CREMONA, DIocese of. – In Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po, a suffragan of Milan and the provincial capital (area 943.8 km²). Founded as a Roman colony in 218 BC and a center of Roman resistance against Hannibal, Cremona became a municipium in 90 BC. After Caesar’s death and Octavian’s victory over Antony, the territory was divided among Octavian’s veterans in 40 BC. During the struggle between Vitellius and Vespasian (AD 69), the city was destroyed but later rebuilt at the conqueror’s behest. After the fall of the Gothic kingdom, it was held by the Byzantines in the second half of the 6th century until it passed to Agilulf, king of the Lombards, in 603. Under the Carolingians and later the Ottonians, who granted the bishops temporal sovereignty, Cremona entered a new phase of life under episcopal rule, though this also sparked political strife between bishops and the people, ending in 1098 with the establishment of the free commune. In the struggle between communes and the Empire, Cremona sided with the latter and became a stronghold of Ghibellinism, favored by Frederick Barbarossa and Frederick II. In the late Middle Ages, it came under the lordships of the Pallavicini, Bovara, Cavalcabò, Visconti, and Sforza, with whom it passed into the Duchy of Milan. Occupied by Charles V in 1525, it remained under Spanish rule until 1702, when it passed to Austria, from which it was taken by the French in 1796 and 1800.
The Church of Cremona was the last in Lombardy to be organized hierarchically. Its establishment likely dates to the final years of the episcopate of St. Ambrose or between the 4th and 5th centuries, though reliable records only appear from the mid-5th century onward. At the provincial council of Milan in 451, John, bishop of Cremona, was present, and at the Roman synod of 501, which judged Pope Symmachus, Eustasius, also bishop of Cremona, attended. After him, few bishops were appointed until the end of the 8th century, after which the succession of Cremonese bishops has been unbroken.
To fill the gaps in the episcopal list between the 5th and 8th centuries and to link the origins of the Cremonese Church to the alleged preaching of St. Barnabas, Cremonese historians—lacking documents—have resorted to conjectures, invented names, and forged epigraphic acts, producing a list of bishops with their supposed years of office that later studies have shown to be unreliable (e.g., L. Cavitelli, A. Campo, B. Rossi, A. Dragoni, G. Bresciani; cf. Savio, op. cit. in bibliography, pp. 1-30).
Notable figures appear in the series of some 80 bishops who have governed this Church. Among them are St. Silvanus (mid-8th century), Liutprand (q.v.), ambassador of Otto II to Constantinople and the most important historian of the 10th century, Sicard (1185-1215, q.v.), chronicler, canonist, and liturgist; Cacciacontale da Somma (1261), who built the cathedral bell tower; Bartolomeo Capra (1405-12), secretary to Innocent VIII; the influential and powerful cardinals Ascanio Sforza (1486-1505, q.v.), Pietro (1524-1529), and Benedetto Accolti (1529-49); Niccolò Sfondrati (1560-90), cardinal and later Pope Gregory XIV; his nephew Paolo Sfondrati (1607-10); Cesare Speciano, former secretary and agent of St. Charles Borromeo in Rome, papal nuncio to the Habsburg courts on multiple occasions; and most recently, Geremia Bonomelli (1871-1914).
The Church of Cremona has been distinguished by the holiness of some of its sons: Omobono (q.v.), the holy merchant of the 12th century; Antonio Maria Zaccaria (q.v.), a saint of the Catholic Reformation of the 16th century and founder of the Congregation of the Clerics Regular of St. Paul the Apostle (Barnabites). Other saints have chosen Cremona as their second home, such as Facio of Verona and Alberto da Villa d’Ogna (q.V. PERGAMO). The city has been placed under the patronage of St. Himierius, bishop of Amelia, whose relics were translated there in the 10th century.
Once much larger, the diocese of Cremona saw the territory of the upper Cremonese region detached in 1579 with the establishment of the diocese of Crema, and the area beyond the Po, annexed to the diocese of Fidenza in 1601. Today, the diocese extends into the provinces of Bergamo, Mantua, and Milan, divided into 25 vicariates and 234 parishes, with a population of about 400,000. The diocesan clergy comprises 446 secular priests and 51 regulars. The seminary, founded in 1565, houses a rich library with a notable collection of manuscripts, incunabula, and an art museum. In the city and diocese, various religious orders and congregations are active: the Franciscan Friars Minor, Capuchins, Camillians, Barnabites, Missionaries of St. Francis Xavier of Parma, the Brothers of the Pious Institute of St. Joseph, the Visitandine nuns, and 30 congregations of sisters with 165 religious houses.
Until the suppression under Joseph II and later under Napoleon, Cremona flourished with various religious communities, churches, convents, and hospitals. Notable monasteries include St. Lawrence’s (10th century), the Benedictine monastery; St. Peter on the Po (11th century), first Benedictine then part of the Lateran Canons; and St. Agatha’s, founded in 1077 by the Hospitaller Canons, first secular then regular, an autonomous canonry enriched with jurisdictional prerogatives and honorary privileges, transformed in 1464 into a prebendary and collegiate church, and in 1789 subjected to episcopal jurisdiction.
The cathedral is the most distinguished monument of art and piety of the Cremonese. Dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary Assumed into Heaven and to the saints Inerio and Omobono, patrons of the city, it houses remarkable works from every age and period of art, resulting from a harmonious blend of Gothic and Romanesque styles in a most successful harmony of lines, lights, and colors. Construction began in 1107, and when it was given a basilica form, it was later transformed into its present Latin cross shape. The main façade is adorned with a majestic portico and loggia featuring statues of the Virgin and the patron saints; in front runs a portico of Bramantesque inspiration, which the Cremonese call the “Bertazzola.” The finest Cremonese painters and others from the 16th century were commissioned to adorn the cathedral’s interior. The majesty of the Redeemer by Boccaccino dominates the apse, which centers on the large altarpiece of the Assumption by Gatti; a series of 34 frescoes along the main nave and on the back wall of the presbytery and choir illustrate the life of the Madonna and various episodes from the life, passion, and death of Jesus, executed by B. Boccaccino, G. F. Bembo, A. Melone, G. Romanino, G. A. Corticelli known as Il Pordenone (whose Crucifixion, a large fresco covering the entire back wall, is particularly notable), B. Gatti, Antonio and Giulio Campi, and G. Diotti of the last century. Hagiographic scenes adorn the panels of the Omodeo pulpits and the ark of the SS. Marcelino and Pietro by Briosco. A series of twelve grand Flemish tapestries depicting the life of Samson, hung from the columns, completes the temple’s decoration in a most admirable way. Flanking the cathedral are the 12th-century baptistery, with its large octagonal dome in Romanesque style, and the Torrazzo (bell tower), erected in the 12th century, crowned by a graceful garland and terminating in a slender spire, reaching a height of 112 meters.
Other notable monuments of art include the churches of S. Pietro al Po, S. Michele Vecchio, S. Abbondio, S. Agostino, and S. Agata. The church of S. Sigismondo in the suburb of the same name, built by Bianca Maria Visconti in 1463 and frescoed by C. Boccaccino, Antonio, Bernardino, Giulio, and Galeazzo Campi, and B. Gatti, features fine altarpieces; adjacent to the church is the cloister, formerly the seat of the monks of S. Girolamo, now a retreat house. Also worthy of note in the diocese are the churches of Casalmaggiore, Castelletone, Soncino, and Rivolta d’Adda, as well Caravaggio (v.), Castelletone, and Casalmaggiore. — See pl. LI.