The Archdiocese of Turin () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory of the Catholic Church in Italy."Archdiocese of Torino {Turin}" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved January 4, 2017."Metropolitan Archdiocese of Torino" GCatholic.org. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved February 29, 2016.

The diocese of Turin was founded in the 4th century and elevated to the dignity of an archdiocese on 21 May 1515 by Pope Leo X. As a metropolitan archdiocese, it has as suffragan dioceses: Acqui, Alba, Aosta, Asti, Cuneo, Fossano, Ivrea, Mondovì, Pinerolo, Saluzzo and Susa.Diocesi di Torino, Diocesi: Storia; retrieved: 9 July 2018. Its mother church is the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist.

History The earliest bishop of Turin whose name has survived was Maximus of Turin. Fedele Savio argues that Maximus was the first bishop of Turin.Savio, pp. 285-286: Ma niuna memoria essendo rimasta di vescovi anteriori a S. Massimo e l'episcopato di questo Santo non potendosi protrarre molto in su nel secolo IV, noi incliniamo a credere che l'episcopato di Torino fosse instituto insieme con quello di Novara nel 398, oppure verso questo tempo. Maximus, many of whose homilies are extant, died between 408 and 423.Savio, pp. 283-294, at p. 293. Semeria, pp. 24-26.

Bishop Ursicinus (569–609) underwent captivity and loss of his property at the hands of the Franks. Pope Gregory I complained to Bishop Syagrius of Autun that someone else was made bishop in place of Ursicinus, in violation of canon law, and Ursicinus' diocese was taken away from him.Savio, pp. 225-226. Kehr, p. 81, no. 1. J. P. Migne, Patrologia Latina Vol 77, p. 1045 no 115. It has been inferred that the Diocese of Moriana (Maurienne) was detached from that of Turin on this occasion.

Duke Garibold of Turin, who had assassinated the Lombard King Godebert in 662, was murdered in an act of revenge, in the Baptistry of S. Giovanni il Battisto in the Cathedral of Turin.Rondolino, p. 10, citing Paul the Deacon at p. 23 note 10. Semeria, p. 50.

Other bishops were: Claudius of Turin (817–27), a copious and controversial writer, famous for his opposition to the veneration of images Regimirus (of uncertain date, in the 9th century), who established a rule of common life among his canons Amulo (880–98), who incurred the ill-will of the Turinese and was driven out by them; Gezo (1000), who founded the monastery of San Solutore in Turin Landulf (1037), who founded the Abbey of Cavour and repaired the damage inflicted on his church by the Saracen incursions Cunibert of Turin (1046–1080), to whom Peter Damian wrote a letter ( IV.iii) exhorting him to repress the laxity of his clergy in matters of clerical celibacy Boso (1122–c.1127), who resigned as a cardinal to become bishop.

In 1074, Bishop Cunibert of Turin (1046–1080) was summoned by Pope Gregory VII to attend a synod which was announced for 30 November in that year. One of the matters to be treated was the controversy between Cunibert and Abbot Benedict of S. Michele di Chiusa. The controversy had already involved Pope Alexander II, according to William of Chiusa, the biographer of Abbot Benedict: Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores Tomus XII (Hannover: Hahn 1856), p. 204. The bishop claimed that the monastery was situated on allodial property of the diocese, and therefore the bishop had the right to install the abbot and collect the decima tax. On 12 December 1074, the Pope wrote again, in considerable anger, because Cunibert had refused to attend the synod (); the Pope further advised Cunibert that another synod was going to be held toward the end of February 1075, which he was warned he must attend, and in the meantime he was to stop disturbing the monastery. When the synod took place, Cunibert was suspended from office, and in a letter of 9 April 1075, Gregory again chastised him for breaking his promise and continuing to harass the monks of S. Michele. Cunibert was given until 11 November, the next synod meeting day, to reach a peaceable settlement with Benedict, or else to put in an appearance at the synod, where his case would be given final judgement. The case dragged on, however, and on 24 November 1078, after Cunibert finally appeared at the Papal Court, the Pope gave final judgement, requiring Cunibert to return whatever he had taken from the monks, and the monks likewise, under the supervision of the Bishops of Asti and Aqui and the Abbot of Fruttuaria. If the Bishop still wished to assert that the monastery had been built on land belonging to the diocese and was under his jurisdiction, he should come to the next synod and present his proofs; otherwise, he should hold his peace.Semeria, pp. 80-83. Kehr, pp. 82-84, nos. 7-13.

Two episcopal 'elections' In 1243, Bishop Hugo (Uguccione) de Cagnola (1231–1243) abdicated the bishopric of Turin and became a Cistercian. Before he retired to a monastery (the house of the Cistercians in Genoa) though, he was required to administer his diocese until a successor was elected. On 15 November 1243, Pope Innocent IV ordered Hugo to see to the election of the Pope's Chamberlain, Nicholas, Provost of Genoa as the next Bishop of Turin.Savio, p. 372. Élie Berger, Les registres d'Innocent IV, Tome premier (Paris: Ernest Thorin 1884), p. 41 no. 228. On 10 May 1244, Innocent ordered the Papal Legate Gregorio de Montelongo, Papal Subdeacon and Notary, to see to the election of the Abbot of San Gennaro near Trino in the diocese of Vercelli, Giovanni Arborio, as the next bishop of Turin.Savio, pp. 372-373. Berger, p. 115, no. 675.

An episcopal election The episcopal election of 1319 is unusually well-attested. Bishop Teodisius Revelli (1301–1319) died in the Spring of 1319. The cathedral chapter met on 16 May to choose his successor. One of the electors, the Primicerius Thomas de Pellizonus, was ill and was the subject of threats on the part of some disaffected citizens of Turin, and was therefore unable to attend the meeting. He sent a notarized explanation of his absence by means of two procurators, Guilelmus de Cavaglata and Guido de Canalibus. The electoral assembly duly took place later that day, and de Canalibus was elected Bishop of Turin. An electoral statement was drawn up immediately, and carried to the home of de Pellizonus, who approved and ratified the election, still on 16 May. This too was written down and properly notarized. The documents indicate that Bishop Guido was the immediate successor of the late Bishop Teodisius.Chiuso, pp. 443-445. Semeria, p. 492. These documents make it clear that there was no intermediate bishop, the alleged Thomas de Sabaudia, as indicated by Eubel, I, p. 475, repeating information from Gams, p. 824. The alleged date of Bishop Teodesius' death, October 1318, is merely the date of his latest known document.

Bishop Guido Canale had the task of annulling the marriage of Frederick of Saluzzo and Jacobina de Blandrata in 1333, on the grounds of affinity in the third degree. The matter needed to be repaired by papal bulls of Pope John XXII.Chiuso, pp. 448-453.

The bishops of Turin had a palace at Pinerolo, from which numerous surviving documents have been dated.

Creation of the archdiocese

On 21 May 1515, during the Tenth Session of the Fifth Lateran Council, Pope Leo X removed the diocese of Turin from metropolitan obedience of Milan, and made Turin an archiepiscopal see with the dioceses of Mondovì and Ivrea as its suffragans, other sees being added later.Semeria, p. 265. On the same day, the Pope sent a letter to Bishop Giovanni Francesco della Rovere, notifying him of his promotion to the rank of archbishop, and another to the new suffragans, notifying them of the creation of the archdiocese.Ughelli, IV, pp. 1058-1060.

In the 16th century the diocese saw the rise the Waldensian sectSemeria, pp. 161-164. and of Calvinism. It is known that, in the spring of 1536, John Calvin visited Aosta as he was returning to France from Ferrara. His preaching, however, brought him to the attention of Bishop Pietro Gazino of Aosta, and he was forced to flee. The Council of Trent called upon bishops everywhere to attempt to restore Roman Catholicism. Archbishop Girolamo della Rovere, in 1566, engaged in a public disputation with the Protestants of the Piedmont and was victorious, which was greeted with great satisfaction by the Duke. In 1567, he conducted a visitation of the valley of the Stura, and preached to and conversed with many Protestants who had come into Piedmont from France, again with some success.Semeria, p. 287. During his episcopacy, Duke Emanuele Filiberto brought to Turin from his castle in Chambéry the Holy Shroud, the personal property of his family, and, on 29 December 1590, the body of St Maurice, the martyr.Semeria, pp. 338-341.

At the conclusion of the wars between France and Savoy with the Peace of Cateau Cambresis and the French withdrawal, in 1563 the permanent principal residence of the Dukes of Savoy became the city of Turin. The university was moved from Mondovì, where it had retreated during the French occupation. A Jesuit college was opened in Turin in 1567 with an annual subsidy from the Duke, and the Jesuit Collegio dei Nobili in 1572. In 1577, Archbishop della Rovere began the construction of the church Santi Martiri for the Jesuits in Turin.Semeria, p. 288-289.

Cardinal Gerolamo della Rovere died on 25 January 1592 while in conclave in Rome to elect a successor to Pope Innocent IX (Facchinetti).G. Cappelletti, Le chiese d'Italia XIV (Venezia: Stabilimento nazionale 1858), pp. 68-69.

From 1713 to 1727, owing to difficulties with the Holy See, the See of Turin remained vacant.

After 1848, Archbishop Luigi Fransoni (1832–62) became notable for his opposition to the Piedmontese government's reform program led by Camillo Benso, first as Minister of Agriculture, then as Minister of Finance, and finally in 1852, as Prime Minister of Savoy. At the same time the Risorgimento and the operations of Giuseppe Garibaldi had brought about a revolution in Rome, which drove Pope Pius IX into exile. Piedmontese policy called for a reform of the rights of the Catholic church, especially of the regular clergy. Fransoni's vocal reaction to these events and policies helped to stimulate the already widespread anticlericalism in Italy,Manuel Borutta, "Anti-Catholicism and the Culture War in Risorgimento Italy," in: and he found himself forced to leave Turin and Italy in 1852 for exile under French protection.

Cathedral and Chapter

The circumstances of the founding of the original cathedral of Turin are obscure. It is conjectured that the building was the work of the first bishop, Maximus, which would place the date around the beginning of the 5th century.Rondolino, pp. 9-10. It was constituted of three interconnected churches, San Salvatore, San Giovanni Battista, and Santa Maria. Bishop Guido Canale (1319–1348) found it necessary to completely reconstruct the Chapel of San Michele in the cathedral, which he endowed.Semeria, p. 195.

With the old cathedral in a state of collapse, Bishop Domenico della Rovere (1482–1501) had the cathedral rebuilt in the 1490s, to designs by Meo (Amadeo) del Caprina da Settignano of Florence. Demolition began in May 1491. Cardinal della Rovere visited Turin in 1496 to inspect the progress of the works. The new cathedral was consecrated on 21 September 1505 by Bishop Giovanni Ludovico della Rovere.