The Diocese of Lilybaeum (Latin - ''Dioecesis Lilybaetana'') was a diocese of the Roman Catholic church until the 9th century, when it was suppressed. It was revived as a
titular see
A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbish ...
in 1966.
History
Lilybaeum (now
Marsala
Marsala (, local ; la, Lilybaeum) is an Italian town located in the Province of Trapani in the westernmost part of Sicily. Marsala is the most populated town in its province and the fifth in Sicily.
The town is famous for the docking of Gius ...
) was an ancient city in western Sicily, with a huge Christian cemetery with catacombs and small hypogei. An ancient tradition without historical confirmation states that the diocese began in the first half of the 2nd century and that its first bishop was a Saint Eustace. According to ''
Praedestinatus ''Praedestinatus'' was a treatise composed in Rome during the 5th century, when Pope Sixtus III was the Roman Bishop. The treatise attacks predestinarian beliefs taught by Saint Augustine. The treatise is composed of multiple refutations of "heresy" ...
'', a work by an unknown author in southern Gaul around the mid 5th century, the
Gnostic
Gnosticism (from grc, γνωστικός, gnōstikós, , 'having knowledge') is a collection of religious ideas and systems which coalesced in the late 1st century AD among Jewish and early Christian sects. These various groups emphasized pe ...
Valentinus' disciple Heracleon began preaching in Sicily, but was firmly opposed by Eustace bishop of Lilybaeum and Theodore bishop of Palermo, who both denounced him to Pope Alexander I (105-115). The second traditional bishop was the martyr Gregorius or Gregory, living between the 3rd and 4th centuries but only recorded in the life of the 7th-8th century Saint Gregorius, bishop of Girgenti.
The first historically-confirmed Bishop of Lilybaeum was the mathematician and astronomer Pascasinus, captured and taken to Africa by the
Vandals
The Vandals were a Germanic peoples, Germanic people who first inhabited what is now southern Poland. They established Vandal Kingdom, Vandal kingdoms on the Iberian Peninsula, Mediterranean islands, and North Africa in the fifth century.
The ...
. After his return to Sicily he wrote a letter to
Pope Leo I
Pope Leo I ( 400 – 10 November 461), also known as Leo the Great, was bishop of Rome from 29 September 440 until his death. Pope Benedict XVI said that Leo's papacy "was undoubtedly one of the most important in the Church's history."
Leo was ...
in 442–443, mentioning an event in the diocese in 417, meaning it had definitely been founded by that date. Leo I sent Pascasinus a letter via the other Sicilian bishops in 447. Pascasinus later became Leo's legate to the 451
Council of Chalcedon
The Council of Chalcedon (; la, Concilium Chalcedonense), ''Synodos tēs Chalkēdonos'' was the fourth ecumenical council of the Christian Church. It was convoked by the Roman emperor Marcian. The council convened in the city of Chalcedon, Bith ...
, which at the pope's request definitively fixed the date of Easter as the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring.
No further bishops of Lilybaeum are known until the 6th century, when the letters of Gregory the Great mention Theodore (in a letter of 593 and seems to have died in February 595) and Decius (elected and consecrated in September 595 and still in post at the time of a letter in 599). One of these letters mentions that Adeodata, a woman from a patrician family, had founded a nunnery dedicated to the martyr saints Peter, Laurence, Hermes, Pancras, Sebastian and Agnes in her house in Lilybaeum. At that time Sicily was part of the
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...
and - as emerges in the letters - Sicily's dioceses reported directly to Rome rather than having a metropolitan bishop. Another bishop of the diocese, Elijah, took part in the 649 synod in Rome, whilst Theophanes was one of the church fathers at the Second Council of Nicea in 787.
In the meantime, following the First Iconoclastic Controversy,
Leo III the Isaurian
Leo III the Isaurian ( gr, Λέων ὁ Ἴσαυρος, Leōn ho Isauros; la, Leo Isaurus; 685 – 18 June 741), also known as the Syrian, was Byzantine Emperor from 717 until his death in 741 and founder of the Isaurian dynasty. He put an en ...
removed Sicily from Rome's jurisdiction and placed it under the
Patriarch of Constantinople
The ecumenical patriarch ( el, Οἰκουμενικός Πατριάρχης, translit=Oikoumenikós Patriárchēs) is the archbishop of Constantinople (Istanbul), New Rome and '' primus inter pares'' (first among equals) among the heads of th ...
around 732. Lilybaeum appeared as one of the suffragan dioceses of the
Archdiocese of Syracuse
The Archdiocese of Siracusa, also known as Syracuse, ( la, Archidioecesis Syracusana) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Sicily. It became an archdiocese in 1844.Notitia Episcopatuum'' edited under Leo VI the Wise and dating to the early 10th century., Heinrich Gelzer ''Ungedruckte und ungenügend veröffentlichte Texte der Notitiae episcopatuum'' in: Abhandlungen der philosophisch-historische classe der bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1901, p. 554, nº 269. though that situation was theoretical since the island had been conquered by the Arabs in 827 and there was no news from the diocese.
When the Normans conquered Sicily in the 11th century the Diocese of Lilybaeum was not reestablished, with its territory instead assigned to a new Diocese of Mazara del Vallo with its seat at Mazara. In 1966 Lilybaeum was made a titular see of the Roman Catholic church, currently held by Giuseppe Leanza, apostolic nuncio to the
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
.
Diocesan bishops
* ''Saint Eustace † (
2nd century
The 2nd century is the period from 101 ( CI) through 200 ( CC) in accordance with the Julian calendar. It is considered part of the Classical era, epoch, or historical period.
Early in the century, the Roman Empire attained its greatest ex ...
442
442 may refer to:
* 442 (number)
* AD 442, a year in the 5th century of the Gregorian calendar
* 442 BC, a year in the pre-Julian Roman calendar
*Area code 442
* 4-4-2, a football formation
Astronomy
* 442 Eichsfeldia, a large asteroid
Media ...
/
443
__NOTOC__
Year 443 ( CDXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Maximus and Paterius (or, less frequently, year 1196 ' ...
- after
451
__NOTOC__
Year 451 ( CDLI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Marcianus and Adelfius (or, less frequently, year 1204 '' ...
)
* Theodore † (before
593
__NOTOC__
Year 593 (Roman numerals, DXCIII) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 593 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Dom ...
- died before February
595
__NOTOC__
Year 595 ( DXCV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 595 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...
)
* Decius † (before September
595
__NOTOC__
Year 595 ( DXCV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 595 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...
- after
599
__NOTOC__
Year 599 ( DXCIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 599 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era ...
)
* Elijah † (mentioned in
649
__NOTOC__
Year 649 ( DCXLIX) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 649 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar e ...
* Henrique Hector Golland Trindade, O.F.M. † (27 March 1968 - 16 March 1971; dismissed)
* Nicola Cavanna † (21 June 1971 - 1 August 1977; translated to be
bishop of Asti
The Diocese of Asti ( la, Dioecesis Astensis) is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Piedmont, northern Italy, centered in the city of Asti. It has been a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Turin since 1515.
)
* Carlos Alberto Nicolini † (28 October 1977 - 29 December 1984; translated to be bishop-coadjutor of Salto)
* Jesús Gervasio Pérez Rodríguez, O.F.M. (14 June 1985 - 6 November 1989; translated to be Archbishop of Sucre)
* Giuseppe Leanza, 3 July 1990 – present
References
Bibliography
*
Rocco Pirri
Rocco or Rocko is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include:
First name
* Rocco Baldelli (born 1981), American Major League Baseball player and manager of the Minnesota Twins
* Rocco Botte (born 1983), American actor an ...
Lilybaeum
Marsala (, local ; la, Lilybaeum) is an Italian town located in the Province of Trapani in the westernmost part of Sicily. Marsala is the most populated town in its province and the fifth in Sicily.
The town is famous for the docking of Giuse ...
Lilybaeum
Marsala (, local ; la, Lilybaeum) is an Italian town located in the Province of Trapani in the westernmost part of Sicily. Marsala is the most populated town in its province and the fifth in Sicily.
The town is famous for the docking of Giuse ...