The Archdiocese of Manfredonia–Vieste–San Giovanni Rotondo () is a Latin Church non-metropolitan archdiocese of the Catholic Church in the civil province of Foggia, in Apulia, south-eastern Italy,"Archdiocese of Manfredonia–Vieste–San Giovanni Rotondo" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved February 29, 2016 which is part the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Foggia-Bovino"Archdiocese of Manfredonia–Vieste–San Giovanni Rotondo" GCatholic.org. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved February 29, 2016
The historic Archdiocese of Siponto (precursor in a present suburb of Manfredonia) was elevated from the status of diocese in 1074. At that time it was known after its see, Siponto, and Sipontina persisted as its Latin name. The present complex title reflects several mergers, part of a complex history before and after the see transfer in 1230.
History
Pope Eugenius III (1145–1153) confirmed that the diocese of Viesti was a suffragan of the archdiocese of Siponto.Kehr IX, p. 237, no. 18.
In 1223, a major earthquake centered on Monte Gargano destroyed nearly every building in Siponto. The tremors continued for another two years, until, by 1225, everything was in ruins. De Martini PM, Burrato P, Pantosti D, Maramai A, Graziani L, Abramson H. Identification of tsunami deposits and liquefaction features in the Gargano area (Italy): paleoseismological implication. Ann. Geophys. [Internet]. 2003Dec.25 [cited 2022Nov.1];46(5). Available from: https://www.annalsofgeophysics.eu/index.php/annals/article/view/3460: "The 1223 shock hit the southeast coastline between Siponto and Vieste causing severe damage to both towns."
In 1250, Manfred of Sicily found it necessary to rebuild Siponto in a new nearby location, only four miles away, which he named Manfredonia. The archiepiscopal see was transferred and renamed after it as Metropolitan Archdiocese of Manfredonia, yet kept its Latin adjective Sipontin(us). Manfred had been excommunicated both by Pope Innocent IV and by Pope Alexander IV, and the papacy did not care to memorialize his name.Donald Matthew (1992), The Norman Kingdom of Sicily (Cambridge UP 1992), pp.363-369, esp. p. 367.
Celebrities Among the archbishops were Matteo Orsini (1327), later cardinal; Cardinal Bessarione (1447), administrator; Niccolò Perotti (1458), a Greek scholar and theologian; Giovanni del Monte (1512), later Pope Julius III; Domenico Ginnasio (1586), who suppressed the use of the Greek Rite at the high altar of the cathedral of Sipontum, a custom which had been observed until his time; Antonio Marcello (1643), who founded the seminary and restored the cathedral destroyed by the Ottoman Turks in 1620; Cardinal Vincenzo Orsini (1675), who became Benedict XIII (1724–1730). Earthquake damage In 1627, a major earthquake in the region of Gargano caused a tsunami which inundated the coastline of Apulia, including the city of Manfredonia.De Martini PM, Burrato P, Pantosti D, Maramai A, Graziani L, Abramson H. Identification of tsunami deposits and liquefaction features in the Gargano area (Italy): paleoseismological implication. Ann. Geophys. [Internet]. 2003Dec.25 [cited 2022Nov.1];46(5). Available from: https://www.annalsofgeophysics.eu/index.php/annals/article/view/3460 At p. 888–889: "...the 1627 contemporary chronicles clearly state that the July 30 earthquake produced a tsunami wave that flooded the northern coast of the Gargano promontory and the Manfredonia harbor to the east, along with liquefaction features over a wide area."
A major earthquake struck the area of Monte Gargano on 31 May 1646. More than 200 persons died on the peninsula, including 85 at Vieste, and hundreds of houses were ruined, as well as the castle and bell tower in Vieste. In Manfredonia, only five houses were destroyed and 15 persons died. The convent of the Observant Franciscans just outside the city walls, which was being rebuilt following the Turkish depredations of 1620, was completely ruined.Baratta, pp. 136, 806.
Reorganization of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, 1818 Following the extinction of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, the Congress of Vienna authorized the restoration of the Papal States and the Kingdom of The Two Sicilies (Naples). Since the French occupation had seen the abolition of many Church institutions in the Kingdom, as well as the confiscation of much Church property and resources, it was imperative that Pope Pius VII and King Ferdinand IV reach agreement on restoration and restitution.
A concordat was finally signed on 16 February 1818, and ratified by Pius VII on 25 February 1818. Ferdinand issued the concordat as a law on 21 March 1818.F. Torelli (1848), La chiave del concordato dell'anno 1818 I, second edition (Naples: Fibreno 1848), pp. 1-19. The right of the king to nominate the candidate for a vacant bishopric was recognized, as in the Concordat of 1741, subject to papal confirmation (preconisation).Torelli I, p. 9. On 27 June 1818, Pius VII issued the bull De Ulteriore, in which he reestablished the metropolitan archbishopric of Siponto (Manfredonia), but with no suffragan dioceses at all. The diocese of Viesti was given to the archbishop of Siponto in "perpetual administratorship".Bulliarii Romani Continuatio Tomus 25 (Rome 1853), p. 58, § 11: "Ecclesia archiepiscopalis Sypontina nullam quidem habebit suffraganeam, hodierno tamen ac prò tempore existenti Sypontino antistiti episcopalis ecclesiae Vestanae administrationem perpetuo tribuimus, ac Sypontinum archiepiscopum et Vestanae episcopalis ecclesiae administratorem in posterum nuncupari decernimus.."
On 30 April 1979, Pope John Paul II undertook the reorganization of the dioceses of the region of Apulia. The diocese of Foggia was promoted to the status of metropolitan archbishopric, and the metropolitan archdiocese of Siponto was abolished. Foggia became an ecclesiastical province; its suffragans were to be Siponto (which retained the dignity of an archiepiscopal seat); Troia (which had been immediately subject to the Holy See); Asculum et Ceriniola, Bovinum, Lucerina, and San Severo (which had been suffragans of the archdiocese of Benevento); and Vieste (which had been a suffragan of Siponto, and became an independent diocese again).Acta Apostolicae Sedis 71 (Città del Vaticano 1979), pp. 563–564: "...Vestana, quae usque ad praesens suffraganea erat metropolitanae Ecclesiae Sipontinae."
Diocesan Reorganization
Following the Second Vatican Council, and in accordance with the norms laid out in the council's decree, Christus Dominus chapter 40,Christus Dominus 40. Therefore, in order to accomplish these aims this sacred synod decrees as follows: 1) The boundaries of ecclesiastical provinces are to be submitted to an early review and the rights and privileges of metropolitans are to be defined by new and suitable norms. 2) As a general rule all dioceses and other territorial divisions that are by law equivalent to dioceses should be attached to an ecclesiastical province. Therefore dioceses which are now directly subject to the Apostolic See and which are not united to any other are either to be brought together to form a new ecclesiastical province, if that be possible, or else attached to that province which is nearer or more convenient. They are to be made subject to the metropolitan jurisdiction of the bishop, in keeping with the norms of the common law. 3) Wherever advantageous, ecclesiastical provinces should be grouped into ecclesiastical regions for the structure of which juridical provision is to be made. Pope Paul VI ordered a reorganization of the ecclesiastical provinces in southern Italy. Pope Paul VI ordered consultations among the members of the Congregation of Bishops in the Vatican Curia, the Italian Bishops Conference, and the various dioceses concerned.
On 18 February 1984, the Vatican and the Italian State signed a new and revised concordat. Based on the revisions, a set of Normae was issued on 15 November 1984, which was accompanied in the next year, on 3 June 1985, by enabling legislation. According to the agreement, the practice of having one bishop govern two separate dioceses at the same time, aeque personaliter, was abolished. The Vatican continued consultations which had begun under Pope John XXIII for the merging of small dioceses, especially those with personnel and financial problems, into one combined diocese.
On 30 September 1986, Pope John Paul II ordered that the dioceses of Siponto and Viesti be merged into one diocese with one bishop, with the Latin title Archidioecesis Sipontina-Vestana. The seat of the diocese was to be in Manfredonia, and its cathedral was to serve as the cathedral of the merged diocese. The cathedral in Viesti was to have the honorary titles of "co-cathedral"; the cathedral Chapter was to be a Capitulum Concathedralis. There was to be only one diocesan Tribunal, in Manfredonia, and likewise one seminary, one College of Consultors, and one Priests' Council. The territory of the new diocese was to include the territory of the suppressed dioceses of Viesti. The town of Rignano Garganico, however, was detached from the diocese, and assigned to the diocese of S. Severo.Acta Apostolicae Sedis 79 (Città del Vaticano 1987), pp. 786-789.
On 6 December 2002, the archdiocese was again renamed. By order of Pope John Paul II, it became Archdiocese of Manfredonia–Vieste–San Giovanni Rotondo / Sipontina-Vestana-Sancti Ioannis Rotundi (Latin). The stated reason for the change was the desire to honor S. Pius of Pietrelcina, who had founded a hospital for the suffering (Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza) in the city of San Giovanni Rotundo.Acta Apostolicae Sedis Vol. 95. 4 (April 2003) (Città del Vaticano 2003), p. 279.
Cathedrals The medieval cathedral, damaged many times by earthquakes, survived until the Turkish invasion of 1620. At that time, the entire city was sacked and put to the torch, and the cathedral completely destroyed.Ughelli VII, p. 863. The new cathedral of the archiepiscopal see, whose reconstruction began under Archbishop Antonio Marullo (1643–1648),Cappelletti XX, p. 593, calls him Antonio Marcello. is the Cathedral of Saint Laurence, dedicated to Laurence of Siponto.
The archdiocese also has: a Co-Cathedral, or Minor Basilica: Basilica Cattedrale di Maria Santissima Assunta in cielo, in Vieste, granted the title of co-cathedral by Pope John Paul II on 12 February 1981.Acta Apostolicae Sedis 73 (Città del Vaticano 1981), pp. 450-451. another former Cathedral, also a Minor Basilica, is the Basilica di S. Maria Maggiore di Siponto, in Siponto a third Minor Basilica, the Basilica S. Michele Arcangelo dedicated to the Archangel Michael, in Monte Sant'Angelo,Pina Belli D'Elia (1999), L'angelo la montagna il pellegrino: Monte Sant'Angelo e il santuario di San Michele del Gargano : archeologia, arte, culto, devozione dalle origini ai nostri giorni Foggia: Claudio Grenzi editore, 1999. is a World Heritage Site. two more notable shrines: Santuario di S. Maria delle Grazie, in San Giovanni Rotondo, and Santuario di S. Pio da Pietrelcina, in San Giovanni Rotondo.Sergio Luzzatto (2015), "PIO da Pietrelcina, santo." . In: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Volume 84 (2015).
Synods