Archdiocese of Sassari Archidioecesis Turritana | |
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| | |
| Location | |
| Country | Italy |
| Ecclesiastical province | Sassari |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 1,978 km2 (764 sq mi) |
Population
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| Parishes | 60 |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Catholic Church |
| Sui iuris church | Latin Church |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Established | 5th century |
| Cathedral | Cattedrale di S. Nicola di Bari |
| Secular priests |
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| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
| Archbishop | Gian Franco Saba |
| Suffragans | |
| Bishops emeritus | Paolo Mario Virgilio Atzei, O.F.M. Conv. |
| Website | |
| arcidiocesisassari.it (in Italian) | |
The Archdiocese of Sassari (Latin : Archidioecesis Turritana) is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Sardinia, Italy. Its see was initially at Torres, and the diocese was subhect to the metropolitan of Cagliari. It was elevated to the status of an archdiocese in 1073. [1] From the last quarter of the 13th century, the bishops of Torres habitually resided in Sassari.
The suffragan sees of the archdiocese are the diocese of Alghero-Bosa, the diocese of Ozieri and the diocese of Tempio-Ampurias.
The ecclesiastical history of Torres (Turris Lybissonis) goes back to the fourth century. In 304, the soldier Gavinus, Protus a priest, and the deacon Januarius are said to have suffered martyrdom there. [2] A number of martyrs are mentioned in inscriptions found at Porto Torres; all of them are forgeries. [3] Later Gavinus and Protus were reputed bishops, and said to have lived in the second and third centuries respectively. St. Gaudentius, who seems to have belonged to the beginning of the fourth century, is also venerated there.
The first bishop whose date is known is Felix (484). [4]
In July 599, Pope Gregory I wrote to Bishop Marinianus of Torres and five other bishops of Sardinia that they should not ignore their metropolitan, the bishop of Cagliari, and should not venture abroad without his permission. [5]
A bishop, whose name is unknown, often called "Novellus," caused a controversy between Pope John V and the Archbishop of Cagliari in 685. He had been consecrated by the archbishop of Cagliari, though the normal consecrator of bishops of Torres was the pope. Permission had once been granted to the archbishop in an emergency situation, and he evidently attempted to continue the practice as though it were his right. Pope John cancelled the privilege. [6]
Almost nothing is known concerning bishops of Torres for the next three centuries, till Simon (1065). His successor, Costantino de Crasta (1073), was an archbishop. Other archbishops: Blasius (1199), representative of Innocent III, on several occasions; Stefano, O.P. (1238), legate of Innocent IV in Sardinia and Corsica; Trogodario (about 1278) who erected the episcopal palace in Sassari, to which Teodosio (1292) added the Church of St. Andrea; after this the archbishops resided habitually at Sassari. [7]
Archbishop Pietro Spano (1422–1448) was a restorer of discipline, for which purpose he held a provincial council in Sassari in 1441. [8] During Spano's episcopate, on 3 April 1441, the episcopal seat was definitively transferred to Sassari by Pope Eugenius IV. The name of the diocese, however, remained the same. [9] The bishop intended to erect a seminary for the training of the clergy, but his death frustrated the plan.
Salvatore Salepusi (1553) was distinguished at the Council of Trent. Alfonso de Sorca (1585), was highly esteemed by Clement VIII.
In 1503, Pope Julius II united the Archdiocese of Sassari with the diocese of Ploaghe (Plubium) and the diocese of the Diocese of Sorres (Sorrensis), [10] which had been united permanently with the suppressed diocese of Bosa by Pope Eugenius IV in 1445. [11]