BISIGNANO. - A city in the province of Cosenza, the ancient Basidiae, which gained particular importance during the Byzantine-Norman period due to its position in the center of the Crati Valley. In modern times it was a fief of the Sanseverino family, who took the title of princes of Bisignano.
As a diocese, it must be considered of Byzantine foundation, having partly succeeded Turio, which was destroyed at the end of the 7th century. The first bishop of whom we have record is an «Anderamus Bisuntianus», who subscribed to the Synod of Pope Zachary in 744.
In the 9th century, when the Crati Valley was under Lombard control, B. adopted the Latin rite, together with Cosenza: both were declared suffragan dioceses of Salerno in 847 and confirmed as such by John XV in 994.
However, the Patriarch of Constantinople, to whom all the dioceses of Calabria had been subject since the 8th century, ignored this measure and continued to regard B. as a Greek diocese and suffragan of Reggio, as noted in Notitia III of the Diatiposis of Leo VI the Philosopher, from the second half of the 9th century. The fact that B. appears only in Notitia III and not in Notitia I, where Cosenza is also mentioned, demonstrates that B. is not earlier than the 8th century; therefore it is not unlikely that the «Anderamus» of 744 should be considered the first bishop of B. After him follows a long period of silence, and only with the Normans do we have news of other prelates of B.
The creation of the diocese of S. Marco, desired by the Normans as was that of Mileto, must have taken territory from B. In compensation, B. was taken from Reggio or Salerno and placed directly under the Holy See, as is evident from the bull of Celestine III of 1182 and from the Provinciale Vetus of Albino. In 1818 it was united aeque principaliter with S. Marco.
Within its small territory lies Acri, which is larger and is the birthplace of saints and men of letters.
Noteworthy in the city are the Cathedral, the episcopal palace, and the church of the Friars Minor. In its territory was the Cistercian abbey of Sambucina, near Luzzi, the first founded in all of southern Italy, in 1136. There the abbot Joachim of Fiore was educated, founder of the Florensian Congregation and notable writer. From there also came St. Proclus of B., an erudite Greek monk known as the «walking library», who died around 990; the blessed Humble Pirozzi of B., a Reformed Franciscan (1582-1637), beatified in 1881; and the blessed Angelo Falcone of Acri (1669-1731), a Capuchin, beatified by Leo XII in 1825.