The Diocese of Trieste () is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in the Triveneto. It has existed since no later than 524, and in its current form since 1977. The bishop's seat is in the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Justus Martyr. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Gorizia."Diocese of Trieste" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved February 29, 2016"Diocese of Trieste" GCatholic.org. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved February 29, 2016
History Frugiferus was the first known bishop of Trieste; the diocese was then a suffragan of the archdiocese of Aquileia.
On 28 April 1221, Pope Honorius III confirmed Bishop Conrad's approval of the addition of a thirteenth canon to the Cathedral Chapter.Kehr VII. 2, p. 211. 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.
Among the bishops were: Enea Silvio de' Piccolomini, later Pope Pius II; Pietro Bonomo, a secretary of Emperor Frederick III and Emperor Maximilian I, bishop in 1502, and known as pater concilii in the Fifth Lateran Council (1512); and Giovanni Bogarino, teacher of Archduke Charles of Styria, bishop from 1591.
Provincial reorganizations
The diocese of Trieste was suffragan of the Patriarchate of Aquileia until 1751.F. Seneca, La fine dei patriarcato aquileiense (1748-1751), , Venezia 1954. The ecclesiastical province of Aquileia was subject to repeated troubles, both internal and external, due partly to the fact that the eastern dioceses of the province (Istria) were politically subject to Austria, while the western dioceses (Veneto) were subject to the Venetian Republic. Both powers had repeated clashes with the Papacy in policy and administration.Pope Benedict XIV, "Injuncta Nobis", 6 July 1751, in: Sanctissimi Domini nostri Benedicti papae XIV bullarium, , editio nova, Tomus Tertius, Volume 9 (Mechlin: Hanicq, 1827), pp. 41-42. The War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748) produced a crisis, since both Venice and the Papacy supported Charles Albert of Bavaria,Innocent XII had supported Charles, but during the war Benedict XIV switched allegiance to Maria Theresa, though he changed back to Charles, and finally returned to Maria Theresa. while Austria supported Maria Theresa, daughter of Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor. The Austrian government retaliated by sequestering all church benefices in its territories.J.N.D. Kelly & M.J. Walsh, Oxford Dictionary of Popes, second edition (OUP 2010), p. 301. At the conclusion of the war, both Austria and Venice demanded a resolution of the ecclesiastical problems.
Pope Benedict, in letters of 29 November 1749 and 27 June 1750, invited the two parties to come to an agreement, while for the moment the present arrangements would remain in effect. On 6 April 1751, replies from Austria and Venice were presented to the pope, in the form of a convention between the parties, with the demand that the pope implement it.Pope Benedict XIV, "Injuncta Nobis", Sanctissimi Domini nostri Benedicti papae XIV bullarium, pp. 43-47: "...partes ipsae olim dissentientes, nostris invitationibus et hortationibus obsecundantes, diligentibus tractatibus et colloquiis habitis, convenerunt; cuius Conventionis exempla... Nobis relinquientes, earumdem Partium nomine Nobis humiliter supplicarunt, ...approbationis nostrae robur adjicere, necnon pro earumdem rerum executione Apostolicae autoritatis nostrae plenitudinem interpontere dignaremur". The patriarchate of Aquileia was abolished, as Article I of their convention required, and was replaced by two ecclesiastical provinces and two archbishoprics on equal footing: Udine and Gorizia. Benedict XIV granted the empress of Austria and her successors the right to nominate the archbishop of Gorizia, and the doge of Venice and his successors the right to nominate to a vacancy at Udine."Injuncta Nobis", Sanctissimi Domini nostri Benedicti papae XIV bullarium, pp. 52 § 12: "...praedictae Mariae Theresiae Reginae in Imperatricem Electae, ejusque successoribus in perpetuum, add praefatum Goritiensem Archiepiscopatum per Nos, ut praeferetur erectum tam pro prima hac vice, quam quoties perpetuis futuris temporibus ipsum vacare contigerit, jus nominandi Nobis...." The diocese of Trieste was transferred to the ecclesiastical province of Gorizia.Pope Benedict XIV, "Injuncta Nobis", Sanctissimi Domini nostri Benedicti papae XIV bullarium, pp. 41-61.
From 1788, a series of administrative changes took place in northeastern Italy. The bishop of Pedena, Aldrago Antonin de Piccardi had been transferred to the diocese of Senj e Modruš (Croatia) on 14 February 1785, and was not replaced. On 20 August 1788, diocese of Pedena, was suppressed, and its territory was added to that of Gradisca.Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VI, p. 334, notes 1 and 3. Piccardi died in Trieste on 13 September 1789: Ritzler & Sefrin, p. 372 note 6. Under pressure from Emperor Joseph II, Pope Pius VI then abolished the diocese of Trieste and Archdiocese of Gorizia in 1788, merging them into the new diocese of Gradisca.Pius VI, "Super Specula", 20 August 1788, in: Bullarii Romani Continuatio, Vol. 8 (Rome: Typographia Reverendis Camerae Apostolicae 1844), pp. 210-218. On 12 September 1791, at the request of Joseph's brother, Emperor Leopold II, Pope Pius VI divided the diocese of Gradisca into the newly created diocese of Gorizia-Gradisca, or Görz-Gradisca,Cappelletti VIII, p. 647. and a re-established diocese of Trieste,Pius VI, "Ad Supremum", 12 September 1791, in: Bullarii Romani Continuatio, Vol. 9 (Rome: Typographia Reverendis Camerae Apostolicae 1845), pp. 53-62. appointing as its bishop the tutor of the Emperor's children, Sigismund Anton, Count of Hohenwart.Ritzler & Sefrin VI, p. 397 with note 5. At the same time, the pope confirmed the right of the emperors to nominate to a vacancy in the diocese of Trieste.Bullarii Romani Continuatio, Vol. 9, p. 59, § 14. Later attempts were made to suppress the see again, but the emperor decreed its preservation, nominating Ignatius Cajetanus von Buset zu Faistenberg bishop of Trieste on 12 February 1796.Bishop von Buset was confirmed by Pope Pius VI on 27 June 1796. Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VI, p. 397 with note 6. David M. Cheney, Catholic-hierarchy.org, "Bishop Ignatius Cajetanus von Buset zu Faistenberg"; After his death in 1803 the see remained vacant for eighteen years, because of the disorders caused by the French Revolutionary Republic, the Italian republics and kingdom of Napoleon, the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, and the imprisonment of Pope Pius VII from 1809 to 1815.
Emperor Franz II finally appointed Antonio Leonardis da Lucinico as the new bishop of Trieste on 4 March 1821, and he was confirmed by Pope Pius VII on 13 August 1821.Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VII, p. 362. But the Emperor and Clemens von Metternich continually resisted the efforts to establish a concordat with the Papacy.Frederik C. Nielsen, The History of the Papacy in the Nineteenth Century, Vol. 1 (London: John Murray 1906), pp. 370-371.
On 20 June 1828, by the papal bull "Locum Beati Petri", Pope Leo XII completed the project which had been begun by Pius VII, the reorganization of the dioceses of the Italian peninsula, Istria, and Dalmatia, whose existence had been interrupted or compromised by the French intrusions. He first suppressed a number of dioceses in Istria and Dalmatia, including Aemonia.Bullarii Romani continuatio Tomus decimus septimus (17) (Romae 1855), p. 375 §3: pariterque Aurerensis, Arbensis, Amoniensis in litore Adriatico perpetuo supprimimus et extinguimus." The diocese of Koper, or Capodistria-Koper, was united with Trieste.Bullarii Romani continuatio, p. 378, § 18: Dioecesis ecclesiae episcopalis Tergestinae praeter eam qua nunc gaudet, complectetur universam Justinopolitanae ecclesiae dioecesim, quae eidem concathedrali est attributa, necnon dioecesis Amoniensis territorium. Thereafter it was known as the "Diocese of Trieste-Koper (Capodistria)".It also included the titular diocese of Aemona (Cittanova), and one parish transferred from Gorizia and eleven from the diocese of Parenta.
Bishop Bartholomew Legat was present at the Synod of Vienna in April 1849, when the Austrian Episcopal Conference was founded.J.-B. Martin & L. Petit (edd.), Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, editio novissima, , (Paris: Hubert Welter 1910), pp. 323-404, esp. p. 393. He also defended the views of the minority in the First Vatican Council (1869–1870). In 1909 Bishop Franz Xaver Nagl was appointed coadjutor cum jure successionis to the ninety-year-old Cardinal Prince-Archbishop Anton Gruscha of Vienna.
The Second Vatican Council (1962–1965), in order to ensure that all Catholics received proper spiritual attention, decreed the reorganization of the diocesan structure of Italy and the consolidation of small and struggling dioceses.In its decree Christus Dominus, section 22, it stated: "Concerning diocesan boundaries, therefore, this sacred synod decrees that, to the extent required by the good of souls, a fitting revision of diocesan boundaries be undertaken prudently and as soon as possible. This can be done by dividing dismembering or uniting them, or by changing their boundaries, or by determining a better place for the episcopal see or, finally, especially in the case of dioceses having larger cities, by providing them with a new internal organization.... At the same time the natural population units of people, together with the civil jurisdictions and social institutions that compose their organic structure, should be preserved as far as possible as units. For this reason, obviously, the territory of each diocese should be continuous." Pope Paul VI had been working for some time to implement the council's decree. The diocese of Trieste e Capodistria was in an anomalous position, with part of its territory in Italy, and part in the Slovenian Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia. On 27 October 1977, few days after the formal Yugoslav incorporation of Capodistria/Koper (when the 1975 Osimo Treaty took effect), by virtue of the Apostolic Constitution "Prioribus saeculi XIX annis," Koper / Capodistria was restored"Nunc vero propter mutata rerum temporumque adiuncta, expedit ut dioecesis Iustinopolitana in illum statum redeat in quo usque ad annum MDCCCXXViii versata est." as an independent diocese once more, being transferred to the ecclesiastical province of Ljubljana from that of Gorizia, and leaving the diocese of Trieste in its present state.Acta Apostolicae Sedis Vol. 69 (Città del Vaticano 1977), pp. 689-691.
Bishops
Diocese of Trieste Erected: 6th Century Latin Name: Tergestinus
To 1200
Frugiferus (attested 549)Frugiferus: Lanzoni, p. 865. ... Severus (attested 571–590)Severus: Paul the Deacon, History of the Langobards III. 26. Lanzoni, p. 805. Firminus (attested 602)Firminus rejected the heretical Three Chapters, and with the consent of his clergy reestablished communion with Pope Gregory I. Lanzoni, p. 865. Kehr VII. 2, p. 210. ... Gaudentius (attested 680)Bishop Gaudentius subscribed the synodical letter (Epistola III) of Pope Agatho sent to the Roman emperors Constantine, Heraclius, and Tiberius in Constantinople. J.D. Mansi (ed.), Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, editio novissima, (in Latin), Vol. 11 (Florence: A. Zatta 1765), p. 311. Cappelletti VIII, p. 681. J.P. Migne, Patrologiae Latinae Tomus LXXXVII (Paris 1863), p. 1241. ... Joannes (attested 731)Joannes is mentioned in a bull of Pope Gregory III (731–741). Cappelletti VIII, p. 681. ... Joannes de Antenori (759–766)Bishop Giovanni was transferred to the Patriarchate of Grado. He was murdered by the Venetians in 801. Gams, p. 791, col. 1. Cappelletti VIII, pp. 681-682.