boioannes und die kirchliche Organisation der Capitanata," , in: Nachrichten der Akademie der Wissenschaften in Göttingen, phil.-hist. Kl. (1960), pp. 19–39.

Around 1031, the diocese of Troia is attested as being directly subject to the pope.Philippus Jaffé, Regesta pontificum Romanorum Vol. I, second edition (Leipzig: Veit 1885), p. 518, no. 4096. This was confirmed by Pope Paschal II in a bull of 10 November 1100, granting the bishops of Troia the right to be consecrated by the pope in perpetuum.Kehr IX, pp. 205-206, no. 11.

In 1127, Count Roger II of Sicily presented Pope Honorius II (1124–1130) with a large gift of gold and silver, and promised him the towns of Troia and Montefusco, if the pope would grant him the standard and title of Duke of Apulia. In November 1127, Pope Honorius was in Troia, where he held a council, in which he excommunicated Count Roger and anyone who should support his efforts to become Duke of Apulia.Philippus Jaffé (1885), Regesta pontificum Romanorum Tomus I, editio secunda (Leipzig: Veit 1885), p. 832. On 5 December 1127, the pope granted Troia a charter of constitutions and liberties. He also turned aside the leaders of Apulia, fearing the creation of a Norman kingdom in southern Italy.Kehr IX, p. 213, no. 1.

In 1223, when Foggia was named the imperial capital by the Emperor Frederick II, the town attempted to escape the jurisdiction of the bishops of Troia, claiming that their town had once had a bishop. Pope Honorius III rejected the claim in a bull of 2 June 1223, and his decision was affirmed by his successor Pope Gregory IX.Rosso (1904), p. 229.

The Emperor Frederick set sail from Brindisi on the Sixth Crusade on 28 June 1228. Pope Gregory immediately seized the opportunity to send an army into southeast Italy to (re-)claim the area for the papacy. Frederick returned victorious on 10 June 1029. He immediately began demanding oaths and demonstrations of submission from his subjects. Barletta refused, and was destroyed, remaining deserted for 13 years. Submission was demanded of Troia, which refused on the grounds that they had heard that Frederick had died in the Holy Land. On the emperor's insistance the Troians sent two representatives to witness the truth. But even so, one faction still denied that Frederick was emperor. After haing received the submission of Naples, Capua, and Aversa, Frederick returned and pillaged the city of Troia.Rosso (1904), pp. 230-233.

Cathedral The cathedral of Troia, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was administered by a ChapterC.D. Fonseca, "La cattedrale e il suo Capitolo. Analisi comparata in prospettiva storica, ecclesiologica e canonistica," , in: Annali di Studi Religiosi Vol. 4 (2003), pp. 215-235. of twenty canons, headed by four dignities (led by the Archdeacon, and the Archpriest).Ughelli I, p. 1336. Cappelletti XXI, pp. 458-459. In 1675, there were four dignities and sixteen canons. In 1752, there were four dignities and twelve canons.Ritzler and Sefrin V, p. 391, note 1; VI, p. 418, note 1.

Pope Urban II held a synod at Troia on 11–12 March 1093, at which fifty-five bishops were in attendance.Philippus Jaffé, Regesta pontificum Romanorum I, second edition (Leipzig: Veit 1885), p. 671. Kehr IX, p. 205, no. 8.

Post-Napoleonic restoration