Roman Catholic Archdiocese Of Taranto

Archdiocese of Taranto Archidioecesis Tarentina
Taranto Cathedral
Location
Country	Italy
Ecclesiastical province	Taranto
Statistics
Area	1,056 km2 (408 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2014) 412,500 415,500 (est.) (99.3%)
Parishes	88
Information
Denomination	Catholic
Sui iuris church	Latin Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	6th century
Cathedral	Basilica Cattedrale di S. Cataldo
Secular priests	155 (diocesan) 65 (Religious Orders)
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Archbishop	Ciro Miniero
Episcopal Vicars	Alessandro Greco
Bishops emeritus	Filippo Santoro
Map
Website
diocesi.taranto.it

Its suffragan sees are the dioceses of Castellaneta and Oria.

In a local Tarantine legend, according to a document of the 11th or 12th century, the Gospel was preached in Taranto by St. Peter the Apostle. He had arrived in the city in AD 45, along with Saint Mark, on their way to Rome. Amasianus was a gardener or greengrocer, whom Peter converted to Christianity. It is only much later that the Tarentines claim that Amasianus was consecrated a bishop. It is also stated that St. Cataldus was consecrated by St. Peter the Apostle. The real Cataldus was an Irish bishop from Rachau (or Rachan) of the 6th century, who happened to die in Taranto during his pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

The city also honors the martyr St. Orontius. Orontius, the son of an imperial treasurer, had been converted to Christianity by Justus, a disciple of St. Paul, who had landed at the port of Saint Cataldus and preached to the population in the locality of Lecce in the time of Nero, despite harassment by imperial officials. They returned to Corinth, where St. Paul consecrated Orontius the first bishop of Lecce, and the party returned to Lecce to continue their evangelization.

The first bishop whose date is known is Petrus (not Innocentius) (496). In the pontificate of St. Gregory the Great (590–604), the names of three bishops who filled the episcopal chair are known: Andreas (590), Joannes (601), and Honorius (603). Archbishop Joannes (978) is the first who had the title of archbishop.

Even under the Byzantines, Taranto never adopted the Greek Rite. Stephanus perished in the battle of Nelfi (1041) fought by the Greeks and the Normans. Draco (1071) erected the cathedral. Filippo (1138) was deposed for supporting the antipope Anacletus II and died in the monastery of Chiaravalle. Archbishop Angelo was employed in several embassies by Innocent III. Jacopo da Atri was slain in 1370. Marino del Giudice (1371) was one of the cardinals condemned by pope Urban VI in 1385.

Cardinal Ludovico Bonito (1406) was one of the few who remained faithful to Gregory XII. Cardinal Giovanni d'Aragona (1478) was the son of King Ferdinand I of Naples. Giovanni Battista Petrucci suffered for the complicity of his father in the conspiracy of the barons. Cardinal Battista Orsini died in 1503 in the Castle of Sant' Angelo.

Cardinal Marcantonio Colonna (1560) introduced the Tridentine reforms and established the seminary. Girolamo Gambara (1569) was a distinguished nuncio. Lelio Brancaccio (1574) suffered considerable persecution on account of his efforts at reformation. Tommaso Caracciolo (1630), a Theatine, was reported to have died in the odour of sanctity.

Early 20th century

The city of Taranto forms a single parish divided into four pittagerii, each of which contains a sub-pittagerio. It includes the Basilian Abbey of S. Maria di Talfano, where there are still some Albanians following the Greek Rite.

Diocese of Taranto

Erected: 5th century
Latin Name: Tarentinus

Archdiocese of Taranto

Elevated: 10th century
Latin Name: Tarentinus

from 978 to 1400

from 1400 to 1600

from 1600 to 1800

since 1800

• Giovanni Antonio de Fulgure, C.M. (25 May 1818 – 6 Jan 1833 Died)
• Raffaele Blundo (6 Apr 1835 – 20 Jun 1855 Died)
• Giuseppe Rotondo (Rotundo) (17 Dec 1855 – 20 Jan 1885 Died)
• Pietro Alfonso Jorio (Iorio) (27 Mar 1885 – 15 Nov 1908 Resigned)
• Carlo Giuseppe Cecchini, O.P. (4 Dec 1909 – 17 Dec 1916 Died)
• Orazio Mazzella (14 Apr 1917 – 1 Nov 1934 Resigned)
• Ferdinando Bernardi (21 Jan 1935 – 18 Nov 1961 Died)
• Guglielmo Motolese (16 Jan 1962 – 10 Oct 1987 Retired)
• Salvatore De Giorgi (10 Oct 1987 – 11 May 1990 Resigned)
• Benigno Luigi Papa, O.F.M. Cap. (11 May 1990 – 21 Nov 2011 Retired)
• Filippo Santoro (21 Nov 2011 – )

Auxiliary bishop

• Guglielmo Motolese (1952-1962), appointed Archbishop here

Other priest of this diocese who became bishop

• Angelo Raffaele Panzetta, appointed Archbishop of Crotone-Santa Severina in 2019

• History of Taranto
• Timeline of Taranto

Reference Works

• Eubel, Conradus, ed. (1913). Hierarchia catholica, Tomus 1 (second ed.). Münster: Libreria Regensbergiana. (in Latin)
• Eubel, Conradus, ed. (1914). Hierarchia catholica, Tomus 2 (second ed.). Münster: Libreria Regensbergiana. (in Latin)
• Eubel, Conradus, ed. (1923). Hierarchia catholica, Tomus 3 (second ed.). Münster: Libreria Regensbergiana.
• Gams, Pius Bonifatius (1873). Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae: quotquot innotuerunt a beato Petro apostolo. Ratisbon: Typis et Sumptibus Georgii Josephi Manz. pp. 946–947. (Use with caution; obsolete)
• Gauchat, Patritius (Patrice) (1935). Hierarchia catholica IV (1592-1667). Münster: Libraria Regensbergiana. Retrieved 2016-07-06. (in Latin)
• Ritzler, Remigius; Sefrin, Pirminus (1952). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentis aevi V (1667-1730). Patavii: Messagero di S. Antonio. Retrieved 2016-07-06. (in Latin)
• Ritzler, Remigius; Sefrin, Pirminus (1958). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentis aevi VI (1730-1799). Patavii: Messagero di S. Antonio. Retrieved 2016-07-06. (in Latin)
• Ritzler, Remigius; Sefrin, Pirminus (1968). Hierarchia Catholica medii et recentioris aevi sive summorum pontificum, S. R. E. cardinalium, ecclesiarum antistitum series... A pontificatu Pii PP. VII (1800) usque ad pontificatum Gregorii PP. XVI (1846) (in Latin). Vol. VII. Monasterii: Libr. Regensburgiana.
• Ritzler, Remigius; Pirminus Sefrin (1978). Hierarchia catholica Medii et recentioris aevi... A Pontificatu PII PP. IX (1846) usque ad Pontificatum Leonis PP. XIII (1903) (in Latin). Vol. VIII. Il Messaggero di S. Antonio.
• Pięta, Zenon (2002). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentioris aevi... A pontificatu Pii PP. X (1903) usque ad pontificatum Benedictii PP. XV (1922) (in Latin). Vol. IX. Padua: Messagero di San Antonio. ISBN 978-88-250-1000-8.

Studies

• Avino, Vincenzio d' (1848). Cenni storici sulle chiese arcivescovili, vescovili, e prelatizie (nullius) del regno delle due Sicilie (in Italian). Naples: dalle stampe di Ranucci. pp. 511–515.
• Bianchi, Roberto; Angelo Carmelo Bello (2003). Il movimento riformatore cattolico nell 'Arcidiocesi di Taranto durante l'episcopato di Monsignor Pietro Alfonso Jorio (1885-1908), Edizioni Pugliesi, Martina Franca, 2003.
• Cappelletti, Giuseppe (1870). Le chiese d'Italia dalla loro origine sino ai nostri giorni (in Italian). Vol. vigesimoprimo (21). Venezia: Antonelli. pp. 141–144.
• De Marco, Vittorio (1988). La Diocesi di Taranto nell'età moderna (1560-1713) (in Italian). Rome: Ed. di Storia e Letteratura. GGKEY:R4R9HWTHLP2.
• De Marco, Vittorio (1990). La diocese di Taranto nel Settocento (1713–1816). Roma: Storia e lettere. (in Italian)
• Gentilcore, David (1992). From Bishop to Witch: The System of the Sacred in Early Modern Terra D'Otranto. Manchester University Press. pp. 31–33, 110–111, 210–213, 245–252. ISBN 978-0-7190-3640-8.
• Kehr, Paulus Fridolin (1962). Italia pontificia. Regesta pontificum Romanorum. Vol. IX: Samnium–Apulia–Lucanium. Berlin: Weidmann, pp. 383–396.
• Lanzoni, Francesco (1927). Le diocesi d'Italia dalle origini al principio del secolo VII (an. 604) (in Italian). Rome: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana. pp. 312–317.
• Loud, G. A. (2007). The Latin Church in Norman Italy. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-32000-0.
• Loud, Graham (2014). The Age of Robert Guiscard: Southern Italy and the Northern Conquest. New York: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-317-90023-8.
• Ughelli, Ferdinando; Coleti, Niccolo (1721). Italia Sacra Sive De Episcopis Italiae, Et Insularum adiacentium (in Latin). Vol. Tomus nonus (9). Venice: Antonio Coleti.

Acknowledgment

•   This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Diocese of Taranto". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

40°25′05″N 17°14′27″E / 40.4181°N 17.2408°E / 40.4181; 17.2408