ASCOLI PICENO, DIOCESE OF. - A bishopric of the Marches, immediately subject to the Apostolic See from its earliest origins. Already mentioned by Julius Caesar under the name Asculum Picenum, the city of A. is situated on a wedge-shaped elevation with a flattened summit, at the confluence of the Tronto river with the Castellano, about 25 km. from the Adriatic. It is a provincial capital (2089 sq. km.) and the seat of a diocese, whose boundaries are marked on the east by the diocese of Ripatransone, on the north by that of Montalto, on the west by Rieti and Norcia, on the south by Teramo. The ecclesiastical circumscription has 170 parishes, 174 diocesan priests and 43 regulars; a population of 142,000 inhabitants, almost all Catholics.
A respectable though late tradition, accepted by all local historians, assigns to St. Emygdius the preaching of the Christian faith in A. and the origin of the episcopal Church in the 4th century. While acknowledging the existence in that time of a formed Christian community, it does not however appear admissible that everything concerning the apostle's apostolate and episcopate in the city is true, because it comes from a fabulous narrative, probably of the 11th century (BHL, 2535). In the 5th century the bishop of Ascoli, Lucentius, the first known to us from the documents, was sent as legate of Pope Leo I to the Council of Chalcedon (451; Jaffé-Wattenbach, 470). During the episcopate of Pietro Camaiani, the diocese ceded part of its territory to the new diocese of Ripatransone (1571) and a little later, under the episcopate of Cardinal Gerolamo Berneri, to that of Montalto (1586). The city and the territory belonged to the March of Ancona, in which A. occupied the fourth place among the most important capitals. From 1502 it was constantly under the Papal State and, from 1824, it was the seat of a delegation until the annexation of 1860.
Abbeys. - Of the numerous abbeys, S. Savino was distinguished for its antiquity (6th century). Famous was the women's monastery of S. Angelo (S. Angelo Magno), rich in history and art, of which however, after the various transformations undergone up to its conversion into a civil and military hospital in 1866, today only the Romanesque church (13th century) and an abundant archival material remain (Libro Maggiore di S. Angelo Magno, ms. of 1754 in the municipal library).
Monuments. - A. preserves various monumental churches built in the period from the 13th to the 15th century, among which are S. Vittore, where characteristic mural paintings by local artists are still admired, and S. Francesco, the finest Gothic monument of the city. The Cathedral, dedicated to St. Emygdius, despite the cold and expressionless facade of the 16th century, contains significant architectural elements of earlier periods.
Museums-Archives. - Near the Cathedral, in the Treasury, some sacred relics are preserved. Examples of Christian art are numerous in the rich civic Picture Gallery, where the famous cope of Nicholas IV is kept, a fabric of English workmanship of the 13th century, donated by the Pope to his native city. There is a capitular archive and an archive of the curia, with papers no earlier than the 15th century. - See Pl. X.
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