History
It is often stated that the earliest bishop of Comacchio, indeed the first bishop, was Pacatianus, who is said to have attended the Roman synod of 502. [1] The subscription cumiaclensis in the Acts of the synod, however, has been shown to be a misreading of corneliensis (diocese of Imola). [2] An anonymous bishop, said to have been operating in 592, is known only from a forged bull of Pope Gregory I, and must therefore be excluded. [3] The earliest known bishop is Vincentius, who belongs to the first quarter of the 8th century. [4]
In 1579, Bishop Ercole Sacrati (1563–1591) presided over a diocesan synod, which issued a set of Constitutions for the government of the diocese of Comacchio. [5]
During the French Revolution, an army of the French Republic occupied the Po Valley. Papal troops were withdrawn from Commachio on 22 June 1796, and a month later a Commissary of the French government arrived to turn Commachio into a French city. The diocese of Comacchio was assigned to the Archbishop of Ferrara as a suffragan, since Venice and Ravenna were in the hands of the Austrians. [6] The citizens, clerical and lay, were required to swear an oath to the French Republic: Giuro fedeltà ed obbedienza alla repubblica francese, ed ai suoi delegati, salva la religione, la proprietà, e le persone. The Bishop was assigned the task of imposing the oath on all the clergy. The churches were despoiled, the Augustinians were expelled, and the abbey of Pomposa was closed. When the Congress of Vienna restored the old order in Italy, Austria was allowed to keep all of the territory north of the Po, and it continued to occupy The Three Legations, which legally belonged to the Papal States. [7] Therefore, Comacchio was returned to its status as a suffragan of Ravenna, though the city was politically part of the Legation of Ferrara and the Papal States. [8] The Austrians had a garrison in the castle of Comacchio.
On 18 May 1964, Pope Paul VI, in response to a petition of the Cathedral Chapter of Comacchio, who wished to revive the Benedictine observance at the Territorial Abbey of Pomposa, after consultation with the Abbot Primate of the Order of Saint Benedict, Benno Gut, granted possession of the Abbey of Pomposa to the Bishop of Comacchio, pro tempore and donec aliter caveatur. [9] The Bishop was allowed to call himself Abbas Pomposianus. The decree did not change the name of the diocese.
As part of a project begun on orders from Pope John XXIII, and continued under his successors, to reduce the number of dioceses in Italy and to rationalize their borders in terms of modern population changes and shortages of clergy, the diocese of Comacchio was united to the diocese of Ferrara by a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Bishops, on 30 September 1986. There was to be one bishop, in Ferrara, and one curia, one cathedral, one Council of Consultors, one Council of Priests, and one seminary. The former cathedral of Comacchio was granted the title of Co-cathedral, and its Chapter was retained and not united with the Chapter of the Cathedral of Ferrara. [10]
Cathedral and Chapter
The Cathedral served as the parish church for the entire city. The rest of the diocese had twelve parishes. [11]
The Chapter of Canons was in existence before 1004. [12] In 1715, the cathedral was served by a Chapter, composed of one dignity (the Archpriest) and four(-teen) Canons; [13] there were also eight lesser clergy (priests) who carried out various liturgical and sacramental functions. [14] In 1745 there was one dignity and seventeen Canons. [15] After the French Empire of Napoleon I had collapsed, Pope Pius VII reestablished the office of Archpriest, by a bull of 22 September 1814. The office of Archdeacon was created by Pope Gregory XVI in 1836, on the initiative of Bishop Michele Virgili (1819–1855). [16]
Seminary
The seminary of Comacchio was founded by Bishop Bentini in 1745, but the institution was not fully functional until 1755. There were interruptions, however, due to various jurisdictional disputes and financial shortages. It was only in 1781 that the seminary was definitively opened.
After Comaccio became part of the Cisalpine Republic, the French occupation authorities closed the seminary in 1798. Bishop Boari, a Napoleonic enthusiast, reopened the seminary in 1800. During the wars of Italian unification, it was closed again, and not reopened until 1882. In 1930, the lyceum division and the theological division were transferred, with papal approval, to the seminary in Bologna. In 1954 Bishop Natale Mosconi moved the seminary to new quarters, but on 30 November 1967, it was closed due to financial distress, and its students were transferred to the Archdiocesan Seminary of Ferrara. In 1986 the diocese of Comacchio ceased to exist, and became part of the diocese of Ferrara. [17]
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