The Archdiocese of Agrigento () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Sicily, Italy.John Paul II, Constitution ad maiori consulendum, 2 December 2000; retrieved: 2017-03-28.Archdiocese of Agrigento Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved April 4, 2016"Metropolitan Archdiocese of Agrigento" GCatholic.org. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved April 4, 2016 The historic diocese of Agrigento, was sometimes known colloquially as the Diocese of Girgenti, and Diocese of Agrigentum. From 1183, it was a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Monreale. A metropolitan see since 2000, the Archdiocese of Agrigento has two suffragan dioceses in its ecclesiastical province.
History Agrigento (the Greek Acragas, Roman Agrigentum) was founded in the early 6th century B.C. by Greeks from Gela. Legend considers Saint Libertinus its earliest proselytizer; he is said to have been sent by Saint Peter, in 44 A.D.Lo Presti, in: D'Avino, p. 265. Local enthusiasm for an Apostolic connection even led someone to forge a bull of investiture, an instrument which was not created until centuries later.Lanzoni, pp. 640-641.
Gregory of Agrigento, said to have been martyred in 262, never existed. His name occurs in the hagiographical work, "The Life of St. Agrippina", but the author of that work, a person of the eighth or ninth century, placed the sixth century Bishop Gregory of Agrigento in the wrong context.Lanzoni, p. 64.
The earliest bishop is said to have been Potamius, who was believed by some to be a contemporary of Pope Agapetus I (535–536).Cappelletti, XXI, p. 599. Gams, p. 943. Other scholars, however, place him in the seventh century. Through the 7th century, there was no metropolitan in Sicily, and each of the dioceses depended directly upon the pope. Bishop Felix of Agrigento attended the Lateran council of Pope Martin I in October 649,Cappelletti, p. 599 and Bishop Georgius attended the Lateran synod of Pope Agapetus II in October 679.J.D. Mansi (ed.), Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, editio novissima Vol. 11 (Florenze: A. Zatta 1765), p. 179. The Emperor Leo III the Isaurian (717–741) removed the dioceses of Sicily, including Agrigento, from Roman control and made them suffragans of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. In the mid-9th (or 10th) century, Basil of IalimbanaAndreas Kuelzer, in: Encyclopedia of Ancient Natural Scientists: The Greek Tradition and its Many Heirs, (ed. Paul T. Keyser; Georgia L. Irby-Massie) (New York: Routledge 2008), s. v. "Georgios of Cyprus (600–620)". Ernest Honigmann, "Die Notitia des Basileios von Ialimbana," Byzantion 9 (1934), 205-222. revised the geography of George of Cyprus with the addition of a Notitia episcopuum, in which the diocese of Agrigento appears as a suffragan of Syracuse.H. Gelzer, Georgius Cyprius (Leipzig: B.G. Teubner 1890), p. 30: "Νῆσος Σικελίας: Συράκουσα: ...᾿Ακράγαντος...."
The succession of bishops was interrupted by the Saracen occupation of all of Sicily (879–1038). Cappelletti, XXI, p. 598.
In the spring of 1087, after several earlier raids, Count Roger d'Hauteville began the siege of Agrigento. The town surrendered in July.Gordon S. Brown, The Norman Conquest of Southern Italy and Sicily (London: McFarland 2003), p. 185. Pope Urban II (1088–1099) made Count Roger and his successors papal legate in Sicily.Gallo, Codice ecclesiastico sicolo vol. 2, p. 232, col. 1.
The Normans A bishop was again appointed for Agrigento in 1093, the Burgundian Garlando, a blood-relative of Count Roger d'Hauteville. He was consecrated a bishop by Pope Urban II. Since there was no metropolitan in Sicily, each new Latin rite bishop depended directly on Rome. In a decree of 1093, Count Roger fixed the boundaries of the diocese, which extended across central Sicily, from the Mediterranean in the south, as far east as Butera, to the Tyrrhenian Sea in the north, including territory from Terme (Termini Imerese) to a point east of Cefalù.Pirro, p. 695, col. 2.
When the new diocese of Cefalù was established on 4 September 1131, the diocese of Agrigento lost the Tyrrhenian seacoast, and nearly all of its territory north of the Sicanian Mountains.Pirro, Sicilia Sacra vol. II (third ed. 1733, ed. A. Mongitore), p. 799.
On 10 July 1154, Pope Adrian IV established the first Latin metropolitanate on the island of Sicily, at Palermo. Agrigento was appointed to be one of its suffragans. This was confirmed by Pope Alexander III on 25 April 1160.Gallo, Codice ecclesiastico sicolo vol. 2, p. 46, nos. 61, 62. Pirro I, p. 94; p. 101. The bishop of Agrigento was required to swear an oath of obedience to the archbishop of Palermo annually on 15 August.Gallo, Codice ecclesiastico sicolo vol. 2, p. 50, no. 71.
On the death of the Emperor Frederick II in 1250, his son Manfred was appointed regent in Sicily for his brother, the Emperor Conrad. when Conrad died of malaria in 1254, Manfred became regent for his nephew Conradin. On the report, untrue as it was discovered, of the death of Conradin in 1258, Manfred assumed the kingship of Sicily. He was crowned in Palermo on 10 August 1258 by Bishop Rinaldo di Acquaviva of Agrigento. For this act of defiance against Pope Alexander IV, he was excommunicated.Cappelletti, p. 601. Pirro I, pp. 704-705: "idem Alexander PP. attendens, quod Agrigentinus Episcopus Raynaldus, qui eidem Manfredo suas execrabiles manus imposuit, et in Regem inunxit, eique publicè favet & abominabiliter adberet, quique in die unctionis & coronazionis Manfredi missam solemniter celebravit; pro excessu tam nefario eumdem Agrigentinum Episc. excommunicavit, & ab Episcopali dignitate deposuit." Donald Matthew, The Norman Kingdom of Sicily (Cambridge: CUP 1992), pp. 367-369.
Chapter and cathedral
The cathedral of S. Gerlando was consecrated on 9 November 1305. The annual festival of S. Gerlando takes place on 25 February.Pirro I, p. 727, col. 2.
The cathedral is administered and served by a corporation called the Chapter,C.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. which is led by four dignities: the Dean, the Cantor, the Archdeacon, and the Treasurer, and in addition fourteen canons, up to 1567; to which six others were added later.Pirro I, p. 727-730. In 1672, there were nineteen canons; in 1755, there were twenty.Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica V, p. 73, note 1; VI, p. 73, note 1.. The Chapter had the right to elect the bishop, subject to royal and papal approval.
Aragonese Sicily (1282–1516)
As a consequence of the uprising of Easter 1282, the Angevins were driven out of Sicily, and eventually Peter III of Aragon, the husband of Constance II of Sicily, made himself king of Sicily. He was proclaimed in Palermo on 4 September 1282, over the objections of Pope Martin IV (Simon de Brie), a Freenchman, who excommunicated him.
During the great Western Schism, the Kings of Aragon, Castile, France, and Naples supported the papal authority of Avignon, rather than that of Rome. The king of Sicily followed his own wishes of the time.Cf. Pirro, I, p. 711: "Schismaticos, &hareticos Catalanes appellat, quoniam Martinus Rex cum præcipuis Catalaunis primum Clementi VII, feu Roberto de Comite Gebennensi, post Benedicto XIII, Petro de Luna Pseudopontificibus adhæserat."
In 1392, on the death of Bishop Agatho, the cathedral Chapter elected Gilford Riccobono, Archdeacon of Palermo and chamberlain of the Roman pope Boniface IX, to be bishop of Agrigento; they submitted his election certificate to Boniface IX for confirmation, which the pope was happy to do, while fulminating against the many schismatics and heretics in Sicily who were favorers of the Catalonians. Pope Clement VII (Avignon Obedience) appointed Pietro Curto (de Curtibus) bishop of Agrigento on 2 June 1393.Eubel, Hierarchia catholica I, p. 78 Pietro Curno is referred to in a document as the successor of Bishop Agatho: Pirro I, p. 710: "bona, quae ejus praecessor Agath legaverat Cathedrali templo Agrig. omnino exigere studeat...." In 1394, the Regent Martin of Aragon, nephew of King John I of Aragon arrived in Sicily, and sent messengers to Boniface IX demanding that Ricobono be sent to him. When the archbishop of Palermo Nicolaus de Agrigento died in 1395, Riccobono was named Apostolic Administrator of Palermo on 10 June 1396,Eubel, Hierarchia catholica I, p. 388 with note 13. and came to Palermo with the additional title of Papal Legate to Sicily, a title which the kings of Sicily had always enjoyed. Boniface also named him apostolic administrator of the diocese of Agrigento. He died in 1398.Cf. Pirro, I, p. 711, col. 1 .
In 1408, King Martin I of Sicily issued a decree stating that, after an election by the Chapter meeting with the queen's consent, and within the statutory time limit of six months, no bishop was to be accepted to fill a vacancy without the king's express command.Gallo, Codice ecclesiastico Siculo..., p. 78, column 1.
Pope Julius II, in a bull issued in Rome on 25 June 1507, granted his blood-relative and chamberlain, Giuliano Cibò, Bishop of Agrigento (1506–1537), exemption from the jurisdiction of the archbishop of Palermo.Pirro, Sicilia sacra third ed. (Palermo 1733) Vol. 1, p. 717, col. 2.
In 1546, Ignatius of Loyola sent the first Jesuit, Jacob Lhoost, to the Island of Sicily, to Agrigento, at the request of Cardinal Rodolfo Pio da Carpi, the Administrator of the diocese of Agrigento.Ignatius of Loyola, Letters to Women (New York: Herder and Herder 1960), p. 440. Ludwig von Pastor, The History of the Popes: From the Close of the Middle Ages, Volume 12 (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner 1923), p. 89. They were given the church of S. Margaret in Sciacca (Sacca), where they established a house in 1558, with the assistance of the duke and duchess of Bivona. Bishop Juan Orozco y Covarrubias (1594–1606) invited the Jesuits to found a college in Agrigento.Pirro I, p. 736, col. 2. He also founded a printing house in the city.James F. Melvin, "Juan de Horozco y Covarrubias's Tratado de la verdadera y falso prophecia (1588) and the Influence of Medieva Apocalyptic Traditions in Post-Tridentine Spain," in: E. Knibbs; J. Boon; E. Geiser (edd.), The End of the World in Medieval Thought and Spirituality (Cham Switzerland: Springer/Macmillan Palgrave 2019), p. 204.
In accordance with the decrees of the Council of Trent,Session 23, chapter xviii. S. Ehses (ed.), Concilium Tridentinum: Actorum, , pt. 6 (Friburg im Breisgau: Herder 1924), pp. 628-630. Bishop Cesare Marullo (1574–1577) established the priestly seminary of Agrigento. Bishop Vincenzo Bonincontro, O.P. (1607–1622) procured the Palazzo Chiaramonti and attached buildings to house the seminary.Lo Presti, in: D'Avino, p. 266, col. 1. Bishop Saverio Granata (1795–1817) added physics, mathematics, and the Italian language to the curriculum of the seminary.Lo Presti, in: D'Avino, p. 267, col. 1.
Synods Bishop Didacus (Diego) Haedo (1585–1599) held a diocesan synod in 1589, and published its decrees and the diocesan statutes.Constitutiones et decreta plena Synodo Agrigentina digesta per ill. et Rev. Didacum Haedo episcopum Agrigentinum, , (Palermo: apud Jo. F. Carrara 1589). Another diocesan synod was held by Bishop Vincenzo Bonincontro, O.P. (1607–1622) in 1610.Constitutiones dioecesanae synodi Agrigentinae, , (Palermo: Jo. Ant. de Franciscis 1610). Bishop Francesco Traina (1627–1651) held a diocesan synod on 3 October 1630. Bishop Ferdinando Sanchez de Cuellar, O.S.A. (1653–1657) presided at a diocesan synod held on 6–7 June 1655.Constitutiones dioecesanae synodi ill.mi et rev.mi D.mi Fratris Ferdinandi Sanchez de Cuellar episc. agrigentini, ... celebratae an. D.ni MDCLV., , (Palermo: Nicolaus Bus, MDCLV).