Diocese of Ivrea Dioecesis Eporediensis | |
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| Location | |
| Country | Italy |
| Ecclesiastical province | Turin |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 1,850 km2 (710 sq mi) |
Population
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| Parishes | 141 |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Catholic Church |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Established | 5th Century |
| Cathedral | Cattedrale di S. Maria Assunta |
| Secular priests | 99 (diocesan) 33 (Religious Orders) 17 Permanent Deacons |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Leo XIV |
| Bishop | Edoardo Aldo Cerrato, C.O. |
| Map | |
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| Website | |
| http://www.diocesivrea.it/ | |
The Diocese of Ivrea (Latin : Dioecesis Eporediensis) is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Piedmont. For a time the diocese included the territory which had once been the diocese of Aosta, suppressed in 1803 but restored in 1817. Up until 1517 Ivrea was a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Milan; it is now a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Turin. [1] [2]
Ivrea is on the Via Francigena, a pilgrim route that started as far away as Canterbury in England, and brought pilgrims through the St. Bernard passes in the Alps to Rome. During the Middle Ages, pilgrims could travel on to Bari and take ship for Jerusalem. The episcopal see of Ivrea is said to have been established by Eusebius of Vercelli about the middle of the fourth century. [3] The first historically certain bishop is Eulogius (c. 451). [4]
According to a tradition unsupported by evidence, Ivrea is the place where Saint Patrick was consecrated bishop, c. 431, before evangelizing Ireland. Blessed Thaddeus MacCarthy died here in 1492 as a pilgrim returning from Rome to Munster, Ireland and miracles hae been attributed to him. [5]
Saint Malachy of Armagh passed through Ivrea in 1139 on his way to Rome. In 1847 the Bishop of Ivrea sent the Archbishop of Dublin forty pounds for the famine-stricken people of Ireland in memory of Thaddeus MacCarthy the Irish pilgrim who had died in Ivrea in 1492. [6] [ unreliable source? ]
In the reign of Pope Gregory V (996–999), the bishops of Piedmont wrote an urgent letter to the Pope, complaining about the violent and vicious behavior of King Ardouin, which included the slaying of priests and burning their bodies, and hoping that Gregory could use his imperial connection as the grandson of the Emperor Otto I, to help them. Pope Gregory offered his sympathy for the troubles that the Church of Ivrea was suffering. [7]
On 9 July 1000, the Emperor Otto III, on the advice of Archbishop Henribertus of Cologne, confirmed the Bishop of Ivrea in possession of the entire city of Ivrea to a distance of three miles from the city, and granted him in addition a number of country districts. This was confirmed by the Emperor Conrad on 1 April 1027, with the statement that the jurisdiction of the bishop extended four miles from the city. [8]
Bishop Enrico (1029–1059) was the founder of the monastery of Saint Stephen in the diocese of Ivrea in 1044, for which he obtained papal confirmation after the Roman Synod in 1059. [9]
On 29 January 1206, Pope Innocent III was so dissatisfied with the administration of the diocese of Ivrea, that he appointed the Bishop of Vercelli, the Abbot of Tileto, and the priest Albert of Mantua to demand the resignation of Bishop Giovanni because he was insufficient to the task (cum sit insufficiens et inutilis). The Pope ordered that, if he did not resign voluntarily, seeing that charges of simony and neglect (dilapidatione ac symonia) had been proven, they were to depose him. [10] When the new bishop, Pietro, who had been elected in accord with a mandate sent by the Pope to the Archbishop of Milan and the Chapter of Ivrea, arrived in Ivrea, his safety was so threatened that he fled and went into hiding, sending off a letter to Pope Innocent about his situation. On 26 October 1206 the Pope replied, urging him to return to Ivrea, pointing out that a bishop is married to his church and ought not to desert his obligations to his spouse. [11]
The Emperor Frederick II convened an imperial diet, to meet at Speyer on 30 November 1218. Bishop Obertus de Cocconato (1209–1239) was present, along with Marchese Guglielmo of Monferrat and the bishops of Turin and Novara. They all subscribed the grant by Frederick to Guglielmo of four castles in a charter of 21 February 1219. Then, on 25 February 1219, Frederick confirmed for Obertus the possession of the bishops of Ivrea of the County of Ivrea, as well as all the privileges granted the bishops by his predecessors. The vassals of the Bishopric of Ivrea were: the Marchese of Monferrato, the Counts of S. Martino, Agliè, Novano and Bairo, and the Barons of Parella, Torassa, Ronodizzone, Azeglio, Burollo, Valle di Chy, Villa di Strambino, Barbania, and Loranzè [12] The bishops, however, were by no means free of imperial supervision and control. The Emperor Otto IV (1209–1215) had appointed a Rector of Ivrea, Guido di Biandrate, which was renewed by Frederick II on 20 May 1238. But then, when the contest with Pope Gregory IX was at a fever pitch, and Frederick found that he could not control Guido di Biandrate, he appointed Arnaldo Vasco, Lord of Altesano, as Captain Imperial and Rector of Ivrea and Canavese; in 1240 Arnaldo was succeeded by Guglielmo Sivoletto. Finally, in 1248, Frederick gave Ivrea and Canavese to Thomas II, Count of Savoy, though the transfer did not take effect due to the death of the Emperor. [13]
This was the beginning of a decline in the power of both the bishop of Ivrea and the commune. The appointment of procurators who never were consecrated bishops, Conradus (1243–1249) and Fredericus de Fronte (1264–1289), and a bishop, Joannes de Barono (1250–1264), who was not consecrated until six years after his appointment, [13] meant long years without strong leadership, until finally, in 1313, Emperor Henry VII made Ivrea a subject of the Counts of Savoy. [14]
From 1497 to 1612 the bishopric of Ivrea was the exclusive property of the family of Ferrero, the relatives and descendants of Sebastiano Ferrero, Treasurer General of the Dukes of Savoy. [15]
In June 1630, a major outbreak of plague struck the area of Ivrea, in the wake of the French invasion of Louis XIII. The city was placed under strict quarantine by the Magistrate of Sanitation, which was not lifted until 23 April 1631. The shortages, especially of food, which were already severe due to the war, were increased, as were the sufferings of the people. In one parish alone, S. Lorenzo fuori le mure, thirty-one people were registered as dead between 1 September 1630 and 23 April 1631. [16]
A diocesan synod was an irregularly held, but important, meeting of the bishop of a diocese and his clergy. Its purpose was (1) to proclaim generally the various decrees already issued by the bishop; (2) to discuss and ratify measures on which the bishop chose to consult with his clergy; (3) to publish statutes and decrees of the diocesan synod, of the provincial synod, and of the Holy See. [17]
In 1588, 1589, 1590, 1592, 1598, 1600 and 1602 Bishop Cesare Ferrero (1581–1612) held diocesan synods and published the Synodal Constitutions. [18]
Bishop Giuseppe di Ceva (1614–1633) held a synod in 1618 and another in 1622. Bishop Octavio Asinari (1634–1656?) held a diocesan synod on 18 April 1646; and Bishop Giacinto Trucchi, O.P. (1669–1698) held one on 27 April 1672. [19]
A diocesan synod was held by Bishop Michele Vittorio Villa (1741–1763) from 3 to 5 June 1753.
Bishop Davide Riccardi (1878–1886) held his first diocesan synod on 6 September 1883, and published the proceedings. [20]
When the French revolution guillotined King Louis XVI, King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia declared war on the French Republic, but in three successive engagements, the Battle of Montenotte (12 April 1796), the Battle of Millesimo (13–14 April 1796) and the Battle of Mondovi (21 April 1796), General Napoleon Bonaparte defeated the Piedmontese. In suing for peace, Victor Amadeus was forced to cede Savoy and Nice to France. The territory, including the diocese of Ivrea, became part of the Department of Mont-Blanc. King Victor Amadeus died on 18 October 1796, and his son and successor, Carlo Emanuele was forced to abdicate on 6 December 1798. [21]
The French government, in the guise of ending the practices of feudalism, confiscated the incomes and benefices of the bishops and priests and made them employees of the state, with a fixed income and the obligation to swear an oath of loyalty to the French constitution. As in metropolitan France, the government program also included reducing the number of bishoprics, making them conform as far as possible with the civil administration's "departments". Ivrea became the capital of a department called Dora. Following the Concordat of 1801 between Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII, the Pope issued a bull, Gravissimis causis (1 June 1803), [22] in which the number of diocese in Piedmont was reduced to eight: Turin, Vercelli, Ivrea, Acqui, Asti, Mondovi, Alessandria and Saluzzo. Ivrea was united with the former diocese of Aosta. [23] One of the bishops who suffered the loss of his See (in 1797) was Bishop Giuseppe Grimaldi of Pinerolo, who was appointed by Pius VII to be Bishop of Ivrea in February 1805, to replace the deceased Bishop Ponchietti.
When Bonaparte crossed the Alps again in the Spring of 1800, intent on driving the Austrians out of the Po Valley, he sent General Jean Lannes to secure Ivrea and destroy its fortifications. [24]
The confused situation of the dioceses in Piedmont was addressed by Pope Pius VII in his bull Beati Petri (17 July 1817) [25] as far as the redrawing of diocesan boundaries was concerned. Bishop Grimaldi of Ivrea, who had also been administrator of the diocese of Vercelli since 1814, was named the first Archbishop of Vercelli on 1 October 1817.
The Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta is located on the Via San Savino in Ivrea.
With the conquest of Savoy by the French army (1797–1802) and its cession to France by Victor Amadeus III in the treaty of Paris (15 May 1796), the decrees of the National Constituent Assembly and the French National Assembly were carried out in Savoy, including the suppression of all monasteries, convents, and Chapters. [26] Establishments of various religious orders in Ivrea included: [27]
There are 141 parishes, 140 within the Piedmontese Province of Turin and the other within the Province of Vercelli, also in Piedmont. [91]