The Roman Catholic Diocese of Pinerolo ( la, Dioecesis Pineroliensis) is a
Latin rite
Latin liturgical rites, or Western liturgical rites, are Catholic rites of public worship employed by the Latin Church, the largest particular church ''sui iuris'' of the Catholic Church, that originated in Europe where the Latin language once ...
bishopric in the administrative
province of Turin
The former Province of Turin ( it, Provincia di Torino; pms, Provinsa ëd Turin; french: Province de Turin) was a province in the Piedmont region of Italy. Its capital was the city of Turin. The province existed until 31 December 2014, when it wa ...
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
. It is a
suffragan
A suffragan bishop is a type of bishop in some Christian denominations.
In the Anglican Communion, a suffragan bishop is a bishop who is subordinate to a metropolitan bishop or diocesan bishop (bishop ordinary) and so is not normally jurisdictiona ...
of the Metropolitan
archbishopric of Turin
The Archdiocese of Turin ( la, Archidioecesis Taurinensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory of the Catholic Church in Italy.Pinerolo
Pinerolo (; pms, Pinareul ; french: Pignerol; oc, Pineròl) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont, northwestern Italy, southwest of Turin on the river Chisone. The Lemina torrent has its source at the boundary be ...
(which dates from the 9th century, and has an architecturally significant campanile). The city also has a former cathedral, now called the Chiesa San Verano ad Abbadia Alpina, It also has a
minor basilica
In the Catholic Church, a basilica is a designation given by the Pope to a church building. Basilicas are distinguished for ceremonial purposes from other churches. The building need not be a basilica in the architectural sense (a rectangular ...
Gothic
Gothic or Gothics may refer to:
People and languages
*Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes
**Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths
**Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...
church.
History
French conquest
The ambitions of King
Francis I of France
Francis I (french: François Ier; frm, Francoys; 12 September 1494 – 31 March 1547) was King of France from 1515 until his death in 1547. He was the son of Charles, Count of Angoulême, and Louise of Savoy. He succeeded his first cousin once ...
with regard to the succession to the Duchy of Milan brought warfare into Savoy and Piedmont. The
Emperor Charles V
Charles V, french: Charles Quint, it, Carlo V, nl, Karel V, ca, Carles V, la, Carolus V (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558) was Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria from 1519 to 1556, King of Spain ( Castile and Aragon) ...
was likewise determined to retain the Duchy of Milan, and his strategy involved the occupation of Provence, making the mountain passes of Savoy of great military importance. This was especially the case at the end of the 17th century with the Duke of Savoy's fortress of
Fenestrelle
Fenestrelle ( oc, Finistrèlas, pms, Fenestrele) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Turin in the Italian region Piedmont, located about west of Turin.
It is the location of the Fenestrelle Fort, an alpine fortification wh ...
. French troops invaded Piedmont in 1536, and Pinerolo was conquered. The city and the diocese remained under French control until 1574.
Louis XIII
Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown ...
and
Cardinal Richelieu
Armand Jean du Plessis, Duke of Richelieu (; 9 September 1585 – 4 December 1642), known as Cardinal Richelieu, was a French clergyman and statesman. He was also known as ''l'Éminence rouge'', or "the Red Eminence", a term derived from the ...
launched a major campaign early in 1629, with the succession to the Duchy of Mantua as the pretext. They spent the Spring of 1629 in
, conducting a siege of Pinerolo, but, as it happened, the King fell deathly ill and had to withdraw. In 1630, at the end of the siege, Louis XIII promised the Abbot of Pinerolo that he would outlaw the Waldensian cult, and that he would use his influence with the Vatican to have Pinerolo made a bishopric. Pinerolo was officially handed over to France in 1631 with the
treaty of Cherasco
The War of the Mantuan Succession (1628–1631) was a related conflict of the Thirty Years' War, caused by the death in December 1627 of Vincenzo II, last male heir in the direct line of the House of Gonzaga and ruler of the duchies of Mantua ...
, which recognized
Victor Amadeus I
Victor Amadeus I ( it, Vittorio Amedeo I di Savoia; 8 May 1587 – 7 October 1637) was the Duke of Savoy from 1630 to 1637. He was also known as the ''Lion of Susa''.Louis XIV
, house = Bourbon
, father = Louis XIII
, mother = Anne of Austria
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France
, death_date =
, death_place = Palace of Vers ...
issued the
Edict of Fontainebleau
The Edict of Fontainebleau (22 October 1685) was an edict issued by French King Louis XIV and is also known as the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The Edict of Nantes (1598) had granted Huguenots the right to practice their religion without s ...
, which cancelled the privileges which had been granted to the Protestants in the
Edict of Nantes
The Edict of Nantes () was signed in April 1598 by King Henry IV and granted the Calvinist Protestants of France, also known as Huguenots, substantial rights in the nation, which was in essence completely Catholic. In the edict, Henry aimed pr ...
. On 12 October 1685 the King sent instructions to his ambassador in Turin, the Marquis d'Arcy, to issue the appropriate orders to the Seigneur d'Harleville, the royal agent in Pinerolo, to engage in efforts to convert the inhabitants of the nine valleys in which the Waldensians were permitted to live. The ambassador was also to encourage the Duke of Savoy, the protector of the Waldensians, to the same purpose. Pinerolo thus became the center of efforts at conversion.
Victor Amadeus II
Victor Amadeus II (Vittorio Amedeo Francesco; 14 May 166631 October 1732) was Duke of Savoy from 1675 to 1730. He also held the titles of Prince of Piedmont, Duke of Montferrat, Marquis of Saluzzo and Count of Aosta, Moriana and Nice.
Louis XIV ...
, Duke of Savoy, Marquis of Saluzzo, Duke of Montferrat, Prince of Piedmont, Count of Aosta, Moriana and Nice, was recognized as King of Sardinia in 1720.
In 1743, Carlo Emanuele III established in Pinerolo the Ospizio dei Catecumeni, an institute for those who were converting to the Catholic faith. By decree of the French Republic of 29 January 1799, the institution was suppressed and converted into a charity hospital. It was reestablished after the overthrow of the French, though as the 19th century progressed, increasingly liberal attitudes directed the institution more and more in the direction of charity and less in that of catechetization.
Creation of the diocese
The diocese of Pinerolo was established by
Pope Benedict XIV
Pope Benedict XIV ( la, Benedictus XIV; it, Benedetto XIV; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758.Antipope ...
on 23 December 1748, by the bull ''In sacrosancta'', at the request of King
Charles Emmanuel III of Sardinia
Charles Emmanuel III (27 April 1701 – 20 February 1773) was Duke of Savoy and King of Sardinia from 1730 until his death.
Biography
He was born in Turin to Victor Amadeus II of Savoy and his first wife the French Anne Marie d'Orléans. Hi ...
, on Piemontese territories split off from its Metropolitan, the
Abbadia Alpina
Abbadia Alpina (formerly Abadia); Piedmontese: La Badia Occitan: L'Abaia) is a former commune of the Province of Turin in north-west Italy's Piedmont region, located between the torrents (intermittent streams) Lemina and Cusone.
Before 1864, it w ...
, less than two miles west of Pinerolo, which was part of the ''Marca di Torino'' (March of Turin). The lands belonging to the abbey were governed by the abbots of Pinerolo, even after the city had established itself as a commune (1200). From 1235, however,
Amadeus IV, Count of Savoy
Amadeus IV (119711 June 1253) was Count of Savoy from 1233 to 1253.
Amadeus was born in Montmélian, Savoy. The legitimate heir of Thomas I of Savoy and Margaret of Geneva, he had however to fight with his brothers for the inheritance of Savoy' ...
exercised over the town a kind of protectorate, which in 1243 became absolute, and was exercised thereafter by the
house of Savoy
The House of Savoy ( it, Casa Savoia) was a royal dynasty that was established in 1003 in the historical Savoy region. Through gradual expansion, the family grew in power from ruling a small Alpine county north-west of Italy to absolute rule of ...
.
In creating the diocese, Pope Benedict XIV noted that the King of Sardinia had ceded to the new diocese his rights over the monastery of Oulx, and had given the palace of the Governor in Pinerolo to be used as the episcopal residence and seminary. The new bishop, Giovanni Battista D'Orlié, however, judged that the palace was not appropriate for a seminary; but luckily in 1753 the new diocese received the bequest of his palazzo in Pinerolo from Count Luigi Piccone, the former Governor of Pinerolo and of the city and province of Asti. The bishop was able to preside over the solemn opening of the new seminary on 23 May 1753.
The Chapter of the Collegiate Churches of S. Donato and of S. Maurizio was founded perhaps as early as 1024, and it was certainly functioning as a single body by 1278. They were certainly secular canons by the 14th century, though some have argued that they were originally regular canons. There were four canons and a provost. In a document of 1475 it is made clear that they did not live in common, but had separate residences (''domus canonicales''). By 1626 the number of canons was seven, and by 1648 the number had risen to twelve. At the time of the creation of the diocese in 1748, there were eighteen canons.
At the time the diocese was erected there were already working in its territory, in addition to the diocesan clergy of Turin, eight
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers ( la, Ordo Praedicatorum) abbreviated OP, also known as the Dominicans, is a Catholic mendicant order of Pontifical Right for men founded in Toulouse, France, by the Spanish priest, saint and mystic Dominic of Cal ...
priests, twelve
Franciscan
The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...
priests, five
Augustinian Augustinian may refer to:
*Augustinians, members of religious orders following the Rule of St Augustine
*Augustinianism, the teachings of Augustine of Hippo and his intellectual heirs
*Someone who follows Augustine of Hippo
* Canons Regular of Sain ...
priests, and eighteen Capuchin priests. There were eighteen professed nuns of the Visitation, thirty-six Clarisses, and twenty-five Augustinian nuns. The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) was suppressed by
Pope Clement XIV
Pope Clement XIV ( la, Clemens XIV; it, Clemente XIV; 31 October 1705 – 22 September 1774), born Giovanni Vincenzo Antonio Ganganelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 19 May 1769 to his death in Sep ...
on 21 July 1773.
French revolution
In 1796 Piedmont was seized by the armies of the French Directory, the King driven into exile in Sardinia, and a Republic of Piedmont was declared. By a decree of 12 April 1801, the First Consul of the French Republic, N. Bonaparte, declared the Republic of Piedmont united to the French state, and divided it into six ''departements''. The decree also made the French language obligatory. Pinerolo became part of the Department of Eridanus, and four Administrators General of the department were named; Pinerolo received a Sub-Prefect, who held office until the Bourbon Restoration in 1814. By a decree of 31 August 1802, religious corporations were abolished, and the
Augustinians
Augustinians are members of Christian religious orders that follow the Rule of Saint Augustine, written in about 400 AD by Augustine of Hippo. There are two distinct types of Augustinians in Catholic religious orders dating back to the 12th–13 ...
, the
Capuchins
Capuchin can refer to:
*Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, an order of Roman Catholic friars
*Capuchin Poor Clares, an order of Roman Catholic contemplative religious sisters
*Capuchin monkey, primates of the genus ''Cebus'' and ''Sapajus'', named af ...
, the
Clarisses
The Poor Clares, officially the Order of Saint Clare ( la, Ordo sanctae Clarae) – originally referred to as the Order of Poor Ladies, and later the Clarisses, the Minoresses, the Franciscan Clarist Order, and the Second Order of Saint Francis ...
, and the
Feuillants Feuillant and its plural Feuillants, a French word derived ultimately from the Latin for "leaf", can refer to the following:
*Les Feuillants Abbey, also known as Feuillant Abbey ( la, Fulium), a Cistercian monastery in Labastide-Clermont, France
*C ...
were expelled. The Salesian Sisters had already been ordered from their monastery in 1799. The Badia of Santa Maria was closed, and the church of San Francesco, which was in bad condition, was sold at public auction in 1802, and razed to the ground; its tombs, including that of Duke Carlo I of Savoy, were despoiled. On 11 September 1803 a Senatus Consultum made the annexation of Piedmont to the French state permanent.
Following the
Concordat of 1801
The Concordat of 1801 was an agreement between Napoleon Bonaparte and Pope Pius VII, signed on 15 July 1801 in Paris. It remained in effect until 1905, except in Alsace-Lorraine, where it remains in force. It sought national reconciliation b ...
between Bonaparte and
Pope Pius VII
Pope Pius VII ( it, Pio VII; born Barnaba Niccolò Maria Luigi Chiaramonti; 14 August 1742 – 20 August 1823), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 14 March 1800 to his death in August 1823. Chiaramonti was also a m ...
, the Pope issued a bull, ''Gravissimis causis'' (1 June 1803), in which the number of dioceses in Piedmont was reduced to eight: Turin, Vercelli, Ivrea, Acqui, Asti, Mondovi, Alessandria and Saluzzo. In 1805, by an imperial decree of the Emperor of the French,
Napoleon I Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
, the papal bull was put into effect and the diocese of Pinerolo was suppressed, and its territory merged into the diocese of Saluzzo.
On 2 April 1808 two major earthquakes struck the western Piedmont, with Pinerolo close to the epicenter. More than 400 houses were rendered unlivable. Aftershocks continued for seven months.
Restoration
After the defeat of Napoleon and the return of Pope Pius VII from his French imprisonment, the
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...
promoted the restoration of the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Papal States (with some exceptions) to their rightful owners. In both cases the chaos caused by the French occupation had to be undone, and both Victor Emanuel I and Pius VII needed support in asserting their legitimacy and authority. Through Count Giuseppe Barbaroux, the envoy of the King, and Cardinal Enrico Consalvi, the Papal Secretary of State, it was agreed that a reorganization of the Church in the Piedmont was essential. The culmination of negotiations was a bull issued by the Pope on 17 July 1817, ''Beati Petri'', which was promulgated in November, fortified by the royal ''Exequatur'' and a decree of the Royal Senate, re-erecting all of the dioceses in the Piedmont and redrawing their diocesan boundaries. In Pinerolo the proclamation was carried out by Msgr Pietro Antonio Cirio, Canon of the Cathedral Chapter of Turin and ''Subdelegatus Apostolicus'', on 9 November 1817. An inscribed tablet on the façade of the Cathedral of S. Donato commemorates the event.
On 15 January 1818 Bishop Bigex reopened the Major Seminary, and established a minor seminary which was later converted into the ''collegio concitto civico''.
Diocesan synods
A diocesan synod was an irregularly held, but important, meeting of the bishop of a diocese and his clergy. Its purpose was (1) to proclaim generally the various decrees already issued by the bishop; (2) to discuss and ratify measures on which the bishop chose to consult with his clergy; (3) to publish statutes and decrees of the diocesan synod, of the provincial synod, and of the Holy See. John Paul II, Constitutio Apostolica ''de Synodis Dioecesanis Agendis'' (March 19, 1997) ''Acta Apostolicae Sedis'' 89 (1997), pp. 706-727.
The first diocesan synod was held by Bishop d'Orlié on 14—16 September 1762, and dealt with all the usual topics, especially the administration of the sacraments (ordering specially that the Blessed Sacrament be kept at the high altar of each church) and the conduct of the clergy (who were specially forbidden to play the high-stakes gambling card game called ''bassetta''). Sixty-seven synodal examiners were appointed. The statutes of the synod remained in force until 1842.
Bishop François-Marie Bigex held a diocesan synod in Pinerolo in the Cathedral of S. Donato from 21 to 23 September 1819. The participants included the Father Guardian and the Vicar of the Capucins, the only religious order of men which had been re-established at the time. In the last session of the synod, there was unexpected dissension on the part of some of the clergy at the severity of the new canons.
Another synod was held from 21 to 21 September 1842 by Bishop Andreas Charvaz. whose statutes provided an example for the rest of northern Italy of rigor without severity and without excessive indulgence tending toward licence. The conversion of the Waldenses was promoted, and warnings were issued about unauthorized Italian translations of the Bible, containing controversial passages and interpretations. The authority of the pope as supreme pastor in the entire world was defended.
Bishops of Pinerolo
* Giovanni Battista D'Orlié de Saint Innocent, C.R.S.A. (1749 – 1794)
: ''Sede vacante'' (1794–1797)
* Giuseppe Maria Grimaldi (1797 – 1803)
: Teresio Ferreri della Marmora (1805 – 1817)
* François-Marie Bigex (born
Savoy
Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps.
Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south.
Savo ...
) (1817 – 1824)
* Pierre-Joseph Rey (1824 – 1832)
* Andreas Charvaz (1834 – 1848)
* Lorenzo Guglielmo Maria Renaldi (1849 – 1873)
* Giovanni Domenico Vassarotti (1873 – 1881)
* Filippo Chiesa (1881 – 1886)
* Giovanni Maria Sardi (1886 – 1894)
* Giovanni Battista Rossi (1894 – 1922)
* Angelo Bartolomasi (1922 – 1929)
* Gaudenzio Binaschi (1930.01.20 – retired 1966.09.29), died 1968
**''
Apostolic Administrator
An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...
Bartolomeo Santo Quadri (1968 – 1972)
**''
Apostolic Administrator
An Apostolic administration in the Catholic Church is administrated by a prelate appointed by the pope to serve as the ordinary for a specific area. Either the area is not yet a diocese (a stable 'pre-diocesan', usually missionary apostolic admi ...
Massimo Giustetti (1972 – 1974)
* Massimo Giustetti (21 March 1974 – 17 December 1975)
* Pietro Giachetti (1 May 1976 – retired July 7, 1998)
* Piergiorgio Debernardi (July 7, 1998 – retired July 7, 2017)
* Derio Olivero (July 7, 2017 – ...)
Statistics and extent
In 2014, the diocese of Pinerolo pastorally served approximately 79,000 Catholics (82.3% of a total population of approximately 96,000) in 62 parishes with 89 priests (64 diocesan, 25 religious), 16 deacons, 222 lay religious (30 brothers, 192 sisters) and 10 seminarians. On 3 March 2018 the Bishop of Pinerol ordained two new priests
Parishes
The 62 parishes (by municipality) are all within the
province of Turin
The former Province of Turin ( it, Provincia di Torino; pms, Provinsa ëd Turin; french: Province de Turin) was a province in the Piedmont region of Italy. Its capital was the city of Turin. The province existed until 31 December 2014, when it wa ...
Pinerolo
Pinerolo (; pms, Pinareul ; french: Pignerol; oc, Pineròl) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont, northwestern Italy, southwest of Turin on the river Chisone. The Lemina torrent has its source at the boundary be ...