Suffragan Of The Patriarchate Of Aquileia

The Patriarchate of Aquileia was an episcopal see in northeastern Italy, centred on the ancient city of Aquileia situated at the head of the Adriatic, on what is now the Italian seacoast. For many centuries it played an important part in history, particularly in that of the Holy See and northern Italy, and a number of church councils were held there.

No longer a residential bishopric, it is today classified as an archiepiscopal titular see.

History

From bishopric to patriarchate

Ancient tradition asserts that the see was founded by St. Mark, sent there by St. Peter, prior to his mission to Alexandria. St. Hermagoras is said to have been its first bishop and to have died a martyr's death (c. 70). At the end of the third century (285) another martyr, St. Helarus (or St. Hilarius), was bishop of Aquileia.

In the course of the fourth century the city was the chief ecclesiastical centre for the region about the head of the Adriatic, Regio X of the Roman emperor Augustus' eleven regions of Italy, "Venetia et Histria". In 381, St. Valerian appears as Metropolitan bishop of the churches in this territory; his synod of that year, held against the Arians, was attended by 32 (or 24) bishops. Valerian was succeeded by St. Chromatius and Rufinus and kept contact with Sts. Ambrose of Milan and John Chrysostom.

In time, part of western Illyria, and to the north, Noricum and Rhaetia, came under the jurisdiction of Aquileia. Roman cities like Verona, Trent, Pola, Belluno, Feltre, Vicenza, Treviso and Padua were among its suffragans in the 5th and 6th centuries. As metropolitans of such an extensive territory, and representatives of Roman civilization among the Ostrogoths and Lombards, the archbishops of Aquileia sought and obtained from their barbarian masters the honorific title of patriarch, personal, however, as yet to each titular of the see. This title aided in promoting and at the same time justifying the strong tendency towards independence that was quite manifest in the relations of Aquileia with Rome, a trait it shared with its rival, Ravenna, which, less fortunate, never obtained the patriarchal dignity.

Emperor Justinian's decision that Italy, too, should adopt his religious policy which favoured Monophysitism, was met with strong opposition by Aquileia's bishop Macedonius (539–557). In the meantime, Pope Vigilius gave in to Justinian's threats and adhered to the Second Council of Constantinople of 553 which condemned the three representatives later known as the Three Chapters. Owing to the acquiescence of Vigilius in the condemnation of the "Three Chapters", the bishops of northern Italy (Liguria and Aemilia) and among them those of the Venetia and Istria, broke off communion with Rome, under the leadership of Macedonius. This Schism of the Three Chapters provided the opportunity for the bishop of Aquileia to assume the title "patriarch". Macedonius' successor Paulinus I (557–569) began using the title around 560.

Meanwhile, by the end of the next decade, the Lombards overran all of northern Italy. In 568, the patriarch of Aquileia was obliged to flee, with the treasures of his church, to the little island of Grado, near Trieste, a last remnant of the imperial possessions in northern Italy. This political change did not affect the relations of the patriarchate with Rome; its bishops, whether in Lombard or imperial territory, persistently refused all invitations to a reconciliation.

Split with Grado

Various efforts of the popes at Rome and the exarchs at Ravenna, both peaceful and otherwise, met with persistent refusal to renew the bonds of unity until the election of Candidianus (606 or 607) as Metropolitan of Aquileia (in Grado). Weary of fifty years' schism, those of his suffragans whose sees lay within the empire joined him in submission to Rome; his mainland suffragans among the Lombards persisted in the schism. They went further and elected in Aquileia itself, patriarch John the Abbot (606 or 607) so that henceforth there were two little patriarchates in northern Italy, Aquileia in Grado