CIVITANOVA MARCHE

CIVITANOVA MARCHE. – The earliest Christian memories, like those of the episcopal see of ancient Cluentum, are not yet clear. To this vicus, probably situated near the present-day C., is attributed the Picene martyr St. Marone (BHL, 6064), commemorated on 15 April in the Hieronymian Martyrology; but his Passio is not worthy of credence (A. Dufourcq, Les Gesta martyrum, III, Paris 1907, p. 271). The episcopal see appears there in the 5th century, as shown by a letter of Pope Gelasius I concerning the election of the bishop of the plebs clientensis (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 663); it was soon, however, absorbed by the Church of Fermo. The church of S. Marone, erected over his tomb, still remains; the Romanesque building underwent extensive restoration in 1898.