CAMERINO, ARCHDIOCESE OF. – In the Marches, in the province of Macerata. Reliable documents show that the episcopal see was certainly established there by about the middle of the 5th century. The names of the bishops Boniface (501) and Severus (555–60) are beyond doubt. The diocese grew in extent and splendor during the Middle Ages, especially in the Carolingian age. Its ancient territorial extent, however, began to diminish as early as the 14th century.
In 1320, under Pope John XXII, a first division gave rise to the diocese of Macerata. A second division in 1586, under Sixtus V, led to the creation of the dioceses of Tolentino and San Severino. In 1728, the city of Fabriano, under Benedict XIII, and in 1787 that of Matelica, under Pius VI, were detached from Camerino, which was then elevated to an archdiocese immediately subject to the Holy See. The archdiocese had special ties with the Papal States, to which it was subject in the 12th century after having long been the capital of the “marca” named after it, the Marca di Camerino, and again directly in 1545 with the fall of the historic signoria of the Varano family. In 1727, Benedict XIII established the University of Camerino; in the reorganization of the Papal States in 1814, Camerino maintained the political tradition of the past by being designated as the seat of a delegation.
The flourishing past life of the vast Camerino archdiocese is reflected in the considerable number of abbeys, though these now lie outside its territory. Thus the abbey of Rambona (SS. Gregory, Sylvester, and Flavian) near the Potenza River, founded in the 9th century and, before its ruin, considered among the greatest Benedictine abbeys in Italy; and Santa Maria di Chiaravalle di Fiastra, near the Chienti on the course of the Fiastra, which arose beside the 11th-century church of the same name. Endowed with privileges and rich in extensive properties, this Cistercian abbey was almost entirely destroyed in 1421.
Among the sacred monuments of Camerino are remembered: the church of San Venanzio, with its late-15th-century portal, dedicated to the famous Dalmatian martyr, extraordinarily venerated in the city and territory and playing a large part in the tradition of local sacred memories. Its *passio* (BHL, 852) is an adaptation of that of the martyr Agapitus of Palestrina, but draws largely on the Passions of the Dalmatian martyrs. A monumental church is San Francesco, which, though remodeled, preserves from its original structure the apse and the 13th-century portal.
In the 16th-century church of the Annunciation is housed a picture gallery with works from the 15th and 16th centuries, especially by local painters (Arcangelo di Cola). The archive was lost in the fire of 1515. Manuscripts of some interest are found in the Biblioteca Valentiniana of the city.
At present the archdiocese of Camerino comprises 450 churches, 174 parishes, 179 diocesan priests and 28 regular clergy, 10 male religious communities, 8 female, and 77,980 Catholics out of 78,000 inhabitants. – See Pl. XXIX.