CATANIA, ARCHDIOCESE OF. – A city in Sicily at the foot of Mount Etna and almost at the centre of the two extreme points of the eastern coast of the island. The key to the industrial and commercial movement of all Sicily, it bears a thoroughly modern imprint owing to the earthquake of 1666, which destroyed its ancient monuments. It is an archiepiscopal see without suffragan dioceses. The Cathedral, dedicated to St Agatha, patroness of the city, is the only parish church in the city, assisted by several subsidiary churches. The territory of the archdiocese is extensive (1,331 sq. km.), extending over 23 communes in the same province and comprising 296 churches, 74 parishes, 309 diocesan priests, 170 regular clergy, 26 houses of male religious and 71 of female religious, as well as 10 institutes of male education and 23 of female education. The inhabitants number 430,000, all Catholic (1948).
I. HISTORY
Founded about 730 BC and enlarged by a colony of Chalcedonians, Catania became one of the principal cities of the island and for three centuries governed itself by its own laws. In 477 BC it was captured by Hiero of Syracuse, who exiled the inhabitants of Catania to Lentini and repopulated the city with Greeks and Syracusans. Recaptured by Ducetius (461 BC), it later suffered plundering at the hands of the troops of Dionysius I of Syracuse, who entrusted it to a band of Campanian mercenaries in his service (403 BC), until a few years later (396 BC) it fell under Carthaginian rule. In 353 BC it was occupied by the Greeks, but did not regain its ancient liberties until Timoleon of Corinth took control. When Pyrrhus landed in Sicily in 278 BC, Catania was among the cities that welcomed him amicably, but in 263 BC the long centuries of Roman domination over Catania began (Eutropius, II, 19). “A decuman city” in the time of the Republic (Cicero, In Ver., III, 103), in the 1st century it enjoyed great economic prosperity. Later, declared a colony by Augustus (Strabo, VI, 268, 272; Pliny, Nat. hist., III, 89), it remained such until the end of the Empire. In the 4th century it was still cited as the most beautiful city in Sicily after Syracuse.During the barbarian invasions it suffered both at the hands of the Goths and the Ostrogoths; its final incursions came during the war between the Byzantines and Goths (549–51). From this time until well into the 9th century Catania fell under the peaceful tyranny of the successors of Justinian. After 853 the city was again subjected to intermittent raids by the Muslims, into whose hands it finally fell in 974. With this new domination, the fortunes of Christianity were also seriously compromised.
The origins of Christianity in Catania, as indeed throughout Sicily, are obscure. The name of the city appears several times in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, but its certain martyrs are two: Agatha (q.v.) and Euplus, both soon venerated in Sicily and beyond. The Acts of Euplus exist, but in their present form they do not date back to the time of the persecutions (BHL, 2728), though they probably derive from contemporary acts now lost (cf. P. Franchi de’ Cavalieri, Note agiografiche, VII [Studi e Testi, 49], Rome 1928, pp. 1–54). From these acts it may be inferred that Euplus was martyred between 303 and 304. Consequently, the Church of Catania existed before the 4th century. Bearing in mind the historical conditions of the spread of the Gospel in the Mediterranean, it is not rash to trace the origins of the Church of Catania to the 2nd century. Reliable information about the constitution of its hierarchy, however, is lacking. Legend has it that the first bishop of the city was Beryllus, consecrated by St Peter together with Pancratius of Taormina and Marcian of Syracuse. The source of this information is the “Life and Martyrdom of St Pancratius of Taormina” (BHG, 1410), a late and fabulous document from the period of the Iconoclastic persecution to which it is impossible to lend credence. Likewise, Severus or Severinus, who is also said to have been bishop of Catania in the time of Licinius (307–23), is mentioned in the “Acts of SS Alfius and Cirinus,” composed between the end of the 8th and the beginning of the 9th century.
As for Domninus, who is among the signatories of the Council of Ephesus, and Paulus who was present at that of Chalcedon, these were Eastern bishops and not of Catania. The first historically attested bishop is Fortunatus, who in 515 was sent together with Ennodius of Pavia by Pope Hormisdas to Constantinople (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 774). Later we find Elpidius in the time of Pope Pelagius (558–60), from whom he received consecration (ibid., 892, 992, 1030). During the pontificate of Gregory the Great the see of Catania was held by Leo (ibid., 1139, 1994). News of the bishops of the 7th century is still scarce: we know only of a John who was present at the Roman Synod of 649 and his successor Julian who attended that of Constantinople in 678. Meanwhile, the Iconoclastic persecutions inaugurated by Leo the Isaurian in the early decades of the 8th century marked the beginning of a separation of the Sicilian dioceses from the Roman patriarchate. Catania followed the fate of the others and was subjected to the Byzantine patriarchate.
From this time onwards, the see of Catania was occupied by Greek-speaking bishops such as St Leo II, who lived in the time of Leo the Isaurian, and Theodore who was present at the Council of Nicaea in 787, and Euthymius, a friend of Photius (850). About the middle of the 8th century Catania was elevated to the rank of an autocephalous archiepiscopal see, and this status was recognised even later, in the time of Leo the Wise; indeed, under John Zimisces (869–97), Catania appears among the great ecclesiastical metropolises to which the dioceses of Sicily were subject. With the Arab conquest, the organisation established by the Byzantines was destroyed forever, for after the coming of the Normans Catania rose again to new life, but as a simple diocese.
The Norman conquest of Sicily began in
In 1061, with the help of the emir of C., who offered himself to the new conquerors as an ally. The city fell into their hands in 1071, but ten years later it revolted to return to the Muslims of Syracuse. This suggests that during Muslim rule the inhabitants had converted to the Mohammedan faith. After the reconquest, unlike other cities on the island, it was granted as a fief by Roger I to the incumbent of the abbey of St Agatha founded by the same Count of Sicily: the Breton Ansgerius, formerly prior of St Euphemia in Calabria (1091). Urban II, approving the appointment, consecrated the elector as bishop, establishing that in future the abbot of St Agatha would simultaneously be bishop of the diocese (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 5460). Immediately after the boundaries of the new diocese were established, Roger began the construction of the abbey and the cathedral. From this time until the second half of the 16th century, it would have its regular chapter composed of Benedictine monks. Ansgerius apparently lived until 1124; his successor Maurice was destined to receive (1126) the relics of St Agatha brought back from Constantinople. A few years later the papal schism of 1130-38 made its impact felt even in C. Anacletus II, supported by Roger II, elevated Messina to metropolitan status (ibid., 8423) and subjected C. as its suffragan, whereas Urban II had subjected it directly to the Holy See. This acquiescence was paid for after the death of Anacletus II; Maurice’s successors remained for three decades mere elects whom Rome refused to recognise. The situation returned to normal in the time of Alexander III, who in 1168 ratified the election of John Aiello (ibid., 11415), who died shortly afterwards under the ruins of the cathedral along with forty monks in the earthquake of 1169.
At the beginning of the dominion, bishops of C. were prominent figures at court: Roger (1195-1207), tutor of Frederick II; Walter of Palearia (1207-32), already tutor of Frederick and chancellor of the kingdom, later (1221) disgraced and exiled. The turbulent political situation of the following years and the struggle between the Swabian and the Holy See meant that the see remained vacant for many years. Even in 1250 Otto Caputius, elected by Innocent IV as bishop, had been unable to take possession of his diocese. The calm restored after the enthronement of Charles of Anjou as king of Sicily did not last long: the riots of 1282 broke out, the Angevins were driven from the island, and the Sicilians, gathered in parliament in C.—now seat of government—transferred the crown to Peter II of Aragon (1282); hence began a long contest between Angevins and Aragonese, in which the Holy See sided with the former. The political situation had its repercussions on the religious one, and Boniface VIII, who had sent Cardinal Gerard of Parma to C. to strengthen the position of Robert of Anjou, who had temporarily established himself there (1299) with the aid of a conspiracy against Frederick III, was unable to obtain the entry of the bishop Gentile elected by him, who later died in 1304 outside his see. Leonard Fieschi, who succeeded him (1304-31), abandoned his diocese permanently after 1314. Even Nicholas of Ceccano, who was to take his place, remained merely elected and died in Rome (1339), since in that same year the Benedictine Cassinese Nicholas de Grelis was appointed.
Meanwhile the death of Frederick III (1337) plunged Sicily into full anarchy during the brief reign of Peter II (d. 1342) and that of the inexperienced Louis, who died at the age of seventeen in 1355. C., as seat of government, was the centre of bitter struggles that devastated the territory and humiliated royal authority. The episcopal see, however, had a high guide in the Franciscan Gerard Odon (1342-48), a former pupil of Duns Scotus, a great theologian and minister general of his Order. As early as 1331 John XXII had sent him to Italy to work for pacification. The life of the diocese, through the activity of its bishops such as John of Luna (1348) and Martial (1355), continued to be closely tied to the political events until it became embroiled in wider-ranging happenings such as the Western Schism. It was raised to enrich the Great Region XVI on 28 July 1844.
II. CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS
The abbey of St Nicholas occupies first place in the cultural history of Catania in the 18th century with its rich library, museum and cabinet of natural sciences and its learned monks: Bartholomew d’Alessandro (d. 1919), Aemilian Guttadauro (d. 1836), Archbishop Nicholas Tedeschi, distinguished theologian (d. 1741), Placido Scamacca (d. 1787) and above all Vito M. Amico, distinguished historian.Today, alongside the old library of the Benedictines, there remain two other libraries founded around the same period: the University (18th century), begun with the private collection of G. B. Caruso and that of the Jesuits expelled in 1767, and the Ventimigliana, attached to the University, which is the old private library of the bishop of C., Salvatore Ventimiglia, who in 1783 donated it to the University.
The University of Catania is the principal cultural institution to whose foundation are linked not only the names of Alfonso I the Magnanimous, who decreed its erection in 1434, and Eugene IV, who sanctioned its erection in 1444, but also those of the celebrated jurist and future archbishop of Palermo Nicholas Tedeschi (1383-1445) and the bishop of C. John de Primis (d. 1449), both citizens of Catania and future cardinals.
III. MONUMENTS
Of the notable monuments of the city, besides the Benedictine church of St Nicholas, built to a design by the Roman architect G. B. Contini, mention should be made of the cathedral, which preserves from the Norman period only the three massive apses. The church, left unfinished in its façade, has no equal in grandeur among other churches in Sicily.After the earthquake of 1693, reconstruction was entrusted to G. B. Vaccarini, author of the façade and the urban layout of the city. Worthy of note inside is the funerary monument of the viceroy Ferdinand de Acuña by the Messinese sculptor Antonello da Ferri. Also notable is the church of the Holy Prison with its 13th-century portal that once adorned the façade of the cathedral. One of the most significant 18th-century complexes in C. is found in Via Crociferi with the church of St Julian on one side and on the other the church of St Benedict and that of St Francis Borgia with the former Jesuit college, now a hospice for the poor. In the convent of St Nicholas are frescoes taken from the Roman catacombs, much retouched. — See Pl. LX.
For the modern period: in addition to vols. III and IV of Eubel, pp. 174-75 and 141-42, cf. also for the final period: V. Messina, Biografie dei vescovi catanesi dei secc. XVIII e XIX, in La Sicilia sacra, 5 (1904), pp. 4-26, 142-62, 289-313, 443-66; 6 (1905), pp. 126-41, 228-50, 395-421; cf. also F. Coco Liccardelli, Sacerdoti catanesi memorabili del sec. XVIII, ibid., 3 (1901), pp. 215-18, 268-74. For cultural history in addition to R. Sabbadini M. Catalano, Storia documentata della R. Università di C., 2 voll., Catania 1898-1913, V. also V. Casagrandi, L'Archivio della R. Università di C., ivi 1897 and the commemorative articles for the centenary in Archivio storico per la Sicilia orientale, 30 (1934), pp. 182-398; M. Gaudioso, L'abbazia di S. Nicolò l'Avena di C., ibid., 25 (1929), pp. 199-243; C. Naselli, Lattoratura e scienza nel convento di S. Nicolò l'Avena, ibid., pp. 245-323. For the artistic history of C. reference should be made especially to R. Pennisi, Notizie storiche sulla cattedrale di C. e sull'offresco della grande abside, in Asso, 23 (1927), pp. 249-96; G. Basile, Le opere di Antonio da Preri nella cappella di S. Agata della cattedrale di C., ibid., 28 (1932), pp. 95-121; F. Fichera, O. B. Vaccarini e l'architettura del Settecento in Sicilia, 2 voll., Roma 1934; Cottinoni, I, coll. 631-32. Mario Scaduto