ALATRI, DIOCESE OF. - In southern Lazio, in the province of Frosinone. The see, Alatri, stands on a hill of the Ernici range, near the banks of the Cosa, a tributary of the Sacco. The diocese has 30,000 inhabitants, 16 parishes, 34 diocesan priests and 15 regular clergy, 5 male and 9 female religious communities. Patron: St. Sixtus I. The bishopric is immediately subject to the Holy See and its territory borders those of Ferentino and Veroli.
An ancient city of the Ernici, Alatri preserves an imposing circuit of walls which, in their oldest part, are traced back to the 6th century B.C. It remained loyal to Rome alongside Ferentino during the Ernici rebellion in 306 B.C. At the time of the Social War it became a municipium. Christianity was preached there from the earliest times, but
[photo Goh. Fat. Nec.]
the first bishop of whom we have record is Pascasius, who in 551 accompanied Pope Vigilius to Constantinople. In 680 another bishop, Saturnius, is named in the acts of the Sixth Ecumenical Council of Constantinople. The episcopal succession is intermittent until the age of Gregory VII, and even later presents uncertainties and gaps. Devastated in the 6th century by Totila, its citizens withdrew further north, founding Collepardo. Soon after, Alatri rose again under the name of Civitanova.
Under Bishop Peter, on 11 January 1132, the miraculous translation of the body of its patron saint, Sixtus I—the pope martyred under Hadrian and buried with great honor in the cathedral of St. Paul—would have taken place; in 1584 Bishop Ignazio Dandi conducted its rediscovery and solemn recognition. In 1159 Bishop Adenulf (or Rodolfo) sided with the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and adhered to the imperial antipope Victor IV against Alexander III; this did not prevent Alatri from being taken by Christian of Mainz in 1165. Later it resisted the sieges of Henry VI (1185) and Frederick II (1234).
A small town still bearing a medieval aspect, rising on either side of the Acropolis, crowned by the cathedral, its finest medieval buildings include the collegiate church of Santa Maria Maggiore, with its 14th-century tower, the tower-house of Cardinal Gottifredo, and the Conti Gentili palace.
After a new war with Asti in 1275, Alatri was forced to conclude an alliance with its enemy.
With the fall of Provençal rule, the houses of Savoy, Acaia, Montferrat and Milan contended for these lands. Alatri, which passed to the Visconti in 1347, was first placed under Montferrat, then under the Paleologi and the Gonzagas, and in 1631, by the Treaty of Cherasco, was definitively incorporated into the domains of Victor Amadeus of Savoy.
Alatri possesses an interesting cathedral dedicated to St. Lawrence, an important Romanesque structure before the 10th century, enlarged in Lombard-Gothic style in the 15th century at the initiative of Bishop Andrea Novelli, and consolidated in the last century by Arborio Mella. Inside are a fine terracotta bas-relief and a precious 15th-century intarsia and carved choir, attributed to Bernardo Fossato; buried there is Girolamo Vida (q.v.), a Latin poet and bishop of Alatri for more than thirty years. Also noteworthy is a Coronation of Macrino d'Alba (q.v.), preserved in the town hall.
The diocese probably originated in 397, like the neighboring sees of Acqui, Aosta, Ivrea and Turin, through the division of the diocese of Milan. Legend attributes the evangelization of Alatri to St. Barnabas or St. Dalmatius (1550). No evidence supports the existence of the Dionysius who inaugurates a spurious series of bishops of Alatri (380) and who is said to have been bishop of Milan, exiled in 355 by the Emperor Constantine. The first prelate of whom we have certain record is Lampadius, who attended the Roman Council of 499 under Pope Symmachus. Having been destroyed by the Saracens in 966, Bishop Fulcard resigned, and the see, by decision of the Roman Council of 969 and that of Milan, was united to Asti, though apparently for only a short time (985–992). In 1803 Alatri was again incorporated into Asti and re-established in 1817.
Among the oldest monasteries are the Benedictine abbey of San Frontiano, the convent of San Francesco, that of San Domenico, founded about 1202 by the Blessed Robaldo, a disciple of St. Dominic, and the monasteries of Santa Caterina, Santa Chiara and Santa Maria Maddalena, the last founded by the Blessed Margaret of Savoy, widow of Theodore, Marquis of Montferrat, whose remains rest in the same church.
The diocese is a suffragan of Turin; it comprises 80 communes in the province of Cuneo and 2 in that of Alessandria. There are 136 parishes, 270 diocesan priests and 70 regular clergy. The Catholic population is 143,186. — See Pl. XLVI.