The Roman Catholic Diocese of Pesto (or Paëstum or Pæstum) was a bishopric, later under the name of Capaccio, and became a Latin Catholic titular see in 1966.

History

The diocese was established, perhaps around 400 AD, in

Paestum Paestum ( , , ) was a major ancient Greek city on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea in Magna Graecia (southern Italy). The ruins of Paestum are famous for their three ancient Greek temples in the Doric order, dating from about 550 to 450 BC, whic ...

, the Ancient Greco-Roman city now called

Pesto Pesto () is a sauce that traditionally consists of crushed garlic, European pine nuts, coarse salt, basil leaves, and hard cheese such as Parmigiano-Reggiano (also known as Parmesan cheese) or Pecorino Sardo (cheese made from sheep's milk), a ...

in Italian. In the late 6th century, the bishops of Paestum had to relocate their seat to Agropoli (the acropolis). Three letters of

Pope Gregory I 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 Gregori ...

are directed to Bishop Felix at that site. Louis Duchesne remarks that, in Lucania, after the

Gothic War (535–554) The Gothic War between the Eastern Roman Empire during the reign of Emperor Justinian I and the Ostrogothic Kingdom of Italy took place from 535 to 554 in the Italian Peninsula, Dalmatia, Sardinia, Sicily and Corsica. It was one of the last o ...

, there were seven bishoprics; after the Lombards arrived, six of them were destroyed; the only one that survived was Paestum, which was compelled to abandon its seat and seek refuge in the Byzantine fort of Arropolis. He implies that the Lombards were the actual cause. It is claimed that the diocese of Paestum gained territory in 750 from the suppressed diocese of Sala Consilina. Only two bishops of Consilina are known, however, one between 494 and 496, and the other in 558-560. Likewise, no bishops of Paestum are known between 649 and 932. Circumstances surrounding the date of 750 are unattested, and the exact location of Consilina is uncertain. Paestum was attacked by the Saracens, who occupied the area of Agripoli, in 915. The city was burned. The inhabitants fled into the mountains, where they built the town that came to be called Capaccio.In 1080, the town was devastated by the Norman Duke Ribert Guiscard, and nearly deserted. In the 11th century, the bishops of Paestum moved their headquarters, without yet changing their title, to the city of Capaccio. Bishop Leonardus (1159) appears to have been the first to use the title ''episcopus Caputaquensis''.

Residential Bishops

: lorentius (499? – 501?)* Felix (attested 592) * Johannes (attested 649) * Paulus (attested 932) * Johannes (attested 954 – 963) * Petrus (attested 967) * Pando (attested 977, 979) * Lando (attested 989) * Joannes (attested 1019–1020) * Joannes (attested 1041–1047) * Amatus (1047–1058) * Maraldus (attested 1071–1097) * Alfanus (attested 1100–1134) * Joannes (attested 1142–1146) * Celsus (attested 1156) * Leonardus (attested 1159)

Titular see

The title, though not the diocese, was nominally restored as a Latin Catholic

titular bishopric 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. The title has been held by:David M. Cheney, ''Catholic-hierarchy.org,'
"Pesto."
Retrieved: 18 September 2023. * Titular Bishop Alfred Leo Abramowicz, Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago (8 May 1968 – 12 September 1999) * Titular Bishop Anton Coşa (30 October 1999 – 27 September 2001) Became Bishop of Chişinău, Moldova. * Titular Archbishop Giovanni D’Aniello (15 December 2001 – ...),

Apostolic Nuncio An apostolic nuncio ( la, nuntius apostolicus; also known as a papal nuncio or simply as a nuncio) is an ecclesiastical diplomat, serving as an envoy or a permanent diplomatic representative of the Holy See to a state or to an international ...

to Uzbekistan (2021).

References

Bibliography

* *Duchesne, Louis (1903), "Les évêchés d'Italie et l'invasion lombarde," , in
''Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire'' 23
(Paris: Fontemoing 1903), pp. 83-116. *Duchesne, Louis (1905)
"Les évêchés d'Italie et l'invasion lombarde,"
, in: ''Mélanges d'archéologie et d'histoire'' 25 (Paris: Fontemoing 1905), pp. 365-399, esp. 398-399. *Kehr, Paul Fridolin (1935). ''Italia pontificia''. Vol. VIII: Regnum Normannorum — Campania. Berlin: Weidmann. *Lanzoni, Francesco (1927).
Le diocesi d'Italia dalle origini al principio del secolo VII (an. 604)
'. Faenza: F. Lega. *Mattei-Cerasoli, Leone (1919)
"Da archivii e biblioteche: Di alcuni vescovi poco noti"
. In: ''Archivio storico per le province Neapolitane'' 44 (Napoli: Luigi Lubrano 1919). pp. 310-335. *

External links