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The Diocese of Caiazzo is a former Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in the province of Caserta, southern Italy, abolished in 1986, when it was united into the Diocese of Alife-Caiazzo.[1] It was a suffragan of the archdiocese of Capua.[2][3]
According to legend, Christianity was introduced into Caiazzo by Priscus, one of the seventy-two disciples of Jesus, first Bishop of Capua. The story is universally rejected.[4] The first known bishop of Caiazzo was said to have been Arigisus, the exact time of whose episcopate is uncertain; however, as the name indicates, it could not have been before the beginning of the seventh century, when the Lombards settled in that region, since his name appears to be Lombard.[5] The first documentary evidence for the Church of Caiazzo comes in a privilege granted by the Archbishop John of Capua to Bishop Urso; Archbishop John was consecrated in 967.[6]
The cathedral of Caiazzo was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and to Saint Stephen of Macerata, the eleventh century Bishop of Caiazzo.[7] The cathedral was consecrated on 23 July 1284, by Cardinal Gerardo Bianchi, Bishop of Sabina and papal Legate in Sicily.[8]
The cathedral was staffed and administered by a corporate body, the Chapter, composed of three dignities (the Archdeacon, and two Primicerii) and twenty Canons (two of whom are designated Theologus and Primicerius, in accordance with the decrees of the Council of Trent).[9] In 1696, there were twenty-two Canons.[10]
There was also a Collegiate Church, Santissima Annunziata, served by a college of eight chaplains.[11]
The diocesan seminary of Cajazzo was founded by Bishop Fabio Mirto Frangipani, who had been one of the secretaries of the Council of Trent. It had space for seventy resident students, from grade school through high school.[12]
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.[13] Lengthy, detailed, and acrimonious negotiations ensued.
In 1818, a new concordat with the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies committed the pope to the suppression of more than fifty small dioceses in the kingdom. The ecclesiastical province of Naples was spared from any suppressions, but the province of Capua was affected. Pope Pius VII, in the bull "De Utiliori" of 27 June 1818, chose to unite the two dioceses of Calvi and Teano under the leadership of one bishop, aeque principaliter. He also suppressed the diocese of Venafro completely, and assigned its people and territory to the diocese of Isernia. Similarly, Carinola was suppressed and assigned to Suessa. Caiazzo was suppressed, and assigned to the diocese of Caserta.[14] The cathedral of Caiazzo was reduced to the status of a collegiate church.[15] In the same concordat, the King was confirmed in the right to nominate candidates for vacant bishoprics, subject to the approval of the pope. That situation persisted down until the final overthrow of the Bourbon monarchy in 1860.[16]
The diocese of Caiazzo was revived, however, and a new bishop was appointed on 15 March 1852.[17] Caserta lost the territory which it had gained in 1818.
On 18 February 1984, the Vatican and the Italian State signed a new and revised concordat, which was accompanied in the next year by enabling legislation. According to the agreement, the practice of having one bishop govern two separate dioceses at the same time, aeque personaliter, was abolished. Otherwise Caiazzo and Alise, who shared a bishop, might have become the diocese of Alise e Caiazzo. 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 Caiazzo and Alise be merged into one diocese with one bishop, with the Latin title Dioecesis . The seat of the diocese was to be in Alise, and the cathedral of Alise was to serve as the cathedral of the merged diocese. The cathedral in Caiazzo was to become a co-cathedral, and the cathedral Chapter was to be a Capitulum Concathedralis. There was to be only one diocesan Tribunal, in Alise, 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 former dioceses of Caiazzo and Alise.[18]
Erected: 9th Century
Metropolitan: Archdiocese of Capua
United: 30 September 1986 with the Diocese of Alife
Latin Name: Aliphanus-Caiacensis o Caiatinus
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