DIOCESE OF CITTÀ DI CASTELLO. - In Umbria (province of Perugia), immediately subject to the Holy See. It has an area of 875 sq km, has 156 parishes with 112 diocesan priests and 10 regulars, a population of 64,130 inhabitants of whom 64,050 are Catholics (1948).
The antiquity and the distinction of the Church of Tifernum have been contributed to by the rapid spread of Christianity in Umbria and by the favorable position of the Roman city (Tifernum Tiberinum). If a tradition of local martyrs does not merit belief, there is nevertheless certain evidence of the episcopal see already in the middle of the 5th century. In the time of St. Gregory the Great, the bishop of Tifernum is Floridus, a saint who left great fame in the history of that Church, especially in hagiographic records (BHL, 1962). The diocese extended its jurisdiction over a very vast territory; it underwent divisions in 1325 in favor of the Church of Cortona, in 1636 when Urban VIII established the diocese of S. Angelo in Vado. City and country, from the ancient Lombard domination (Castrum Felicitatis), passed temporarily under pontifical dominion, to which they returned definitively after the 16th century, once the lordship of the Vitelli had ceased.
In the diocese is found the abbey of S. Giacomo di Castello in the city, founded in 1142; once the religious community had disappeared, the church passed to the guild of the Ianaoli (today S. Chiara delle Muratte). Many abbeys were once counted and of considerable antiquity: of one of them, the Benedictine abbey of S. Giovanni di Marzano, the bishops of C. di C. were commendatory abbots. The historic abbey has remained, after the devastations of the 15th century, in the parish church of S. Giovanni in Marzano (near Monte S. Maria Tiberina).
The Cathedral, anciently dedicated to St. Lawrence, in the 11th century to Sts. Floridus and Amanzio, was renewed almost completely between 1466 and 1529 by the Gagini. At present it shows the signs of the various construction periods: the bell tower of the 12th century, the 14th-century portal at the side, the facade of the 17th century. Two Romanesque-Gothic buildings are the churches of S. Francesco, albeit with many changes, and S. Domenico with an artistic portal on the left side. In the chapter hall and more in the treasury of the Cathedral are preserved valuable works: a silver repoussé and gilded antependium of the 12th century and the treasury of liturgical furnishings found near the parish church of Canoscio. The municipal Picture Gallery at the Palazzo Vitelli is very rich in sacred subjects.
Bibliography9 works
Serafino Prete