Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vercelli

Archdiocese of Vercelli Archidioecesis Vercellensis
Vercelli Cathedral
Location
Country	Italy
Ecclesiastical province	Vercelli
Statistics
Area	1,658 km2 (640 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2012) 179,800 174,200 (96.9%)
Parishes	117
Information
Denomination	Catholic Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	3rd century
Cathedral	Cattedrale-Basilica di S. Eusebio
Secular priests	87 (diocesan) 16 (Religious Orders)
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Archbishop	Rev. Msgr. Marco Arnolfo, Archbishop-elect (has not received archiepiscopal ordination)[1]
Emeritus Bishops	Enrico Masseroni
Map
Website
www.arcidiocesi.vc.it

The Archdiocese of Vercelli (in Latin, Archidioecesis Vercellensis) is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in northern Italy, one of the two archdioceses which form the ecclesiastical region of Piedmont. The archbishop's seat is in Vercelli Cathedral. The dioceses suffragan to Vercelli are: Alessandria (della Paglia), Biella, Casale Monferrato and Novara.^[2][3]

History

According to an ancient lectionary the Gospel was first preached in Vercelli in the second half of the third century by Saints Sabinianus and Martialis, bishops from Gaul, when they were returning to their dioceses. The episcopal see was not established till after the Peace of Constantine. The first bishop was Saint Eusebius (354-370), a Sardinian, a lector of the Roman Church and a strenuous opponent of Arianism. From Vercelli the Gospel spread through the valley of the Po and its environs; towards the end of the fourth century, perhaps even during the episcopate of Saint Eusebius, new dioceses were erected. From Eusebius to Nottingo (830) there were forty bishops, whose images were preserved in the Eusebian basilica, predecessor of the present cathedral, so called because Saint Eusebius, who dedicated it to the martyr Saint Theonestus, was interred in it. He introduced the common and monastic life among his clergy, from whom bishops for the surrounding territory were often selected.

Among his successors were: Saint Simenus (370-396), who baptized and consecrated Saint Ambrose; Saint Honoratus (396), who administered the Viaticum to Saint Ambrose; Saint Justinianus (living in 451); Saint Æmilianus (about 500) built an aqueduct for the city at his own expense; Saint Flavianus (541), who decorated the apse of the original basilica; Saint Celsus (638-665); Norgaudus (844) restored common life among the canons; Liutuardus (880-899), who had been archchancellor of Charles the Fat (deposed later) and was slain during the invasion of the Hungarians (899), like Regenbertus (904- 24), even though only a bishop, Pope Anastasius III granted him the pallium for life; Atto II of Vercelli, (924- 960), son of Aimone, Count of Vercelli, reformer of ecclesiastical discipline, and chancellor for Lothair II; he ordered schools to be set up in every parish of thediocese; Petrus I (978-997) a German attached to Otto II with whom he fought the Saracens in southern Italy; defeated and enslaved, he was sent to Egypt. He returned only to be killed by Arduino, the marquess of Ivrea who hoped to be King of Italy himself; he burnt the cathedral of Vercelli and scattered those buried there; Leo I (999-1024), another German prelate who became chancellor of Holy Roman Emperors Otto III and Henry II; Anselmo Avogadro (1124-1127) the first bishop of Vercelli to also hold the title of count; Gisulfus II Avogadro (1132-1151) re-established common life among the canons in 1144;Uberto Crivelli (1182-1185) held both Vercelli and Milan at the same time, until elected Pope Urban III Saint Albert Avogadro (1185–1204), a Canon Regular at Mortara, then elected bishop of Bobbio, but translated to Vercelli; made Prince (Rechtsfürst) of the Holy Roman Empire in 1191; founder of the cathedral chair of theology, elected Patriarch of Jerusalem (1204-1214); approved the Rule of the Carmelite Order; Ugo di Sessa (1214-1235); Martino Avogadro de Quaregna (1243-1268) Rainerio Avogadro (1305-1310) originally refused his election; he opposed the partisans of Fra Dolcino; Uberto Avogadro (1310-1326); sixth and last of a long line of Avogadro count-bishops of Vercelli; Guglielmo Didier (1437), an elector of the antipope Felix V; Giuliano della Rovere (1502), later Pope Julius II (1503); Cardinal Guido Ferrero (1562-1572), founder of the seminary, embellished the cathedral and introduced the Tridentine reform; Gianfrancesco Bonomo (1572) continued the reform and replaced (1573) the Eusebian Rite by the Roman.

In 1817 the Diocese of Vercelli, then suffragan of the archbishopric of Turin (but previously of the archbishopric of Milan) was made an archdiocese, the first archbishop being Giuseppe di Grimaldi. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, SDB, Secretary of State (2006 onwards) served as archbishop of Vercelli (1991-1995).

Bishops

Diocese of Vercelli

Erected: 3rd Century
Immediately Subject to the Holy See

• St. Eusebius of Vercelli (343 - 1 Aug 371 Died)

...

• Uberto Crivelli (Dec 1182 - 9 May 1185 Appointed, Archbishop of Milan)

...

• Jacques de' Cavalli (1 Jun 1379 - )
• Ludovico Fieschi (29 Mar 1382 - 31 Oct 1406 Appointed, Administrator of Carpentras)
• Giovanni Stefano Ferrero (16 Jul 1499 - 21 Jan 1502 Resigned)
• Giuliano della Rovere (24 Jan 1502 - 1 Nov 1503 Elected, Pope)
• Giovanni Stefano Ferrero (31 Oct 1503 - 5 Nov 1509 Appointed, Administrator of Ivrea)
• Bonifacio Ferrero (5 Nov 1509 - 17 Sep 1511 Appointed, Bishop of Ivrea)
• Agostino Ferrero (17 Sep 1511 - 1536 Died)
• Pier Francesco Ferrero (20 Dec 1536 - 2 Mar 1562 Resigned)
• Guido Luca Ferrero (2 Mar 1562 - 17 Oct 1572 Resigned)
• Giovanni Francesco Bonomigni (17 Oct 1572 - 26 Feb 1587 Died)
• Costanzo de Sarnano (Torri), O.F.M. Conv. (6 Apr 1587 - 29 May 1589 Resigned)
• Corrado Asinari (29 May 1589 - 1590 Died)
• Marcantonio Visia (Vitia) (13 Aug 1590 - 1599 Resigned)
• Juan Esteban (Giovanni Stefano) Ferrero, O. Cist. (29 Mar 1599 - 21 Sep 1610 Died)
• Giacomo Goria (17 Aug 1611 - 3 Jan 1648 Died)
• Girolamo della Rovere (5 May 1660 - 20 Jan 1662 Died)
• Michael Angelus Broglia (30 Jul 1663 - May 1679 Died)
• Victor Augustinus Ripa (27 Nov 1679 - 3 Nov 1691 Died)
• Giovanni Giuseppe Maria Orsini, C.R.L. (24 Mar 1692 - Aug 1694 Died)
• Giuseppe Antonio Bertodano (3 Jun 1697 - 4 May 1700 Died)
• Gerolamo Francesco Malpasciuto (30 Jul 1727 - 9 Aug 1728 Died)
• Carlo Vincenzo Maria Ferreri, O.P. (23 Dec 1729 - 9 Dec 1742 Died)
• Gian Pietro Solaro (15 Jul 1743 - Jan 1768 Died)
• Vittorio Maria Baldassare Gaetano Costa d'Arignano (11 Sep 1769 - 28 Sep 1778 Confirmed, Archbishop of Turin)
• Carlo Giuseppe Filippa della Martiniana (12 Jul 1779 - 7 Dec 1802 Died)
• Giovanni Battista Canaveri, C.O. (1 Feb 1805 - 11 Jan 1811 Died)

Archdiocese of Vercelli

Elevated: 17 July 1817

• Giuseppe Maria Pietro Grimaldi (1 Oct 1817 - 1 Jan 1830 Died)
• Alessandro d’Angennes (24 Feb 1832 - 8 May 1869 Died)
• Celestino Matteo Fissore (27 Oct 1871 - 5 Apr 1889 Died)
• Lorenzo Carlo Pampirio, O.P. (24 May 1889 - 26 Dec 1904 Died)
• Teodoro Valfrè di Bonzo (27 Mar 1905 - 13 Sep 1916 Appointed, Apostolic Nuncio to Austria)
• Giovanni Gamberoni (22 Mar 1917 - 17 Feb 1929 Died)
• Giacomo Montanelli (17 Feb 1929 - 6 May 1944 Died)
• Francesco Imberti (10 Oct 1945 - 5 Sep 1966 Retired)
• Albino Mensa (12 Oct 1966 - 4 Jun 1991 Retired)
• Tarcisio Pietro Evasio Bertone, S.D.B. (4 Jun 1991 - 13 Jun 1995 Appointed, Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith)
• Enrico Masseroni (10 Feb 1996 - 27 Feb 2014 Retired)
• Marco Arnolfo (27 Feb 2014 - )

Parishes

The 118 parishes are divided between the Lombard province of Pavia and the Piedmontese provinces of Alessandria, Biella, Novara and Vercelli.^[4] In 2012, there was one priest for every 1,691 Catholics.

References

Books

• Cappelletti, Giuseppe (1858). Le chiese d'Italia: dalla loro origine sino ai nostri giorni (in Italian). Volume decimoquarto (XIV). Venice: G. Antonelli. pp. 355–429. 
• Fedele, Savio (1898). Gli antichi Vescovi d'Italia: il Piemonte (in Italian). Torino: Bocca. pp. 403–494. 
• Eubel, Conradus (ed.) (1913). Hierarchia catholica, Tomus 1 (second ed.). Münster: Libreria Regensbergiana.  (in Latin)
• Eubel, Conradus (ed.) (1914). Hierarchia catholica, Tomus 2 (second ed.). Münster: Libreria Regensbergiana. 
• Eubel, Conradus (ed.); Gulik, Guilelmus (1923). Hierarchia catholica, Tomus 3 (second ed.). Münster: Libreria Regensbergiana. 
• Gams, Pius Bonifatius (1873). Series episcoporum Ecclesiae catholicae: quotquot innotuerunt a beato Petro apostolo (in Latin). Ratisbon: Typis et Sumptibus Georgii Josephi Manz. 
• Gauchat, Patritius (Patrice) (1935). Hierarchia catholica IV (1592-1667). Münster: Libraria Regensbergiana. Retrieved 2016-07-06. 
• Ritzler, Remigius; Sefrin, Pirminus (1952). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentis aevi V (1667-1730). Patavii: Messagero di S. Antonio. Retrieved 2016-07-06. 
• Ritzler, Remigius; Sefrin, Pirminus (1958). Hierarchia catholica medii et recentis aevi VI (1730-1799). Patavii: Messagero di S. Antonio. Retrieved 2016-07-06. 
• Ughelli, Ferdinando; Coleti, Niccolo (1719). Italia sacra sive de Episcopis Italiae (in Latin). Tomus quartus (IV) (secunda ed.). Apud Sebastianum Coleti. pp. 744–815. 

acknowledgment

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Benigni, Umberto (1912). "Vercelli". In Herbermann, Charles. Catholic Encyclopedia. 15. New York: Robert Appleton.