The Diocese of Tricarico () is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Basilicata. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Potenza-Muro Lucano-Marsico Nuovo."Diocese of Tricarico" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved March 9, 2016"Diocese of Tricarico" GCatholic.org. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved March 29, 2016
History
Bishop Liutprand of Cremona, who had participated in the siege of the Byzantines at Bari in 968, was sent by his patron the Emperor Otto I to Constantinople to seek a negotiated peace with the Emperor Nikephoros II Phokas.Russo (2015), p. 6. His mission was unsuccessful, and on his return Liutprand wrote a highly colored narration of his embassy, the "Relatio de legatione Constantinopolitana ad Nicephorum Phocam".Paolo Chiesa, "Liutprando di Cremona", , in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Volume 65 (2005): "Giunto a Costantinopoli il 4 giugno, L. vi si trattenne fino al 2 ottobre, senza ottenere i risultati sperati, a suo dire per l'ostilità dimostratagli dalle autorità bizantine; a nulla valse l'azione di un'ambasceria parallela inviata dal papa in suo appoggio, giunta a Costantinopoli in agosto. Il viaggio di ritorno, per via terrestre fino allo Ionio, fu lento e complesso e si concluse soltanto all'inizio dell'anno successivo; L. si diresse probabilmente nell'Italia meridionale, dove si trovava in quel momento Ottone, per riferirgli di persona. Al seguito dell'imperatore si trovava ancora il 26 maggio 969 a Roma." The document mentions an aggressive act on the part of Polyeuctos, Patriarch of Constantinople, raising the bishopric of Otranto (Hydruntum) to the rank of a metropolitanate, and granting that prelate the right to consecrate bishops for Acerenza, Turcico (Tursi), Gravina, Macera, and Tricarico. Liutprand remarks that he thought that those consecrations were the right of the pope.Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptorum, Vol. III, p. 361. Cappelletti XX (1866), p. 418. Paul Fridolin Kehr, Italia pontificia Vol. IX (Berlin: Weidmann 1962), p. 472 and 408. This is the earliest mention of a bishop of Tricarico.
Nicephoros Phocas according to Liutprand, ordered that all the dioceses in Byzantine territory in south Italy should use only the Greek Rite in the liturgy.Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptorum, Vol. III, p. 361: "nec permittat in omni Apulia seu Calabria latine amplius, sed graece divina mysteris celebrare." The names of the Greek-rite bishops of Tricarico whose allegiance was to Constantinople are not known.
In 1068, the diocese of Tricarico was assigned by Pope Alexander II to the metropolitanate of Acerenza.Russo (2016), p. 11. H. Houben (1999), "Il privilegio di Alessandro II per l’arcivescovo Arnaldo di Acerenza (JL. 4647)," in: Rivista di Storia della Chiesa in Italia 53 (1999), pp. 109-118.
Of the Latin bishops after the Norman conquest the first was Arnoldo (1068).Russo, pp. 9-10: "Tali fonti, che segnerebbero anche il passaggio della diocesi di Tricarico dal rito greco a quello latino, tuttavia, sono unanimemente ritenute false."
On 7 October 1123, Pope Calixtus II, who was residing in Benevento at the time, at the request of Bishop Peter of Tricarico, took the diocese under papal protection, and, in the bull Aequitatis et justitiae, confirmed the bishops' privileges and possessions, which are extensively listed.Kehr, p. 474, no.4.
On 3 June 1237, at the request of Bishop Rogerius of Tricarico, Pope Gregory IX took the diocese under the protection of the papacy, and confirmed the bishops of the diocese in their privileges and possessions.Cappelletti, XX, pp. 483-484. The bull, In eminenti, lists all of the towns, villages and churches belonging to the diocese.The bull is quoted in full by Ferdinando Ughelli, Italia sacra Vol. VII, pp. 148-150. It is subscribed by twelve cardinals. Papal reservation of right to elect On 29 July 1322, Pope John XXII reserved to the pope the right to nominate as well as confirm the appointment of all bishops in Italy, including the bishops of Tricarico. This act removed the power of electing a bishop from the cathedral Chapter.G. Mollat, Jean XXII: Lettres communes Tome quatrième (Paris: Fontemoing 1904), p. 165, no. 16165. Caesar Baronius, Annales Ecclesiastici (ed. Augustinus Theiner) Vol. 24 (Bar-le-Duc: L. Guerin 1870)), p. 169, § 4. When Bishop Richardus died early in 1324, the Canons of the cathedral Chapter proceeded, in accordance with custom, to elect a new bishop, Rogerius de Sanseverino, even though he was under the minimum age. Pope John XXII immediately invalidated his election, as attempted contrary to papal reservation, and on 4 May 1324 appointed Bonaccursus, the archpriest of the church of Ferrara instead.G. Mollat, Jean XXII: Lettres communes Tome cinquième (Paris: Fontemoing 1904), p. 124, no. 19508: "...contra apost. reservat. a capit. attemptata."
Bishop Fortunado Pinto (1792–1805) held a diocesan synod in Tricarico on 5 June 1800.Synodus dioecesana Tricaricensis, habita die quinta mensis Junii, feria quinta post Pentecosten, anno reparatae salutis 1800 sub praesulatu ... D. Fortunati Pinto (Neapoli: ex Officina Vincentii Manfredii, 1801).
The Napoleonic disruption and restoration From 1805 to 1819 the see of Tricarico remained vacant. From 1806–1808, Naples was occupied by the French, and Joseph Bonaparte was made king,F. Artaud de Montor, Histoire du Pape Pie VII Vol. II, second edition (Paris: Adrien Leclerc 1837), pp. 132-140. after Napoleon had deposed King Ferdinand IV. Joseph Bonaparte was succeeded by Joachim Murat from 1808 until the fall of Napoleon in 1815. Pope Pius VII was a prisoner of Napoleon in France from 1809 to 1815, and was both unable and unwilling to make new episcopal appointments. The French expelled all monks, nuns, and Jesuits from the kingdom, and closed the monasteries and convents; colleges of canons were also closed.R.M. Johnston (1909), The Napoleonic Kingdom in Southern Italy and the Rise of the Secret Societies, Volume I (London: Macmillan), pp. 149. 161-162;
Following the extinction of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, the Congress of Vienna authorized the restoration of the Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples. Since the French occupation had seen the abolition of many Church institutions in the Kingdom, as well as the confiscation of most Church property and resources, it was imperative that Pope Pius VII and King Ferdinand IV reach agreement on restoration and restitution. Ferdinand, however, was not prepared to accept the pre-Napoleonic situation, in which Naples was a feudal subject of the papacy. Neither was he prepared to accept the large number of small dioceses in his kingdom; following French intentions, he demanded the suppression of fifty dioceses. Lengthy, detailed, and acrimonious negotiations ensued.F. Artaud de Montor, Histoire du Pape Pie VII Vol. II, second edition (Paris: Adrien Leclerc 1837), pp. 507-509. On 17 July 1816, King Ferdinand issued a decree, in which he forbade the reception of any papal document without prior reception of the royal exequatur. This meant that prelates could not receive bulls of appointment, consecration, or installation without the king's permission.Vito Giliberti (1845), Polizia ecclesiastica del regno delle due Sicilie , (Napoli: F. Azzolini), pp. 399-400.
A concordat was finally signed on 16 February 1818, and ratified by Pius VII on 25 February 1818. Ferdinand issued the concordat as a law on 21 March 1818.F. Torelli (1848), La chiave del concordato dell'anno 1818 I, second edition (Naples: Fibreno 1848), pp. 1-19. The re-erection of the dioceses of the kingdom and the ecclesiastical provinces took more than three years. The right of the king to nominate the candidate for a vacant bishopric was recognized, as in the Concordat of 1741, subject to papal confirmation (preconisation).Torelli I, p. 9. On 27 June 1818, Pius VII issued the bull De Ulteriore, in which the metropolitanate of Acerenza was restored, with Anglona e Tursi, Potenza, Tricarico, and Venosa as suffragans; the diocese of Matera was permanently suppressed and united to the Church of Acerenza.Torelli I, pp. 117-118.
The diocese of Tricarico was a suffragan of the newly constituted archdiocese of Acerenza and Matera from 1821 until 1954. On 2 July 1954, Pope Pius XII issued the bull Acheronta et Matera, in which he revived the diocese of Matera as a metropolitan archbishopric with its own ecclesiastical province including the dioceses of Anglona-Turso and Tricarico as its suffragans.Acta Apostolicae Sedis 46 (1954), pp. 522-524. Following the Second Vatican Council, and in accordance with the norms laid out in the council's decree, Christus Dominus chapter 40,Christus Dominus 40. Therefore, in order to accomplish these aims this sacred synod decrees as follows: 1) The boundaries of ecclesiastical provinces are to be submitted to an early review and the rights and privileges of metropolitans are to be defined by new and suitable norms. 2) As a general rule all dioceses and other territorial divisions that are by law equivalent to dioceses should be attached to an ecclesiastical province. Therefore, dioceses which are now directly subject to the Apostolic See and which are not united to any other are either to be brought together to form a new ecclesiastical province, if that be possible, or else attached to that province which is nearer or more convenient. They are to be made subject to the metropolitan jurisdiction of the bishop, in keeping with the norms of the common law. 3) Wherever advantageous, ecclesiastical provinces should be grouped into ecclesiastical regions for the structure of which juridical provision is to be made. Pope Paul VI ordered a reorganization of the ecclesiastical provinces in southern Italy by the bull Quo aptius of 21 August 1976. The ecclesiastical provinces of Acerenza and of Matera were abolished, and a new province, that of Potenza, was created. The diocese of Tricarico became a suffragan of the metropolitanate of Potenza.The bull Quo aptius , in: Acta Apostolicae Sedis 68 (1976), pp. 593-594.
Chapter and cathedral