Anagni, Diocese of

ANAGNI, Diocese of. - A small city of southern Lazio, in the province of Frosinone, 50 km. from Rome, A. is the seat of a bishopric directly dependent on the Holy See, which today numbers 45,500 inhabitants, 27 parishes, 37 diocesan priests and 45 regulars. Owing to its natural position, dominating the valley of the Sacco, it was of great importance in antiquity and in the Middle Ages. Capital of the confederation of the Hernici, in 311 B.C. it was subjected to Rome by the consul Tremulus and reduced first to a prefecture and then to a municipium. Christianity seems to have been introduced there toward the end of the 2nd century, while one of the first preachers would have been the Dalmatian Julian, a martyr under Marcus Aurelius at Sora.

An attempt was made to consider St. Magnus, bishop of Fondi, as bishop of A.; from his Passio he is called bishop of Trani, killed under Decius together with the virgin Secondina, venerated in A. since the 11th century. But the proofs are lacking and the origins of the diocese therefore remain unknown. The first bishop of whom we have record is Felix, who in 487 attended the Roman Council under Felix III, followed by Fortunatus, present at 3 other Roman synods (499-511). From this moment the episcopal list presents a gap of a century until Pelagius (5 July 595), with whom the succession becomes more regular. The bishops (many of whom are of Lombard stock) are often present at the Roman synods and their history is linked to that of the Popes. In moments of struggle these take refuge at A.; thus, for example: Leo IV, who died there in 855; John XII, driven out by Otto I in 963; Alexander II, during the struggle of 1062 with the imperial forces and the antipope Cadalus. On this occasion the Pope had Peter of the princes of Salerno elected bishop of A., as successor of Bernard (the same whom Nicholas II elected administrator of the diocese of Trevi and vice-chancellor of the Church of Rome), who was sent as apocrisiary to Constantinople in 1071 and began the construction of the Cathedral in 1074. In 1088, on the occasion of the hospitality granted to Urban II, he had his diocese enlarged with the incorporation of that of Trevi (23 Aug. 1088) and, after having taken part in the first crusade, he completed the construction of the Cathedral in 1105, the year in which he died in the odor of sanctity.

At A. Alexander III formed the league against Barbarossa (1159) and there discussed the peace preliminaries after Legnano (Pactum Anagninum, 1176). The same pope, in 1181, consecrated the Cathedral, when Asael was bishop, having succeeded Nauclero (d. 1177). At A. Innocent III, a native of the city like Gregory IX, Alexander IV, and Boniface VIII, granted the municipal statutes; in that cathedral Gregory IX excommunicated Frederick II (1227) and Innocent IV Manfred (1254); in the nearby palace Boniface VIII suffered in 1303 the outrage of Guillaume Nogaret and Sciarra Colonna, emissaries of Philip the Fair (an episode branded in fire by Dante, Purgatorio, XX, vv. 85-89).

In the course of the 14th century the diocese suffered the consequences of the Avignon exile and of the Western Schism, which began in the cathedral of A. with the declaration of the dissident cardinals, who deposed Urban VI (1378), and to which the bishop and the city adhered, submitting only in 1398 to Boniface IX, who absolved the bishop from the censures. With the reconquest of the Patrimony through the work of this Pope (1390), the communal autonomy of A. also came to an end, and its political importance declined in the modern age. The city also had to suffer the devastations wrought by the arms of King Ladislaus in the early 15th century, and by the Duke of Alba during the struggle 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 and from 1815 to 1837 was governed by apostolic administrators. Besides an interdiocesan seminary of theology and philosophy for the entire southern part of the province of Rome, entrusted to the Jesuits, the diocese of A. has numerous religious houses.

In the past the abbeys of Gloria

(Cistercian from 1123), S. Teodoro di Trevi, S. Pietro di Villamagna and S. Giorgio (Benedictines) and S. Reparata (Benedictine nuns), founded in the times of St. Benedict, were famous. Among the medieval monuments of the city the principal one is the Cathedral, dedicated to the Annunziata (1071-1105), with the gigantic statue of Boniface VIII on the facade. Inside, the mosaic pavement, the work of master Cosma, commissioned by Bishop Alberto (d. 1238). Beneath the church is the crypt, with paintings of the 12th-13th centuries, illustrating the story of Sts. Magnus, Secondina and Peter bishop of A. (d. 1105). Annexed to the cathedral is the treasury with its medieval vestments, among which a cope, a chasuble and two dalmatics, a gift of Boniface VIII. - See Pl. XCIII.

THE COUNCIL OF ANAGNI

On Holy Thursday, March 24, 1160, Pope Alexander III, assisted by the cardinals and bishops of his retinue, solemnly excommunicated the emperor Frederick Barbarossa and declared all those who had sworn fidelity to him released from their oath. "This Frederick," said the Pope in the bull of excommunication, "who no longer fulfills the office of emperor, but of tyrant; the schismatic Octavian and all their principal supporters, we have publicly excommunicated, on the day of the Lord's Supper, with candles lit, in the midst of the priests, nobles and people gathered in the church."

Is this a true council? In Hefele-Leclercq this name does not appear. Mansi speaks of the Council of A. held on April 7, 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 gathering of bishops, presided over by the Pope.