The diocese of Cagli e Pergola was a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in the Marche, central Italy, in the province of Pesaro and Urbino. Until 1563 it was under the direct supervision of the Roman pontiff. In that year, the diocese of Urbino was elevated to metropolitan status, and Cagli became a suffragan see of Urbino.Ughelli, p. 810. The diocese was abolished as an independent entity in 1986, when it was incorporated into the diocese of Fano-Fossombrone-Cagli-Pergola. It was still a suffragan of the archdiocese of Urbino.

The historical diocese of Cagli was renamed in 1819. Pergola, which had been in the diocese of Urbino, was raised to the rank of an episcopal city and united to the See of Cagli.

History

The diocese of Cagli does not appear in the evidence until the 8th century. Louis Duchesne believed that it might have been a "resurrection" of the diocese of Pitinum Mergens.Duchesne, p. 94, with note 3: "L'évêché de Cagli, qui n'apparaît qu'au VIIIe siècle, pourrait être une résurrection de celui de Pitinum Mergens;" p. 493, note 2: "Un seul évêché Pitinatium, est attesté. Il a existé deux Ptiinum, Pitinum Pisauriense (Macerata Feltria), et Pitinum Mergens, près d'Acqualagna, à 8 kilom. de Cagli. Celui-ci avait encore sa municipalité au temps de Gallien." Only one bishop of Pitinum is known, Romanus in 499.Lanzoni, p. 494.

Bishop Egidio (1233–1259)Eubel I, p. 158. had many controversies with the municipality of Gubbio. Under his successor Bishop Morandus, the Ghibellines revolted against the papal power. After the death of Bishop Jacopo (1276), the Ghibelline canons wished to elect a noble, Berardo Berardi, while the Guelphs elected Rinaldo Sicardi, Abbot of San Pietro di Massa. As a result the see remained vacant for some years. Finally Berardo was made bishop of Osimo in 1283,Eubel I, p. 120. and Sicardi died, whereupon Guglielmo Saxonis was elected bishop (1285) and approved by Pope Honorius IV. Civil discords, however, did not cease, and after a terrible massacre, Cagli was burned by its own citizens.

The town was immediately rebuilt on the plain of St. Angelo, and, on 10 March 1289, Pope Nicholas IV (1288–1292) named it S. Angelo papale. After his death, however, the original name of Cagli was restored.Ughelli II, p. 809. Cappelletti III, pp. 245-246.

In 1297 the first stone of the new cathedral was laid by the Bishop Lituardo Cervati,Cappelletti III, p. 247. and in 1398 Niccolò Marciari brought the building to completion. It was dedicated to the Virgin Mary, under the title Assumption. The cathedral was staffed and administered by a corporation called the Chapter, consisting of two dignities (the Provost, and the Archdeacon) and eleven canons, one of whom was the Theologus (preacher). There were also twelve chaplains, who were not members of the Chapter.Ughelli II, p. 810.

In 1503 the partisans of Cesare Borgia killed the Franciscan bishop Gasparo Golfi.Ughelli II, pp. 821-822, citing no sources. His successor on 8 March 1503, a Spanish Dominican, Ludovico de Lagoria, who was a promoter of Borgia's outrages, was nearly killed by the people of Cagli during his first entry into the city. To restore order, Pope Julius II transferred Langoria to the diocese of Lavelli in the Kingdom of Naples on 23 February 1504.Cappelletti III, p. 250. Eubel II, p. 115; III, p. 147.

On 4 June 1563, Pope Pius IV signed the bull "Super Universas", by which he elevated the diocese of Urbino to the status of metropolitan archdiocese. He assigned as suffragan dioceses of the new ecclesiastical province Cagli, Sinigaglia, Pesaro, Fossombrone, Montefeltro, and Gubbio. The diocese of Cagli was no longer directly dependent upon the papacy.Cappelletti III, pp. 206-209, who gives the date of the bull as 7 July, though the text of the bull, which he prints, says "pridie nonas junii" (4 June); if the text were to read "pridie nonas julii" the date would be 6 July, not 7 July. The Bullarium Romanum also prints 4 June 1563: Bullarum diplomatum et privilegiorum sanctorum Romanorum Pontificum, Taurinensis editio, Volume 7 (Turin: Dalmazzo 1862), pp. 252-254.

The territory of Cagli suffered a major earthquake on 3 June 1781. Practically the entire city was ruined. The cupola of the cathedral collapsed, causing the death of the celebrant of a Mass which was in progress, Canon Ugolinucci, and sixty-five attendees. The church of Palcano was destroyed, causing the death of twenty-two persons; the church of S. Cristoforo della Carda registered six deaths; the church of S. Donato dei Pecorari lost its parish priest and some sixty parishioners.Succinto ragguaglio delle funestissime conseguenze apportate alla Citta di Cagli e suoi annessi, e ad altri luoghi di questa Legazione d'Urbino dal formidabile terremoto avvenuto la mattina dei 3. giugno 1781. Dato da Cagli medesima il di 8. del suddetto. . 1781. Dromedari, Presciutti, & Presciutti, p. 1. Bishop Lodovico Agostino Bertozzi (1754-1802) wrote a detailed letter to Cardinal Leonardo Antonelli, the Prefect of the Congregation of the Propaganda of the Faith and Protector of the diocese of Cagli, revealing the extent of the catastrophe.A. Cingari, Opere di monsignor Alfonso Cingari bolognese vescovo di Cagli, Volume 6 (Roma: Salviucci 1827), pp. 139-160. Pope Pius VI responded with generous funds, allowing not only for the rebuilding of the cathedral and much of the city, but also for the foundation of useful institutions, a hospital for the sick and an orphanage for poor girls. Bertozzi was also responsible for the foundation of a seminary, sufficient for 40 students.Cappelletti III, p. 252. The bishop's assistant in the reconstruction over the succeeding twenty-five years was his Vicar-General and eventual successor, Alfonso Cingari.G.I. Buffa, "Elogio storico di Mons. Alfonso Cingari," in: Alfonso Cingari, Opere, Volume 1 (Roma: Poggioli, 1825), pp. xiii-xiv.

French occupation When the forces of the revolutionary French Republic invaded the Romagna in 1797, they obtained the Romagna, including Cagli, by the Treaty of Tolentino of 19 February 1797. When they arrived at Cagli, the Vicar General Cingari in a kindly spirit welcomed the commander and accompanied him to the episcopal palace to meet the ninety-four year old Bishop Bertozzi. They mollified the French with their accommodating attitude and prudence, a policy which was several times approved of by Pope Pius VI. Bishop Bertozzi had asked the pope several times to accept his resignation on grounds of ill health and great age, but the presence of the French made it inadvisable.Buffa, pp. xvi–xvii. Circumstances in Rome were not so favorable, and on 15 February 1798, the French general Louis Berthier proclaimed the Roman Republic and deposed the pope. Pius was sent to Siena and then to Florence. On 28 March 1799, the pope was deported to France, where he died on 29 August. The Papal States and papal ecclesiastical control ceased to exist.J.N.D. Kelly & M.J. Walsh, Oxford Dictionary of Popes, second edition (OUP 2010), p. 306. When a new pope, Pius VII was elected on 14 March 1800, Bishop Bertozzi again requested permission to resign, but he was able to have Msgr. Cingari appointed Apostolic Commissary. to administer the diocese. Bertozzi died on 20 September 1802, at the age of 97.Buffa, pp. xix-xx. Cf. Cappelletti III, p. 252, who says that it was on 20 September 1802 that Bishop Bertozzi resigned. The Vicar General, Msgr. Cingari, pronounced Bertozzi's funeral oration on the 30th day commemorative Mass, on 20 October 1802.Alfonso Cingari, Opere, Volume 1 (Roma: Poggioli, 1825), pp. 125-167. Cingari was promoted bishop of Cagli on 31 March 1806, and consecrated on 7 April.Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VII, p. 127.

In February 1808, Napoleon, Emperor of the French, occupied the Papal States, and, on 17 May 1809, annexed them to metropolitan France, creating new "departements," Tibère and Toscane. Cagli, formerly a subject of the pope, became a canton in the District of Urbino, in the Department of Ancona, in the Kingdom of Italy."Comparto del regno d'Italia" (23 June 1808), Raccolta delle leggi, decreti e circolari che si riferiscono alle attribuzioni del Ministero dell'Interno del Regno d'Italia, , Vol. 1 (Milano: Stamperia reale 1808), p. 368. In the same year, Napoleon, King of Italy, demanded oaths of allegianceBroers, pp. 146-161. to his kingdom and the Code Napoleon of the bishops of the Marches, Urbino, Camerino, and Macerata, who had formerly sworn their oaths to the pope.Carlo Botta, History of Italy During the Consulate and Empire of Napoleon, Volume 2 (London: Baldwin & Cradock 1828), pp. 81-85; 157-163. On 28 May 1808, the bishop was sent a notice, requiring him to appear in person in Milan before 15 July to swear his oath to the Viceroy.Alfonso Cingari, Opere, Volume 10 (Roma: Salviucci 1828), p. 213. Bishop Cingari refused the oath, and was deported, first to Mantua, and then to Bergamo, where he was held in confinement in the convent of the Cappucini, and then again to Mantua. In mid-November 1813, he was ordered to be taken to Turin.Buffa, pp. xxiii-xlii. He was carried to Milan, where he arrived on 18 November 1813, too ill to be taken any farther. He was in Milan for several months, until news of French defeats by the allies brought his release. He was able to return to Cagli in May 1814.Buffa, pp. xl-xli. He had been in exile for nearly five years.G. Palazzini, "Il vescovo di Cagli mons. Alfonso Cingari nel periodo napoleonico," , in: Rivista di Storia della Chiesa in Italia, (1971), pp. 139-151.

Pergola Pope Pius VII, who excommunicated Napoleon on 11 June 1809 in the bull "Quum memoranda", was arrested by the French on 5 July 1809 and deported to Savona.Botta, pp. 139-141, 166-167. Kelly and Walsh, Oxford Dictionary of Popes (2010), p. 307. Pius refused thereafter to perform any papal acts whatever, and the bishops nominated by Napoleon never received canonical approval or installation.Kelly & Walsh, p. 307. After the fall of Napoleon, he was able to return to Rome, on 24 May 1814, to face a major task of political and ecclesiastical reconstruction and repair.Alexis-François Artaud de Montor, Histoire du Pape Pie VII, Volume 2, 2nd edition (Paris: Le Clere, 1837), pp. 377-379.

The ecclesiastical situation in Pergola had been confused for some time. Much of the city was in the diocese of Gubbio, but individual parishes belonged to the monastery of Nonantola,The Abbot commendatory was Francesco Maria d'Este, Conte di s. Andrea, and titular bishop of Anastasiopolis, but the monastery had been closed by the French and its property confiscated for the public good. Gaetano Montagnani, Storia dell'augusta badia di S. Silvestro di Nonantola, , (Modena: Regia tipografia camerale), 1838, pp. 76-96, esp. p. 87. the monastery of Sitria,Sitria was directly dependent upon the papacy, and was ruled from 1451 by abbots commendatory: P. Kehr, Italia pontificia IV, p. 55. the monastery of Fonte Avellana,Fonte Avellina was directly dependent upon the papacy, and was ruled from 1392 by abbots commendatory: P. Kehr, Italia pontificia IV, p. 93. and the diocese of Cagli. Other parts belonged to the diocese of Nocera. Having consulted with the prelates concerned and with members of the College of Cardinals, Pius VII issued the bull "Romani pontifices" on 31 January 1818, granting all the jurisdictions in the territory of Pergola to the diocese of Cagli. To compensate the bishop of Gubbio for his loss of income, the people of Pergola were required to pay the bishop an annual sum of fifty scudi. On 25 May 1818, Msgr. Carlo Monti, Bishop of Sarsina, was transferred to the diocese of Cagli.