Barletta

BARLETTA. - In the province of Bari, on the Adriatic Sea.

I. THE DIOCESE

Called Baretum by Strabo, Barulum by the Latins. In Roman times it was the port of Canusium, and often served as a refuge for the inhabitants of that city, especially after its destruction. B. itself, however, was in turn contested by the Goths, the Byzantines, the Lombards, and the Normans. It was the refugees from Canusium who established in B. the borgo of S. Antonio. B. acquired notable importance during the period of the Crusades, because its port, the only well-defended one south of Ancona, served as a base for expeditions and for journeys to the Holy Land. The Knights Hospitaller and the Templars built residences there; the city flourished also under the Angevins. There are no documents concerning the penetration of Christianity, which came by sea or from nearby Canusium. When the latter was destroyed, B., after a period of a certain autonomy, under the dependence of the archpriest of the church of S. Maria in Auxilio, founded by the refugees from Canusium, passed under the jurisdiction of the archbishop of Trani, as is attested by the bull of Alexander II of 1063 and by the subsequent bulls of Urban II, Callistus II, Adrian IV, Alexander III and Celestine II. The two churches of B., of the Holy Sepulchre and of S. Maria di Nazareth, in the borgo S. Antonio, date back to the beginning of the 12th century. The first was a branch of the basilica of the Holy Sepulchre and was officiated by a Chapter of regular canons.

The second constituted the principal church of the archbishop of Nazareth in Galilee. Upon the fall of Palestine in 1187 the archbishop of Nazareth took refuge in B. and remained there until 1229. Later Pope Alexander IV granted the archbishops of Nazareth the right to reside in Ptolemais, and Pope Clement IV permitted them the use of the pallium and of the Cross, especially in the churches subject to them in Italy. After the fall of Ptolemais in 1291, the archbishop of Nazareth settled again in B. with full episcopal jurisdiction, maintaining the rights and privileges of the churches of Nazareth. In 1455 Callistus III united to the see of Nazareth in B. that of Canosa (v.), a union confirmed by the subsequent bulls of Clement VII (3 July 1521) and Paul III (3 Nov. 1534), who added to it also the diocese of Monteverde. St. Pius V, by his bull of 29 Apr. 1566, granted to the three united dioceses the church of S. Bartolomeo within B., in exchange for the ancient basilica of S. Maria; the new cathedral of S. Maria di Nazareth was consecrated on 4 Nov. 1571. From 1604 to 1608 the archbishop of Nazareth was Maffeo Barberini, later Urban VIII. In 1818 Pope Pius VII united Monteverde to the diocese of S. Angelo dei Lombardi, while Nazareth and Canosa were united to Trani. Leo XII merged together the Chapters of S. Maria di Nazareth and of S. Maria Maggiore in B. Pius IX, by the motu-proprio of 21 Apr. 1860, separated the territory of B. from that of Trani, erecting a new diocese with the archiepiscopal title, with residence in the palace of the ancient archbishops of Nazareth. In fact, since then the archbishop of Trani is also archbishop of B. In the church of the Holy Sepulchre, after the suppression of the Regular Canons (1489), in the 16th century the Knights of the Order of Malta established there their priory of St. John.

Enrico Jesi

II. ART

The cathedral is the city's most conspicuous monument. Construction was begun before 1150 by a certain Simiacca and his son, Luca di B., but it was consecrated only in 1267; it was then enlarged toward the presbytery in the early years of the 14th century, and the apse was completed in the 15th.

The facade, whose central part is very tall, is adorned with beautiful transennaed bifora windows. The interior, with three naves, reflects in the arrangement of its parts the history of its construction. In fact the first four arches resting on monolithic columns belong to the Romanesque building; then follows the 14th-century enlargement with cross vaults and piers. This second part of the church joins the Romanesque one by means of a round arch followed by three pointed arches.

Noteworthy are the pulpit and the ciborium similar to that of the church of S. Nicola in Bari, but with capitals rich in an exuberant decoration. In the apse ambulatory, on a small altar, is preserved a panel painted on both faces by Paolo Serafini da Modena (signature 1387): on one side is depicted the Redeemer, on the other the Madonna with the Child. This image is called the Madonna della Disfida, because it is said to have been carried in procession to meet the thirteen victorious Italians on the day of the famous combat.

Not far from the cathedral is the 16th-century church of S. Pietro. Much greater interest is aroused by that of the S. Sepolcro, which dates back to the 11th century, but was rebuilt at the end of the 13th.

The facade originally had two quadrangular bell towers; only the left one remains, truncated. On the left side there is a fine portal with pointed arches, like the small arches of the crowning of the three apses. The interior reflects, in the pronaos as well as in the rib vaults and in the tower over the transept, elements of Gothic-Burgundian architecture which at that time had some diffusion in southern Italy as well. Near the church is the famous Colossus of B. It is a bronze statue over five meters high, considered by some to be an image of the emperor Heraclius, but more probably of Theodosius. The gigantic figure is standing, in its left hand it holds the globe, with its right it grasps a small cross. Powerfully constructed, pursuing new paths with respect to the academicism of the Hellenistic statuary tradition, this image of the 4th century expresses a sense of truly indomitable strength and will.

The church of S. Andrea also is of notable interest, boasting very ancient origins (6th century) but in its present form dating from the Romanesque age. In the portal there is a relief with Christ blessing between the Madonna and the Baptist.

In the interior, which has been remodeled, there is a fine wooden choir carved in 1599 by F. Ferrara of Naples; in the sacristy is preserved a Madonna with Child, signed and dated by Alvise Vivarini in 1483.

Various other buildings of B. preserve Romanesque elements. Among the monuments of a civil character, particular mention should be made of the Castle, whose origin goes back to the 11th century but which was several times remodeled and enlarged, especially during the 16th century.

Also interesting is the 16th-century Palazzo della Marra and the Baroque Palazzo del Monte di Pietà. In B. there is also a picture gallery that preserves works by modern painters, above all by Giuseppe De Nittis, a native of the city.

Emilio Lavagnino

III. MASSACRE OF BARLETTA

It is one of the most exploited episodes of Protestant propaganda, which occurred in March 1866. Protestants base themselves, it seems, solely on the account written by their coreligionist Gaetano Giannini (who was a witness only to the very beginnings of the "massacre") and published later in the Eco della Verità, a Waldensian newspaper, on August 31 of that same year. But from the account of a witness who was present at all the events - Antonio Marana - it may be deduced that things went very differently from Giannini's story. That is: the few Protestants of Barletta, led by Giannini, had with impunity outraged the religious sentiments of the Catholics of Barletta, especially with regard to the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. After having appealed in vain to the mayor and the subprefect, the Catholics thought of staging a protest demonstration. While this was proceeding peacefully and calmly, led by the canon Gorgoglione, another one formed, captained by the peasant Raffaele Fiorella, nicknamed Annita, who harbored resentments against the Protestant Decuratolo. Fiorella, having found his enemy in the house where Giannini was, killed him outright, while Giannini, helped by the canon Rizzi, managed to save himself. After this murder the same group, captained by Fiorella, killed a young Catholic, Ignazio Lanza, believing him to be a Protestant. Then Gorgoglione's group at a certain point, having abandoned the canon, headed to a house where two Protestants lived, threw the household goods into the street and burned them, though leaving the men time to flee.

In the trial that was instituted, the authorities condemned the guilty; but they showed themselves unjust in also condemning two innocent priests to 20 years of forced labor. These appealed to the court of Lucera, by which they were acquitted for insufficient evidence. The author of the memoir adds: "whoever wants further details must read the records of the trial held in Trani and then in Lucera."

The continuator of Foxe's Protestant Martyrology, W. Bramley-Moore, following an unclear indication in Giannini's letter, asserts that the victims were thirteen; whereas there were only two, a poor young Catholic and the Protestant Decuratolo, and the latter more out of Annita's personal vengeance than for religious motives. In the same author we find a macabre description, which is the fruit of his imagination. He says that the inhabitants of the Protestants' houses were thrown down from the windows and quartered, that the mutilated victims, some already dead, others dying, were burned in the streets, that enraged women stoned and stabbed many of those wretches and with demonic (unearthly) howls danced around the pyre of the victims. That this whole affair was then directed from Rome to prevent the French troops from withdrawing from the Papal States is evidently so absurd that it does not even merit being refuted. It was truly blameworthy that popular wrath vented itself in acts of bloodshed, but the cause of it was the public insult and the provocation by a few Protestants against the faith of the great majority of the city. - See Pl. LVIII.

For the modern diocese of B. v. TRANI.

Camillo Crivelli