Cava e Sarno, Diocese of

CAVA AND SARNO, DIOCESE OF. - In the province of Salerno. Boniface IX adorned the territory of C. with the title of city in 1396 and elevated the abbey of the Most Holy Trinity (v. S.MA TRINITÀ DI CAVA DEI TIRRENI) to an episcopal see; it was then governed by three bishops, then, in the 15th century, successively given in commendam to the cardinals A. Fusco, L. Scarampi, Giovanni d'Aragona and O. Carafa, who ceded it to the reformed Benedictine monks of Padua. At the insistence, however, of the people of Cava, Julius II detached the territory of C. to erect a diocese of its own, which was carried out by Leo X in 1513.

The modern cathedral of C. was built in 1565 and the episcopal palace in 1658. The diocese of S., probably ancient, was re-established by Alfano I, archbishop of Salerno in 1666 with the consecration of bishop Riso, and from then on the series of bishops has continued, among whom are to be remembered the canonist Paolo Fusco (1583) and Antonio d'Aquino (1618). The modern cathedral of S. was erected in the episcopal village by bishop Stefano Solis Castelbianco in 1629. The two dioceses were united in 1834, and the bishop resides in them alternately; altogether there is an area of 100 sq km and a population of 92,000 inhabitants, all Catholics, distributed in 44 parishes, with 83 diocesan priests and 32 regulars (1948).

Leone Mattei Cerasoli