CANOSA. - A city in Apulia, in the province of Bari, of ancient origin, known for its necropolises with rich grave goods and for notable remains of Roman buildings. Situated in a favorable position on a major thoroughfare, the Via Traiana, Christianity took hold there early, assuming a predominant place in comparison to other centers in the region. Thus it became one of the first episcopal sees in Apulia; as early as 357, among the participants of the Council of Sardica, a certain Stercorius ab Apulia de Canusio is mentioned (St. Hilary, Fragm., II, 632; PL 10, 643; cf. Gregory the Great, Ep., I, 51 and Ughelli, X, 35). Even in the 6th century, C. is cited among the most important Apulian cities (Procopius, Bell. Goth., III, 18; Paul the Deacon, Hist. Rom., II, 22), but it later suffered severe damage at the hands of the Lombards, so that later, between 689 and 706, the duchess Teoderada, regent for her son Gisulf, restored the bishopric there and built a church dedicated to St. Sabinus, the patron saint of the city.
Roughly at the same period must be dated the evident works of reconstruction of another large building, with a central plan within a square perimeter, unique, discovered and explored in 1937 about 1 km from the town, in a locality called S. Angelo and later S. Leucio, perhaps in memory of two successive different dedications. In a sarcophagus a relic was found, with a golden cross on the chest.
On the outskirts of the city another Christian building had already been identified, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, also with a central plan inscribed in a polygon, covered by a dome, with apses facing each other, which was perhaps mistakenly thought to be a baptistery.
Noteworthy is the fact that in both buildings the masonry always appears makeshift, with extensive use of pre-existing material, in large uneven blocks, patched and leveled with fragments of bricks or marble, in contrast to which the arches stand out as always built with new bipedales; a technique quite different from that of Ravenna, rather to be compared with that of contemporary monuments in North Africa. When C. was again destroyed by the Saracens around the middle of the 9th century, its bishop, Peter, is said to have taken refuge in Salerno, and later, after the invaders were driven out, Bishop Angelarius is said to have transferred the relics of Sts. Rufinus, Memorus, and Sabinus from the ruins of his city to Bari. But just as there are no reliable data on these events, so too the alleged existence of a bull of Pope Sergius II is undocumented, in which, following this event, he would have united the diocese of C. with that of Bari, elevated to an archbishopric.
Finally revived by the Normans, C. rebuilt its cathedral dedicated to St. Sabinus; Pope Paschal II inaugurated it in 1101. Notable in it are the marble cathedral supported by two elephants, carved for Bishop Orso toward the end of the 11th century, and the pulpit, the work of Acceptus the archdeacon. Beside the cathedral is the tomb of Bohemond (d. 1111), with a fine bronze door, a hybrid of Byzantine and Arab art, signed by Rogerius of Melfi Campanarum. It is certain that after the 11th century the diocese of C. is found united with that of Bari, recognized by Urban II as the primatial see of Apulia, and no further names of bishops solely of C. are recorded. Even today the archbishop of Bari bears the title of C.