FIDENZA, DIOCESE OF. – In Emilia, in the province of Parma. The Church of F. traces its earliest origins to the cult of the martyr St DONNINUS, which developed at the site of ancient Iulia Fidentia. A legendary narrative (Passio s. Domnini, BHL, 2264), certainly later than the 5th century, relates that Donninus, a cup-bearer to the emperor Maximian, fleeing along the Via Aemilia, was captured 12 miles from Iulia Chrysopolis (Parma), near the river Stirone, and there beheaded and buried. It does not seem that St Donninus is a local martyr, but rather to be identified, from many significant indications, with the better-known Palestinian martyr commemorated in the Martyrologium Hieronymianum on 5 November. However, at this place there arose and became established that
FIDENZA, DIOCESE OF. – Façade of the Cathedral (12th–13th c.).