### ANAGNI, DIOCESE OF
A small city in southern Lazio, in the province of Frosinone, 50 km from Rome. Anagni is the seat of a bishopric directly dependent on the Holy See, which today has 45,500 inhabitants, 27 parishes, 37 diocesan priests, and 45 regular clergy. Due to its natural position overlooking the Sacco valley, it held great importance in antiquity and the Middle Ages. Capital of the Hernican confederation, in 311 BC it was subjected to Rome by the consul Tremulus and reduced first to a prefecture and then to a municipium. Christianity appears to have been introduced around the end of the 2nd century, with one of the first preachers possibly being the Dalmatian Julian, a martyr under Marcus Aurelius at Sora.
It was claimed that S. Magno, bishop of Fondi (according to his *Passio*, falsely attributed as bishop of Trani), who was killed under Decius along with the virgin Secondina (venerated in Anagni since the 11th century), was bishop of Anagni. However, evidence is lacking, and the origins of the diocese remain unknown. The first bishop of whom we have record is Felix, who attended the Roman Council under Felix III in 487, followed by Fortunatus, present at three other Roman synods (499–511). From this point, the episcopal list has a gap of a century until Pelagius (5 July 595), after which the succession becomes more regular. The bishops (many of Lombard descent) frequently attended Roman synods, and their history is closely tied to that of the Popes. During times of conflict, the Popes often took refuge in Anagni; for example, Leo IV, who died there in 855; John XII, expelled by Otto I in 963; and Alexander II, during the struggle of 1062 with the imperial forces and the antipope Cadalus. In this instance, the Pope had Peter, prince of Salerno (successor to Bernard, whom Nicholas II had appointed administrator of the diocese of Trevi and vice-chancellor of the Roman Church), proclaimed bishop of Anagni. Peter, sent as an apocrisarius to Constantinople in 1071, began construction of the cathedral in 1074. In 1088, upon receiving hospitality from Urban II, he saw his diocese enlarged with the incorporation of that of Trevi (23 August 1088). After taking part in the First Crusade, he completed the construction of the cathedral in 1105, the year of his death, in a reputation for holiness.
At Anagni, Alexander III formed the league against Frederick Barbarossa (1159) and there negotiated the preliminary peace terms after Legnano (*Pactum Anagninum*, 1176). The same Pope, in 1181, consecrated the cathedral when Ascel was bishop, having succeeded Nauclerus (d. 1177). Innocent III, who was born in the city like Gregory IX, Alexander IV, and Boniface VIII, granted Anagni its municipal statutes. In that cathedral, Gregory IX excommunicated Frederick II (1227), and Innocent IV excommunicated Manfred (1254). Nearby, in the palace of Boniface VIII, the affront of William of Nogaret and Sciarra Colonna, emissaries of Philip the Fair, was suffered in 1303 (an episode condemned by Dante in *Purgatorio*, XX, vv. 85–89).
Anagni – Apse of the Cathedral (early 12th century).
During the 14th century, the diocese suffered the consequences of the Avignon exile and the Western Schism, which began in Anagni’s cathedral with the declaration of the dissident cardinals who deposed Urban VI (1378). The bishop and city adhered to the schism, submitting only in 1398 to Boniface IX, who absolved the bishop from censures. With the reconquest of the Papal States by this Pope (1390), the communal autonomy of Anagni also came to an end, and its political importance declined in modern times. The city also suffered devastation at the hands of King Ladislaus in the early 15th century and by the Duke of Alba during the conflict between Paul IV and Philip II (1556).
In the 19th century, following the oath of Bishop Tosi to Napoleon, the diocese remained without a titular bishop and from 1815 to 1837 was governed by apostolic administrators. In addition to an interdiocesan seminary of theology and philosophy for the entire southern part of the province of Rome, entrusted to the Jesuits, the diocese of Anagni has numerous religious houses.
In the past, the abbeys of Gloria (Cistercian from 1123), S. Teodoro of Trevi, S. Pietro of Villamagna, and S. Giorgio (Benedictine), and S. Reparata (Benedictine nuns), founded in the time of St. Benedict, were renowned. Among the medieval monuments of the city, the principal one is the cathedral dedicated to the Annunciation (1071–1105), with the gigantic statue of Boniface VIII on its façade. Inside, the mosaic pavement, executed by the master Cosmas at the behest of Bishop Alberto (d. 1238). Beneath the church is the crypt, with 12th–13th-century paintings illustrating the lives of SS. Magno, Secondina, and Peter, bishop of Anagni (d. 1105). The cathedral is adjoined by a treasury containing medieval vestments, including a cope, a chasuble, and two dalmatics, gifts of Boniface VIII. — See Pl. XCIII.
Mario Scaduto
### The Council of Anagni
On Holy Thursday, 24 March 1160, Pope Alexander III, assisted by the cardinals and bishops of his entourage, solemnly excommunicated Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and declared all those who had sworn loyalty to him released from their oaths. “This Frederick,” declared the Pope in the bull of excommunication, “who no longer fulfills the office of emperor but that of a tyrant, and the schismatic Octavian and all their chief supporters, we have publicly excommunicated on the day of the Lord’s Supper, with candles lit, in the midst of the assembled priests, nobles, and people in the church.”
Is this a true council? It does not appear under this name in Hefele-Leclercq. Mansi speaks of the Council of Anagni celebrated on 7 April 1161, in which Alexander deposed and excommunicated Hugh, abbot of Cluny, who had not recognized him as Pope. It must, however, have been a simple meeting of bishops presided over by the Pope.