FERENTINO, DIOCESE OF. — In the province of Frosinone, immediately subject to the Holy See; area 353 sq. km.; population 55,000, of whom approximately 15,500 in the municipality of F.; 29 parishes; 44 diocesan priests and 32 religious; 21 male and 86 female religious communities; minor seminary (1948); patron saint, St. Ambrose the Martyr.
F. was a city of the Hernici, conquered by Rome in 413 and 361 B.C., to which it remained faithful. It was sacked by the Saracens, but soon passed under the dominion of the Church. After 1900 the municipality developed there, and it was often the residence of the popes, particularly Alexander III. In 1225 Honorius III convened there a congress with the king of Jerusalem and Frederick II, who promised to depart for the Crusade but subsequently postponed the expedition.
It is uncertain when Christianity was introduced into F., and the first historically certain bishop is Bassus, who was present at the Roman Synods of 487 and 492. It should be noted that the compilers of the catalogues often confused the prelates of Ferento in Etruria with those of F. ■ Bishop Bono, on 16 April 556, consecrated Pelagius I. St. Gregory relates that Redento, bishop Ferentino civitatis, during his pastoral visitation stopped one evening to refresh himself at the church of the martyr Eutychius, who appeared to him during the night (Dial., III, 38; PL. 77, 316). Others worthy of note are: Trasmondo (1150), who died in prison; Ubaldo (1148), legate of Adrian IV to the Christian princes for the Crusade and previously the consecrator of the antipope Victor IV; Giacomo (1255), legate of John XXI to the emperor Michael Palaeologus; Landolfo de' Rossi (1298), who rendered excellent services to Boniface VIII; Francesco Filipperi (1499), legate of Julius II to the emperor Maximilian.
Novidius Flaccus (c. 1476), poet and author of the Fasti cristiani, modelled on those of Ovid, was from F.
MONUMENTS. — Massive polygonal walls, well preserved and partly fortified, dating from the early Sullan period; a 2nd-century theatre; a probable temple beneath the episcopal palace; the will of Aulus Quintilius, who in the time of Trajan owed money and land to F.; the Romanesque-ogival church of S. Francesco (1277–82); that of S. Valentino, with a small bell tower featuring biforate windows; S. Maria Maggiore (13th century), with a Latin-cross interior inspired by Fossanova; the Romanesque cathedral, dedicated to SS. Giovanni and Paolo, with a pavement by Paolo marmorario (c. 1116), a ciborium by Drudo de Trivio (13th century), and, in the cellars of the episcopal palace, the disassembled 9th-century ciborium.
The famous monastery of S. Maria in Fiume flourished in the diocese; it was erected in 1196 by Count Giovanni and Cardinal Giordano dei conti di Ceccano. — Vedi tav. LXXVI.