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
Location
CountryItaly
Ecclesiastical provinceBenevento
Statistics
Area781 km2 (302 sq mi)
Population
- Total
- Catholics (including non-members)		(as of 2006)
74,200
73,524 (99.1%)
Parishes43
Information
DenominationCatholic Church
RiteRoman Rite
Established10th century
CathedralAriano Irpino Cathedral (Basilica Cattedrale di S. Maria Assunta di Ariano Irpino)
Co-cathedralLacedonia Cathedral (Concattedrale di S. Maria Assunta di Lacedonia)
Current leadership
PopeFrancis
BishopSergio 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

Diocese of Ariano Irpino-Lacedonia

United on 30 September 1986 with the Diocese of Lacedonia

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)

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