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The diocese of Gravina and Montepeloso is a former ecclesiastical territory of the Roman Catholic Church in Apulia, southern Italy. Gravina is about 59 km (36 mi) southwest of Bari. Since 1986 it has formed part of the merged diocese of Altamura-Gravina-Acquaviva. Gravina in Apulia was the seat of the episcopal see from the ninth century.[1][2]
Bishop Petrus of Hydruntum (968) was raised to the dignity of Metropolitan by Polyeuctus, Patriarch of Constantinople (956-970), with the obligation to establish the Byzantine Rite throughout the new ecclesiastical province, and the authority to consecrate bishops in the churches of Acerenza, Tursi, Gravina, Matera, and Tricarico, all previously dependent on the Church of Rome. The Latin Church was introduced again after the Norman conquest, but the Byzantine Rite remained in use in several towns of the archdiocese and of its suffragans, until the sixteenth century.[3]
The first known bishop of Gravina is Leo;[4] other bishops of note are: Giacomo Orsini (1302), who replaced the Greek rite with the Latin (Roman) rite, by order of Gentile Orsini Archbishop of Acerenza; Vincenzo Giustianiani (1593), a Genoese nobleman, who founded the seminary, the church of the Madonna delle Grazie and the Capuccinelle convent; Domenico Cennini (1645), who rebuilt the episcopal residence; Fra Domenico Valvassori (1686), a patron of learning and founder of an Accademia Teologica.
On 16 June 1102, Pope Paschal II confirmed for the archbishop of Acerenza all his diocese's privileges and possessions, including the suffragan (subordinate) diocese of Gravina.[5]
At the end of 1608, the palace of the dukes of Gravina was transferred to the bishops of Gravina, since they had had constructed a new palace in the Via S. Tommaso.[6] Ferdinando (Ferrante) and his wife, Giovanna Frangipane della Tolfa, also began the construction of S. Maria, called the "Purgatorio" in 1644.[7]
On 12 February 1649, Pietro Francesco Orsini, known in religion as Vincenzo Maria Orsini, O.P., the future Pope Benedict XIII, was born in Gravina. He was the eldest son of Ferdinando (Ferrante), 11th Duke of Gravina, 2nd Prince of Solofra, and Count of Muro Lucano, 2nd Prince di Galluccio.[8]
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.[9] 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).[10] On 27 June 1818, Pius VII issued the bull De Ulteriore, in which he joined the diocese of Gravina, which had been a suffragan of the archdiocese of Potenza, to the diocese of Montepeluso in perpetual union, as the Diocese of Gravina e Montepeloso, one bishop to preside over both dioceses, aeque principaliter. Montepelosi was the dominant partner. Both dioceses were to be directly subject to the Holy See.[11]
Montepeloso is situated on a hill in the neighbouring Province of Potenza. The diocese dated back to the 12th century and was refounded in the 15th century; it is directly subject to the Holy See. Montepeloso has been called Irpina since 1895. The united dioceses, directly subject to the Holy See, had in the early 20th century 9 parishes and some 28,000 baptized people. In 1986, the diocese of Montepeloso (Irpina) was suppressed, and its territory became part of the "Archidioecesis Materanensis-Montis Pelusii".[12]
Following the Second Vatican Council, and in accordance with the norms laid out in the council's decree, Christus Dominus chapter 40,[13] It also recommended the abolition of anomalous units such as exempt territorial prelatures. Pope Paul VI ordered a reorganization of the ecclesiastical provinces in southern Italy, beginning with consultations among the members of the Congregation of Bishops in the Vatican Curia, the Italian Bishops Conference, and the various dioceses concerned.
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, was abolished. 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 merged with the territorial prelatures of Altamura and of Aquaviva into one diocese with one bishop, with the Latin title Dioecesis Altamurensis-Gravinensis-Aquavivensis. The seat of the diocese was to be in Altamura, where the prelatial church was to serve as the cathedral of the merged diocese. The cathedral in Gravina and the prelatial seat in Aquaviva were to have the honorary titles of "co-cathedral"; the Chapters were each to be a Capitulum Concathedralis. There was to be only one diocesan Tribunal, in Altamura, 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 suppressed diocese and territorial prelatures. To make the territories of the new diocese congruent, the town of San Teramo in Colle was detached from the archdiocese of Bari-Bitonto and added to that of Altamura. The new diocese was made a suffragan of the archdiocese of Bari-Bitonto.[14]
Erected: 9th Century
Metropolitan: Archdiocese of Acerenza e Matera
United: 27 June 1818 with the Diocese of Montepeloso
Latin Name: Gravinensis et Montis Pelusii
Immediately Subject to the Holy See
11 October 1976: Diocese Split into the Diocese of Gravina and the Diocese of Matera e Irsina
Metropolitan: Archdiocese of Bari-Canosa
On 30 September 1986, the diocese of Gravina was suppressed.
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