The Diocese of Latina-Terracina-Sezze-Priverno () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Lazio, Italy. It was established under this name in 1986. It is the continuation of the Diocese of Terracina, Priverno e Sezze, whose existence was confirmed by Pope Honorius III in 1217, as a joining of the Diocese of Terracina with the Diocese of Priverno and the Diocese of Sezze under a single bishop. It is immediately exempt to the Holy See."Diocese of Latina-Terracina-Sezze-Priverno" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved March 20, 2016."Diocese of Latina–Terracina–Sezze–Priverno" GCatholic.org. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved March 20. 2016.
History According to a local tradition, the first bishop of Terracina was St. Epaphroditus, who is claimed to have been one of Jesus' original seventy-two disciples, mentioned by Paul of Tarsus in one of his epistles.Ughelli I, p. 1283-1284. The report is italicized by Gams, p. 731, column 2, as unreliable, and is labeled "ex trad." Lanzoni, p. 154 also rejects the tradition, labelling it a modern myth: "Certo è che la nostra diocesi laziale ignorò fino ai tempi moderni che quel discepolo di s. Paolo fosse stato il suo primo vescovo." In the "Epistle to the Philippians", chapter 2, Paul mentions that Epaphroditus had been sent to Rome as a delegate of the Church of Philippi, that he had become deathly ill but survived, and that Paul was sending him back to Philippi. The most ancient Christian record of the city is that of the martyrdom of St. Julianus, priest, and St. Cæsareus, deacon, who were cast into the sea under the emperor Trajan. The early date is rejected by Francesco Lanzoni, along with many hagiographical details.Lanzoni, p. 149: "La Passione di s. Cesario e gli Acta Nerei, rispetto al tempo del martire terracinese, non hanno valore probativo; quindi non è necessario credere che il martire risalga a tanto remota antichità." In the third century, a Quartus is recorded by the "Passion of S. Caesareo" as a sacerdos, and martyr along with Caesareo; he is also mentioned as a martyr along with Quintus of Capua. There is no reason to think that Quartus was a bishop.Lanzoni, p. 154: "Ora, senza una ragione al mondo, per il semplice ricordo di Quartus nella Passione di s. Cesario, egli e il suo compagno furono introdotti nel catalogo vescovile di Terracina."
The first bishop whose date is known with certainty is Sabinus. He was present at the Lateran synod of Pope Miltiades in November 313.Lanzoni, p. 154. J.D. Mansi (ed.), Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, editio novissima, Tomus II (Florence: A. Zatta 1759), p. 437.
It is claimed that an African priest, Silvianus, a fugitive during the Vandal persecution was bishop of Terracina about 443. The catalogue of Hieronymianus notes under 10 February: "iuxta Terracina in Campania natale Silvani episcopi et confessoris."Lanzoni, pp. 154-156. Cf. The story of his African origins first appears in an anonymous local historian of Terracina belonging to the 17th and 18th centuries. It is rejected by Francesco Lanzoni as being without foundation. He also rejects the date of 444, preferring to place Silvianus in the 4th century.Lanzoni, p. 155: "I due pervengono in Terracinti e, morto il vescovo Giovanni nel 443, i terracinesi eleggono per proprio prelato il profugo Silvano, che visse solo nove mesi († 10 febbr. 444), e dopo di lui nominano il padre suo Eleuterio che muore il 6 agosto 444. Ma questo racconto del primo storico di Terracina non ha alcun fondamento."
Agnellus, Bishop of Fondi, whose city had been destroyed, was appointed cardinalis sacerdos of the diocese of Terracina by Pope Gregory I.Kehr II, p. 115, nos. 5, 6, and 7. Lanzoni, pp. 156, no. 5; 163, no 3.
The sees of PipernoKehr II, p. 123, places the union of Piperno and Terracina in the 11th century, but admits that there is no evidence: "Sed saec. XI — unionis certum tempus nequit adsignari — Pipernas episcopatus Terracinensi unitur...." (Privernum) and SezzeKehr II, p. 127: "...at saec. XI, nescimus a quo pontifice, ecclesiae Terracinensi unita est." (Setia), situated on the side of the Lepinian hills, were united to Terracina, perhaps by Pope Alexander III, or even earlier.In his bull of confirmation of 1217 (Ughelli I, p. 1294), Pope Honorius III, while referencing a transaction made for the benefit of Bishop Hugo by Pope Alexander III, remarks, "Praeterea praedictorum praedecessorum nostrorum vestigia subsequentes, Pipernensem et Ecclesias eidem Tarracinensi Ecclesiae in perpetuum unitas manere decernimus, cum omnibus juribis earum, rebus, ac pertinentiis...." The union of the three dioceses was confirmed by Pope Honorius III on 18 January 1217, during the episcopate of Simeone.Ughelli I, pp. 1293-1295.
On 16 July 1725, with the Bull "Regis Pacifici", Pope Benedict XIII restored the See of Piperno and Sezze, declaring them united aeque principaliter to the diocese of Terracina.
Bishop Francesco Antonio Mondelli (1805) was exiled in 1809, for refusing to take the oath of loyalty to Napoleon, following the arrest, deposition and deportation of Pope Pius VII. He was deported first to the fortress of Chambéry in Savoy, and then to Trevoux in France.Cappelletti VI, p. 605.
The Cistercian Abbey of Fossa Nuova is within the territory of this see. The diocese is immediately subject to the Holy See (Papacy).Umberto Benigni (1912), "Diocese of Terracina, Sezze, and Piperno." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. Retrieved 27 May 2020.
Chapters and cathedrals
The cathedral of Terracina, dedicated to S. Cesareo, was built in the 11th and 12th centuries,Carlo Tedeschi (2016), "Le epigrafi del portale e del portico della cattedrale di Terracina," in: Arte medievale, Periodico annuale IV serie, anno VI (Sapienza Università di Roma 2016), pp. 45-50. ISSN 0393-7267 on foundations of an ancient Roman temple, dedicated to Apollo,Ughelli I, p. 1283. or to the Goddess Roma and Augustus. It was served and administered by a corporation, the Chapter, composed of twelve Canons, presided over by the Archpriest. Since the cathedral served as a parish church, the Archdeacon had the "cure of souls" (responsibility for the spiritual welfare of the parishioners).
The cathedral of Latina, dedicated to S. Marco, was begun in 1932 as a parish church, at the same time that Latina was established as a city and the capital of its prefecture. The former Pontine Marshes, which had finally been drained after more than fifty years of work, were opened to agriculture, and the state sponsored a large-scale immigration from the Veneto, whose principal patron saint was Mark the Evangelist of Venice. The new parish church was dedicated on 23 November 1933, by Cardinal Enrico Gasparri, suburbicarian Bishop of Velletri. It was elevated to the status of a cathedral on 30 September 1986.Diocesi di Latina-Terracina-Sezze-Priverno, "Cattedrale di San Marco;" retrieved: 25 May 2020.
The original church at Sezze was dedicated to S. Luke, the mythological founder of the Christian community at Setina. There was a Romanesque church, which was seriously damaged in a fire in 1150. The latest known bishop of Sezze was Bishop Landus in 1178.Gams, p. 732, column 1. The Romanesque church was replaced, and a new church dedicated on 18 August 1364, by the Franciscan Bishop Giovanni of Terracina, Priverno e Sezze. It was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Pope Benedict XIII granted the old cathedral the title of "minor basilica".Diocesi di Latina-Terracina-Sezze-Priverno, "Concattedrali;" retrieved: 26 May 2020. By the papal bull of 29 April 1725, the church of S. Maria was reestablished as a cathedral and united aeque principaliter with the diocese of Terracina. The cathedral was staffed and administered by a Chapter, consisting of three dignities and twelve Canons.Ritzler-Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica V, p. 371, note 1. This was confirmed in the bull of 16 August 1725.
The cathedral of Piperno was dedicated to the Virgin Mary. The old cathedral was destroyed in a fire in 1159, and Pope Lucius III dedicated a new cathedral in the summer of 1183.Diocesi di Latina-Terracina-Sezze-Priverno, "Concattedrali;" retrieved: 26 May 2020. Philippus Jaffé & S. Loewenfeld, Regesta pontificum Romanorum, Tomus II, editio secunda (Leipzig: Veit 1888), p. 455. This is known only from a copy of an inscription which is no longer extant: "Annus millenus centenus bis quadragenus ǁ Tertius aetatis Christi cum, Luci, dedisti ǁ Principium nostrae ecclesiae per te benedictae ǁ Stabit in aeternum felix struit ordo Pipernum ǁ Tempus erat vernum voluit sic esse supernum." The cathedral was staffed and administered by a Chapter, consisting of an Archpriest and twelve Canons.Ritzler-Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica V, p. 371, note 1.
Diocesan reorganization Pope Leo XIII had determined that all of the dioceses of Lazio should belong to one and the same ecclesiastical province. His successor Pope Pius X, however, decided to split the province into two, Upper Lazio and Lower Lazio (to which Terracina belonged), while the suburbicarian bishops would belong to a separate conference under the direction of the Vicar of the city of Rome.Acta Apostolicae Sedis 59 (Città del Vaticano 1967), pp. 985-986. The city of Latina, however, which was the largest in Lazio except for Rome itself, belonged to the diocese of Velletri, one of the suburbicarian bishoprics.
The Second Vatican Council, in order to ensure that all Catholics received proper spiritual attention, decreed the reorganization of the diocesan structure of Italy and the consolidation of small and struggling dioceses, in particular those with financial and personnel problems.In its decree Christus Dominus, section 22, it stated: "Concerning diocesan boundaries, therefore, this sacred synod decrees that, to the extent required by the good of souls, a fitting revision of diocesan boundaries be undertaken prudently and as soon as possible. This can be done by dividing dismembering or uniting them, or by changing their boundaries, or by determining a better place for the episcopal see or, finally, especially in the case of dioceses having larger cities, by providing them with a new internal organization.... At the same time the natural population units of people, together with the civil jurisdictions and social institutions that compose their organic structure, should be preserved as far as possible as units. For this reason, obviously, the territory of each diocese should be continuous." It also decreed that the natural population units of people, together with the civil jurisdictions and social institutions that compose their organic structure, should be preserved as far as possible as units. It was their wish that all of Lazio was to belong to one ecclesiastical province. Latina was recognized as an anomaly in terms of ecclesiastical organization. Therefore, on 12 September 1967, with the approval of Pope Paul VI, the Consistorial Congregation ordered that the part of the territory of Lazio that belonged to the district of which Latina was the capital was to be transferred from the diocese of Velletri to the diocese of Terracina, bringing a substantial increase in territory and population to the diocese of Terracina.Acta Apostolicae Sedis 59 (Città del Vaticano 1967), pp. 986-987. On the same day, in a separate decree, the name of the diocese was changed to "Terracinensis-Latiniensis, Privernensis et Setinus".Acta Apostolicae Sedis 59 (Città del Vaticano 1967), pp. 987-988.