The Diocese of Montepeloso (also Diocese of Irsina) (Latin: Dioecesis Montis Pelusii) was a Roman Catholic diocese located in the town of Montepeloso in the province of Matera in the Southern Italian region of Basilicata. It was united with the Diocese of Gravina (di Puglia) to form the Diocese of Gravina e Irsina (Montepeloso) in 1818."Diocese of Montepeloso" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved March 23, 2016"Diocese of Irsina" GCatholic.org. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved February 29, 2016 The name "Irsina" was given to the town of Montepeloso by vote of the council of the commune on 6 February 1895.Duchesne (1903), p. 363.
History The town of Montepeloso had been fortified by the Byzantines as a north-west outpost against the Lombards. There is no notice of its existence before 988.Gordon Brown (2003), The Norman Conquest of Southern Italy and Sicily (London: McFarland 2003), pp. 40-43. Duchesne (1903), p. 364.
In the privilege granted by the Patriarch of Constantinople to the Metropolitan of Otranto in the 960s, the Metropolitan was granted the right to consecrate the bishops of Acerenza, Tursi, Gravina, Matera, and Tricarico.Liutprand of Cremona, "Relatio de legatione Constantinopolitana... a. 968.969," ch. 62, in: Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptorum Tomus III (Hannover: Hahn 1839), p. 361. Montepeloso, though it was a frontier town in Byzantine territory like these bishoprics, is not mentioned in the privilege. The Diocese of Montepeloso, nevertheless, is said to have been established by the Byzantines in the late 10th or early 11th century.L. Duchesne (1903), pp. 365, 371. In 1011, the Byzantine garrison of Montepeloso was attacked by Saracen raiders, under the leadership of Ismael."Ismael fecit bellum in Monte Peloso cum ipsis Graecis" ("Annales Barenses, in: Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Vol. V, p. 53). Duchesne (1903), p. 365.
In 1041, a revolt of the Lombards against the Byzantines was restarted by Ardoin, who recruited several hundred Norman knights and footsoldiers from Salerno under the leadership of William "Ironarm" Hauteville. A definitive clash took place in a day-long pitched battle at Montepeloso in September 1041, after the Normans had stolen all their cattle and cut their supply line to the coast. The Lombard and Norman victory resulted in the expulsion of the Byzantines from Montepeloso and from the hill country, and the capture of their newly appointed katapan Bojoannes, who had to be ransomed.Brown, pp. 42-44. In 1042, the Norman Tancred became the Count of Montepeloso.Duchesne (1903), p. 366.
In 1059, an unnamed bishop of Montepelosi was deposed, by order of Pope Nicholas II at the Council of Melfi.Kehr IX, p. 477, nos. 1, 2.
Restoration, directly dependent on Holy See On 11 September 1123, Pope Calixtus II wrote from Benevento to Bishop Leo of Montepeloso, remarking that the diocese of Montepeloso had been appropriated by the archdiocese of Acerenzo without papal sanction, and handed it over to the diocese of Tricarico."Nimirum nostra Montis Pilosi ecclesia quondam episcopalis gloria dignitatis ac proprii pastoris fuit solatio decorata; uerum quidem ecclesiae Acheruntinae antistes sine ulla sanctae Romanae ecclesiae auctoritate, cui soli episcopatus coniungere uel disiungere licitum est, eam Tricaricensi ecclesiae couniuit." Duchesne, pp. 371-372. The pope had been approached, when he visited Montepeloso and again at his palace in Benevento, by the bishop-elect Leo and the people of Montepeloso, begging to be granted their own bishop. After wide consultation, he restored the Diocese of Montepeloso and consecrated Leo.Duchesne (1903), p. 372: "eidem ecclesiae antiquam episcopalis cathedrae restituimus dignitatem et te, dilecte in Christo frater Leo, eiusdem cleri et populi communi consensu et concordi uoto electum in ipsius loci episcopum nostris tanquam beati Petri manibus largiente Domino consecrauimus...." Leo had been Prior of the Benedictine monastery of S. Maria in Montepeloso. The diocese of Montepeloso was made directly dependent upon the Holy See.Kehr IX, pp. 476; 478, no. 5.
Destruction In 1133, King Roger II of Sicily completely destroyed the town of Montepeloso, which was a center of resistance to his rule. All the inhabitants left in the town, including the women and children, were slaughtered.Randall Rogers, Latin Siege Warfare in the Twelfth Century, (Oxford: Clarendon 1997), pp. 111-112. Janosi, pp. 58-59. The entire county fell under the control of the county of Andria and the Diocese of Andria Another revolt broke out in the spring of 1555, after William I came to the throne and appeared to be weak. The Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos sent aid, and his agents Michael Paleologus and John Doukas raised a rebellion in Apulia. Bari, Trani, Giovinazzo, Ruvo, Andria, Montepeloso, Gravina, and numerous other towns and villages submitted to the Greeks. In William's counterstrike in 1156, climaxing in the battle of 28 May 1156, the Byzantine forces were overwhelmed.Donald Matthew, The Norman Kingdom of Sicily (Cambridge UP 1992), pp. 268-269.
Pope Celestine III (1191–1198) was repeatedly petitioned by the clergy of Montepeloso to restore the bishopric of Montepeloso, which they had long had (quam habuerunt antiquitus). He ordered the petitioners to drop the subject, permanently.Janosi, pp. 69-72, document VI. Kehr IX, p. 479, no. 9.
In 1195, the abbess of the church of S. Thomas at Barletta complained to the pope that the Prior of Montepeloso and the vicar of Barletta had broken into the church with an armed force, and attempted to strangle the abbess. On 15 December 1195, Pope Celestine III ordered that the perpetrators be excommunicated.Kehr IX, p. 305. Matthew, p. 293.
Restoration, and independence In 1460, the Diocese of Montepeloso was united, aeque personaliter, to the Diocese of Andria, though not by papal action or with papal approval. Its bishops were actually the bishops of Andria.Gams, p. 848, column 2.
In 1479, the clergy and people of the diocese of Montepeloso, repeatedly given short shrift by the Duke and Bishop of Andria, sent a petition to Pope Sixtus IV carried by their Archdeacon, Antonio Maffei. The pope was impressed by the simple honesty of the archdeacon, and the justice of the complaints he brought in his petition.Janosi, pp. 275-276. On 25 June 1479, Pope Sixtus issued the bull "Romanus Pontifex", in which he pronounced the union of the dioceses of Andria and Montepeloso null and void,"...de fratruum nostrorum consilio casu quo de unione, annexione, et incorporatione hujusmodi aliquando constaret, illas nullas et invalidas fuisse...." returning the diocese of Montepeloso and the Priory of S. Maria to the status quo ante.The bull is quoted in full in Janosi, pp. 281-282. Antonio Maffei was appointed bishop of Montepeloso.
Pope Sixtus IV made the diocese of Montepelosi directly dependent upon the Holy See.Kehr IX, p. 477.
Reorganization
Following the expulsion of the French occupying forces in 1816, and the restoration of the Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples, a new concordat was signed on 16 February 1818, and ratified by Pius VII on 25 February 1818. Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies 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 joined the diocese of Gravina to the diocese of Montepeluso in perpetual union, as the Diocese of Gravina e Montepeloso, one bishop to preside over both dioceses. Montepelosi was the dominant partner.Bulliarii Romani Continuatio Tomus 25 (Rome 1853), p. 57, § 23: "Ecclesiam vero Gravinensem concathedralem declarantes, alteri episcopali ecclesiae Montis Pelusii aeque principaliter in perpetuum unimus."
Diocesan restructuring of 1986 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 11 October 1976, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gravina-Montepeloso was dismembered. Montepeloso was moved, to join the diocese of Matera, as the Diocese of Matera e Irsina (Montepeloso), two dioceses united in having one and the same bishop. The diocese of Gravina became a suffragan of the archdiocese of Bari-Bitonto.The bull Apostolicis Litteris , in: Acta Apostolicae Sedis 68 (1976), pp. 641-642.
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 Montepeloso and Gravina, 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 diocese of Gravina be suppressed, and that its territory be incorporated along with the Prelature of Altamura and the Prelature of Aquaviva into a new diocese, the "Dioecesis Altamurensis-Gravinensis-Aquavivensis."Acta Apostolicae Sedis 79 (Città del Vaticano 1987), pp. 715-718. At the same time, the diocese of Montepeloso (Irpina) was suppressed, and its territory became part of the "Archidioecesis Materanensis-Montis Pelusii".Acta Apostolicae Sedis 79 (Città del Vaticano 1987), pp. 732-735.
Bishops of Montepeloso
Antonellus, O.S.F. (1452–1463)Antonellus was actually bishop of Andria0. Cf. Gams, p. 999 col. 2. Antonius de Joannocto, O.P. (1460–1463)Antonius: Janora, pp. 133-134, quoting his funeral monument. Rogerius da Atella (1463–1465) Bishop of Andria Franciscus Bertini (1465–1469) Bishop of Andria Martinus Sotomajor (1469–1477) Bishop of Andria Donatus, Bishop of Andria Antonio Maffei (1479–1482 Died)Maffei built the first episcopal palace. Janora, pp. 274-276.Eubel Hierarchia catholica II, p. 195. Julius Caesar Cantelmi (1482–1491 Resigned)Cantelmi was a Neapolitan, and claimed descent from the kings of Scotland. Janora, p. 277. Eubel II, pp. 196-197 with notes 2 and 3. Leonardo Carmini (1491–1498)Carmini (de Cerbaria) was appointed Bishop of Montepeloso on 10 January 1491, by Pope Innocent VIII. He was transferred to the diocese of Trivento by Pope Alexander VI on 26 November 1498. Eubel II, p. 196, 257. Marco Copula, O.S.B. (1498–1527)Janosa, p. 278, prefers the spelling "Coppuleo" or "Coppola". Eubel II, p. 197; III, p. 249.