Diocese of Trapani

Diocese of Trapani Dioecesis Drepanensis Diocesi di Trapani
Cathedral Basilica of St. Lawrence the Martyr in Trapani
Location
Country	Italy
Territory	Trapani, Erice, Paceco, Valderice, San Vito Lo Capo, Custonaci, Alcamo, Castellammare del Golfo, Buseto Palizzolo, Calatafimi-Segesta, Favignana
Ecclesiastical province	Palermo
Statistics
Area	1,089 km2 (420 sq mi)
Population Total Catholics	(as of 2023) 197,439 194,327  (98.4%)
Parishes	94
Information
Rite	Latin Rite
Established	May 31, 1844
Cathedral	Cathedral Basilica of St. Lawrence the Martyr in Trapani
Patron saint	Our Lady of Trapani
Secular priests	70 (diocesan) 22 (religious Orders) 19 Permanent Deacons
Current leadership
Pope	Leo XIV
Bishop	Pietro Maria Fragnelli
Metropolitan Archbishop	Paolo Romeo
Bishops emeritus	Francesco Miccichè
Map
Website
www.diocesi.trapani.it

The Diocese of Trapani (Latin : Dioecesis Drepanensis) is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in the westernmost part of Sicily, approximately 73 miles or 117 kilometers west of Palermo. It is a suffragan of the archdiocese of Palermo.

History

On 10 January 1072, following negotiations and the surrender of the Muslims of Palermo, the brothers Robert Guiscard and Roger de Hauteville entered the city of Palermo in triumph. They immediately ordered the cathedral of the Greek Christian community to be reconsecrated, ^[1] and attended a Mass of thanksgiving. ^[2] In 1077, the city of Trapani fell to the Normans. ^[3]

Mazara was captured in 1092, and, with the permission of Pope Urban II, a new diocese was established at the seaport of Mazara (Mazzara) in 1093. The territory of Trapani was included in the territory of the diocese of Mazara del Vallo. ^[4]

Efforts to erect a separate diocese at Trapani can be traced as far back as 1496, but they failed due to the vigorous opposition of the bishops of Mazara. ^[5]

The Jesuit college and church, the work of the architect Natale Masuccio, begun before 1614, were completed in 1636. ^[6]

Reestablishment of order

Following the expulsion of the Bonapartists and the restoration of the Papal States, a concordat was signed between the Papacy and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies on 16 February 1818, and ratified by Pius VII on 25 February 1818. King Ferdinand I issued the concordat as a law on 21 March 1818. ^[7] The re-erection of the dioceses of the kingdom and the ecclesiastical provinces took more than three years. 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). The possibility of the creation of new dioceses was specifically recognized. ^[8]

Since the Napoleonic period, Trapani had changed. It became an important seaport for western Sicily, it had been named the capital of a civil district, and its population had risen to more than 23,000 people. ^[9]

Creation of the diocese

In 1844, with the consent and at the urging of King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, but not without opposition, ^[10] the diocese of Trepani was created. On 8 June 1844, Pope Gregory XVI signed the bull "Ut Animarum Pastores." To form the territory of the new diocese, the pope removed six towns and their territories from the diocese of Mazara: Trapani, Monte San Giuliano, Paceco, Città Favignana, Isola, and Pantelleria Isola, with a total population of around 180,000 persons. ^[11]

The Collegiate church of San Lorenzo in Trapani, which was also a parish church, was promoted to the dignity of a cathedral, and the seat of the bishop of Trapani was fixed there. A Chapter of canons, eighteen in number, headed by the dignities of Precentor and Dean, was established to carry out the functions of the cathedral. One of the canons was designated the Theologus, another the Penitentiary. There were twenty prebends (benefices), one for each of the members of the Chapter. The pope retained the right to appoint the dignities, but the king was granted the right to nominate the other prebendaries, except the Theologus, Penitentiary, and the canon who served as parish priest of the cathedral parish. The canons were granted the privilege of framing their own statutes, in accordance with canon law, papal decrees, and the decrees of the Council of Trent. ^[12]

Its first bishop, the Redemptorist Vincenzo M. Marolda, was nominated by King Ferdinand II on 20 May 1844, and approved by Pope Gregory XVI on 22 July 1844. ^[13]

On 2—24 June 1850, Cardinal Ferdinando Maria Pignatelli, Archbishop of Palermo, held a congregation of the bishops of Sicily in Palermo. Bishop Marolda of Trapani did not attend, but he was represented by the Dean of the cathedral Chapter, Msgr. Francesco Ingardia. ^[14]

Bishops of Trapani

• Vincenzo Maria Marolda, C.SS.R. (1844–1851 Resigned) ^[15]
• Vincenzo Ciccolo Rinaldi (1853–1874 Died) ^[16]
• Giovanni Battista Bongiorni (1874–1879) ^[17]
• Francesco Ragusa (1879–1895 Died) ^[18]
• Stefano Gerbino di Cannitello, O.S.B. (1895–1906 Resigned) ^[19]
• Francesco Maria Raiti, O. Carm. (1906–1932 Died) ^[20]
• Ferdinando Ricca (1932–1947 Died)
• Filippo Jacolino (1947–1950 Died)
• Corrado Mingo (1950–1961) ^[21]
• Francesco Ricceri (1961–1978 Retired)
• Emanuele Romano (1978–1988 Retired)
• Domenico Amoroso, S.D.B. (1988–1997 Died)
• Francesco Miccichè (1998 – 19 May 2012 Removed ^[22]
• Pietro Maria Fragnelli (2013– ) ^[23]

See also

• Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Palermo
• Roman Catholic Diocese of Mazara del Vallo

Notes and references

1. The consecrator was the Greek Metropolitan Nicodemus: Donald Matthew, The Norman Kingdom of Sicily (Cambridge: CUP 1992), p. 17.
2. Gordon S. Brown, The Norman Conquest of Southern Italy and Sicily (London: McFarland 2003), pp. 135–137.
3. Brown, p. 176.
4. Matthew, p. 17, with typographical error for the date of capture of "1072" for the actual "1092". Cappelletti, Vol. 21, pp. 549-550. Salvatore Corso, "Trapani," (in Italian), in: Storia delle chiese di Sicilia (Città del Vaticano: Libreria editrice Vaticano 2009), pp. 749–752.
5. Corso, "Trapani," p. 752.
6. Rudolf Wittkower, Joseph Connors, Jennifer Montagu, Art and Architecture in Italy, 1600–1750: Volume 3: Late Baroque and Rococo, 1675–1750 (New Haven: Yale University Press 1999), p. 28.
7. F. Torelli (1848), La chiave del concordato dell'anno 1818 I, second edition (Naples: Fibreno 1848), pp. 1-19.
8. Torelli I, p. 9.
9. Gregory XVI, Acta Gregorii XVI vol. 3, p. 347, col. 1. Collezione degli atti..., p. 193.
10. "piisque clarissimi in Christo, filii Nostri Ferdinandi II utriusque Siciliae regis postulationibus ac votis libentissime obsecundantes, contrariis quibuscumque, tametsi speciali mentione dignis minime obstantibus...."
11. Acta Gregorii Papae XVI: Pars prima canonica,(in Latin) Volumen III, pp. 346–351. Collezione degli atti emanati dopo la pubblicazione del Concordato dell'anno 1818: I brevi e le lettere apostoliche, i reali decreti e rescritti, le circolari ed istruzioni pubblicate da gennajo 1842 a tutto dicembre 1844; non che una copiosa appendice a' precedenti volumi, (in Latin and Italian), Volume 10 (Napoli: Stamperia dell'Iride, 1847), pp. 191–210.
12. Acta Gregorii Papae XVI..., vol. 3, p. 348. Collezione degli atti... vol. 10, pp. 196–198.
13. David M. Cheney, Catholic-Hierarchy.org, "Bishop Vincenzo Maria Marolda, C.SS.R.;" retrieved: 24 August 2025.^{[ self-published source ]}
14. J. D. Mansi, (ed. J.B. Martin & L. Petit) Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, editio novissima, Volume 43 (Paris: Hubert Walter 1910), (in Latin), p. 883.
15. Marolda was born in Muro Lucano in 1803, and entered the Redemptorists, where he became a priest in 1826. He taught humanities and theology in houses of his Congregation, and was rector of several houses. He became Visitor General of the Congregation and Consultor. He was nominated bishop of Trapani on 20 March 1844, confirmed on 22 July, and consecrated bishop on 28 July. In 1848, he was proscribed by the Sicilian revolutionaries. He resigned the diocese on 18 October 1851, and was appointed titular bishop of Samosata (Turkey), and, on 18 March 1852, apostolic administrator of the diocese of Capaccio-Vallo. Marolda died in Naples of cholera, on 18 August 1854. Mondello, pp. 460-461. Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VII, p. 179; VIII, pp. 180, 497.
16. Rinaldi was nominated by Ferdinand II on 27 May 1853, and confirmed by Pius IX on 27 June 1853; he was consecrated a bishop on 3 July by Cardinal Antonio Cagiano de Azevedo. He died on 8 July 1874. Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VIII, p. 251.
17. Bongiorni was appointed bishop of Trapani on 21 December 1874 by Pope Pius IX. He was transferred Bishop of Caltagirone on 22 September 1879, by Pope Leo XIII. Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VIII, pp. 171, 251, 272.
18. Ragusa: Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VIII, p. 251.
19. Gerbino, a member of the family of the barons of Cantinello, was born in Palermo in 1834. He was a Benedictine monk of the monastery in Monreale. He had been Vicar-general of the archdiocese of Monreale. He was appointed bishop of Trapani on 29 November 1895, and consecrated a bishop on 12 January 1896. He resigned the diocese in April 1906, and died on 24 May 1906. Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VIII, p. 251.
20. Raiti was born in Lingua glossa (Sicily) in 1864, and was named Bishop of Lipari on 22 June 1903; he was transferred to the diocese of Trapani on 6 December 1906. Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VIII, p. 251.
21. A native of Rosolini (Archdiocese of Siracusa), Mingo was appointed bishop of Trapani on 17 December 1950, by Pope Pius XII. He was named Archbishop of Monreale on 28 April 1961, by Pope John XXIII. He retired on 11 March 1978, and died on 16 May 1980.
22. "Rinunce e Nomine (Continuazione), 19.05.2012" (Press release) (in Italian). Holy See Press Office. 19 May 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2019.. Spanò, Laura (19 May 2012). "Il Papa solleva dall'incarico il vescovo "Complotto nato dentro e fuori la Chiesa"". La Repubblica (in Italian). Retrieved 21 January 2019.. Giacalone, Rino (19 May 2012). "Trapani, scandalo sui fondi della Curia, rimosso il vescovo Francesco Miccichè". Il Fatto Quotidiano (in Italian). Archived from the original on 23 May 2012. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
23. Fragelli was born at Crispiano (diocese of Taranto), and studied in Rome at the Lateran University; he received a doctorate in philosophy from the Sapienza in Rome. From 1987 to 1996 he worked in the Vatican Secretariat of State. In 1996, he was named rector of the Pontifical Major Roman Seminary. He was named bishop of Castellaneta on 14 February 2003, by Pope John Paul II. He was transferred to the diocese of Trapani on 24 September 2013, by Pope Francis. Chiese Cattolica Italiana, "S.E.R. Mons. Pietro Maria Fragelli"; retrieved: 17 August 2025. "Fragnelli, the new president of the Episcopal commission for family, youth and life" (in Italian). Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.

Sources

• Cappelletti, Giuseppe (1870). Le chiese d'Italia dalla loro origine sino ai nostri giorni (in Italian). Vol. vigesimoprimo (21). Venezia: Antonelli. pp. 556–558.
• Corso, Salvatore (2008). "La diocesi di Trapani". (in Italian). In: Luigi Mezzadri; Maurizio Tagliaferri; Elio Guerriero (edd.), Le diocesi d'Italia (Milan: Edizioni San Paolo 2008), pp. 1294–1297.
• Mondello, Fortunato (1876). Bibliografia trapanese.(in Italian). Palermo: Giornale di Sicilia 1876.
• Ritzler, Remigius; Sefrin, Pirminus (1968). Hierarchia Catholica medii et recentioris aevi (in Latin). Vol. VII (1800–1846. Monasterii: Libr. Regensburgiana.
• Remigius Ritzler; Pirminus Sefrin (1978). Hierarchia catholica Medii et recentioris aevi (in Latin). Vol. VIII (1846–1903). Il Messaggero di S. Antonio.
• Pięta, Zenon (2002). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentioris aevi (in Latin). Vol. IX (1903–1922). Padua: Messagero di San Antonio. ISBN   978-88-250-1000-8.

External links

• Diocesan website (in Italian)
• Benigni, Umberto (1912). "Trapani, diocese of," in: The Catholic Encyclopedia Volume 15 (New York: Appleton 1912), p. 23.

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