Roman Catholic Diocese of Ariano Irpino-Lacedonia

The Italian Catholic Diocese of Ariano Irpino-Lacedonia (Latin: Dioecesis Arianensis Hirpina-Laquedoniensis) is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Benevento. In 1986 the Diocese of Ariano and the Diocese of Lacedonia merged to form the current diocese of Ariano Irpino-Lacedonia,[1][2] which comprises twenty towns in the province of Avellino, three in that of Benevento, and one in the province of Foggia.

Diocese of Ariano Irpino-Lacedonia Dioecesis Arianensis Hirpina-Laquedoniensis
Ariano Irpino Cathedral
Location
Country	Italy
Ecclesiastical province	Benevento
Statistics
Area	781 km^2 (302 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics (including non-members)	(as of 2006) 74,200 73,524 (99.1%)
Parishes	43
Information
Denomination	Catholic Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	10th century
Cathedral	Ariano Irpino Cathedral (Basilica Cattedrale di S. Maria Assunta di Ariano Irpino)
Co-cathedral	Lacedonia Cathedral (Concattedrale di S. Maria Assunta di Lacedonia)
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Sergio Melillo

History

Ariano (currently Ariano Irpino), a very ancient town of the Hirpini, is built on the hills, fifteen miles from Beneventum. Possibly its name is of pagan origin: Ara Jani. There are no documents that fix the time of its conversion to Christianity.

Beneventum, at the beginning of the fourth century, had a bishop, and the Gospel may have reached Ariano from that city. The Bishop of Beneventum was one of the nineteen prelates who were present at the Synod of Rome, held in the year 313.[3]

Ariano was an episcopal city from the tenth century and perhaps before that time. It is first mentioned in the Bull of Pope John XIII (965-972) to establish the Archdiocese of Beneventum; it is named as a suffragan see.

The first bishop known to have occupied this see was Menardus, a native not of Padua, Ferdinando Ughelli believed, but of Poitiers, which Vitale has shown. In 1070, he erected in his cathedral a marble baptistery on the walls of which verses were inscribed. In the following year Menardus was at the consecration of the church of Monte Cassino by Pope Alexander III. Tradition has a whole series of bishops prior to him as is proved by a declaration of 1080 made in favour of the monastery of St. Sofia in Beneventum.

Ordinaries

Diocese of Ariano

• Angelo Grassi (1433–1449 Appointed, Archbishop of Reggio Calabria)[4]
• Orso Leone (1449–1456)[4]
• Giacomo Porfida (1463–1480 Died)[4]
• Nicola Ippoliti (1480–1481 Appointed, Archbishop of Rossano)[4]
• Paolo Bracchi (1481–1497 Died)[4]
• Nicola Ippoliti (1498–1511 Died)[4][5]
• Diomede Carafa (1511–1560 Died)[5]
• Ottaviano Preconio, O.F.M. Conv. (1561–1562 Appointed, Archbishop of Palermo)[5]
• Donato Laurenti (1563–1584 Died)[5]
• Alfonso Herrera (bishop), O.S.A. (1585–1602 Died)[5]
• Vittorino Mansi, O.S.B. (1602–1611 Died)[6]
• Ottavio Ridolfi (1612–1623 Appointed, Bishop of Agrigento)[6]
• Paolo Cajatia (1624–1638 Died)[6]
• Andrés Aguado de Valdés, O.S.A. (1642–1645 Died)[6]
• Alessandro Rossi (1650–1656 Died)[6]
• Luis Morales (bishop), O.S.A. (1659–1667 Appointed, Bishop of Tropea)[6]
• Emmanuele Brancaccio, O.S.B. (1667–1686 Died)[6][7]
• Juan Bonilla (bishop), O. Carm. (1689–1696 Died)[7]
• Giacinto della Calce, C.R. (1697–1715 Died)[7]
• Filippo Tipaldi (1717–1748 Died)[7]
• Isidoro Sánchez de Luna, O.S.B. (1748–1754 Confirmed, Archbishop of Taranto)
• Domenico Saverio Pulci-Doria (1754–1777 Died)
• Lorenzo Potenza (1778–1792 Confirmed, Bishop of Sarno)
• Giovanni Saverio Pirelli (1792–1803 Died)
• Domenico Russo (1818–1837 Died)
• Francesco Capezzuti (1838–1855 Died)
• Concezio Pasquini (1857–1858 Died)
• Michele Caputo, O.P. (1858–1862 Died)
• Luigi Maria Aguilar, B. (1871–1875 Appointed, Archbishop of Brindisi)
• Salvatore Maria Nisio, Sch. P. (1875–1876 Resigned)
• Francesco Trotta (1876–1888 Appointed, Bishop of Teramo)
• Andrea d’Agostino, C.M. (1888–1913 Died)
• Giovanni Onorato Carcaterra, O.F.M. (1914–1915 Resigned)
• Cosimo Agostino (1915–1918 Died)
• Giuseppe Lojacono (1918–1939 Resigned)
• Gioacchino Pedicini (1939–1949 Appointed, Bishop of Avellino)
• Pasquale Venezia (1951–1967 Appointed, Bishop of Avellino)
• Agapito Simeoni (1974–1976 Died)
• Nicola Agnozzi, O.F.M. Conv. (1976–1988 Retired)

Diocese of Ariano Irpino-Lacedonia

United on 30 September 1986 with the Diocese of Lacedonia

• Antonio Forte, O.F.M. (1988–1993 Appointed, Bishop of Avellino)
• Eduardo Davino (1993–1997 Appointed, Bishop of Palestrina)
• Gennaro Pascarella (1998–2004 Appointed, Coadjutor Bishop of Pozzuoli)
• Giovanni D'Alise (2004–2014 Appointed, Bishop of Caserta)
• Sergio Melillo (23 May 2015 – )

References

• Ferdinando Ughelli, Italia Sacra (Venice, 1722), VIII, 212
• Cappelletti, Le chiese d'Italia (Venice, 1866), XIX, 117
• Gams, Series episcoporum ecclesiae catholicae (Ratisbon, 1873), 8, 52
• Vitale, Storia della regia citta di Ariano e sua diocesi (Rome, 1794)

Notes

1. "Diocese of Ariano Irpino-Lacedonia" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved February 29, 2016
2. "Diocese of Ariano Irpino–Lacedonia" GCatholic.org. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved February 29, 2016
3. See Routt, Reliquiae Sacrae, III, 312, and Harnack, Die Mission, etc., 501.
4. Eubel, Konrad (1914). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentioris aevi. Vol. II (second ed.). Münster: Libreria Regensbergiana. p. 94. (in Latin)
5. Eubel, Konrad (1923). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentioris aevi. Vol. III (second ed.). Münster: Libreria Regensbergiana. p. 116. (in Latin)
6. Gauchat, Patritius (Patrice) (1935). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentioris aevi. Vol. IV. Münster: Libraria Regensbergiana. pp. 94–95. (in Latin)
7. Ritzler, Remigius; Sefrin, Pirminus (1952). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentioris aevi. Vol. V. Patavii: Messagero di S. Antonio. pp. 98–99. (in Latin)

External links

• Source

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Missing or empty |title= (help)