COSENZA, ARCHDIOCESE OF. - C., an ancient metropolis of Bruttium, on the extreme northern spurs of the Sila, at the confluence of the Crati and the Busento, dominates the historic valley of the Crati, theater of memorable events.
Before the Roman conquest it maintained its original character against the Hellenic predominance that prevailed in the coastal cities. In the Roman era, although a very important stop on the via Popilia, it had little importance. In the Middle Ages it was long contested by the Byzantines and the Lombards; but it succeeded in safeguarding its Latin character. With the Normans its upward path begins. The Swabians built there the grandiose fortress of Frederick on the hill of S. Pancrazio. From the Angevins it received notable privileges, increased by the Aragonese. In the 16th century it participated in the European cultural movement through the impulse that some of its men gave to Humanism. Indeed there lived at that time Aulo Giano Parrasio, founder of the Accademia cosentina, Bernardino Telesio, Bernardino and Coriolano Martirano, Cardinal Paolo Parisio, Sertorio Quattromani, etc.
As a diocese C. is certainly among the oldest in the region, even if there are no grounds for going back to the apostolic age or for justifying the assertions of regional writers, who assign as its first bishop Suera, companion of St. Stephen of Nicaea, left by St. Paul at Reggio. There are no grounds either for recognizing as one of its bishops one of the two, Maximus and Severus, "episcopos per Bruttios," to whom Innocent I wrote in 416. The first bishop whose name authentically occurs toward the end of the 6th century is Palumbus, mentioned three times by St. Gregory the Great.
In the various Byzantine Notitiae it is mentioned as a suffragan of Reggio, under the name of κοντάτεια (Costanza), while in contemporary Latin documents it is included among the suffragans of Salerno, to which it was assigned by John XV in 994. In reality it was only a nominal dependency. C., equidistant from Reggio and from Salerno, ended up acquiring its own autonomy. In 1055, in fact, it appears as an archbishopric, and the first archbishop is that Peter, mentioned by Lupus Protospatharius, who assigns his death to 1056.
In the 12th century, especially in the Provinciale vetus of Albino, it appears as a metropolis, and has under its dependence the bishopric of Martirano, suppressed in 1818; since then C. has been without suffragans.
Among its prelates C. counts men distinguished for piety, for zeal and for learning. Worthy of mention are: the Cistercian Luca Campano (1203-24), who wrote the life of Joachim of Fiore and rebuilt the Cathedral; Bartolomeo Pignatelli (1254-67), the "shepherd of C.," mentioned by Dante; Pirro Caracciolo (1452-81), who approved and favored the Order of the Minims; Nicola Gaddi (1533-35), later cardinal; Taddeo Gaddi (1561-66), nephew of the preceding and also a cardinal, as was Evangelista Pallotta, who in 1587 founded the seminary; Giovan Battista Costanzo (1591-1617), a benefactor of C. for the impulse he gave to the Academy; the canonist Antonio Ricciullo (1641-42); Giuseppe Maria Sanfelice (1650-52), cardinal, and Gennaro Sanfelice (1661-94).
From C. come the two cardinals Paolo Parisio, distinguished jurist, and Giovan Battista Salerno, Jesuit; Daniele Sersale, abbot general of the Vallombrosans; Tommaso Sersale and Francesco Antonio Cavalcanti, provosts general of the Theatines, the last of whom was also archbishop of C. (1744-48); Bruno Guzzolini, general of the Minims, in the second half of the 18th century. Moreover, there were born: the abbot Joachim of Fiore (v.) of the hamlet of Celico, immortalized by Dante in canto XII of the Paradiso (vv. 140-41); the hermit Telesphorus who lived in the 14th century; the blesseds Matteo Vitari, Gerardo, Pellegrino and Bonazio of the Florense Congregation; the blesseds Angelo and Zaccheo, Observants; the Jesuits Fulvio Caputo, killed by the Indians, and Francesco Sembiese, apostle of China, etc.
In the diocese many illustrious men were born, among them: St. Ugolino of Cerisano, one of the seven Franciscans martyred at Ceuta in 1227; St. Francis of Paola (v.), founder of the Order of the Minims, canonized by Leo X in 1519; the blessed Bernardo Milizia of Bogliano, founder of the Augustinian Congregation of Collereta; the blessed Francesco of Zumpano, founder of another Augustinian Congregation called that of the "Zumpani"; Gaspare del Fosso of Bogliano, general of the Minims, who died archbishop of Reggio in 1592; the venerables Francesco L'ambo of Paola, Paolo Rendace of Paterno, Bernardo Maria Clausi of S. Sisto, Minims, for whom the processes of beatification exist; Sertorio Caputo of Paterno, Jesuit, who died in the odor of sanctity at Aquila in 1608; Bernardino Plastina of Fuscaldo, general of the Minims and then bishop of Oppido in 1696, etc.
C. preserves a magnificent cathedral, with naves in the Norman Romanesque style and apses in the Cistercian Gothic style, built by Archbishop Luca Campano and solemnly inaugurated in 1222 with the participation of Frederick II, who on that occasion donated to it a precious and artistic Byzantine staurotheca in enamel; it was largely rebuilt in 1750. Also worthy of mention are the churches of S. Domenico with a dome and Gothic portico, recently restored to their primitive forms; S. Francesco d'Assisi with a cloister of the 15th century; S. Agostino, S. Francesco di Paola, S. Gaetano, etc. In the diocese one admires the Florense archicoenobium of S. Giovanni in Fiore, contemporary with and in the same style as the Cathedral; the sanctuary of S. Francesco di Paola, with a Renaissance facade of the 16th century; the sanctuary of the Madonna della Catena at Laurignano, with a modern reconstruction in polychrome marbles, etc.
The archdiocese of C., with an area of 1000, 1100, has 120 parishes, 185 diocesan and 71 regular priests, 340,656 inhabitants of whom 306 are non-Catholic (1948). - See inv. XXXVII.
Bibliography11 works
Francesco Russo