The Diocese of Asti () is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Piedmont, northern Italy, centered in the city of Asti. It has been a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Turin since 1515."Diocese of Asti" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved February 29, 2016."Diocese of Asti" GCatholic.org. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved February 29, 2016. Previous to that, it was a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Milan.
The diocese lost territory in 1175, when the diocese of Alessandria was created. It lost a considerable amount of its ancient territory when the diocese of Mondovì was established in 1388 by Urban VI.Kehr, p. 170. It lost territory again when the diocese of Casale was created in 1474, and again in 1511 at the creation of the diocese of Saluzzo. In 1592 the diocese of Fossano was assigned more of Asti's territory.Bosio, pp. 102-107. Gauchat, Hierarchia catholica IV, p. 109, the transfer of four areas.
History There has been some controversy as to the beginning of the Diocese of Asti and the episcopate of St. Evasius, once placed by some at much earlier dates."Diocese of Asti". The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907, p. 18. Retrieved: 1 Apr. 2018. The diocese of Asti itself fixes the beginning of the diocese in the 5th century.Diocesi di Asti, Storia; retrieved: 2018-01-04. "La datazione più probabile dell’inizio della Diocesi è da fissarsi agli inizi del sec. V."
Scholars have suggested that more than one figure came to melt into the tale of St. Evasius, thus making it extremely difficult to use the existing material as an historical source. The situation is so confused that some historians list five different Saint Evasiuses. Lanzoni notes a purported Evasius in 261, another in 364, a third in 389, a fourth in 419, and the fifth in the time of King Liutprand (712–744). A catalogue of bishops of Asti, written in 1606, assigns him a date of 783.Lanzoni, pp. 833-834. The fifth Evasius is known only from a "molto favoloso" martyrology composed in the 9th century, that claims that Evasius was a bishop of Asti. Gams, p. 812, column 1 (calling the fifth Evasius by the name Evasinus). Savio, pp. 109-110; 114-124. Article from pms.wiki
The first known bishop of Asti was Pastor in 451. Bishop Audax (904-926) obtained the confirmation of the liberties of the Church of Asti from King Berengarius, and was a friend of Rudolph of Burgundy. He sought to have hisCanons called "cardinals", as they were at S, Eusebio in Vercelli.Cipolla (1887), Di Audace vescovo, p. 57.
The bishops of Asti were feudatory vassals of the Holy Roman Empire and of the Counts (Dukes) of Savoy.Bosio, pp. 148-196. In turn, they were feudal overlords of fiefs belonging to Corveglia, Castellinaldo, Montaldo Roero, Monteu Roero, Piea, Monticelli, Pocapaglia, Govone, Vezza, Cellarengo, S. Vittoria, S. Stefano Roero, Piobesi, Magliano, Cossombrato, Castagnito. and Castellino de Voltis.Bibliografia storica astense, p. 30, column 2 [= Manno, p. 373].
Also subject to the Bishop of Asti were the abbeys of Santi Apostoli, S. Anastasio, and S. Cristoforo in the city of Asti, S. Bartolomeo de Azano, and S. Dalmazio de Pedona. The bishops had also been given the monastery of S. Maria de Caramania in the diocese of Turin by Pope Calixtus II (1119–1124).Kehr, pp. 173-174. There was a house of the Knights Templar in Asti, called the Domus Hospitalis Soldani, as early as 1182; it belonged to the Lombard province and came to an end, along with the Templars, in 1312.Kehr, p. 180.
In the 14th century, the city of Asti became subject to the Kings of Naples, and then to the Visconti of Milan. Galeozzo Visconti gave Asti to Louis of Valois, Duke of Orleans, son of King Charles V of France. Asti became part of the French kingdom until it was handed over to the Duchy of Savoy in 1575.
The French Republic and Napoleonic Empire
During the French occupation, between 1802 and 1805, Piedmont was annexed to metropolitan France and divided into six departments: Ivrea or Doire (Dora), Marengo, Po or Eridan, Sofia, Stura, and Tanaro. Asti was made the capital of the French department of Tanaro. At the imperial reorganization in 1805 and then from 1805 to 1814 it was part of the department of Marengo, whose capital was at Alessandria. The department was under the jurisdiction of a French Prefect.
The French government, in the guise of ending the practices of feudalism, confiscated the incomes and benefices of the bishops and priests and made them employees of the state, with a fixed income and the obligation to swear an oath of loyalty to the French constitution. As in metropolitan France, the government program also included reducing the number of bishoprics and making them conform as far as possible with the civil administration's "departments". In accordance with the Concordat of 1801, and at the demand of the First Consul N. Bonaparte, Pope Pius VII was compelled to issue the bull Gravissimis causis (1 June 1803), in which the number of dioceses in Piedmont was reduced from seventeen to eight: Turin, Vercelli, Ivrea, Acqui, Asti, Mondovi, Alessandria and Saluzzo. The details of the new geographical divisions were left in the hands of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Caprara, the Papal Legate in Paris. In 1805 the diocese of Alba (Pompeia) was suppressed and its territory was entrusted to the Bishop of Asti.Cappelletti, XIV, p. 127. Cardinal Caprara issued his instructions for the reordering of the parishes of the diocese of Asti on 23 January 1805.A complete list of the parishes of the diocese of Asti in 1805 is printed by Bosio, pp. 134-138.
When Bishop Pietro Arborio Gattinara died in January 1809, the Emperor of the French, Napoleon I, nominated as bishop of Asti François-André Dejean, but he could not obtain his bulls from Rome, and then Pius VII became a prisoner of the French government. Dejean served as Vicar Capitular, though without proper credentials, governing the Church of Asti and Alba until 1814. With the end of the French Empire, Dejean was expelled from Asti, which he had been holding illegitimately; he was sent to Ivrea, where he remained for a year before being repatriated to France, where he died in 1820.Cappelletti, XIV, pp. 127-128. Bibliografia storica astense, p. 18, column 2 [= Manno, p. 361].
After Waterloo, the Congress of Vienna agreed to the restoration of the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Papal States, both of which were in a state of disarray because of French political and administrative actions. The confused situation of the dioceses in Piedmont was addressed by Pope Pius VII in his bull Beati Petri (17 July 1817),Bullarii Romani continuatio, VII, pp. 1490-1503, § 8. as far as the redrawing of diocesan boundaries was concerned.A list of the parishes included in the diocese of Asti from 1817 is printed by Bosio, pp. 139-141.
Following the restoration, the new Bishop of Asti, Antonio Faà di Bruno, fell afoul of the forces of reaction and of constitutionalism by making imprudent remarks about Constitutionalism in Spain. Pope Pius VII had him relegated to a monastery, and Faà never took possession of his diocese, as he records in his own memorial inscription in the Gesù in Rome.Cappelletti, XIV, p. 128: Episcopus Asten(sis) et Princeps, quam vivens non adeptus, hic requiem delegit, die X Novembr. MDCCCXXIX. Asti was thus without a bishop for two decades.
Synods
A diocesan synod was an important legislative and disciplinary tool available to a bishop. In the company of his priests he could introduce new legislation from outside the diocese, from provincial councils, from general church councils, and from the Papacy. He could issue his own decrees, and publicly require cooperation with church policies.Bosio, pp. 485-497.
The earliest synod of which there is any record is that held by Bishop Guido de Valperga (1295–1327) on 7 May 1316. Another was held by Bishop Arnaldus de Roseto (1327–1348) in May 1328. Bishop Scipio Damiani (1469–1473) held his first synod in 1471, and Bishop Basinus Malabaila (1473–1475) on 21 August 1474. Another was held by Bishop Pietro Damiani (1475–1496) at the beginning of his episcopate; he held a second synod in the Episcopal Palace on 8 March 1485.The constitutions and decrees of these synods were published by order of Bishop Scipione Roero in a collection, Constitutiones synodales Astenses (Asti 1539). See: Bibliografia storica astense (Torino: Paravia 1888), pp. 10-11.
Bishop Domenico della Rovere (1569–1587) published the Constitutions of his fourth diocesan synod of 15 April 1578, and of his eighth diocesan synod of 1584. Bishop Franciscus Panicarola (1587–1594) published the decrees of his first diocesan synod of 30 August 1588; his second was held on 7 November 1591 and his third on 18 November 1593; he had announced a fourth, but died before it was held. These synods were important for the implementation of the decrees of the Council of Trent.Bibliografia storica astense (Torino: Paravia 1888), p. 11 column 2; p. 12 column 1.
Bishop Giovanni Stefano Ajazza (1596–1618) published Constitutions and decrees from his first diocesan synod held on 23 October 1597; he took care to have his own and papal decrees published in Italian translation; he held his second synod on 24 October 1601, and his third on 19 April 1605. Bishop Isidoro Pentorio, (1619–1622) held a synod in 1620. Others were held by Bishop Ottavio Broglia (1624–1647) on 22 April 1627, 17 May 1634, 5 November 1643, and in 1646; by Bishop Paolo Vincenzo Roveria (1655–1665) on 13 December 1660; by Bishop Marco Antonio Tomati (1666–1693) on 14 April 1670 and in 1677; by Bishop Innocenzo Migliavacca (1693–1714) in 1699; by Bishop Giovanni Todone (1727–1739) on 29 August 1730; and by Bishop Paolo Caissotti (1762–1786) on 29 June 1785. Statutes and decrees were published in each case.Bibliografia storica astense, pp. 12-13.
Cathedral and Chapter The original cathedral was destroyed in 1073. Its successor was dedicated by Pope Urban II, perhaps in 1096.Vassallo (1881), pp. 415-421, has demonstrated that the traditional date of 1094 is impossible, since the Pope was in France at that time. The third was begun by Bishop Guido de Valperga (1295–1327) in 1295, or perhaps in 1309 or 1323 or 1333.Vassallo (1881), p. 421. It was completed in 1768.Bosio, p. 285.
Bishop Hilduinus had been present at the election of the Emperor Charles the Bald as King of Italy in 876, and had consented to the regulations enacted at the time. One of them declared that bishops should provide next to their cathedral an enclosed space (claustrum) in which they and their clergy should serve God according to a Canonical Rule.Bosio, p. 276, with note 3: Ut episcopi in civitatibus suis proximum ecclesiae suae claustrum instituant in quo ipsi cum clero suo secundum canonicam regulam Deo militent. No evidence indicates whether his commitment went beyond his signature, but Canons existed in Asti thirty years later. On 7 May 907, Pope Sergius III confirmed, at Bishop Audax' own request, all the possessions, rights and privileges which Bishop Audax had granted to the Canons.Kehr, pp. 176-177, no. 1. On 25 July 1169, the Canons themselves obtained a papal bull from Pope Alexander II, taking their corporationC.D. Fonseca, "La cattedrale e il suo Capitolo. Analisi comparata in prospettiva storica, ecclesiologica e canonistica," , in: Annali di Studi Religiosi Vol. 4 (2003), pp. 215-235. and its property under the protection of the Holy See. The bull lists a considerable number of estates and properties that belonged to the Cathedral Chapter at that time.Bosio, pp. 279-280.
One of the celebrated members of the Chapter was the Archpriest Uberto de Cocconato, who became a Cardinal in 1261 and participated in four papal elections and the Second Council of Lyon (1274).Bosio, p. 283.