Archdiocese of Ferrara-Comacchio Archidioecesis Ferrariensis-Comaclensis | |
|---|---|
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| Location | |
| Country | Italy |
| Ecclesiastical province | Bologna |
| Statistics | |
| Area | 3,138 km2 (1,212 sq mi) |
| Population - Total - Catholics | (as of 2019) 277,000 (est.) 273,700 (est.) |
| Parishes | 169 |
| Information | |
| Denomination | Catholic Church |
| Rite | Roman Rite |
| Established | 7th Century |
| Cathedral | Basilica Cattedrale di S. Giorgio (Ferrara) |
| Co-cathedral | Concattedrale di S. Cassiano Martire (Comacchio) |
| Secular priests | 129 (Diocesan) 36 (Religious Orders) 21 Permanent Deacons |
| Current leadership | |
| Pope | Francis |
| Archbishop | Giancarlo Perego |
| Bishops emeritus | Paolo Rabitti |
| Map | |
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| Website | |
| arcidiocesiferraracomacchio | |
The Archdiocese of Ferrara-Comacchio (Latin: Archidioecesis Ferrariensis-Comaclensis) is a Latin Church archdiocese of the Catholic Church. It has existed since 1986, when the diocese of Comacchio was combined with the historical archdiocese of Ferrara. It is a suffragan of the archdiocese of Bologna.
The episcopal seat was transferred from Vicohabentia (Voghenza) to the newly founded Ferrara in 657.[1] The earliest known bishop of Vicohabentia is Marcellinus, who was consecrated c. 429–431.[2]
Originally, it seems, the diocese (or at least the diocese of Vicohabentia) was a suffragan of the metropolitanate of Ravenna. Ferrara repeatedly contested that opinion, and claimed to be directly dependent upon the Holy See (the Pope). Pope John XIII, in April 967, confirmed that Ferrara was under papal jurisdiction, as far as election, consecration, investiture, and jurisdiction were concerned. Pope Benedict VII, in April 978, again confirmed the papal jurisdiction in much the same language.[3] At some point between 1106 and 1123, however, the diocese of Ferrara fell under the control of the metropolitan of Ravenna, and Bishop Landolfo was suspended from office because of his refusal to submit to Archbishop Walter of Ravenna.[4] Pope Innocent II restored the original independence of the diocese of Ferrara on 11 March 1133; but on the death of Bishop Landolfo in 1138, the Archbishop of Ravenna asserted the right to consecrate his successor. The Ferrarese were required to produce their documentary proofs before the Pope, who issued a decree in favor of Ferrara as directly dependent upon the Holy See on 22 April 1139.[5]
Ferrara became an archdiocese, though without suffragans, by the Bull Paterna pontificii of Pope Clement XII on 27 July 1735.[6] Pope Clement goes out of his way to state that the diocese had always been directly subject to the Holy See, citing the decree Ad hoc of Pope Innocent II at the Lateran Council of 1139, and recalling subsequent similar rulings of Celestine II, Lucius II, Gregory VIII, Clement III, Celestine III, Innocent IV, Alexander VIII, Innocent XII, and Clement XI. This fortunate arrangement continued until 1976. In a decree of the Vatican Sacred Congregation of Bishops of 8 December 1976, a new arrangement of certain dioceses in ecclesiastical provinces was announced; the diocese of Ferrara was made a suffragan of the Archbishop of Bologna, though the Archbishop of Ferrara was allowed to keep the title of archbishop.[7]
As part of a project begun on orders from Pope John XXIII, and continued under his successors, to reduce the number of dioceses in Italy and to rationalize their borders in terms of modern population changes and shortages of clergy, the diocese of Comacchio was united to the diocese of Ferrara by a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Bishops, on 30 September 1986. There was to be one bishop, and one curia, one cathedral, one Council of Consultors and one Council of Priests, and one seminary. The former cathedral of Comacchio was granted the title of Co-cathedral, and its Chapter was retained and not united with the Chapter of the Cathedral of Ferrara.[8]
The old diocesan name of Vicohabentia (Voghenza) was revived in 1967, as a titular See. It has been held by an auxiliary bishop of Cortona and an auxiliary bishop of Rome.[9]
- ^ Ughelli, II, p. 507.
- ^ Lanzoni (1927), pp. 812-813.
- ^ Kehr, pp. 203, 208-209 nos. 5-6.
- ^ Kehr, pp. 203, 211. This change was apparently connected with the suppression of the schism of the Antipope Clement III (Wibert of Ravenna).
- ^ Kehr, pp. 203-204; 212-213, nos. 20-22. Cf. Cappelletti, IV, pp. 52, 57-61.
- ^ Cappelletti, pp. 169-176.
- ^ Acta Apostolicae Sedis Vol. LXIX (Città del Vaticano: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis 1977), pp. 157-158: Ferrariensem Ecclesiam, quin aliquid immutetur de archiepiscopali dignitate, Metropolitanae Ecclesiae Bononiensi adnectit.
- ^ Acta Apostolicae Sedis Vol. LXXIX (Città del Vaticano: Typis Polyglottis Vaticanis 1987), pp. 707-710.
- ^ Santolaria de Puey y Cruells, José-Apeles. Annuario Diocesano 2017, p. 39.