CASSANO ALL'IONIO, DIOCESE OF. — In the province of Cosenza. It extends from the Tyrrhenian to the Ionian Sea, has 108,000 inhabitants, all Catholic, 43 parishes, 75 diocesan priests and 9 regular clergy (1948).
Cassano is a very ancient city, but it is uncertain whether it derives from Cosa or Cossa, perhaps located in the territory of Thurii; it is highly doubtful that it gave birth to Pope St Eusebius (311). Pure legend, supported by Ughelli, is the existence of a Caposarius Cassianus, said to have taken part in the Roman Synod of Pope Hilarius (465), regarded as the apostle and first bishop of C. It is certain, however, that Cassano is a diocese of Byzantine origin, succeeding Tempsa and Thurii, which were destroyed by the Lombards at the end of the 7th century. In the 9th century the Lombards had established gastaldates at Cassano, Cosenza and Laino, as is evident from the treaty of 847, in which Benevento and Salerno defined their respective zones of influence. At that time the two dioceses of Cosenza and Bisignano appear, but not Cassano, which only emerges from Greek sources. In the Synedemus of Hierocles it does not appear in Notitia I, from the first half of the 9th century; whereas it is a suffragan of Reggio in Notitia III, from the time of Leo VI the Philosopher (899–911). It can therefore be considered certain only after Nicephorus Phocas reconquered and reorganised Calabria. The Norman conquest brought no changes; Cassano remained a suffragan of Reggio.
The series of bishops begins with Sasso, who in a diploma of 1096 appears as vicar of Pope Urban II. But Sasso is only the first Latin bishop of Cassano, while a Greek bishop named David has been found, who pushes the list of prelates of Cassano back by more than a century.
In the 10th and 11th centuries the diocese of Cassano was a monastic centre, having within its territory the eparchy of Mercurion, between Aieta, Orsomarso and Laino, where the most illustrious Calabrian-Sicilian Greek ascetics gathered, namely St Leoluca of Corleone, Christopher of Collesano with his sons Macarius and Saba, Vitalis of Castronovo, Luke of Demena (Sicily), and Sts Nilus, Bartholomew, George and Stephen of Rossano, Procopius of Bisignano, Zachary, John and Fantinus of Mercurion, Calabrians. Among the Greek monasteries are mentioned that of St Andrew of Cerchiara, St Basil Crater of Castrovillari, St Peter of Frascineto, St Mary of the Fonts of Lungro, etc. Among the Latin monasteries are noted the Cistercian abbey of Acquaformosa, a dependency of Sambucina, which spread Gothic art in northern Calabria; the Dominican convent of Altomonte, St Mary of Consolation, which long housed Tommaso Campanella; the convent of the Conventuals of Castrovillari, founded in 1221, and St Mary of Colloreto, near Morano, mother-house of the homonymous Augustinian Congregation, founded in the 16th century by Bernardo Milizia of Rogliano.
Among the sacred monuments of the diocese, besides the cathedral of Cassano with its crypt, are cited the sanctuary of Our Lady of the Castle of Castrovillari, which preserves memories of the original Norman construction; St Mary of Consolation of Altomonte, from the 15th century, the church of St Francis of Scalea; the Magdalene of Morano, etc.
In the diocese of Cassano were born Sts Anthony and Gregory of Cassano and Pachomius of Cerchiara, Greek monks of the 10th century; Sts Samuel, Angelo and Donnolus of Castrovillari, of the band of the seven Franciscan martyrs of Ceuta of 1227, canonised by Leo X in 1516; Castrovillari is also the blessed John Cozza, Observant, venerated in Cosenza at St Francis of Assisi; of Saracena is the blessed Angelo Aleo, one of the first companions of St Francis of Paola; of Laino is the blessed Paul Navarro, Jesuit martyr of 1622, beatified by Pius IX.