CONZA. - It is the ancient Compsa, in the land of the Hirpini. Having passed from Roman to Gothic, Byzantine, and Lombard rule, in 1076 it became part of the Norman kingdom. The first record of the Church of C. dates to 743; at a Roman synod held in that year the bishop Pelagius subscribed; but it is very probable that it was earlier.
In the Hieronymian Martyrology, under 30 Oct., one reads in Comsa Maximi, but this concerns a martyr whose name is closely linked with Cumae in Campania, where medieval hagiographic and martyrological tradition localizes the cult of Maximus. Toward the end of the 10th century, C. was a simple bishopric. On 12 July 989 Pope John XV decreed that the bishop of C. be consecrated by the archbishop of Salerno. On 20 July 1908 the first testimony of the archiepiscopal dignity of C. appears; Salerno was its primatial see. By an apostolic constitution of 30 Sept. 1921 the archdiocese of C. was divided; of the 24 towns that previously belonged to it, 11 remained; 13 were assigned to the diocese of Campagna, immediately subject to the Holy See.
C., while preserving its rights and privileges as a metropolitan church, was united to the diocese of S. Angelo dei Lombardi and Bisaccia founded in the 12th century, whose Ordinary takes the title and honor of archbishop of C. and bishop of S. Angelo, Bisaccia and, at present, Lacedonia (united ad personam). C. has 40,000 souls; S. Angelo 30,000; Bisaccia 17,000; the priests are, respectively, 40, 30, 16 (1948). At Materdomini (Caposela) there was a college of the Redemptorist Fathers, where St. Gerard Majella died, today a sanctuary and destination of numerous pilgrimages.
Bibliography10 works
Domenico Mallardo