Archdiocese of Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi–Conza–Nusco–Bisaccia

The Archdiocese of Sant’Angelo dei Lombardi–Conza–Nusco–Bisaccia () is an archdiocese of the Latin Church in Campania. It has existed since 1986. It is a suffragan of the archdiocese of Benevento."Archdiocese of Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi–Conza–Nusco–Bisaccia" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved February 29, 2016"Archdiocese of Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi–Conza–Nusco–Bisaccia" GCatholic.org. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved February 29, 2016

Organizational changes

The archdiocese of Conza existed from the eighth century to 1986. From 1818 to 1921, it was the archdiocese of Conza e Campagna, and then, from 1921 to 1986, the archdiocese of Conza-Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi-Bisaccia. After 1986, it became part of the archdiocese of Sant’Angelo dei Lombardi–Conza–Nusco–Bisaccia. The current archdiocese, therefore, has incorporated, with Conza, the diocese of Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi-Bisaccia and the diocese of Nusco.

History Conza, a city of the province of Avellino, Southern Italy, was twice destroyed by earthquakes (980, 1694), and was at one time nearly abandoned. The first known Bishop of Conza is Lando, who was present at the Roman synod of 743 held under Pope Zachary.Kehr IX, p. 505: "Primus quem novimus episcopus Lado sive Ladu concilio Romano a Zacharia pp. a. 743 celebrato interfuit (Mon. Germ. Concilia. II 23)." Benigni is certainly wrong in his Catholic Encyclopedia article, where he names Pelagius as the earliest known bishop of Conza. Pelagius was bishop of Cosenza. In 989, the diocese of Conza was a suffragan (subordinate) of the archbishops of Salerno.Kehr IX, p. 505: "lam tune episcopatus Consanus in bulla lohannis XV a. 989 iul. 12 data (v. IP. VIII 346 n. 11; JL. 3833) inter suffraganeos Salernitanae metropolis recensetur."

In 990, a very strong earthquake struck the area of Benevento. In Conza half the town was destroyed, and, according to the "Chronicon Cassinense", the bishop was killed in the disaster.J.P. Migne (ed.), Patrologiae Latinae Cursus Completus Tomus CLXXIII (Paris 1854), p. 596, gives the date 990, October 25. "Compsanam civitatem prope mediam evertit, ejusque episcopum cum aliis multis occidit." Kehr IX, p. 505.

The archbishopric On 22 July 1051, Pope Leo IX, who was visiting the monastery of Montecassino, confirmed the rights, privileges, and possessions of the Church of Salerno. These included the right of consecrating the bishops of Conza.Ughelli VII, p. 379: "Confirmamus etiam tibi ipsum ex integro archiepiscopatum Salernitanum cum sibi adjacentibus parochiis suis. Et insuper licentiam et potestatem damus ordinandi et consecrandi in his subjectis nobis locis, hoc est, Pestanensem episcopatum cum parochiis et adjacentiis suis, et Nolanum, et Consanum cum parochiis et adjacentiis suis, necnon Malvitanum, et Cusentinum, simulque episcopatum Bisunianensem, atque episcopatum Acerentinum cum omnibus parochiis et adjacentiis eorum." Decisions by Pope Alexander II (1061–1073) and by Pope Gregory VII (1073–1085) also confirmed the subordinate status of the bishops of Conza to the archbishops of Salerno.Kehr IX, p. 507. J. von Pflugk-Harttung, Acta pontificum Romanorum inedita Vol. II (Stuttgart: Kohlhammer 1884), p. 139, no. 172: "Dominus et antecessor noster, beatae memoriae papa A(lexander), sicut vis xcire non ambigimus, constituit, ut Compsana ecclesia subdita sit Salernitanae ecclesiae. Cuius auctoritatem immo antecessorum illius, qui idem prius constituisse videntur, iuste et salubriter sequentes decernimus, ut ipsa in ea que matricibus debetur ecclesiis, obedientia et devltione praefatae Salernitanae ecclesiae subiaceat." The bishops resided either in their feudal stronghold of Santomenna or at Campagna.

On 20 July 1088, at the request of Roger Borsa, Duke of Apulia and Calabria, Pope Urban II again confirmed the rights and privileges of the archbishops of Salerno. He again stated that the diocese of Conza was a suffragan of the metropolitan of Salerno.Kehr IX, p. 507, no. 3. "tibi deinceps tuisque successoribus super Consanam et Acheruntinam Ecclesias et earum suffraganeos primatum gerere ex Apostolicae Sedis liberalitate concedìmus." He remarks, however, that the bishops of Acerenza and Conza have taken to calling themselves metropolitan archbishops, though he does not know why. He allows them to keep the title and he will grant pallia, but they are both still subordinate to the metropolitan of Salerno, and both the archbishop of Salerno and the papal legate must participate in the selection of an archbishop of Acerenza and of Conza.Aloysius Tomassetti (ed.), Bullarum diplomatum et privilegiorum sanctorum romanorum pontificum. Taurensis editio. Tomus II (Turin: Franco & Delmazzo 1859), p. 191: "Verum, et ipsae, qua nescimus ratione, et pallei dignitatem et privilegiorum auctoritatem praeteriiis temporibus a Sede Apostolica meruerunt. Verum, quia praedecessorum nostrorum statuta iuconvulsa et intemerata manere cupimus, eis quidem propriae dignitatis gratiam conservamus, ut archiepiscopali honore ac nomine potiantur; vestrae vero Ecclesiae suorum privilegiorum integritatem hoc ordine restituimus. Quidquid igitur reverentiae, quidquid subectionis primatibus persolvendum, sacrorum canonum decreta constituunt, tibi deinceps tuisque successoribus legitimis a Consano et Acberuntino archiepiscopo persolvatur."

The suffragan dioceses of the archdiocese of Conza, at the end of the 12th century, were: Muro Lucano, Satriano, Monteverde, Lacedonia, S. Angelo de' Lombardi, and Bisaccia.Kehr IX, p. 506.

Frederick II The Emperor Frederick II was not an attentive monarch when it came to the appointment of bishops in his realms, particularly in southern Italy. On 25 September 1225, Pope Honorius III wrote him a particularly tart letter, announcing that he had taken action to fill episcopal posts which had long been vacant. These were Capua, Salerno, Brindisi, Conza, and Aversa."Sane videntes quod diutina Capuanae, Salernitame, Brundusinae, Consanae, ac Aversanae ecclesiarum vacatio in grave non solum rerum, sed etiam animarum periculum redundabat, et attendentes, quod id nobis, et tibi imputabatur publice ab hominibus, ac ne imputaretur a Deo anxie metuentes, ipsis ecclesiis, et famae, ac saluti nostra, tuaeque simul curavimus providere ipsas ecclesias respectu ad solum Deum habito de personis tibi merito acceptandis, utpote scientia, vita, et fama conspicuis oriundis de regno...." For Conza, he appointed the Prior of the monastery of S. Maria de Urbe, Andreas. The bearer of the letter was the new archbishop of Salerno, whom the pope expected Frederick to receive courteously (exhibitorem praesentium vultu sereno recipiat).P. Pressuti, Regesta Honorii papae III Vol. II (Rome: Typis Vaticanis 1895), pp. 370-371, no. 5655. Eubel I, p. 202.

The Sede vacante of 1268 to 1274 The previous archbishop of Conza had died in 1268, some time before the death of Pope Clement IV, on 29 November 1268. The meeting of the canons of the cathedral Chapter to elect a successor produced a double election, of Andrea de Albeto and of the priest Roger of Eliseum. Appeal was taken to Pope Clement IV, who assigned Cardinal Giovanni Gaetano Orsini, Cardinal Deacon of S. Niccolo in Carcere, to examine the case as papal Auditor. Hearings were held, and oaths were taken, but the case was not decided. The death of the pope brought on the longest vacancy in papal history, during which no legal rulings could be issued and no bishops appointed or approved.

Clement's successor, Pope Gregory X (Tedaldo Visconti), accepted the papal office in early February 1272, and reassigned the case to Cardinal Orsini. He then set out for Lyon, to preside at an ecumenical council, which was to open on 1 May 1274. But the pope subsequently decided, on 18 August 1274, to hand over the case to the Archbishop of Capua to rehear and issue a decision, and, with papal authority, to carry out the consecration of an archbishop for Conza.Jean Guiraud, Les registres de Gregoire X (Paris: Thorin 1892), p. 149, no. 391. Eubel I, p. 202.

In 1672, the city of Conza had a population estimated at 350 persons; in 1759, the population was estimated at 600 persons.Ritzler & Sefrin V, p. 166, note 1; VI, p. 176, note 1. The great earthquake of 1732 struck as Mass was in progress in the cathedral. The cathedral fell in. Fifty of those in attendance were killed, the other twenty-five wounded in various degrees of seriousness. Many houses were destroyed copmpletely, the rest were seriously damaged.Mario Baratta (1901), I terremoti d'Italia: Saggio di storia, geografia e bibliografia sismica (Torino: De Bocca 1901), p. 222.

After Napoleon 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.

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 he reestablished the metropolitan archbishopric of Conza. At the same time he abolished the diocese of Satriano, which had been united aeque principaliter with the diocese of Campagna, and incorporated the territory of Satriano into the diocese of Campagna. The diocese of Campagna was assigned to the archdiocese of Conza, in such a way that the archbishop of Conza was also the perpetual administrator of the diocese of Campagna.Bulliarii Romani Continuatio Tomus 25 (Rome 1853), p. 57, § 10: "Archiepiscopalis ecclesia Compsana habebit suffraganeas ecclesias episcopales sancti Angeli Lombardorum, Laquedoniensem, et Muranam: supprimentes vero ecclesiam Satrianensem, alteri episcopali ecclesiae Campaniensi usque adhuc aeque principaliter unita m, moderno et prò tempore existenti metropolitanae ecclesiae Compsanae antistiti administrationem praedictae episcopalis ecclesiae Campaniensis cum integro etiam Satrianensi territorio dioecesano perpetuo tribuimus; ita ut Compsanus archiepiscopus, et Campaniénsis episcopalis ecclesiae administrator debeat inposterum nuncupari....."

Nineteenth Century In 1885, the diocese of Conza had a total population of 75,371 in twenty-seven parishes. The seminary had eleven teachers and forty students.Giuseppe Bertolotti (1885), Statistica ecclesiastica d'Italia Savona: A. Ricci 1885), pp. 573-575.

Chapter and cathedral The cathedral church of Conza is dedicated to the Assumption of the body of the Virgin Mary into heaven. The original building was destroyed in the earthquakes of the late 10th century.

It was administered by a corporate body called the Chapter, composed of three dignities (the Archdeacon, the Cantor, and the Primicerius) and eight canons. There were also minor clergy, who carried out religious functions in the cathedral.Ughelli VI, pp. 799, 801-802 (update by Bishop Francesco de Nicolai of Capaccio; in ancient documents, he read that there had been thirty prebends, which became limited to four dignities and eight canons). In 1885, the Chapter consisted of three dignities (Archdeacon, Cantor, Primicerius) and six canons, one of whom was Canon Theologus.Bertolotti (1885), Statistica ecclesiastica d'Italia, p. 574.

Diocese of Campagna