Gubbio, Diocese of

GUBBIO, Diocese of. - City and diocese of Umbria, immediately subject.

It has a population of 50,000 inhabitants, all Catholic; it numbers 65 parishes, 56 diocesan priests and 25 regulars, 7 male religious communities with 25 professed members and 17 female with 135 professed members (1948).

A letter of Pope Innocent I dated 19 March 416, known as one of the most interesting documents in the history of the early Church (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 311), is addressed to Decentius, bishop of G., the first bishop who is certainly known. The praedecessores, of whom mention is made in the document, are not known, and the lists compiled by local authors and accepted by various writers to supply for the silence of the documents deserve no credence whatsoever.

Likewise to be rejected are the names of the bishops whom the same writers place, after Decentius, down to Bishop Gaudiosus, the second of whom there is certain record (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 1712-13). There follows an obscure period for the vicissitudes of the Church of G.; known only by name, from documents of the 10th century, are the bishops Leudericus and Peter, of that century. A religious rebirth manifests itself after the year 1000, particularly in the period of the reform: the bishops of the Church of Gubbio maintain very close ties with the nearby hermitage of Fonte Avellana. According to a tradition its founder was, around the year 1000, Ludolf, who later became bishop of G., and St. Peter Damian, prior from 1043 and reformer of the hermitage, was for some time administrator of the Church of Gubbio (Epistulae, I, 14: PL 144, 223).

The reforming action of the saint of Avellana radiated throughout the whole diocese, which at the time counted sixteen hermitages and was governed by distinguished figures of holy bishops: Rodolfo, a correspondent of St. Peter Damian (Epistulae, IV, 10, 11: PL 144, 320-21); the blessed Giovanni da Lodi, a disciple of Damian and prior of Fonte Avellana (P. Cenci, Vita di s. Giovanni di Lodi, vescovo di G., Città di Castello 1906) and, later, St. Ubald (1128-60: Acta SS. Maii, III, Paris 1866, p. 625 ff.) of G., who lived in the city, then a Commune, carrying out there an effective work of pacification (P. Cenci, Vita di s. Ubaldo, Gubbio 1924); he was canonized by Celestine III on 4 March 1192. In the 13th century, under Bishop Bl. Villano, G. became, through the apostolate of St. Francis himself in this land (1220-22: I Fioretti, ch. 21), one of the liveliest centers of primitive Franciscanism, rich in memories and monuments, among them the temple raised by Fra' Bevignate to the Saint (1256; U. Paris, S. Francesco, i Francescani e la città di G., Florence 1928). In the age of the Renaissance the Church of Gubbio had commendatory bishops and administrators; the most illustrious holder of that time was Marcello Cervini (1544-55) of Montepulciano, later elected pontiff (Marcellus II, 1555). In 1563 it was made a suffragan of Urbino by Pius IV, and Benedict XIII renewed the arrangement in 1725. Since 1818 G. has been immediate subiecta to the Holy See.

The history of the city and diocese is linked with that of the formation and development of the Papal State. G. was a city of the Pentapolis, called the mountain (provincia castellorum) or annonaria, occupied by Astolf in 752. With the restitution made by the Lombards to Pepin in 756, by which a domain of the Holy See was constituted, G. is expressly mentioned among the lands ceded (L. Duchesne, I primi tempi dello Stato pontificio, Turin 1947, p. 52), and Charlemagne stayed in the city on his return from the coronation of 800. Reconquered for the domain of the Holy See by Card. E. Albornoz, G. rose as a free Commune in 1376. Having freed itself from the tyranny of Bishop Gabriele Gabrielli, it gave itself to Antonio di Montefeltro, lord of Urbino, in 1384, and belonged to that duchy until, in 1631, with its return to the Holy See, G. too was restored and remained under pontifical dominion until the annexation of 1860 to the Kingdom of Italy.
MONUMENTI. - The oldest reliable record of the cathedral church, dedicated to St. Mariano, intra mura civitatis Eugubine, goes back to the 10th century (P. Cenci, Di due pergamene del sec. X fino ad ora sconosciute, in Bollettino di storia patria dell'Umbria, 14 (1908, II-III), pp. 567-73); later the Cathedral was consecrated to Sts. Mariano and Giacomo, African martyrs of Lambaesis, whose relics had been transferred to G. already in ancient times, perhaps between the 5th and 6th centuries; Clement III granted that all the relics of saints from the old city should also be transferred there (bull Pia desideria of 20 Oct. 1188). The present construction on the slopes of the hill of Ingino, where from the 10th century the new city had been taking shape, is assigned, according to a widely accepted opinion, to the 14th century and is said to have been completed under Bishop Pietro Gabrielli, with elements of an earlier period. The facade, recently restored, has valuable bas-reliefs: the Lamb, the Four Evangelists and a portal in simple lines. The characteristic interior with a single nave with pointed arches shows restorations and rebuildings of the 16th century; also characteristic is the high altar formed of two superimposed pagan sarcophagi.

In the temple numerous paintings are preserved. Of the many monumental and historic churches, largely built according to the characteristic Eugubine type with a single nave with transverse pointed arches (M. Salmi, Le chiese gotiche in G., in L'arte, 25 [1922], pp. 220-231), the following should be noted: S. Felicissimo, the oldest in the city, earlier than the 11th century (P. Cenci, S. Felicissimo di Nocera-Umbra, Rome 1906); S. Pietro, which arose near the oldest Benedictine foundation of G., which reached its greatest splendor in the 11th-12th centuries, became a commendam in the 15th, was transferred to the Olivetans in 1523 and suppressed in 1860. The surviving monumental temple preserves, of its original Romanesque structure, the facade (a bifora and a small portico); the remaining parts are of the 13th-16th centuries. S. Secondo: the oldest documents record the canonical church of Sts. Secondo and Agapio, seat of the Canons Regular of St. Augustine, placed under apostolic protection (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 8216); but the original titular saints, African martyrs, were replaced by St. Secondo, to whom the name of the abbatial canonry remained, while, through the prevalence and spread of the cult of the African martyr, late legend-writers narrated his deeds as those of a local saint (BHL, 7558); the present building is of the 13th century, with a fine cloister (12th century) and various later rebuildings. S. Francesco, begun in 1256 by fra' Bevignate: the exterior is perfectly preserved in its Gothic lines, while the interior with three naves with twelve octagonal columns is a partial rebuilding of the 17th century. In an ancient chapel and in the adjoining cloister some frescoes are preserved (13th-15th centuries). S. Agostino, built in 1251: the exterior is in its original form, the facade of the 17th century; notable is the composition, in the apse, of frescoes illustrating the life of St. Augustine, by Ottaviano Nelli (15th century). S. Maria dei Laici, built by the Confraternity of the Battuti Bianchi (1313): the interior is a restoration of the 17th century with valuable paintings (14th-15th centuries) in the crypt. The basilica of S. Ubaldo, situated on the "chosen hill" where in 1194 the body of the Saint had been carried: built on the ancient parish church of S. Gervasio, it was enlarged in the 16th century. In G. there is a municipal picture gallery housed in the Palazzo de' Consoli, with an interesting collection in which is the notable group of the best Eugubine painters of the 16th century; in the same Palazzo is housed the Museum opened in 1908. The episcopal archive possesses no ancient papers; the capitular one, with a precious collection of parchments (11th-12th centuries), is kept at the residence of the Chapter, annexed to the Cathedral. The municipal archive, in the Palazzo del podestà (14th century), preserves many documents, largely coming from the ancient Eugubine monasteries (G. Mazzatinti, Gli archivi della storia d'Italia, Rocca S. Casciano 1899-1905, I, p. 31 ff.; P. Cenci, Codice diplomatico di G. dal 900 al 1200, in Archivio per la storia ecclesiastica dell'Umbria, 2 [1915], p. 1 ff.).

Serafino Prete

THE TABLES OF GUBBIO

Called in Latin iguvine or eugubine, they are 7 bronze tablets, 4 large and older, written on both faces in epicoric characters, and 3 small and more recent in Latin characters, discovered in 1444 and sold to the Commune, which keeps them in the Civic Museum. The canonical ordering from 1 to 7 does not correspond to the actual order of the text. Their content is above all religious, and the subjects can be grouped as follows.

Tab. I and VI-VII a: Consecration of the citadel (ocris) of Iguvium and lustration of the people, after the prior removal (exterminatio) beyond the border of the territory of all those who have no right, as foreigners, to be present at the ceremony; these are the Tadinati (Gualdo Tadino), the Tusci (Etruscans), the Japudici (Illyrians coming from the Adriatic coast, the peoples along the Nahr [Nera]).

Tab. II a: Sacrifice to Hontus Iovius, of apotropaic content against adverse auspices.

Tab. III-IV: Annual ceremonies of the Brotherhood of the Atiedian brothers, so called because they originally came from Atiedium (Lat. Attidium).

Tab. V: Internal organization of this Brotherhood. Tab. II b and V: Relations of a social and juridical character among the groups living together in G.

The divinities invoked with prayers and sacrifices are: the triad Jupiter, Mars and Vofionus, wholly male, analogous to the Roman triad Jupiter, Mars, Quirinus, both on the Etruscan model Jupiter, Juno, Minerva; the triad Trebus Jovius, Tefrus, Fisius Sansius (cf. Fidius Sancus, Deus Fidius of the Romans), to the last of whom the acropolis of G. is dedicated.

In the rite of the lustration of the people, female divinities are also invoked: Prestota Çerfia with the meaning of protectress, and Torsia Çerfia in the sense of driver of enemies to flight, invoked in a single prayer together with Çerfus, god of the city, who is given the epithet of Mars. In the annual sacrifice of the Brotherhood of the Atiedii, sacrifice is made to Jupiter Father, to Poemunus (Pomonus) god of fruits, and to Visona.

The Iguvine tables are the most remarkable ancient monument relating to the Umbrians. From them, besides the religious data mentioned above, it is gathered that the Italics originally lived in fortified centers rather than in true cities; but that the Iguvians already inhabited a territory of their own, geographically circumscribed, and that they knew, besides the generic grouping of the people (tauta), also the division into tribes (trifis) in the territorial sense, an internal subdivision of the citizens into decuries (tehetias), below which stood the fameria, corresponding to the collective grouping of the gens.

Nicola Turchi

FOLKLORE

The ancient Umbrian city is famous for the festival of the candles, which takes place every year on 15 May, the eve of the feast of its patron St. Ubald.

The so-called candles, which replace the earlier real wax torches offered to the Saint and carried in procession, are three large and heavy but elegant wooden machines, about ten metres tall, shaped like two superimposed prisms, topped respectively by the statues of St. Ubald (the guild of bricklayers), St. George (merchants) and St. Anthony Abbot (peasants). They rest on four long beams framed and decorated with the coats of arms of the quarters, and are carried on the shoulders of sturdy young men, called precisely "ceraioli", who are distinguished by a particular costume: a yellow shirt for the candle of St. Ubald, a blue one for St. Gregory, a black one for St. Anthony. According to tradition, the candles are set down in the courtyard of the former Convent of St. Peter, awaiting the "alzata" (the lifting), which takes place at precisely midday. Thus a first display round of the individual candles through the city streets takes place. Each candle is preceded by two captains, one called of the axe, because he carries a hatchet, and the other of the sword. In front of the houses of the principal gentlemen and of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities the candles stop and turn on themselves, once, twice, three times according to the importance of the persons being honoured: this is called "far la birata". Then the communal lunch of the ceraioli takes place, with the participation of the authorities. In the afternoon, after the bishop's blessing, the race of the candles takes place, whose origin is attributed to the miraculous victory won by G. over the eleven confederate cities through the merit of its bishop Ubald. The ceraioli, after crossing the main city streets and making the circuit of the walls, set off always at a run, in an impetuous contest that puts their physical endurance to the hardest test, towards the Sanctuary that stands on the slope of the mountain at some distance from the city. At sunset all come down again amid songs and cheers. There is a belief that on this day "it must rain": and if instead the sky remains clear, the common people climb onto the roofs and pour large vessels of water over them. It is further believed that the festival serves to win the protection of St. Ubald and of the other two Saints, for the fertility of the fields, the abundance of the produce of the vines and of the hay, and the health of the livestock. The whole complex of these customs and beliefs reveals an ancient substratum of spring rites of propitiation and purification, in analogy with what happens, on the same date, with the "pugnaloni" of Allerona and the "barabbata" of Marta. - See plate LXXXVI.

Paolo Toschi