The Archdiocese of Gorizia ( is a Latin archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Italy. The archiepiscopal see of Gorizia (Friulian: Gurizza/Gurizze; ; ) was founded in 1751 when the Patriarchate of Aquileia was abolished, and its territory divided between two new dioceses, Udine and Gorizia. The diocese of Gorizia was suppressed in 1788 for the creation of the Diocese of Gradisca (union of the Archdiocese of Gorizia and Dioceses of Trieste and Pedena) and re-established in 1791 as the Diocese of Gorizia e Gradisca. It was raised again to a metropolitan archdiocese in 1830.
The diocese of Ljubljana (Laibach), Trieste-Koper (Capo d'Istria), Poreč-Pula (Parenzo-Pola), and Krk-Rab (Veglia-Arbe) were formerly under the metropolitan jurisdiction of this archdiocese; however, now the Diocese of Trieste is its only suffragan diocese.
The territory of the Archdiocese included the main part of the Austro-Hungarian County of Gorizia and Gradisca until 1918 when it was transferred to Italy at the conclusion of the First World War.
Also from 1766, the archbishop was Prince of the Holy Roman Empire,For the text of the Imperial charter of this princely title: Vanni Feresin, "Da 250 anni Principi del Sacro Romano Impero" (Princes of the Holy Roman Empire for 250 years) in Voce isontina, 11 July 2016. and, from its establishment in 1861 until 1918, a member of the Austrian House of Lords.
History
The parish church of Gorizia, S. Hilarius and S. Titianus, which eventually became the metropolitan church, is documented in the second half of the 14th century.Claricini, p. 352.
The archdeaconry of Gorizia was founded in the Patriarchate of Aquileia in 1574, in response to numerous complaints and demands for an apostolic visitation of a very neglected part of the vast diocese of Aquileia. The archdeacon was responsible to the curia of the patriarch, which was actually located in Udine. The territory of the archdeaconry included the entire county of Gorizia under the control of the archduchy of Austria, except for Udine and the parishes assigned to the archdeaconry of Tolmino.Cappelletti VIII, p. 564. Tavano, pp. 179-180. The first archdeacon was Gerolamo Catta, the parish priest of S. Pietro sull'Isonzo, appointed by the Patriarch Giovanni Grimani on 21 December 1574.Tavano, pp. 179, note 1; 183.
In 1688, leaders of Gorizia sent an embassy to Vienna, with a petition to have a diocese established in Gorizia. They were met with favor by the Emperor Leopold I, but the papal nuncio and Pope Innocent IX did not favor the project.Cappelletti VIII, p. 568.
Formation of the diocese 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 (Friuli and 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, which included those of Gorizia.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 dioceses of Trieste, Como, Trento and Pedena (the suffragan dioceses of Aquileia outside the Venetian territory) were transferred to the new ecclesiastical province of Gorizia.Pope Benedict XIV, "Injuncta Nobis", Sanctissimi Domini nostri Benedicti papae XIV bullarium, pp. 41-61.
In the bull "Sacrosanctae militantis" of 18 April 1752,Cappelletti VIII, pp. 588-609. Pope Benedict established a ChapterC.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. to administer the cathedral of The Holy Cross and S. Vitus in Gorizia. The Chapter was composed of three dignities and five canons.Cappelletti VIII, p. 603, § 14. The dignities were: the Provost, who had the right to wear a mitre on ceremonial occasions; the Dean, who was also ex officio Provost of the collegiate church of S. Stefano; and the Primicerius, who was also ex officio abbot of Beligna.Claricini, pp. 351-352. Ritzler & Sefrin VI, p. 227, note 1.
Troubles with Joseph II
Following the death of the Empress Maria Theresa in 1780, her son Joseph II launched his plans for the reorganization of the churches in Austria, according to an erastian model.Ludwig von Pastor, The History of the Popes (tr. E.F. Peeler) Vol. 39 (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul 1952), pp. 435-440. Bernard Ward, "Erastus and Erastianism," The Catholic Encyclopedia, first edition, Vol. 5 (New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909). Retrieved: 2 September 2023. On 24 March 1781, the emperor issued a decree which abolished the dependence of Austrian houses of religious orders on superiors outside Austria, and forbade their export of money outside Austria.Pastor, p. 441. Ignaz Beidtel, Untersuchungen Über Die Kirchlichen Zustände in Den Kaiserlich Österreichischen Staaten, , (Wien: Carl Gerold, 1849), pp. 278-280. On 26 March 1781, the privilege granted to Maria Theresa to approve the nomination bishops (the placet) was extended to include all papal declarations, that is to say, no bull, brief, or other papal document could be accepted in Austria without prior imperial approval.Pastor, p. 440. On 4 May 1781, the Emperor promulgated a decree which forbade Austrian bishops from making any use of the papal bull "Unigenitus" of 1711, against Jansenism, or even to allow it to be discussed.Pastor, p. 436. On 20 October 1781, after some preliminary ordinances were issued, an Edict of Toleration was promulgated for Austria, stating that no official difference existed between Catholics and Protestants (which was taken to refer only to the Lutheran Church, the Reformed Church, and the Greek churches not in communion with Rome).Pastor, pp. 442-443. On 12 January 1782, laws were promulgated closing the religious houses of the Carthusians and Camaldolese, of the Carmelite nuns, the Capuchin nuns, the Franciscan sisters and the Poor Clares.Pastor, pp. 474-475. Hermits were also ordered to cease wearing habits. The Conventual Franciscans, brought to Gorizia in 1225 by S. Antony of Padua, were suppressed in May 1785.Carlo Battisti, "Donazioni medievali al convento dei Minori Conventuali in Gorizia," , Studi Goriziani Vol. 1 (Gorizia: Tipografia sociale 1923), pp. 4-6.
On 27 February 1782, Pope Pius VI departed Rome for Vienna, expecting to negotiate personally with the Emperor Joseph II to settle the differences between the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy. He arrived in Gorizia on 14 March 1782, but Archbishop Count Rudolf Joseph von Edling was not there to receive him. The archbishop had been summoned to Vienna, to a personal meeting with the Emperor.Giovanni Battista Tavanti, Fasti del S. P. Pio VI.: con note critiche documenti autentici e rami allegorici, Volume 1 ("Italia": G. Chiari, 1804), pp. 98, 100. He was ordered to publish the emperor's edicts in his diocese, or else to leave Vienna immediately, but not for his diocese. The archbishop signed a decree of publication, and was allowed to return to his diocese. He did not meet the pope, who had gone on to be received in Ljubljana on the 17th.Ludwig von Pastor, The History of the Popes Vol. 39, pp. 446-447.
The attacks on papal and episcopal authority did not abate. On 16 January 1783, the imperial government issued a decree which declared marriage to be a civil contract, subject to complete control by the state, whatever sacramental claims were made with reference to it. It was the state alone, not canon law, which determined what impediments to marriage might exist, and it was the state which dispensed from those impediments.Pastor, p. 468. This was an extension of a court decree of 4 September 1781, which, on the authority of the emperor, gave the bishops the power to dispense from all canonical impediments to marriage, without reference to the papacy: Pastor, p. 442.
The Austrian plans for the reorganization of dioceses under control of ViennaPastor, pp. 478-481. included the transfer of the metropolitan archbishopric of Gorizia to Ljubljana. Archbishop von Edling refused to cooperate.Cappelletti VIII, p. 631. The matter was taken by the Imperial ambassador, Cardinal Franziskus Herzan von Harras, to Rome, where he had a papal audience on 20 July 1784; it was finally agreed to have Archbishop von Edling to resign his office, which he did, on 13 August 1784.Ritzler & Sefrin VI, p. 227, note 3. He was not transferred to Ljubljana.Ludwig von Pastor, Vol. 39, p. 479.
On 20 August 1788, under pressure from Emperor Joseph II, Pope Pius VI abolished the diocese of Trieste and Archdiocese of Gorizia, 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 the same day, the 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. In 1791 its name was changed in "Diocese of Gorizia and Gradisca", and Trieste was restored as an independent see.
Restoration of archdiocese