CAGLI e PERGOLA, DIOCESI di. — In the Marche, in the province of Pesaro, suffragan of Urbino. The ancient Callium, perhaps derived from a station on the Via Flaminia (ad Cale), became an episcopal see only from the eighth century, since no certain assignment can be made of certain bishops attributed to it earlier; moreover, the ancient see must have been Pitinum (Pitinum Morgens, a short distance from C.), whose first bishop, who took part in the Roman Synod of 499, was in all probability Romanus. Giovanni, legate of Pope Giovanni VIII to Ravenna, was one of the first and most distinguished bishops properly of C., which succeeded Pitinum. In 1563 Pius IV made it suffragan to the diocese of Urbino, and Pius VII in 1819 united to it the new church of P. The city and territory, after having been extensively contested between the Lombards and the Byzantines, belonged to the temporal dominion of the Roman Church from the time of its initial establishment. Later subjected to the lordship of Urbino, when that lordship ceased in 1631, C. definitively returned to the Holy See.
Among the religious institutions located in the territory of the diocese, the abbey of S. Geronzio should be mentioned; it has particular historical importance, being connected with the oldest Christian memories of the place, such as the cult of S. Geronzio, whom a legend identified with the fifth-century bishop of Cervia (BHL, 3489 b), but who may not have been anything other than a local saint. The abbey, dating from before the eighth century and united to the episcopal mensa by Niccolò IV, was destroyed in 1481.
The ancient Cathedral fell into ruin as a result of the earthquake in 1781. In the church of S. Francesco, the artistic portal dated 1427 is noteworthy, and in that of S. Angelo, the graceful fifteenth-century portico. The small town of P., also of medieval origin, possesses monumental churches, including S. Francesco, S. Giacomo, and S. Rocco. The chapter archive at the cathedral of S. Maria contains documents of considerable value, especially the collection relating to the abbey of S. Geronzio.
At present the diocese comprises, over an area of 501 sq km, 53 parishes, 64 diocesan priests, 12 regular priests, and 34,058 Catholics out of 34,102 inhabitants (1948).