The Diocese of Acerno was a Roman Catholic diocese based in Acerno, a distance of 68 km (42 mi.) from Naples in southern Italy, with the bishop's seat in Acerno Cathedral. Created in the 11th century, in 1818, the diocese was granted in perpetual administratorship to the archbishops of Salerno. In the reorganization of ecclesiastical provinces in 1986, Acerno was suppressed, to create the Archdiocese of Salerno-Campagna-Acerno.
History
The cathedral of Acerno was originally dedicated in honor of S. Peter, but, like nearly all the cathedrals in the kingdom of Naples, came to be dedicated as well to the Virgin Mary, in this case under the title of the Annunciation.Ughelli VII, p. 446. Cappelletti XX, p. 314. Ritzler & Sefrin VI, p. 63, note 1. The cathedral was administered by a Chapter, which was led by four dignities, the Archdeacon, the Primicerius, the Treasurer, and the Cantor; the office of Cantor later disappeared. The original number of canons is uncertain, but by 1792 they numbered eighteen.Ughelli VII, p. 446. Cappelletti XX, p. 314. Ritzler & Sefrin VI, p. 63, note 1.
Bishop Giovanni Serrano, O.F.M.Observ., held a diocesan synod in Acerno in 1626, announcing at the Vatican during his ad limina visit in 1626 that he did not contemplate holding another.Giuseppe Maria Viscardi (2005), Tra Europa e "Indie di quaggiù". Chiesa, religiosità e cultura popolare nel Mezzogiorno (secoli XV-XIX) Roma: Ed. di Storia e Letteratura 2005), p. 191.
In 1792, the town of Acerno had a population of around 2,000 people. In the town was one religious house of men, the Conventual Franciscans. The bishop preferred to reside in Monte Corvino, some 19 km to the southwest.Ritzler & Sefrin VI, p. 63, note 1. In the town of Picenzia, an area of some 600 families, there was a collegiate church dedicated to S. Peter, which was headed by an Archpriest, a Primicerius, and a Treasurer, with two chaplains.Cappelletti XX, p. 314.
In May 1805, Napoleon had himself crowned King of Italy. After the Battle of Austerlitz on 2 December, a French army was sent to occupy the kingdom of Naples. On 23 January 1806, Ferdinand IV fled to Sicily, and on 14 February the French occupied Naples. Napoleon's brother, Joseph Bonaparte, was declared king on 30 March 1806, and after he was transferred to Spain, General Joachim Murat was declared King of Naples on 1 August 1808. In 1809, France annexed the Papal States, and Pope Pius VII was deported. Under such conditions, neither nomination to vacant dioceses by the king, nor confirmation by the pope, took place.
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 Salerno, with five suffragan dioceses, the diocese of Capaccio e Vallo, diocese of Policastro, diocese of Potenza e Marsico Nuovo, and diocese of Nusco.Bulliarii Romani Continuatio Tomus 25 (Rome 1853), p. 57, § 7: "Archiepiscopalis ecclesia Salernitana suffraganeas habebit episcopales ecclesias Caputaquensem, Policastrensem, Marsicensem, et Nuscanam; episcopalis vero Acernensis ecclesia ac dioecesis administrationem moderno ac prò tempore existenti archiepiscopo Salernitano...."
The See of Acerno was granted to the archbishop of Salerno as its perpetual administrator.D'Avino, pp. 600-601. Cappelletti XX, pp. 314-315. Kehr VIII, p. 379. In 1920, the diocese of Acerno had seven parishes, seven churches, and sixteen secular priests."Salerno," in: The Catholic Encyclopedia: Supplement. I, Part 1 (ed. Charles George Herbermann), Encyclopedia Press, 1922, p. 669.
On 4 August 1973, the Archbishop of Salerno and Perpetual Administrator of the diocese of Acerno, Gaetano Pollio (1969-1984) was also named bishop of Campagna, thereby serving as bishop of three dioceses at one and the same time, aeque personaliter.Acta Apostolicae Sedis 65 (1973), p. 502: "Cathedrali Ecclesiae Campaniensi Exc. P. D. Caietanum Pollio, Archiepiscopum Salernitanum."
Diocesan reorganization 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. It also recommended the abolition of anomalous units such as exempt territorial prelatures.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."
On 18 February 1984, the Vatican and the Italian State signed a new and revised concordat. Based on the revisions, a set of Normae was issued on 15 November 1984, which was accompanied in the next year, on 3 June 1985, by enabling legislation. According to the agreement, the practice of having one bishop govern two separate dioceses at the same time, aeque personaliter, as was the case with Salerno and Acerno and Campagna, was to be abolished. Instead, the Vatican continued consultations which had begun under Pope John XXIII for the merging of small dioceses, especially those with personnel and financial problems, into one combined diocese. On 30 September 1986, Pope John Paul II ordered that the dioceses of Salerno and Aceno, as well as the diocese of CampagnaCampagna was only 29 km or 18 mi in a straight line from Salerno, by road the distance is around 47 km or 29 miles. In 1980, the diocese of Campagna had (nominally) 52,000 members, and 31 priests. (which had not been incorporated into the reorganized metropolitanate of Conza), be merged into one diocese with one bishop, with the Latin title Archidioecesis Salernitana-Campaniensis-Acernensis. The seat of the diocese was to be in Salerno, and the cathedral of S. Maria e S. Matteo in Salerno was to serve as the cathedral of the merged dioceses. The cathedral in Acerno and the cathedral in Campagna were to become co-cathedrals, and the cathedral Chapters of Acerno and of Campagna were each to be a Capitulum Concathedralis. There was to be only one diocesan Tribunal, in Salerno, and likewise one seminary, one College of Consultors, and one Priests' Council. The territory of the new diocese was to include the territory of the previous dioceses of Salerno, Acerna, and Campagna.Acta Apostolicae Sedis 79 (Città del Vaticano 1987), pp. 778-780.
Bishops of Acerno to 1500
Mirando (attested 1091 or 1106)Carlo A. Garufi (ed.) (1922), "Necrologio del “Liber Confratrum” di S. Matteo di Salerno," in: Fonti per la storia d'Italia vol. LVI (Rome 1922), p. 231. Kehr VIII, p. 379. Giusio (1114–1124)L. Mattei-Cerasoli, "Di alcuni vescovi poco noti," in: Archivio storico per le provincie Napolitane XLIII (NS. IV 1918) 365. Pisanus (attested 1136)The name and the date are first found in Ughelli VII, p. 447, no. 1, "cujus memoria extat in monumentis ejusdem Ecclesiae." He cites no evidence, however. Kehr VIII (1935), p. 379. Petrus (attested 1179)Five prelates from the ecclesiastical province of Salerno attended the Third Lateran Council of Pope Alexander III in March 1179: Romoaldus of Salerno, Arnulfus of Capaccio, Johannes of the Marsi, Petrus of Acerno, and Johannes of Sarno. J.D. Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, editio novissima, Tomus XXII (Venice: A. Zatta 1778), p. 460. Ughelli VII, p. 447. Garufi, p. 66. Kehr VIII, p. 379. Paulus (attested 1222)On 30 March 1222, Pope Honorius III wrote to the bishop of Sarno and Canon Urso of Salerno, ordering them to inspect the election of Paulus, canon of Acerno, by the Chapter of Acerno, with the license of the archbishop of Salerno; and if it is found to be canonical, to order him to be consecrated by the suffragan bishops of the Church of Salerno. Pietro Pressuti, Regesta Honorii papae III, Tomus II (Romae: Typographia Vaticana 1895), p. 61, no. 3917. Eubel I, p. 68. Ughelli VII, p. 447, no. 2, gives the name "Paschasius", and he is followed of course by Gams, p. 842. Nicola da S. Germano, O.S.B. (1228 – May 1258)Nicola had been Prior of the monastery of Fossanova from 1223, for a period of five years, before becoming bishop of Acerno. In 1223, his title had been elevated to that of Abbot. E.M. Martini, "Intorno a Pietro Capuano, Cardinale Scrittore (Sec. XII–XIII)," in: A–rchivio storico della provincia di Salerno 1 (1921), p. 90. Luca, O.F.M. (attested August 1274 – 1279)Eubel (1890), p. 225 with note 2. Luca was still bishop in October 1279: L. Mattei-Cerasoli, "Di alcuni vescovi poco noti," in: Archivio storico per le provincie Napolitane XLIII (NS. IV 1918) 365. Francesco Serfilippo (1856), Ricerche sulla origine di Monte-Corvino nel principato citeriore, (Napoli: Stabilimento Tipografico 1856), p. 34. Giacomo (attested 1295)Jacobus: Cappelletti XXI, p. 315. Giovanni Benedetto Mittarelli (1760), Annales camaldulenses ordinis Sancti Benedicti, Volume 5 (Venice: J.B. Pasquali 1760), p. 217. By Giovanni Benedetto Mittarelli Andrea Capograsso (1309–1319)Andrea was appointed in 1309, according to Ughelli VII, p. 447. He was elected bishop of Valva on the death of Bishop Landulphus by the cathedral Chapter. His transfer was approved by Pope John XXII on 25 May 1319. G. Mollat, Jean XXII. Lettres communes, Tome II (Paris: Fontemoing 1905), p. 384 no. 9477. Eubel I, p. 78. Bartolomeo (attributed to 1314)Ughelli VII, p. 447 no. 5; repeated by Cappelletti XX, p. 315; omitted by Eubel I, p. 78. Giordano di Miramonti, O.P. (25 May 1319 - 1331)Jourdain de Miramont, a native of Quercy, was bishop of Acerno from 25 May 1319 to 1331. Edouard Albe, "Prelats originaires de Quercy," Annales de Saint Louis des Français 7 (1902), pp. 279-366, at p. 358. Petrus, O.Min. (1331–1344)Petrus was elected on 1 March 1331. On 1 July 1331, his consecration was confirmed by Pope John XXII. G. Mollat, Jean XXII. Lettres communes, Tome X (Paris: E. De Boccard 1930), p. 253 no. 54113. Eubel I, p. 78. Giacomo II (1344–1348) Matteo de Marino (1349–1363) Giuliano, O.F.M. (1363–1371)Julianus had previously been Bishop of Cardiki (THessaly) from c. 1350 to 1353, and Bishop of Nebbio (Corsica) from 1357 to 1363. On 11 August 1371, he exchanged the diocese of Lettere with Bishop Roberto da Casalnouvo. As Bishop of Lettere, he followed Urban VI in the Western Schism, and was deposed in 1384 by Pope Clement VII. He was given the diocese of Stabiae by Urban VI. Eubel I, pp. 78, 167, 309, 360.