The Archdiocese of L'Aquila () is a Latin archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Italy."Archdiocese of L’Aquila" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved November 30, 2016."Metropolitan Archdiocese of L’Aquila" GCatholic.org. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved February 29, 2016. It was erected as the Diocese of AquilaThe original name of the city was "Aquila." It was renamed "L'Aquila" by the Fascist government of Italy in 1939 for propaganda reasons. Jan-Jonathan Bock (2022), Citizens Without a City: Destruction and Despair After the L'Aquila Earthquake, (Indiana University Press, 2022), p. 10. on 20 February 1257 by Pope Alexander IV and promoted to an archdiocese by Pope Pius IX on 19 January 1876. Pope Paul VI elevated it to the rank of a metropolitan archdiocese on 15 August 1972, with the suffragan sees of Avezzano and Sulmona–Valva.
The archdiocese's mother church and the seat of its archbishop is the Cattedrale di SS. Massimo e Giorgio. L'Aquila also contains the Basilica of San Bernardino da Siena, which was granted the honorific title of minor basilica by Pope Pius XII, in an Apostolic Letter "Uberrimos Sane Gratiae" of 20 May 1946.Acta Apostolicae Sedis 39 (Città del Vaticano 1947), pp. 390-391. It also contains the church of S. Maria di Collemagio, which was begun in 1283, and consecrated on 25 August 1288.Luigi Serra, Aquila monumentale, , (Aquila: Unione arti grafiche, 1912), p. 14.
History
In 1187, in preparation for the crusade, a list of feudal military obligations was drawn up for the use of agents of William II of Sicily. The bishop of Forcono, whose name was Berardus, owed three soldiers for his various fiefs.Muratori VI, p. 510: "Berardus Episcopus Forconensis dixit, quod tenet de Domino Rege Civitatem S. Maximi in Forcone, quæ, sicut dixit, eft feudum I. militis, & Castellum Roga, quod eft feudum I. mil., & Casale S. Maximi, quod eft feudum I. mil. Una sunt feuda militum III. & cum augm. obtulit mil . VI. & servientes XII."
Bishop Berardus of Forcona was consecrated on 23 May 1252, by Cardinal Raynaldus dei Conti, who became Pope Alexander IV on 12 December 1254.Ughelli I, p. 379. Signorini, p. 132, indicates that he was elected by the Chapter of the cathedral and by the clergy. Pope Innocent IV, his metropolitan, who was living in exile in Perugia, would have confirmed the election, and authorized the consecration. His diocese was having administrative problems.
Creation of city and diocese
On 6 May 1253, the population of Amiterno and Forcona petitioned the royal councillor Tfommaso da Marerio, to use his influence to have the construction of the new city of Aquilae to be undertaken.A. Casalboni (2014), "La fondazione...," p. 67. In May 1254, Conrad IV, the son of Frederick II, replied with a diploma authorizing the construction, and the destruction of all the castles and fortifications inside the boundaries of the city; free immigration to the new city was granted, so long as people indemnified their former feudal lords.G.M. Monti (2006), "La fondazione di Aquila, ed il relativo diploma," in: Maria Rita Berardi (ed.), Civiltà medioevale negli Abruzzi. Le testimonianze (L'Aquila 1992), pp. 265-286. A. Casalboni (2014), "La fondazione...," p. 67. The full Latin text and an Italian translation has been published by Beatrice Sabatini (2017), Locus qui dicitur Aquila Lulu.com, Nov 29, 2017, pp. 82-100. He was frank about his motives. The creation of the city would disconcert the barons of the valley of Aquila who were neglectful of their feudal duties; it would intimidate the rebellious vassals of the Kingdom of Sicily; it would strengthen his northern border against his enemies, one of whom was the pope, who had excommunicated him and was refusing his offers for a peace.
Pope Alexander had obtained information from letters of Pope Innocent IV and of papal legates that the Chapter of the cathedral of Forcona was violation of canon law. On 15 March 1255, therefore, he wrote to the Archpriest Master Angelo, who was a papal chaplain, and the Chapter, pointing out that the number of canons (in the sense of members of the chapter) exceeded the canonical upper limit. Some canons, appointed by special mandate of the Holy See, should only be admitted to the privileges of the canonicate when an existing canon resigned or died. Moreover, the appointees must be in Holy Orders.Muratori, Antiquitates Italicae Vol. 6, p. 500. Signorini, pp. 132-133.
On 22 December 1256, Pope Alexander IV wrote to the podestà, council, and commune of L'Aquila, who were requesting that, since the towns of Forcona and Amiternum were almost completely deserted, to the advantage of L'Aquila, and since the people of L'Aquila had recently completely rebuilt the church of Ss. Maximus and George, it be made a cathedral by papal authority. Pope Alexander agreed to their request, after consultation with his advisors, and with the concurrence of Bishop Berardus and the Archpriest and canons of the (former) cathedral of Forcona, and transferred the seat of the bishops of Forcona to the cathedral of Ss. Maximus and George in L'Aquila.Alexander IV, the bull "Pure Fidei", 22 December 1256, in Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Epistolae Saeculi XIII, Tomus III (Berlin: Weidmann 1894), p. 413, no. 448. The same papal bull was reissued on 20 February 1257, with the addition of language delimiting the boundaries of the diocese.Alexander IV, the second bull "Pure Fidei", 20 February 1257, in: Bullarum diplomatum et privilegiorum sanctorum Romanorum pontificum Taurinensis editio, Tomus III (Turin: Franco & Dalmazzo 1858), p. 647.
In 1259, the city of Aquila was destroyed by the forces of Manfred, King of Sicily, and the people and their bishop retreated to Focaro.Casalboni (2014), "La fondazione...," pp. 68-70; 71: "Il primo vescovo aquilano, Berardo da Padula, trasferitosi insieme alla diocesi nel 1257, torna a Forcona, dove sarà seppellito nel 1264." Pope Clement IV (1265–1268) was not eager to see the city rebuilt, a city so associated with the determination of the Hohenstaufen to control the papacy. He therefore supported the local barons, and wrote, probably in 1265,Carlo Franchi (1764), Risposta alla scrittura da un giovane autore formata per li castelli dell'abolito contado della città dell'Aquila in difesa della medesima fedelissima città, , (Naples 1764), p. lxxxiii. to the new King of Sicily, Charles of Anjou, that the barons were crying out for help against the reemergence of Aquila, and urging the king to take their side.Muratori, Antiquitates Italicae Vol 6, p. 524: "Clamat multitudo nobilium de imminentis oppressionis incursu, eo gravius stupida, quo dudum majora ipsius gravamina non est experta: Thronum tuae gratiae supplici ter adeunt: Ad auxilium misericordiæ tuæ recurrunt." Charles I, however, saw the same advantages as Conrad IV as King of Sicily, and he therefore promoted the reestablishment of Aquila. He was even called the "Reformator".The policy of Charles I is known from a diploma of Charles II of 28 September 1294 (Franchi, pp. cxxxii-cxxxvi). He refers to his father's policy (p. cxxxiv): "nec non quibuslibet aliis gratiis, beneficiis, largitionibus, et indultis in perpetuum gaudeat et fruatur, quae recol. mem. Princeps Carolus Dominus Pater noster Hierusalem et Siciliae Rex illustris civitatis praedictae denuus Reformator diffinivit, limitavit, concessit, attribuit et indulsit...." His actions were made easier by the defeat and death of Manfred at the Battle of Benevento on 26 February 1266. Pope Clement gave in, and appointed a new bishop for Aquila on 31 December 1267.
Papal coronation
After Pope Nicholas IV died on 6 April 1292, it was twenty-seven months before the eleven cardinals were able to assemble and agree upon his successor: a somewhat elongated process of election. On 5 July 1294, at Perugia, they elected the relatively unknown 85-year-old Pietro del Murrone, a former Benedictine monk, who had established his own religious order, which came to be called the Celestines. He was not a cardinal, and had recently been living as a recluse in the mountains to the east of Aquila.J.N.D. Kelly and M.J. Walsh (2010), Oxford Dictionary of Popes, second edition (Oxford University Press 2010), pp. 208-209. He enjoyed the patronage and protection of Charles II of Sicily, and was unwilling to go to Perugia where the election was being conducted, or even to enter the Papal States.
Pietro (later to be called Celestine V) came to Aquila on 28 July 1194. He was enthroned as pope on 29 August 1294, at the church of Santa Maria di Collemaggio, which had been built and was administered by his followers.Peter Herde, "CELESTINO V, papa," , in: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Volume 23 (1979), § 20-22.
On 18 September 1294, while still residing at Aquila, Pope Celestine appointed twelve new cardinals.Paul Maria Baumgarten, "Die Cardinalsernennungen Cälastins V. im September und Oktober 1294," in: (Stephan Ehses, editor), Festschrift zum elfhundertjährigen Jubiläum des deutschen Campo Santo in Rom (Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder 1897), pp. 161-169. These included two natives of Aquila: Tommaso d'Ocra de Apruntio, a member of the pope's own religious order, Cardinal Priest of Santa Cecilia in Trastevere (died in 1300); and Pietro d'Aquila OSB, the bishop-elect of Valva-Sulmona, who became the Cardinal Priest of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme (died in 1298).Bernard Guidone, "Vita Coelestini Papae V," in: Ludovicus Antonius Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores Tomus Tertius (Milan 1723), pp. 669-670. Signorini II, p. 15 (with errors). Eubel I, pp. 11-12, nos. 3 and 5.
Celestine V finally departed Aquila on 6 October, heading for the monastery of Santo Spirito near Sulmona. He took up residence in Naples on 13 November 1294.August Potthast, Regesta Pontificum Romanorum Vol. II (Berlin: De Decker 1875), pp. 1919-1920.(
14th century In 1363, a pestilence struck the county and city of Aquila, resulting in the death of 10,000 persons, according to Niccolò di Borbona.Muratori, Antiquitates Italicae VI, p. 853: "3. Ne lu sopredito anno 1363. fo una grande mortalitate della epetigine quasi per tutto il pajese, ma veramente nella Citade de Aqui la fece inestimabile danno di multi nobili Citadini, e Mercatanti, e d'ogni altra condizio ne e piccirilli, e donne, e d'ogni etate, oltra al modo solito e per tutta la Citate, si lu Contado, era per lla gratia de Dio era assai pieno, e apopolato fece si fatto, e grande danno, tanto che se stimò morte persone decemila, vel circa."
In 1378, a contested papal election in Rome in April and in Anagni in September, produced two popes: respectively, Urban VI and Clement VII. Queen Joanna I of Naples supported Pope Clement. Bishop Giovanni Zacchei (1377–1381) of Aquila chose to support Clement VII, and ordered public festivals to celebrate his accession.Signorini II, pp. 37-39. Around 20 November, on the orders of Urban VI, Ciccantonio di Pretatto entered Aquila in the middle of the night, with armed troops and some 500 cavalry, and engaged in violent confrontation with the citizens in the piazza of the merchants. Urban's stated motive was "to fortify the Kingdom".Niccolò di Borbona, in: Muratori, Antiquitates Italicae VI, p. 856: "E be se disse a petitione del dicto Papa Urbano VI. che li avia dato la dicta gente d'arme per fortificarese nel dicto rengnio." The death of Queen Joanna in May 1382 changed the situation. The death of Urban VI in 1389 more radically affected the situation.
Reorganization