The Italian Catholic diocese of Venosa, in southern Italy, existed until 1986. In that year it was united into the Diocese of Melfi-Rapolla-Venosa. From 1976 to 1986, Venosa had been a suffragan of the archdiocese of Potenza e Marsico Nuovo.

History

The earliest events of the Christian history of Venosa are contained in the mythological martyrdoms of the Twelve BrothersLanzoni, pp. 285-288. The Beneventan twelve are not to be confused with the Umbrian twelve: pp. 428-434. (286) and, in 303, of Felix, bishop of Thibiuca in Africa proconsularis, near Carthage. Francesco Lanzoni has shown that there are five different versions of the martyrology, sometimes with different companions, and different destinations to the place of execution. The first recension is assigned to the sixth century. The second recension of the martyrology mentions Venosa, but to do so two emendations of two different nonsensical place names are required. The third recension has the bishop executed at Nola, though his body ends up in Milan, or Nola (through an emendation of the text).Lanzoni, pp. 295-298. Lanzoni agrees with most scholars in placing Bishop Felix's death in Africa near Carthage, under the proconsul Annulinus.Lanzoni, p. 296: "Come si spiega questo pasticcio ? L'ipotesi del Monceaux (Hist. littér. de l'Afrique chrétienne, III, 136), del p. Delehaye (« Anal. Boll. », an. 1897, p. 28, e an. 1921, pp. 241 e seg.) e del Quentin (o. e, pp. 522-32) mi sembra molto plausibile. S. Felice di Thibiuca, un martire africano autentico, non sarebbe morto ne a Venosa ne a Nola, ma in Africa presso Cartagine (forse il 15 luglio) per ordine del proconsole Anullinus, e sarebbe stato sepolto nel suburbano lungo la via che poi fu detta vicus Scillitanorum dove sorse la basilica Fausti."

Stephanus (498) is the first Bishop of Venosa whose date is known accurately.

The names of other bishops up to the Norman conquest in the 11th century have not been preserved.

The Benedictine abbey of Santissima Trinità di Venosa was founded in 1043, under the patronage of the Norman Duke Drogo.Kehr IX, p. 491: "Primum hoc et celeberrimum inter abbatias a ducibus e gente Normannorum fundatas monasterium monachorum ord. s. Benedicti erectum est a Drogone duce, cui a. 1043 in divisione possessionum tunc a Normannis acquisitarum civitas Venusiae attributa est." Giacomo Tirsone (2012), "La basilica della SS. Trinità di Venosa dalla Tarda Antichità all’Età Moderna (II parte)," , Tesi di Laurea Specialistica discussa presso l'Università di Roma "Torvergata". Relatore: Prof. Vincenzo Fiocchi Nicolai (Roma 2012), pp. 99-141, at pp. 104-106. The abbey became the mausoleum of the family of Duke Robert Guiscard.Cappelletti XX, p. 496.

It is alleged that a bishop of Venosa in the first half of the 13th century was assassinated by a cleric. Bishop Bono (1223) is usually named as the victim.Ughelli VII (1721), p. 172. Cappelletti XX, p. 497. The only source for the incident is the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick II, whose remark is preserved in a document in which he responds to a number of questions put to him by four bishops, sent as nuncios by Pope Gregory IX.Matthew of Paris, Monk of Saint Albans, Chronica maiora ed. H. R. Luard, Vol. III (London: Longman 1876), p. 557. The bishops complained that clerics were being thrown into imperial prisons and executed. Frederick, in a reproach to the laxity of church authorities, replied: "[The Emperor] is also aware of killings, because the Church of Venosa weeps over the death of their bishop, killed by a monk, because of the lack of punishment of clerics and monks.Novit etiam de occisis, quod propter impunitatem clericorum et monachorum Venusina ecclesia gemit obitum prelati sui, a suo monacho interfecti." Luard identifies the bishop, whom the Emperor does not name, as Bonus, Bishop of Venosa.

A diocesan synod was held in Venosa by Bishop Giovanni Gerolamo Maneri (1585–1591) on 17 September 1589.Constitutiones synodales ecclesiae Venusinae editae, et promulgatae in synodo diocesana habita Venusij die 17. Septemb. quae fuit Dominica tertia anno 1589 Venosa: apud Paulum Bladum 1591. Andrea Pierbenedetti (1611-1634) held a diocesan synod in Venosa on 2 April 1614.Synodus dioecesana ecclesiae Venusinæ. Ab admodum illust. & reuerendiss. D. Andrea Perbenedicto de civitate Camerini ... habita anno Domini 1614 Venosa: apud Euangelistam Deuch 1620. Bishop Pietro Antonio Corsignano held a diocesan synod in Venosa on 4–6 April 1728.Synodus dioecesana ab illustrissimo et reverendissimo domino d. Petro Antonio Corsignani Dei, & apostolicae sedis gratia Venusiae episcopo, in cathedrali Venusina ecclesia celebrata dominica in albis, & duabus feriis sequentibus 4. 5. 6. mensis Aprilis 1728. (Venosa 1728); appended to the synodical acts, Bishop Corsignani inserted his own useful treatise, "De ecclesia et civitate Venusiae ejusdemque episcopis" , 57 pp.

Bishop Lamberto Arbaud (1509) embellished the cathedral,Ughelli VII, p. 175: "Chorum Cathedralis marmoreis subselliis et portam ejusdem exornavit." which was demolished a little later to permit the erection of fortifications.

The Napoleonic disruption and restoration From 1801 to 1818 the see of Venosa 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, including papal bulls, 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 Lavello was permanently suppressed and united to the Church of Venosa.Torelli I, pp. 117-118.

In 1818, the diocese of Lavello, suffragan to the archdiocese of Bari, was suppressed and its territory united to the diocese of Venosa. The city of Lavello was founded in 1042, when the Norman count ArniclinoUghelli VII, p. 740. fixed his seat at Lavello.Umberto Benigni (1912), "Venosa," The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 15 (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912); retrieved: 13 August 2022, writes "Arnichino", an obvious slip of the pen.

Modern Developments

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. The decree "Eo quod spirituales" of 12 September 1976 created a new episcopal conference in the region called "Basilicata", to which were assigned all of the dioceses that belonged to the ecclesiastical province of Potenza; they had formerly belonged to the episcopal conference of "Apulia".The bull Eo quod spirituales , in: Acta Apostolicae Sedis 68 (1976), pp. 678-680.

On 30 September 1986, Pope John Paul II ordered the unification of the dioceses of Melfi, Rapolla, and Venosa, into a single bishopric, to be named "Dioecesis Melphiensis-Rapollensis-Venusina", with its headquarters in Melfi. The cathedral of Melfi was designated the diocesan cathedral, and the cathedral of Venosa became a co-cathedral, and its Chapter became the Chapter of a co-cathedral. The diocese of Venosa was suppressed, and its territory united to the territory of Melfi-Rapolla-Venosa. The diocese of Rapolla had been suppressed in 1528, and its territory united to the diocese of Melphi.Acta Apostolicae Sedis 79 (Città del Vaticano 1987), pp. 738-740.

The diocese of Melfi is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Potenza-Muro Lucano-Marsico Nuovo.

Statistics YearCatholicsTotal PopulationPercent CatholicDiocesan PriestsReligious PriestsTotal PriestsCatholics Per PriestPermanent DeaconsMale ReligiousFemale ReligiousParishes188636,000.0%8908195050,05050,10099.9%2911401,251152610197040,26740,56799.3%1712291,388127013198033,35033,61999.2%182201,66735413

Bishops of Venosa

to 1200

... [Philippus] (238)Bishop Philippus is named by Ferdinando Ughelli, Italia Sacra VII (1721), p. 168, but without any evidence whatever. He is rejected by Lanzoni, p. 298. [Joannes] (443)Giovanni is listed by Ughelli, p. 168, who relates the tale that he raised an army which successfully resisted Attila the Hun's attack on Venosa. Attila never came near Venosa, however, and Ughelli mentions no source. He is rejected by Lanzoni, p. 298-299. [Asterus] (493)Ughelli VII, p. 168, citing the legendary Acta Sancti Sabini to the effect that Asterus and two other bishops consecrated an altar to S. Michael the Archangel on Monte Gargano. He is rejected by Lanzoni, p. 299.