The territory of Squillace contains Stilo, the ancient Consilinum, three bishops of which are known, Sabinus (495) being the earliest.[4] The creation of a diocese at Stilo in the 11th century is a matter of controversy.[5]
The first known Bishop of Squillace is Gaudentius (465), who attended the Roman council of Pope Hilarius on 18 November 465.[6] His two immediate successors, whose names are not preserved, were both murdered by priests of Squillace; the archdeacon Asello was deposed from his office for his part in the crimes.[7] Bishop Zachæus accompanied Pope Vigilius to Constantinople (551). Joannes, previously Bishop of Lissa in Dalmatia, having been driven out by the barbarians, was transferred to Squillace by Gregory the Great (591).[8]
Greek occupation
In 732, following the condemnation of Iconoclasm by both Pope Gregory II and Pope Gregory III, the Byzantine Emperor Leo III the Isaurian launched a punitive campaign against the papacy and its supporters.[9] Among other territories, he conquered a third of the island of Sicily and all of Calabria, including Squillace. In 740, he declared that all of his conquered territories were subject to the Patriarch of Constantinople, and were obligated to adopt the Greek liturgical rite. Squillace was declared a suffragan of Reggio.[10]
Bishop Demetrius of Squillace attended the Fourth Council of Constantinople in 869–870.[11] The Diatyposis of Leo the Wise (c. 900) registers Squillace as a suffragan of the metropolitan of Reggio.[12]
After Bishop Demetrius, no bishops are mentioned until the Norman conquest.
The Norman church
Both Reggio and Squillace were conquered by the Normans in 1060.[13]
In 1096, Count Roger I of Sicily, with the advice and consent of numerous bishops in his domain, erected the cathedral, into which the Roman Rite was introduced, though the use of the Byzantine Rite continued much longer in the diocese. The cathedral was administered and served by a corporation called the Chapter, which was composed of five dignities (the Dean, the Cantor, the Archdeacon, the Treasurer and the Archpriest) and fifteen canons.[14] Joannes de Nicephoro (1096–1098) was the first Latin Church bishop of Squillace.[15]
Between 1091 and 1101, St. Bruno established two Carthusian monasteries within the limits of the diocese, S. Maria dell' Eremo and S. Stefano in Nemore, the latter having the less rigorous discipline.[16] Bishop Theodorus of Squillace participated in the consecration of S. Maria on 15 August 1094.[17] The monastery of S. Maria was destroyed in the great earthquake of 1783.[18]
On 5 April 1110, Pope Paschal II confirmed the privileges and property of the diocese of Squillace, just as Pope Urban II had done in 1096, recollecting the favor of Pope Gregory which Squillace had enjoyed.[19] Pope Paschal also granted the privilege that bishop Petrus and all his successors would be consecrated by the pope personally;[20] this was one of the privileges granted by Pope Gregory I to Bishop Joannes in 592.[21] Squillace was confirmed as being directly subordinate to the papacy.
When Pope Alexander III confirmed the privileges and possessions of the archdiocese of Reggio on 19 November 1165, the diocese of Squillace was included among its suffragans.[22] The Liber censuum of Cencius Camerarius (1192) also lists the diocese of Squillace as a suffragan of the archdiocese of Reggio.[23]
In his bull "De Utiliori" of 27 June 1818,[24] which reorganized the diocesan structure of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in consequence of the new Concordat of February 16, 1818, Pope Pius VII included Squillace among the suffragans of the metropolitan archdiocese of Reggio.[25]
Invasions of Saracens in the ninth and tenth centuries, a landing of the Turks in 1595, and the earthquake of 1783[26] caused the ruin of Squillace. The cathedral had to be rebuilt.[27]
Diocesan Reorganization
Following the Second Vatican Council, and in accordance with the norms laid out in the council's decree, Christus Dominus chapter 40,[28] a revision of ecclesiastical provinces and diocesan structures was advised. The Council also recommended the abolition of anomalous units such as exempt territorial prelatures. Pope Paul VI ordered a reorganization of the ecclesiastical provinces in southern Italy, beginning with 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 Diocese of Squillace be merged with the Diocese of Catanzaro into one diocese with one bishop, with the Latin title Archidioecesis Catacensis-Squillacensis. The seat of the diocese was to be in Catanzaro. The cathedral in Squillace was to have the honorary title of "co-cathedral"; its Chapter was to be a Capitulum Concathedralis. There was to be only one diocesan Tribunal, in Catanzaro, 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 diocese of Squillace. The archdiocese of Catanzaro-Squillace was the metropolitan of the ecclesiastical province of Catanzaro-Squillace.[29]
^Cappelletti XXI, p. 229. Taccone-Galucci, p. 316. G. Ostrogorsky, History of the Byzantine State, (New Brunswick NJ: Rutgers 1957), p. 146. B.M. Kreutz, Before the Normans: Southern Italy in the Ninth & Tenth Centuries, (Philadelphia: U Penn 1999), pp. 11, 125-127.
^J.D. Mansi (ed.), Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, editio novissima, Tomus 16 (Venice: A. Zatta 1771), p. 195.
^Kehr X, p. 66: "A. 1783 in terribili terrae motu, qui totam Calabriam concussit, aedificia penitus destructa sunt. 1807 domus etiam suppressa est."
^Kehr X, pp. 59-60, nos. 8 and 11 (and see also p. 56): "...confovet Squillacinam ecclesiam prioribus longe temporibus specialiter sub apost. sedis iure manentem, sicut per authentica b. Gregorii scripta monstratur, sub speciali iure s. sedis apost...."
^Taccone-Gallucci, p. 55, prints the entire bull: "Nos Praedecessoris nostri Urbani Papae II vestigiis insistentes, Squillacensem Ecclesiam su bspeciali iure Sanctae Sedis Apostolicae confoventes, statuimus et temporibus perpetuis observandum cencemus, ut sicut Tu ita et tui deinceps Successores per manum semper Romanorum Pontificum consecrentur."
^Taccone-Gallucci, Regesti, pp. 326; 72-74: "Praeterea ipsum Rhegiensem Archiepiscopatum, cum onmnibus suis Episcopatibus, videlicet Tropaeano, Neocastrensi, Sillano, Cassanensi, Bovensi, Geratino, Opensi et Crotonensi, atque cum adiacentibus parochiis suis, tibi tuisque successoribus confirmamus."
^In the quake of 1783, Squillace reported 15 deaths, and 80 casualties. Mario Baratta, I terremoti d'Italia (Torino 1901), pp. 268-292, esp. 287.
^Maria Stella Ciaccio, La diocesi di Squillace dopo il terremoto del 1783: tesi di laurea, Viterbo: Università degli studi della Tuscia, 2006.
^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.
^Acta Apostolicae Sedis 79 (Città del Vaticano 1987), pp. 679-681.
^Bishop Zacchaeus of Squillace was part of the suite of thirteen bishops who accompanied Pope Vigilius to Constantinople in 550, and subscribed the excommunication and deposition of Theodorus, Bishop of Caesarea Cappadociae, on 14 August 551. Cappelletti XXI, p. 229. Philippus Jaffe, Regesta pontificum Romanorum, (in Latin), editio altera Tomus I (Leipzig: Veit 1885), pp. 122-123. Lanzoni, p. 341.
^Bishop Augustinus was present at the Roman council of Pope Martin I in October 649. J.D. Mansi (ed.), Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, editio novissima, Tomus 10 (Florence: A. Zatta 1764), p. 867. Taccone-Gallucci, pp. 313-314.
^Bishop Paulus was one of 125 bishops who attended the Roman synod of Pope Agatho against Monotheletism, on 27 March 680, and subscribed the synodical letter which was sent by the pope to the Third Council of Constantinople, which met in 680 and 681. J.D. Mansi (ed.), Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, editio novissima, Tomus 11 (Florence: A. Zatta 1765), p. 302. Taccone-Gallucci, p. 314.
^Bishop Demetrius of Squillace attended the Fourth Council of Constantinople in 870. J.D. Mansi (ed.), Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, editio novissima, Tomus 16 (Venice: A. Zatta 1771), p. 195. Taccone-Galucci, p. 419. Lucà, p. 254.
^Theodorus is mentioned several times in the "Acta Sancti Brunonis", J.P. Migne (ed.), Patrologiae Latinae Tomus CLII (Paris: Migne 1853), pp. 342-347; and a document is quoted: "Theodorus Mesimerius Dei misericordia episcopus Castrorum, Scyllacei, Stili et Tabernæ, ac protosyncellus". "Protosyncellus" is an imperial Byzantine title: Lucà, p. 257.
^Joannes was the first Latin bishop of Squillace. Ughelli IX, pp. 426-427. Kehr X, p. 60, no. 9.
^Petrus was elected bishop of Squillace in the royal chapel in Messana, on 1 March 1011. He was consecrated a bishop by Pope Paschal II. He was transferred to the archdiocese of Palermo by Pope Calixtus II on 2 April 1123. Ughelli IX, pp. 429-430. Kehr X, pp. 60-61, nos. 10-11.
^Tommaso had been abbot of the Cistercian monastery of S. Stefano de Bosco, and then Bishop of Martirano (1253–1254). He was transferred to Squillace by Pope Innocent IV on 6 October 1254. In 1261, Bishop Tommaso was in Germany. Cappelletti XXI, pp. 231-232. Gams, p. 927. Eubel I, pp. 328 with note 1; 462 with note 4. Kamp, pp. 993-994.
^A canon of the cathedral of Aquino, Nicolaus was appointed bishop of Squillace on 12 December 1345, by Pope Clement VI. He was transferred to the diocese of Melfi on 4 September 1349, and became archbishop of Oristano (Sardinia) on 21 October 1349. He died in 1363. Cappelletti XXI, p. 232. Eubel I, pp. 101, 334, 462.
^Matthaeus: Cappelletti XXI, p. 232. Eubel I, p. 462.
^On 2 May 1381 Pope Clement VII (Avignon Obedience) ordered that if Bishop Antonius had been removed as a supporter of Urban VI (Roman Obedience), then Canon Guilelmo Chabaud, O.S.A., should be installed as bishop of Squillace. On 12 October 1394, following the death of Bishop Antonius, Pope Benedict XIII appointed Petrus, O.Min. as bishop. Eubel I, p. 462, note 6.
^On 9 March 1392, Bishop Philippus, a native Sicilian, was transferred to the diocese of Messina. Cappelletti, p. 232. Eubel I, p. 462 with note 7.
^Cappelletti XXI, p. 233. Eubel I, p. 462 with note 10.
^Vincenzo Galeota (Galeotti) had previously been Bishop of Rapolla. He was appointed bishop of Squillace on 30 January 1482. He attended the Fifth Lateran Council of Pope Julius II and Pope Leo X. On 22 March 1514, he was transferred to the diocese of Capaccio. He died in 1522. Taccone-Gallucci, p. 371. Eubel II, pp. 241 with note 1. Eubel III, pp. 151-152.
^Pisanello: Cappelletti XXI, p. 234. Gams, p. 927.
^Abbate: Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VI, p. 386 with note 2.
^Queralt: Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VI, p. 386 with note 3.
^Genovese: Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VI, p. 386 with note 4.
^De Notariis: Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VI, p. 386 with note 5.
^Nicola Montiglia was nominated bishop of Squillace by King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies on 20 March 1818, and confirmed by Pope Pius VII on 25 May. On 9 August 1824, Bishop Montiglia was nominated Bishop of Nicotera e Tropea by King Ferdinand, and confirmed by Pope Leo XII on 27 September 1824. He died on 30 November 1826. Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VII, pp. 284, 352.
^Bishop Moriscano attended the First Vatican Council in 1869–1870. Taccone-Gallucci, p. 398.
Bibliography
Episcopal lists
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Eubel, Conradus, ed. (1914). Hierarchia catholica (in Latin). Vol. II (second ed.). Münster: Libreria Regensbergiana.
Eubel, Conradus; Gulik, Guilelmus (1923). Hierarchia catholica (in Latin). Vol. III (second ed.). Münster: Libreria Regensbergiana.
Anastos, Milton V. (1957). "The Transfer of Illyricum, Calabria and Sicily to the Jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople in 732–733," in: Studi bizantini e neoellenici Vol. 9 (1957), pp. 14-31. [Silloge bizantina in onore di S. G. Mercati]
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Duchesne Louis. "Les évêchés de Calabre." In: Scripta Minora. Études de topographie romaine et de géographie ecclésiastique. Rome: École Française de Rome, 1973. pp. 439-454. [Publications de l'École française de Rome, 13-1]
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Luca, Santo (1998). "Le diocesi di Gerace e Squillace: tra manoscritti e marginalia," (in Italian), in: Calabria Bizantina: Civiltà bizantina nei territori di Gerace e Stilo Rubbetino 1998, pp. 246-307.
