CHIUSI AND PIENZA, Diocese of. - In the province of Siena, suffragan of Siena. C. in the Valdichiana was one of the 12 Etruscan lucumonies.
Christianity is attested in the 3rd century by the monuments, and so is the origin of the diocese, because a Christian inscription commemorates the bishop Lucius Petronius Dexter, born in 256 and died in 322 (CIL, X, 1, 2548). Other known bishops are then Florentinus (558-60), to whom Pope Pelagius I wrote, and Ecclesius in 600.
The diocese has an area of 1168 sq km with 65,575 inhabitants, all Catholics; it has 61 parishes, 82 diocesan priests and 24 regular priests, and a seminary at P.
In 1633, near the church of S. Mustiola, an underground Christian cemetery was discovered, but it was explored only in the spring of 1830. The martyr Mustiola is commemorated in the Martirologo Geronimiano: in Tuscia s. Mustiolae on 23 Nov.; there is also a Passio of her (BHL, nos. 445-56). An inscription discovered in the cemetery mentions a Julia Asinia Felicissima ex genere Mustiole sanctae (CIL, XI, 2549). Was the martyr the eponym of the cemetery? The ancient entrance of this led into a broad hall from which the cemetery galleries branch off, mostly with arcosolia. There, besides the aforementioned inscription of the bishop L. Petronius Dexter, were found those of a deacon named Sulpicius Felicissimus (CIL, XI, 2561), of a Senzius Respectus, exorcist, of the neophytes Sulpicius Vincentius (ibid., 2560) and Ulpia Faustina (ibid., 2563). Aurelius Melitus imfaus cristaeanus fidelis peregrinus died diae Saturni Pascae noctis ipsius pervigilatio oratione quinta (ibid., 2551), that is, on Holy Saturday, in the night of the Easter vigil while the fifth prayer was being recited. The inscription belongs to the second half of the 4th century, to 354 or 363, or 378. A Redenta died in the year 390 (ibid., 2573). There is then a Peregrinus Ciconius cuius nomine Deus scis (ibid., 2568). In a fragment belonging to a C(larissima) p(uella) there is the wish: dormis in somno pacis (ibid., 2579). The cemetery called of S. Caterina is located on the road of Città di Pieve; it too has a broad cubiculum, at the entrance of which is a travertine architrave on which the burial of the child Capelio is commemorated (ibid., 2537). In the inscription of L. Fonteia Concordia, wife of Steno Callicrates, it is said that cereis calicibus funus duverunt (ibid., 2534). Among the other Christian inscriptions of C. should be remembered that of a Laureutia quae credidit resurrectionem, who died in the year 493 (ibid., 2585).
The cathedral, S. Secondiano (of the 12th century), which has three naves divided by 18 reused columns, was disfigured by a restoration at the end of the 19th century. There are preserved three epigrams relating to the restoration of the marble ciborium carried out there in the time of bishop Arcadius and of king Liutprand by Gregory, duke of C. In the sacristy are preserved 22 illuminated choir books of the 15th century, coming from the monastery of Monte Oliveto Maggiore, sacred vestments of the 13th century, and an ivory casket of the 15th century. The church of S. Francesco has a Romanesque portal; that of S. Maria della Morte is of the 13th century, but now renovated, and uses as its bell tower the adjacent medieval tower.
The Etruscan hypogea (called della Scimia, del Colle, del Granduca, della Tassinaia), and the archaeological material partly preserved in the local Museo Civico, have been illustrated by R. Bianchi Bandinelli, Clusium, in Monumenti antichi dei Lincei, XXX, II (1925).
G. B. De Rossi in 1880 identified in C. an ivory comb which on both faces has two sheep engraved, on one side turned toward a veiled chair, on the other toward a crown. Together with the comb were found many coins of the 4th century and some terracotta lamps also of the 4th century (G. B. De Rossi, Pettine adorno di simboli cristiani trovato in C., in Bullett. d'arch. crist., 3rd series, 6 [1881], pp. 75-85).
For the history of P.: v. PIENZA.
Bibliography5 works
Enrico Josi