The Archdiocese of Otranto (Latin: ''Archidioecesis Hydruntina'') is a Latin

archdiocese In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

of the Catholic Church in Italy. The seat of the diocese is at Otranto Cathedral in the city of Otranto,

Apulia it, Pugliese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographic ...

. 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

archdiocese of Lecce The Archdiocese of Lecce ( la, Archidioecesis Lyciensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church in Apulia, southern Italy. The diocese has existed since the 11th century. On 28 September 1960, in the bull ...

."Archdiocese of Otranto"
'' Catholic-Hierarchy.org''. David M. Cheney. Retrieved March 21, 2016"Archdiocese of Otranto"
''GCatholic.org''. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved February 29, 2016 The current archbishop is Donato Negro.

History

The first known bishop was Petrus, to whom

St. Gregory the Great Pope Gregory I ( la, Gregorius I; – 12 March 604), commonly known as Saint Gregory the Great, was the bishop of Rome from 3 September 590 to his death. He is known for instigating the first recorded large-scale mission from Rome, the Gregoria ...

refers in 596. His two alleged successors, Sabinus (599) and Petrus (601), are the invention of Ferdinando Ughelli, who mistakenly believed that Sabinus was Bishop of Otranto, whereas he was in fact Bishop of Gallipoli. The bishop of Hydruntum (Otranto) already appears as a subject of the Patriarch of Constantinople in the ''Notitia Dignitatum'' in the time of the Emperor Leo VI (886–912). Bishop Marcus (about 870) is believed to be the author of the Greek liturgical office for Holy Saturday. Bishop Petrus of Hydruntum (968) was raised to the dignity of

Metropolitan Metropolitan may refer to: * Metropolitan area, a region consisting of a densely populated urban core and its less-populated surrounding territories * Metropolitan borough, a form of local government district in England * Metropolitan county, a typ ...

by Polyeuctus, Patriarch of Constantinople (956-70), with the obligation to establish the

Byzantine Rite The Byzantine Rite, also known as the Greek Rite or the Rite of Constantinople, identifies the wide range of cultural, liturgical, and canonical practices that developed in the Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian Church of Constantinople. Th ...

throughout the new ecclesiastical province, and the authority to consecrate bishops in the churches of Acerenza, Tursi, Gravina,

Matera Matera (, ; Materano: ) is a city in the region of Basilicata, in Southern Italy. As the capital of the province of Matera, its original settlement lies in two canyons carved by the Gravina River. This area, the Sassi di Matera, is a comple ...

, and Tricarico, all previously dependent on the Church of Rome. The Latin Church was introduced again after the Norman conquest, but the Byzantine Rite remained in use in several towns of the archdiocese and of its suffragans, until the sixteenth century. In 1818, a new concordat with the

Kingdom of the Two Sicilies The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies ( it, Regno delle Due Sicilie) was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1860. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by population and size in Italy before Italian unification, comprising Sicily and a ...

committed the pope to the suppression of more than fifty small dioceses in the kingdom. In the ecclesiastical province of Otranto, the diocese of

Castro Castro is a Romance language word that originally derived from Latin ''castrum'', a pre-Roman military camp or fortification (cf: Greek: ''kastron''; Proto-Celtic:''*Kassrik;'' br, kaer, *kastro). The English-language equivalent is '' chester''. ...

, formerly a suffragan of Otranto, was suppressed by

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 ...

in the bull "De Utiliori" of 27 June 1818, and its territory incorporated into the diocese of Otranto. The diocese of Alessano was likewise suppressed, and its territory incorporated into the diocese of Ugento. In the same concordat, the King acquired the right to nominate candidates for vacant bishoprics. That situation persisted down until the final overthrow of the Bourbon monarchy in 1860. As the Metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province, Otranto had as suffragans (subordinates)

Gallipoli The Gallipoli peninsula (; tr, Gelibolu Yarımadası; grc, Χερσόνησος της Καλλίπολης, ) is located in the southern part of East Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles ...

, Ugento, and

Lecce Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the province ...

. On 28 September 1960, however, Pope John XXIII, with the bull "Cum a nobis", separated the diocese of Lecce from the ecclesiastical province of Otranto and made it immediately subject to the Holy See.

Cathedral and Chapter

The cathedral, dedicated to the taking up (assumption) of the body of the Virgin Mary into heaven, was consecrated in August 1088, by Archbishop Roffredo of Benevento, the Papal Legate, assisted by Archbishop Urso of Bari, Archbishop Alberto of Taranto, Archbishop Godino of Brindisi, with the attendance of Duke Roger of Apulia. The cathedral of Otranto was administered by a Chapter, composed of twenty-four Canons. Among them were the dignities of the Archdeacon, the Cantor, the Dean, the Capellanus major, the Treasurer, the Primicerius, and the Penitentiary.

Synods

A provincial synod was a meeting of a metropolitan archbishop with his suffragan bishops, and any other persons whom he wished to invite, such as representatives of cathedral Chapters, abbots of important monasteries, and canon lawyers. Canons were framed or reauthorized, and decrees of the Roman Curia were promulgated. Matters of ecclesiastical discipline were dealt with. A provincial synod was held in Otranto in September 1567 by Archbishop Pietro de Capua. 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. On 18–20 October 1641, Bishop Gaetano Cossa (1635-1657) held a diocesan synod. Bishop Ambrogio Piccolomini (1675–1682) held a diocesan synod in 1679. Bishop Andrea Mansi (1818–1832) held ten diocesan synods.

Loss of metropolitanate

Following the Second Vatican Council, and in accordance with the norms laid out in the Council's decree, ''Christus Dominus'' chapter 40, the Episcopal Conference of Apulia petitioned the Holy See (Pope) that Lecce be made a metropolitan and that a new ecclesiastical province be created. After wide consultations among all affected parties, Pope John Paul II issued a decree on 20 October 1980, elevating Lecce to the status of metropolitan see. He also created the new ecclesiastical province of Lecce, whose constituent bishoprics (suffragans) were to be: Brindisi (no longer a metropolitanate, though the archbishop allowed to retain the title of archbishop), Otranto (no longer a metropolitanate, though the archbishop allowed to retain the title of archbishop), Gallipoli, Nardò, Ostuno, and Uxentina-S. Mariae Leucadensis (Ugento). The archdiocese, in 2019, has seven seminarians enrolled in the major seminary and seven students in the minor seminary.

Bishops and (from 1088) Archbishops

to 1200

:... : enedictus(c. 431) :... *Petrus (attested 595, 599, 601) :... *Andreas (attested 649) *Joannes (attested 680) :... *Marcus (c. 870) :... *Hypatius (attested 1054) :... *Hugo (attested 1067, 1071) :... *Berardus (attested 1090, 1101) *Jonathas (attested 1163–1179) *Guillelmus (attested 1189–1200)

1200 to 1500

*''Anonymous'' (attested 1203) *''Anonymous'' (attested 1215–1218) *Tancredus (1219–1235) :''Sede vacante'' (attested in 1239) *Jucundus (c. 1240) *Matthaeus de Castellione de Palma (1253–1282) *Jacobus (1283–1309) *Thomasius (1310–1320) *Lucas, O.P. (1321–1329) *Orso Minutulo (1329–1330) *Joannes, O.P. (1330–1345) *Reginaldus (12 December 1345 -1351) *Filippo di Lanzano (20 May 1351 - 1363) *Jacobus de Itri (1363-1376) ::Jacobus de Itri (1376–1378) ''Administrator''Jacobus was present at the election of Urban VI in Rome on 8 April 1378, and at the election of Clement VII at Anagni on 20 September 1378. *Guilelmus, O.Min. (1379–1393) ''Administrator'' *Tirellus (1380–1382) (Roman Obedience) *Petrus (1382–1389) (Roman Obedience) *Joannes (1390–1395?) (Roman Obedience) *Riccardus (1393– ? ) (Avignon Obedience) *Philippus (1395–1417) (Roman Obedience) *Aragonio Malaspina (1418–1424) *Nicolaus Pagani (1424–1451) *Stephanus Pentinelli (1451–1480) *Serafino da Squillace, O.Min. (1480–1514)

1500 to 1800

*Fabrizio di Capua (1514–1526) :Cardinal Alessandro Cesarini (1526–1536) ''Administrator'' *Pietro Antonio Di Capua (1536-1579) *Pedro Corderos (1579-1585) *Marcello Acquaviva (1587-1606) *Lucius de Morra (1606–1623) *Giovanni (Diego) Lopez de Andrade, O.S.A. (1623-1628) :''Sede vacante'' (1628–1635) ::Fabrizio degli Antinori (1630-1630) *Gaetano Cossa, C.R. (1635-1657) *Gabriel de Santander (1657–1674) *Ambrosius Maria Piccolomini (1675–c.1682) *Ferdinando de Aguiar y Saavedra (1684–1689) *Francesco Maria d'Aste (1690–1719) :''Sede vacante'' (1719–1722) *Michele Orsi (1722–1752) *Marcello Papiniano Cusani (1753–1754) *Nicolaus Caracciolo, O.Theat. (1754–1766) *Giulio Pignatelli (1767–1784) :''Sede vacante'' (1784–1792) *Vincenzo Maria Morelli (1792–1812)

since 1800

:''Sede vacante'' (1812–1818) *Andrea Mansi, O.F.M. Disc. (1818-1832) *Vincenzo Andrea Grande (1834-1871) *Giuseppe Caiazzo, O.E.S.A. (1872-1883) *Rocco Cocchia, O.F.M. Cap. (9 Aug 1883-1887) *Salvatore Maria Bressi, O.F.M. Cap. (23 May 1887- 23 Jan 1890) *Gaetano Caporali, C.Pp.S. (23 Jun 1890- 23 Nov 1911 Died) *Giuseppe Ridolfi (10 Aug 1912- 12 Aug 1915 Resigned) :''Sede vacante'' (1915–1918) *Carmelo Patané (11 Jan 1918-1930) *Cornelio Sebastiano Cuccarollo, O.F.M. Cap. (24 Oct 1930- 10 Jul 1952 Retired) *Raffaele Calabria (10 Jul 1952-1960) *Gaetano Pollio, P.I.M.E. (8 Sep 1960-1969) *Nicola Riezzo (28 Apr 1969- 27 Jan 1981 Retired) *Vincenzo Franco (27 Jan 1981- 8 Apr 1993 Retired) *Francesco Cacucci (8 Apr 1993-1999) *Donato Negro (29 April 2000 – present)CV of the archbishop: Arcidiocesi Otranto
"Arcivesco S.E. Rev.ma Mons. Donato Negro"
retrieved 22 June 2019.

References

Bibliography

Reference for bishops

* * * * * * * * * *

Studies

* *Cataldi, Nicola (1848. "Otranto". In: Vincenzo D'Avino, ''Cenni storici sulle chiese arcivescovili, vescovi, e prelazie (nullius) del Regno delle due Sicilie'' (Napoli: Ranucci 1848), pp. 519-526. illed with errors*Kamp, Norbert (1975). ''Kirche und Monarchie im staufischen Königreich Sizilien.'' I. Prosopographische Grundlegung: 2. Apulien und Kalabrien. München: Wilhelm Fink Verlag. *Kehr, Paul Fridolin (1962). ''Italia pontificia''. Vol. IX: Samnium — Apulia — Lucania. Berlin: Weidmann. * *Lanzoni, Francesco (1927).
Le diocesi d'Italia dalle origini al principio del secolo VII (an. 604)
'. Faenza: F. Lega, pp. 310, 317. * Mann, Horace K. (1910). ''The Lives of the Popes in the Early Middle Ages, Vol. IV: The Popes in the Days of Feudal Anarchy, 891-999''. * *

External links

*Arcidiocesi di Otranto
Official website
*Benigni, Umberto
"Otranto, Archdiocese of (Hydruntinum)."
''The Catholic Encyclopedia''. Vol. 11. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911. pp. 351-352. {{Coord, 40.1500, N, 18.4833, E, source:wikidata, display=title Otranto Otranto