DIACONIA

**DIAKONIA**

An institution of charitable assistance, widely known in the East and West from the 4th to the 9th centuries; in Rome, the churches attached to the *diakoniai* later became, in the late Middle Ages, parishes and cardinalitial *diakoniai*.

**OUTLINE:**
I. Etymological and historical meaning of the word.
II. Origin and development of the *diakonía* as an act of assistance: Egypt, Palestine, Constantinople, Italy.
III. Transformation of the *diakonía* in Rome.

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### I. ETYMOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL MEANING OF THE WORD

From the classical Greek *διάκονος*, *διακονεῖν* (servant, to serve), in New Testament and Christian Greek it came to signify: a) alms, an act of charity (Acts 6:1; 11:29; 2 Cor 8:4; 9:1, 12, 13; *Acta Pauli et Theclae*, 41; *Didascalia Apostolorum*, III, VIII, 2; X [XIII], 6; IV, VII, 1; Cassian, *Collatio* XVIII, VI, 8; hence *διακονεῖν* to serve the needy: Rom 15:25; 1 Cor 16:15); b) the complex of charitable works (*Hermas*, *Pastor*, *Similitude* I, 9; IX, 26, 2; 27, 2); c) the order of the diaconate (*Didascalia*, III, XIII [XIX], 2; *Constitutiones Apostolorum*, VIII, x, 9; XIII, 4; XVIII, 2-3); d) the office of the deaconess (ibid., XIX, 2; Justinian, *Novellae*, VI, 6); e) any monastic office to which a monk was annually appointed by the hegumen, abbot, or elders (Cyril of Scythopolis, *Vita s. Johannis*, 6, 7, in *Acta SS. Maii*, III, Venice 1738, p. 780), hence the word *διακονεῖν*, meaning servant of a monastery (*Apophthegmata Patrum*: PG 65, 100, 104, 393; John Moschus, *Pratum*, 138; PG 87, 3, 3001), or simply a monk placed in charge of an office (*John Moschus*, *Pratum*, 16, 39, 92; PG 87, 3, 2864, 2889, 2949); f) finally, from the 4th century onward, a special institution of charitable assistance.

While the pre-Gerominian versions and the Vulgate translate *διακονεῖν* with the word *ministerium*, without distinguishing the various meanings, Western authors from the 4th century onward mostly limited themselves to its transliteration: *d.* with its derivative *diaconitae*. In the late Middle Ages in Rome, as in Naples, instead of *d.*, the term *diaconatus* was used with the same meaning (cf. *Ordo* of Cencio Camerario, § 11 [late 12th century], ed. L. Duchesne, in *Le Liber Censuum de l'Église romaine*, I, Paris 1889-1910, p. 293; Neapolitan inscription of 1084, cited by D. Mallardo, in *Ricerche di scienze e lettere*, new series, 8 [1937], p. 164).

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### II. ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE *DIAKONIA* AS AN ACT OF ASSISTANCE: EGYPT, PALESTINE, CONSTANTINOPLE, ITALY

From the earliest days of the Church, assistance to the poor was one of the primary tasks of Christian communities, entrusted to deacons as their proper office. This ongoing assistance, often referred to by the generic term *d.*, took various forms and differed significantly from state public distributions (frumentatio, panis gradilis, etc.: cf. G. Cardinali, *Frumentatio*, in *Dizionario epigrafico di antichità romane* of E. Ruggiero, III, pp. 225-315). From the second half of the 4th century, the generic term *d.* assumed a specific meaning and was used to denote a particular institution whose purpose was to distribute in-kind aid to the indigent.

**Diaconissa** – Two mosaic floor inscriptions related to a *d.* named Zoe; the second is dated March-August 264 and records the contribution of the wealthy *diaconissa* Zoe to the construction of the church of...

1. **Egypt.** – Cassian was the first to define its meaning, applying the term to the almonry of the Egyptian monastery of Diolcus, supplied by pious faithful and presided over by a virtuous monk elected by the elders (*Collationes*, XXI, 1, 2-3; II, 1; VIII, 1; IX, 7). This monk, called in the *Apophthegmata Patrum* ὁ τῆς διακονίας, the one in charge of the *d.* (PG 65, 184, 237), is referred to in papyri as διακονίτης.

Based on the testimonies known to date, it was believed that the *d.* remained a purely monastic institution in its first centuries. Unexpectedly, an Egyptian papyrus from the 5th century AD, containing an interesting account of receipts for a *d.*, has revealed the existence of a diocesan *d.* in the *nomo* of Apollonopolites Heptakomias (cf. A. P. Frutaz, *Una diaconia diocesana in Egitto*, in *Miscellanea liturgica in honorem L. C. Mohlberg*, II, Rome 1950, pp. 71-74).

The aforementioned document and the Egyptian monastic papyri of the 6th century, illuminated in their full context by H.-I. Marrou, present the *diakoniai* in a state of perfect organization; they are no longer modest almonries of a monastery, as in the 4th century, but autonomous institutions capable of providing extensive charitable distributions. Indeed, the *diakoniai* possess real estate; receive donations *inter vivos*; engage in commercial exchanges of oil and wine; lease land; have their own guesthouses, even for men when the monastery is strictly enclosed; receive certain grain contributions due from the state annona; collect fixed contributions in money or kind. The various *diakoniai* should not be considered as peripheral branches of a centrally administered entity, but each *d.* operates and administers itself independently.

The direction of the *d.* is entrusted to a monk when it is a monastic *d.*, the διακονίτης, assisted by other monastic διακονίται and sometimes even by pious laity, such as Flavius Dioscorus, curator "of the legal entity of the holy *d.*" of the monastery founded by Apa Apollo in Aphrodito.

The Egyptian *diakoniai* identified to date are as follows: the diocesan *d.* of the *nomo* of Apollonopolites Heptakomias (5th century AD); the monastic *diakoniai*: of Diolcus (mid-4th century); of Pharaüs in Thebaid (522); of the Metanoia near Canopus (527-30, 585; receives the annona [ἐμβολή] of Aphrodito); of Psinaiba, of the Oasites, of Apa Apollo, of St. Michael the Archangel (noted by Bertolini) and of another monastery, all in Aphrodito, a city par excellence of monasticism (527-30, 552, 573-74, 585), the presbyteral *d.* of Thebes (8th century?), known through inscriptions on pieces of liturgical silverware: ἐκ διακονίας Πρακτικοῦ πρεσβυτέρου.

2. **Palestine.** – Outside Egypt, at Gerasa, excavations by the Anglo-American mission in 1928-30 (cf. J. W. Crowfoot, *Churches at Jerash. A preliminary report of the joint Yale-British School expeditions to Jerash 1928-30*, London 1931, pp. 13-16) uncovered a *d.* occupying an ancient public building erected in AD 150. Its facilities included: a church for the religious assistance of the indigent, an atrium for gathering them, various rooms for the offices of those working in the *d.* and storerooms. An inscription in the mosaic floor of the atrium reveals its date: "By the grace of God the *d.* was established in the month of Artemisios, indiction 13, the year 627" of the Palestinian era, i.e., May AD 565.

(from a watercolor by D. M. Crawford, in J. W. Crawford, *Churches at Jerash*, London 1921, pl. IV, b) **Diaconissa** – Dedication inscription found in the mosaic floor of the atrium of the *d.* of Gerasa. In the center, verses 3 of Psalm 64 according to the Septuagint; in the circle: verses 1-3 of Psalm 83.

It is attested by a letter of St Gregory the Great from February 595 (cf. Registrum, V, 25, ed. L. M. Hartmann, in MGH, Epistulae, I, II, Berlin 1891, p. 306). The testament of St Remigius of Reims (d. c. 533) contains a reference to them, but the relevant passage is an interpolation from the 11th century (cf. Vita Remigii ep. Rem. auctore Hincmaro, ed. B. Krusch in MGH, Scriptores rerum Meroving., III, Hanover 1886, pp. 336, 341, 343). In two other letters St Gregory the Great uses the word d. (cf. Registrum, X, 8; XI, 17, ed. cit., II, Berlin 1893-99, pp. 242, 278), but in both cases the word d. is rather a synonym for charitable distribution than for a true d. In the first, from March 600, the Pope reproaches John, Praetorian Prefect of Italy, for diverting public revenues in grain or money that were to be distributed to the poor «annonas et consuetudines diaconiae quae Neapolim exhibetur»; in the second, from December 600, he proposes a certain John «religious», without specifying his place (thus not Ravenna, as is often repeated, where no document has so far confirmed the existence of d.) «mensis pauperum et exhibendae diaconiae». To prove the existence of true d. in Rome, nothing can be adduced from the testimony of John the Deacon, who wrote between 873 and 875, since in his Life of St Gregory (II, 24, 51: PL 75, 97, 109) he seems simply to depend on the third letter mentioned above, of which he gives the text, rather than on the great paper register, in which the Pope kept a record of his alms, still extant in his time.

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DIACONIA – Tcodoto, primicerius of the defensores and dispensator of the d. of S. Maria Antiqua at the time of Pope Zachary (741-752), in the act of offering the chapel dedicated to SS. Quiricus and Julietta, which he had had decorated. Fresco in the same chapel. Rome, S. Maria Antiqua.

3. Constantinople

4. Italy (Pesaro, Naples, Rome)

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(from A. Silvagni, Monumenta epigraphica Caritat., I. Vatican City 1913, pl. 37, 4-5)

DIACONIA – Donation made to the d. of S. Maria in Cosmedin – pro sustentacione Christi pauperum – by Duke Eustathius during the pontificate of Stephen II (752-757). Original marble. Rome, Basilica of S. Maria in Cosmedin.

is not attested with certainty before the second half of the 7th century. And it is evident that their institution was due to Eastern influences.

In Naples, the first true d. is that of S. Gennaro, annexed to the homonymous basilica «intus civitatem», founded by Bishop Agnellus (c. 675-96), who assigned to the d. an annual endowment of wheat and wine from the revenues of the episcopal table; at Christmas and Easter the d. also received a thousand siliquae of soap «pro labandis curis», i.e. for bathing the poor. The d. also had a certain number of cells to house the «fratres Christi», i.e. the poor (cf. Gesta Episcoporum Neapolit., 31, ed. G. Waitz, in MGH, Scriptores rerum Langobardicarum, Hanover 1878, p. 418). From the first half of the 8th century there are records of the d. of S. Andrea ad Nidum (text of the epitaph of a Theodimus, royal-nary subdeacon and rector of the Holy See, dispensator [administrator] of the d.) and of the d. of SS. John and Paul (original marble of the epitaph of the consul and duke Theodore, founder of the church and restorer of the annexed d.).

One may probably discern a d. in the monastery of SS. Cyrus and Julietta, founded by Duke Antimus (801-18): «in quo duodecim statuit cellulas, quas hospitibus peregrinisque censuit habitari, qui ex ipsius ecclesiae alerentur rebus» (Gesta Ep. Neap., 50, ed. cit., p. 428; D. Mallardo, in Riv. di storia della Chiesa in Italia, 2 [1948], p. 335). Of three other d. only very late notices survive: those of S. Giorgio ad Forum (recorded 30 March 936), of S. Peter (25 June 941), and of S. Maria in Cosmedin (19 May 1018). No explicit notice exists of the d. of S. Maria Rotonda (cf. B. Capasso, Pianta della città di Napoli nel sec. XI, in Archivio storico per le province napoletane, 17 [1892], pp. 475-84). It is noteworthy that all the churches with d. stood in the centre of the city, between the episcopal residence and the duke’s palace, i.e. in the most densely populated part. The Neapolitan d. provided independently for ordinary charitable distributions and, following the example of those in Constantinople, for the hygiene of the poor and their lodging. They were legal entities, like those in Egypt, capable of owning property and receiving donations from both clergy and laity. They arose beside churches to facilitate religious assistance and enjoyed the trust of many benefactors. Some of them later became hospitals in the late Middle Ages, such as those of S. Gennaro, S. Andrea, and S. Giorgio.

In Rome, it is known that the Church already possessed its horrea in the 6th century and actively provided for the city’s annona in times of emergency. Alongside the official charitable assistance, presided over by the regional deacons, numerous private charitable works must have flourished. Yet the charitable work called d. appears only for the first time in the biography of Benedict II (684-85), who leaves a donation «monasteriis diaconiae», an expression that includes the d. themselves and the communities that carried out their work of assistance to the poor. The d. became fashionable in Rome from the late 7th to the 9th century.

DIACONIA

These are the names of the holy ones, their benefits and requests, of the Lord and Saviour in the flesh, Jesus Christ, and of the most holy Mother of God, Mary, and of the archangels Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, of Peter, Paul, Andrew, James, John, Thomas, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Simon, and Thaddeus, of John the Baptist, Stephen, Lawrence, Vincent, Denis, Nicholas, Pancras, Anastasia, Sixtus, Agnes, Caesarius, Nicander, Celsus, Evodius, Peter, Marcellinus, Valentine, Donatus, Nicholas, Hippolytus, Anastasia, Theodore, Cerchius, Christophorus, Aelred, Erasmus, Thaddeus, Abundius, John, Domitius, Procopius, Pantaleon, Cosmas, Damian, Anthismus, Leo, Peter, Antipas, Anna, Elizabeth, Euphimia, Sophia, Euphemia, Domitilla, Theodosia.

It is the duty of the Church to celebrate their memory, and the name of the blessed Paul the Apostle is especially invoked, together with that of Sperindio, Otabano, Binicio, Munio, Symeon, Aduentus, Sexacinitas, Tres, Temporibus, Domini, Stephanus, Unirisi, Papae, Theodotus. Holim, the Duke and Primicerius of the Sacred Palace, and Pater of the aforementioned diaconia, dedicated it for the intercession of souls, trembling before the judgment of the Almighty.

(dv A. Silvignani, Monumenta epigraphica Chiri, I, Città del Vaticano 193, tav. XIV, 1)

**DIACONIA** — Inscription commemorating the dedication of the church of St. Paul, now St. Angelo in Pescheria, founded by the former duke Theodorus, Primicerius of the Holy Apostolic See and Pater of the aforementioned diaconia (1 June 735). Original marble — Rome, church of St. Angelo in Pescheria.

As in Naples, they multiplied in Rome in the central part of the city where the population had concentrated at that time; generally they were established beside churches or oratories built against or even within ancient public buildings no longer in use, so as to have ready-made rooms available at little expense for storage and offices. The churches or oratories were necessary to ensure a certain regularity in the religious assistance of the beneficiaries. From the body of documentation it emerges that: a) the Roman d. have nothing to do with the assistance work carried out in Rome by the seven regional deacons, created by Pope Fabian; b) their origin is in no way connected with the Byzantine military division of the city into 12 “scholae militiae”; c) they remained active, with autonomous administration, until they were replaced, after the 9th century, by other forms of charitable assistance more suited to the times and tastes of the faithful; d) the attached places of worship continued to preserve their memory through the designation of cardinalatial diaconal churches.

In addition to religious and charitable assistance for the needy of the Urbe (distinct from the cura annonae), the Roman d. were also charged with administering hospitals (cf. Lib. Pont., I, p. 441) and providing bodily hygiene for the poor through a weekly bath (on Thursdays), called in the sources, by a Greek word, lusma (λούμαι): the poor went there in procession, chanting (cf. Liber Diurnus, formula 95, ed. Th. E. von Sickel, Vienna 1889, p. 124, which must be interpreted with the parallel notice in Lib. Pont., I, pp. 506, 510).

The governing personnel of the individual Roman d. included: the Pater diaconiae (cf. Ordo Romanus, I, no. 26, ed. M. Andrieu, Louvain 1948, p. 75, and below the inscription of Theodotus) with functions analogous to those of a pater familias; the dispensator, i.e., the administrator; the diaconitae (cf. Liber Diurnus, formula 95), namely the monks who were in direct contact with the poor for distributions and religious assistance; and the priest for the celebration of divine offices. The diaconitae and the chaplain received a stipend from the revenues of the d., as can be inferred from the donation of Duke Eustathius (cf. infra, no. 9). The fragmentary nature of the documentation does not allow us to go into other details about the governing personnel of the individual d.; indeed, it is not even possible to indicate from which monasteries the diaconitae came.

Also in Rome, as already in Egypt (one may recall Flavius Dioscorus, curator of the d. of Apa Apollo) and in Constantinople, laymen could be placed at the head of the d., such as Theodotus “ex duke Pater of the benefits of the diaconia” (cf. infra, no. 6), the “primicerius defensorum” Theodotus “dispenser of the Holy Mother of God, ever Virgin Mary, who is called Antiqua” (cf. infra, no. 5), Duke Eustathius “dispenser of your holy diaconia” (cf. infra, no. 9): the three cited inscriptions are found in A. Silvagni, Monumenta epigraphica Christiana. Roma, I, Città del Vaticano 1943, tavv. XIV, 3; XXXIV, 5; XXXVII, 4-5).

The Roman d. consistently preserved (from their beginning, late 7th century, to their slow transformation after the 9th century) the specific character of public institutions of religious-social charity, hence moral entities with all the attached legal prerogatives, whose functioning was supported by alms and provisions from various popes, the clergy, and the laity. The numerous notices in the Lib. Pont. (late 7th–9th century), the various formulae of the Liber Diurnus (formulae 88, 95, 98 [this formula is for guaranteeing a d. founded by a bishop outside Rome], op. cit., pp. 115–117, 123–125, 129–131), and some other 8th-century documents are proof of the interest aroused by the d., intended to provide “alms to our brothers in Christ, the poor... food,” as is read in the “Privilege of the deacons” of the Liber Diurnus (formula 95), from which it can be inferred that the Pope was accustomed to grant the enjoyment of landed property of the Church of Rome to certain d. in exchange for an annual census paid by the dispensator of the d. to the actionarii of the same Church to recognize its title of ownership.

The Eastern influence in the institution of the Roman d. is also reflected in the fact that they were often established near sanctuaries dedicated to Eastern saints, as will be seen from the following list. This list, arranged by pontificates up to the death of Leo III (816), has been compiled from information drawn from some contemporary documents and from the Lib. Pont. The asterisk preceding some names indicates that the d. is still a cardinalatial one.

Benedict II (684–85) leaves a donation “monasterii diaconiae,” an expression that recurs later in the biographies of John V (685–86), Conon (686–87), and Gregory II (715–731): Lib. Pont., I, pp. 364, 367, 369, 410.

Gregory II (715–731):
1. * St. Eustace: the Pope donates to the d. lands from the Labican and Tiburtine patrimonies: cf. P. Kehr, Italia Pontificia, I, Berlin 1906, p. 97.

Church founded shortly before on the ruins of the Thermae Neronianae-Alexandrinae. Region Augustea IX.
Gregory III (731–41):
2. SS. Sergius and Bacchus near St. Peter: the Pope enlarges the buildings of the d. and its small oratory: Lib. Pont., I, p. 420. No further trace of it is found.

3. * St. Mary in Ciro (or in Aquiro): the Pope transforms the small oratory of the d. into a basilica and adorns it with paintings: Lib. Pont., I, p. 419. The Basilica seems to have been founded on the precinct of the temple of Matidia. Region Augustea IX.
Zachary (741–52):
4. * St. George in Velabro (ad Velum aureum): the Pope donates to this d. the head of St. George: Lib. Pont., I, p. 434. The 7th-century basilica seems to replace, as it were, an ancient oratory from the end of the 5th or beginning of the 6th century. Region Augustea XI. Ecclesiastical region “secunda ad Velum aureum.”

5. **S. Maria Antiqua**: Teodoto, “primicerio defensorum” and “dispensatore” of the diaconia, has it decorated with frescoes in the chapel of SS. Quiricus and Julietta; Pope Zachary is depicted there with a square nimbus, indicating he was still alive. The church, built between the 5th and 6th centuries, occupies the *atrium Minervae*, where the diplomas of discharged legionaries were preserved; it was repeatedly restored and decorated. Region Augustea X. Pope Leo IV (847–85), seeing it was in danger of collapse, transferred the diaconia to the church of S. Maria Nova (now S. Francesca Romana), which he had built near the Via Sacra. Alexander VII, in the consistory of 14 January 1664, transferred this cardinalatial diaconia to *S. Maria della Scala (cf. G. Novaes, Elementi della storia de’ SS. Pontefici..., X, Rome 1822, p. 141).

Stephen II (111) (752–57):
6. *S. Paolo Apostolo (S. Archangeli [806], later S. Angeli piscium venalium, de piscivendulis, in Foro piscium: S. Angelo in Pescheria): a church and diaconia erected in the Portico of Octavia (1 June 755), as attested by an inscription, by the primicerio Teodoto “Pater uius benefiis diaconiae,” uncle of Pope Hadrian I. Region Augustea IX.
7. S. Maria Foris portam (sic!) B. Petri or in caput porticus.
8. S. Sylvester iuxta hospitale S. Silvestri: the Pope entrusted to these two suburban diaconiae, near S. Peter, the two xenodochia he had founded in the vicinity of the same basilica. Having fallen into decay, they were reconstituted by Hadrian I: Lib. Pont., I, pp. 441, 506.

9. *S. Maria in Cosmedin: Duke Eustathius donated landed property to the diaconia of which he was “dispensator,” as shown by an original inscription. Originally a small church (6th century), built in the merchants’ loggia (statio annonae), it was transformed into a true basilica by Hadrian I: Lib. Pont., I, p. 507. Region Augusta XI.
**HADRIAN I (772–95):**
10. SS. Sergius and Bacchus sub Capitolio: the Pope rebuilt it after the “dispensator’s” negligence caused the collapse of the overlying Temple of Concord onto it: Lib. Pont., I, p. 512. The church, now vanished, stood between the *rostra vetera*, the *umbilicus urbis*, and the Arch of Septimius Severus. Region Augusta VIII.
11. *SS. Cosmas and Damian, a diaconia erected by Pope Hadrian: Lib. Pont., I, p. 509; the basilica, arising from the transformation of a large abandoned secular hall by Pope Felix IV (526–30), was restored by Hadrian. Region Augusta IV.
12. S. Hadrian, a diaconia erected by Pope Hadrian: Lib. Pont., I, p. 509, near the church built by Honorius I (625–38) in the *curia senatus* and restored by Hadrian: Lib. Pont., I, pp. 324, 508, 509. Region Augusta VIII. The cardinalatial diaconia, owing to the destruction of the church during the restoration of the ancient Curia of the Senate, was transferred by Pius XII on 25 January 1946 to S. Paolo Apostolo alla Regola (cf. AAS, 39 [1947], pp. 54–55).

13. S. Maria quae ponitur in Adrianum (in Hadrianio, or in Transpadina), a diaconia erected by Hadrian near the Mausoleum of Hadrian: Lib. Pont., I, pp. 505–506.

**LEO III (795–816):**
14. *S. Maria in Domnica, which received various donations from the Pope, notably in 806: Lib. Pont., II, pp. 9, 14, 16, 19, 30; the basilica was built over rooms of the *domus* of the 5th cohort of the Vigiles; rebuilt by Paschal I (817–20): Lib. Pont. II, p. 55. Region Augusta II.
15. S. Lucy in Orphea (after the 10th century, in Silice), which received donations, as above: Lib. Pont., II, pp. 21, 28; the church was built by Honorius I near the monumental fountain “lacus orphei”: Lib. Pont., I, p. 324. Region Augusta III.
16. *S. Vitus in Macello, which received donations, as above: Lib. Pont., II, pp. 12, 21; the church was built in the immediate vicinity of the *Macellum Liviae*. Region Augusta V. In the lists of diaconiae by John the Deacon and Peter Mallius from the second half of the 12th century, the church “S. Quirici” (SS. Quiricus and Julietta) appears in place of S. Vitus (cf. ed. by R. Valentini and G. Zucchetti, Cod. top. della città di Roma, III, Rome 1946, pp. 361, 438). It is difficult to explain this substitution, which was nevertheless temporary.

17. S. Agatha in Diaconia (or de Caballo or in Equo Marmoreo), which received donations, as above: Lib. Pont., II, pp. 12, 22, 28, 32; the church stood on the southern side of the Alta Semita, the site of today’s public garden of the Quirinal. Region Augusta VI. This diaconia must not be confused with the basilica of *S. Agatha de Subura, which became a cardinalatial diaconia only in the first half of the 16th century, by which time the church of “S. Agatha in diaconia” had fallen into ruin.

18. *S. Maria in via Lata, which received donations, as above: Lib. Pont., II, pp. 12, 19; the church was built over an *horreum*: an ancient oratory with paintings from the late 5th and early 6th centuries (cf. E. Sjöqvist, cited in bibliography). Region Augusta IX.
19. S. Theodore, which received donations, as above: Lib. Pont., II, pp. 12, 21; the church was built in the second courtyard of the *horrea Agrippiana* (6th–7th century). Region Augusta X.
20. S. Lucy in Septem viae (or in Septem Solitis), which received donations, as above: Lib. Pont., II, pp. 11, 21; the church was built between the *caput circi* (Circus Maximus) and the Septizonium. Region Augusta X.
21. SS. Nereus and Achilleus, which received donations, as above: Lib. Pont., II, pp. 9, 21, 33; a titular church already in the 4th century, it became a diaconia (8th century), then reverted to a presbyteral title. Region Augusta XII.
(from H. Lanciani, *Forma Urbis Romae*, Milan 1853–1901, fol. 5)

**DIACONIA** – Plan of S. Maria in Cosmedin after its reconstruction by Hadrian I, with the underlying remains of Roman monuments. The single nave of the diaconia’s small church occupied, transversely, part of the merchants’ loggia, i.e., the Statio Annonae – Rome.

donations, as above: Lib. Pont., II, pp. 9, 21; church built at the end of the 6th or beginning of the 7th century. Region Augusta XIII. These last two diaconiae were replaced, at an indeterminate date certainly before the start of the 12th century, by *S. Nicholas in Carcere, to which was later entrusted the care of prisoners, and by *S. Maria in Porticu.

23. S. Sylvester and Martin iuxta Orphea, which received donations, as above: Lib. Pont., II, p. 22; this is the titular church of the same name temporarily functioning as a diaconia. Region Augusta III.
24. S. Martin iuxta B. Petrum (or de Cortina or de Porticu), which received donations, as above: Lib. Pont., II, p. 22; a small church that disappeared in the enlargement of St Peter’s Square.

As can be seen, the golden age of the Roman diaconiae fell during the pontificates of Hadrian I and Leo III: at the death of the former there were 19; at that of the latter, 24, including the suburban ones. The number of urban diaconiae from Hadrian I to Sixtus V normally remained at 18.

III. **TRANSFORMATION OF THE D. IN ROME.** – For the entire 10th century and part of the 11th, nothing is known of the functioning of the Roman diaconiae; only a few names of figures who headed diaconal churches are known, such as the archpriest John, apparently of S. George in Velabro (cf. P. Batiffol, *Inscriptions byzantines de St-Georges au Vélabre*, in *Mélanges d'arch. et d'hist.*, 7 [1887], pp. 426–29; A. Silvagni, *Monumenta epigraphica Christiana Roma*, I, Vatican City 1943, tav. XXXIV, 4); Pope John XII (955–64), erroneously listed as titular of S. Mariae quae vocatur in Dominico, and Pope Benedict VI (973–74), formerly of the diaconia of S. Theodore (cf. the list of 10th-century popes compiled in 989 and prefixed to the itinerary of Archbishop Sigeric: Lib. Pont., II, p. XV and B. Pesci, *L'itinerario romano di Signerico arciv. di Canterbury e la lista dei papi da lui portata in Inghilterra* (a. 990), in *Riv. di archeol. crist.*, 13 [1936], pp. 49, 59).

The diaconiae reappear in the 11th century, with a completely new aspect, in a folkloristic document describing the *Cornomania* (q.v.), a sacred-profane feast of Holy Saturday that fell into disuse under the pontificate of Gregory VII (1073–85). The diaconiae, always numbering 18, are presented as parishes with their own clergy under the direction of an archpriest: “omnes archipresbyteri XVIII diaconiarum post prandium predicti diei sonant campanas et omnis populus sue parrochie concurrit ad ecclesiam” (cf.

The edition by L. Duchesne, in *Le Liber Censuum*, II, Paris 1905, p. 171). The archpriest could sometimes also be a cardinal, as was the case between 1070 and 1081 with Peter the Chancellor and cardinal of the Holy Roman Church, *prior atque rector*, or *rector ac aumen-tator* (= dispensator) of S. Maria “which was formerly called the old one, but now the new” (cf. P. Fedele, *Tabularum S. Mariae Novae*, in *Archivio della Soc. rom. di storia patria*, 23 [1900], pp. 224 ff.), and with Falco, cardinal of the Holy Apostolic See, *rector et dispensator* of the “venerable monastery of the Holy Martyrs Cosmas and Damian, which is called Mica aurea” (cf. P. Fedele, *Carte del monastero dei SS. Cosma e Damiano in Mica Aurea*, ibid., 22 [1899], pp. 412 ff.). Closely connected with this new aspect is the fact, recorded in the *Ordines* of the 12th century by Canon Benedict, Albinus, and Cencio Camerarius, that the clergy and people of the deaconries, with their 18 banners (“eighteen images are carried forth by the deacons, and with the clergy and people they come to St Adrian’s” [Benedict], “eighteen images of the Blessed Mary are borne by eighteen deacons” [Albinus]), took part in the solemn morning processions that set out for S. Maria Maggiore for the celebration of the “station” of the Purification, the Annunciation, and the Nativity (cf. the ed. by L. Duchesne, in *Le Liber Censuum*, I, Paris 1889-1910, p. 293 [Cencio]; II, ibid. 1905, pp. 128 [Albinus], 148-49 [Benedict], 168 [Catalogue of Popes with liturgical prescriptions]). Moreover: with the reorganization of the college of cardinals in the second half of the 11th century, the churches of the deaconries began to be assigned to cardinal deacons, as is evident from a constitution of Urban II, 1088-99 (cf. the ed. by P. Kehr, *Nachträge zu den Papsturkunden Italiens II.*, in *Nachrichten* of Göttingen, 1908, pp. 228-29). Under Paschal II (1099-1118), the eighteen cardinal deacons began, following the example of the cardinal priests, to add to their respective names that of their church in their subscriptions: for example, “Gregory cardinal deacon of S. Angelo; Romanus cardinal deacon of S. Maria in Porticu; Guido cardinal deacon of SS. Cosmas and Damian near the temple of Rome,” etc. (cf. P. Kehr, *art. cit.*, p. 232 ff.; B. Katterbach-W. M. Peitz, *Die Unterschriften der Päpste und Kardinäle in den «Bullae Maiores» vom 11. bis 14. Jhdt.*, in *Miscellanea F. Ehrle [Studi e Testi*, 40], Rome 1924, pp. 177-262; W. Klewitz, *Die Entstehung des Kardinalskollegiums*, in *Zeitschr. der Savigny-Stiftung f. Rechtsgeschichte*, 25 [1936], pp. 115-221, especially pp. 176-204, 218-21). The *Descriptio Lateranensis Ecclesiae*, in its three recensions (late 11th-12th cent.), alludes to these cardinal deacons when it speaks of the 6 palatine deacons with the archdeacon at their head and the 12 regional deacons who were to take part in the papal liturgy: “These eighteen deacons have as many churches within the walls of the city, yet all are canons of the patriarchal basilica of the Lateran” (ed. R. Valentini-G. Zucchetti, *Cod. top. della città di Roma*, III, Rome 1946, p. 345). The church of the archdeacon was S. Maria in Domnica (one deacon thus remained without a church). In this way, by the 12th century, the deaconry churches had received the assignment they still retain today. Their charitable function had now passed away, and other charitable institutions had taken their place, such as the national *Scholae peregrinorum* that provided for the needs of pious pilgrims and the numerous hospices and hospitals for the poor. Thus far removed from this substitution is G. Cassander (*Ordo Romanus de officio Missae*, Cologne 1561, p. 61) when he writes that “Diaconiae sic dicta sunt hospitalia pauperum cum suis capellis.”

Sistus V, with the constitution *Religiosa* of 13 April 1587 (§ 3), reduced the deaconry churches to 14 (cf. *Cod. Iuris Can. Fontes*, I, Rome 1926, no. 160, p. 295), and the number of cardinal deacons is still 14 (CIC, can. 231). However, there are now 16 deaconry churches, since in 1600 Clement VIII declared the church of S. Caesarius in Appia (erroneously called “in Palatio”; cf. V. Forcella, *Iscrizioni*, XII, Rome 1878, p. 253), a presbyteral title erected by Leo X in 1517 but suppressed by Sixtus V, to be a deaconry, and in 1725 (Consistory of 23 July: *Diario di Roma*, no. 1246) Benedict XIII erected S. Maria ad Martyres (Pannheorn) as a deaconry, a title transferred, on 26 May 1929, following the Concordat with the Italian State, to S. Apollinare (cf. AAS, 21 [1929], pp. 308-309). “Vedi tav. XCIII.