CREMONA, Diocese of. - In Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po, a suffragan of Milan, and the capital of a province (area 943.8 sq. km.). Already a Roman colony founded in 218 B.C., and a center of resistance of the Roman army against Hannibal, C. became a municipium in 90 B.C. After the death of Caesar and the victory of Octavian over Antony, the territory of C. was divided by the conqueror among his veterans
(40 B.C.). In the struggle between Vitellius and Vespasian (69 A.D.), the city was destroyed, but it rose again by the will of the victor. After the fall of the Gothic kingdom, it was garrisoned by the Byzantines in the second half of the 6th century until it fell into the hands of Agilulf, king of the Lombards (603). C. resumed its life under the rule of the bishops in the Carolingian period and then also under the Ottonians, who conferred on them powers of temporal sovereignty, which marked the beginning of political struggles between the bishops and the people, ended in 1098 with the establishment of the free commune. In the struggle between the Communes and the Empire, C. sided with the latter and became a stronghold of Ghibellinism, favored by Frederick Barbarossa and Frederick II. In the late Middle Ages it experienced the lordship of the Pallavicini, Bovara, Cavalcabò, Visconti and Sforza, with the latter of whom it became part of the Duchy of Milan. Occupied by Charles V in 1525, it remained in the possession of Spain until 1702, when it passed to Austria, from which it was taken by the French in 1796 and in 1800. The Church of Cremona was the latest to be constituted hierarchically in Lombardy. Its establishment probably must be placed in the last years of the episcopate of St. Ambrose, or else between the 4th and 5th centuries. In any case, certain information is available only from the middle of the 5th century; at the Milanese provincial Council of 451 the presence of John, bishop of C., is noted, just as at the Roman Synod of 501, which judged Pope Symmachus, Eustasius was present, he too the holder of the Cremonese see. After him, few other bishops were appointed, until the end of the 8th century. From then on the series of Cremonese bishops is uninterrupted.
To fill the gaps in the bishops between the 5th and 8th centuries, and further, to link the origins of the Church of Cremona to the supposed preaching of St. Barnabas, not a few Cremonese historians, in place of the lack of documents, substituted conjectures, invented names, falsified acts of epigraphs, succeeding in presenting a list of bishops with the years of their episcopate, which proved inconsistent as a result of more recent studies (e.g., L. Cavitelli, A. Campo, B. Rossi, A. Dragoni, G. Bresciani; cf. Savio, op. cit. in bibl., pp. 1-30).
Famous names are found in the series of the approximately 80 bishops who have governed this Church. Among others St. Silvinus (mid-8th century approximately), Liutprand (v.), ambassador of Otto II to Constantinople and the most important historian of the 10th century, Sicard (1185-1215, v.), chronicler, canonist, liturgist; Cacciaconte da Somma (1261), who built the bell tower of the cathedral; Bartolomeo Capra (1405-12), secretary of Innocent VIII; the influential and powerful Cardinals Ascanio Sforza (1486-1505, v.), Pietro (1524-1529) and Benedetto Accolti (1529-49), Niccolò Sfondrati (1560-90), cardinal and later pope under the name Gregory XIV, his nephew Paolo Sfondrati (1607-10), Cesare Speciano, formerly secretary and agent of St. Charles Borromeo in Rome, several times pontifical nuncio to the courts of the Habsburgs; most recently Geremia Bonomelli (1871-1914).
The Church of Cremona has been illustrated by the holiness of some of its sons: Homobonus (v.), the holy merchant of the 12th century, Antonio M. Zaccaria (v.), a saint of the Catholic restoration of the 16th century, founder of the Congregation of the Clerics Regular of St. Paul the Apostle (Barnabites). Other saints have chosen C. as their second homeland: Facio of Verona and Albert of Villa d'Ogna (v. BERGAMO). The city has been placed under the patronage of St. Imerius, bishop of Amelia, his relics having been transferred here in the 10th century.
The diocese of C., once much larger, saw the territory of the upper Cremonese region dismembered in 1579 for the establishment of the diocese of Crema, and that beyond the Po, aggregated to the diocese of Fidenza in 1601. It extends its territory not only in the province of the same name, but also in the provinces of Bergamo, Mantua and Milan, divided into 25 vicariates and 234 parishes, with a population of approximately 400,000 inhabitants. The diocesan clergy numbers 446 secular priests and 51 regulars. The seminary, whose foundation dates back to 1565, is provided with a rich library with a notable collection of manuscripts and incunabula and an art museum. In the city and in the diocese various religious orders and congregations carry out their activity: the Franciscan Friars Minor, the Capuchins, the Camillians, the Barnabites, the Missionaries of St. Francis Xavier of Parma, the Brothers of the pious Institute of St. Joseph, the nuns of the Visitation and 30 congregations of sisters with 165 religious houses.
Until the time of the Josephine suppression and then the Napoleonic one, various religious communities with churches, convents and hospitals flourished in C. Distinguished were the monasteries of S. Lorenzo, of the Benedictines (10th century); of S. Pietro al Po (11th century), first of the Benedictines, then aggregated to the Congregation of the Lateran Canons; of S. Agata, founded in 1077, of the Hospitaller Canons, first secular then regular, an autonomous canonry, enriched with jurisdictional prerogatives and honorary privileges, transformed in 1464 into a provostry and secular collegiate church and in 1789 subjected to the bishop's jurisdiction.
The cathedral is the most distinguished monument of art and piety of the Cremonese. Dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Assumed, and to Sts. Imerius and Homobonus, patrons of the city, it houses admirable works of every time and every period of art, resulting in an ensemble of Gothic and Romanesque in a highly successful harmony of lines, lights and colors. The building was begun in 1107, raised in basilical form, and was later transformed into the current Latin-cross form. The main facade is adorned with a majestic little portico and loggia with the statues of the Virgin and the patron saints; in front, moreover, a portico of Bramantesque tone, which the Cremonese call the «Bertazzola». The best Cremonese brushes and others of the 16th century were called upon to adorn the interior of the cathedral. The Majesty of the Redeemer, by Boccaccino, stands out in the apse, which has at its center the great altarpiece of the Assunta by Gatti; a series of 34 frescoed paintings on the fascia of the nave and on the back wall, of the presbytery and of the choir, illustrate the life of the Madonna and various episodes of the life, passion and death of Jesus, due to B. Boccaccino, G. F. Bembo, A. Melone, G. Romanino, G. A. Corticelli known as il Pordenone, to whom the Crucifixion belongs, a great fresco that occupies the entire back wall, B. Gatti, Antonio and Giulio Campi, G. Diotti of the last century. Historiographies of saints in the panels of the pulpits by Omodeo, and in the area of SS. Marcellino and Pietro by Briosco. A series of 12 grandiose Flemish tapestries, illustrating the life of Samson, hung on the columns, admirably complete the decoration of the temple. Flanking the cathedral are the baptistery, of the 12th century, with a great octagonal dome in Romanesque style, and the torrazzo (bell tower) erected in the 16th century, crowned by a graceful garland, which ends in a most slender spire, reaching a height of 112 m.
Other notable monuments of art are: the churches of S. Pietro al Po, S. Michele Vecchio, S. Abbondio, S. Agostino, S. Agata. The church of S. Sigismondo in the suburb of the same name, erected by Bianca M. Visconti in 1463, frescoed by C. Boccaccino, Antonio, Bernardino, Giulio, Galeazzo Campi, B. Gatti: good canvases on the altars; beside the church is the cloister, once the seat of the monks of St. Jerome, now a house for spiritual exercises. Also to be noted in the diocese are the churches of Casalmaggiore, Castelleone, Soncino, Rivolta d'Adda; the Marian sanctuaries of Caravaggio (v.), of Castelleone and of Casalmaggiore. - See plate LI.
Bibliography21 works
Felice Zanoni