FIESOLE, DIOCESE OF. - A city in Tuscany, suffragane of Florence since 1420. Its territory is varied and extensive; it extends to parts of the valleys of the Sieve, in its lower course, the Arno, in its middle course, and the Pesa; it reaches and crosses the passes of the Tuscan-Romagnol Apennines, embraces part of the Casentino, and insinuates itself between the slopes of the Chianti. Formerly it was even more extensive; in 1592 some peoples of the Chianti and the Valdelsa were dismembered from F. and assigned to the newly constituted diocese of Colle Valdelsa. Within its perimeter the diocese borders on those of Florence, Modigliana, Sansepolcro, Arezzo, Siena, and Colle Valdelsa. It has a population of 180,000, distributed in 256 parishes and 20 deaneries. Priests: 275. Male religious houses: 19; female: 61. It possesses two seminaries: the major one founded in F. in 1637 by Monsignor Lorenzo Della Robbia. It underwent notable expansions under the bishops F. M. Ginori, R. Mancini, and G. B. Parretti. The minor one was opened at Strada in 1828-29 by Monsignor G. B. Parretti. The bishop holds the title of Count of Turicchi. The patron of the city and diocese is St. Romulus, bishop and martyr.
HISTORICAL NOTES. -
I. Civil history
F. arose on the crescent-shaped hill, a strong Etruscan acropolis overlooking the Arno to guard the routes by which the Etruscan cities on the hither side of the Apennines communicated with those beyond. It is difficult to determine the epoch of its origin; perhaps it dates back to the 8th or 9th century B.C. But it is not excluded that before F. there existed on the site an ancient Italic municipality. Equally difficult is it to establish what part it played in the league of the ancient cities of Etruria. The earliest mention of F. is found in the writers of the Greco-Roman period: D'Acquasola in Dionysius of Halicarnassus, D'Acquasola in Polybius. Its name is first recalled at the advent of the Gauls into Italy; it cooperated in the resistance of the Roman armies against Hannibal, who, after the Ticinus and the Trebia, invading central Italy, also moved in the direction of F. At Cannae the Fiesolan troops supported the Roman alongside the Carthaginian onslaught; Silius Italicus recalls them in the Punica as skilled in haruspicy. A military colony was sent to F. by Sulla; when the conspiracy of Catiline broke out, the colonists, hostile to the Senate, welcomed Catiline the fugitive, who became their leader. Meanwhile, as Florence arose in the plain, the fortunes of F. were inevitably declining. Nevertheless, the name of F. recurs when Radagaisus with his Goths attempted the enterprise against Florence (405 A.D.). Subsequently, subjected to the Ostrogoths, it was besieged by the Greek troops of Belisarius (539 A.D.), to which F. succumbed; this facilitated the exodus of many of its citizens to nearby Florence. The defeat marked the beginning of its decline: the only institution to preserve its ancient prestige was the bishopric. In the 12th century mention is made of a deed accomplished by the Florentines against the Fiesolans, from whom they took the carroccio and other insignia, as well as their liberty. Then followed silence over F. The Florentines of the time of Cacciaguida spoke fables «of the Trojans, of F., and of Rome» (Paradiso, XV, 126). It is certain that many illustrious families of medieval Florence descended from F., such as the Adimari, the Caponsacchi, the Emperors, and the Pazzi. For centuries the fortunes of F. showed no sign of revival; «its history merged with that of Florence». Thus it was also during the grand duchy; only in times very close to our own, in the national renaissance, did F. begin to flourish again, transforming itself into the delightful little town it is today, sought after by tourists for its art and memories, and as a pleasant residence by Italians and foreigners alike.2. Religious history
Information concerning the spread of Christianity in F. is scarce and uncertain, as with other Tuscan dioceses. F. soon had its own bishop, despite the proximity of Florence; this was perhaps due to the autonomy of its civil institutions and the vastness of the territory under its jurisdiction. Hence also the extent of the diocesan circumscription, which still distinguishes it despite the eccentricity of its episcopal see. A Fiesolan bishop is mentioned in a letter of Pope Gelasius. At the Council of Constantinople, under Justinian, a bishop of F. named Rusticus was present. In the 6th century the poverty of the Fiesolan church was notorious, its goods subjected to spoliation and rapine during Lombard supremacy: so much so that Bishop Alexander, returning from the court of Authari, where he had defended the rights of his Church, was drowned in the Rhine by the usurpers. It was then that the basilica of St. Peter in Jerusalem, already built on the ruins of a pagan temple, received his remains and took the title of St. Alexander. But that such poverty persisted is attested by a petition of the priest Agrippinus and the deacon Servandus in favor of their Church, which Pope Gregory the Great commends to Venantius, bishop of Luni. Another bishop, Jesuilo, subscribed to a Roman council under Eugenius II (824-27). A learned and famous bishop was then the Irishman Donatus, venerated as a saint; not only because he obtained, even before Florence, recognition of ecclesiastical immunities, attended the coronation of Lothar II in Rome and the Roman councils under Leo IV and the Lateran council under Nicholas I, but also because, in the renaissance of studies after the capitulary of Olona, he taught his disciples grammata et schemata meritorum. Later, Teuzone the primicerius became celebrated as a master of grammar. It is recorded that in the 11th century Bishop Zanobius made a donation of certain goods to the clergy of the cathedral and of St. Alexander, on condition that they live in common, and provided numerous priests for vacant ministries in his diocese; while a predecessor of his, also named Zanobius, had obtained in his favor goods situated between Florence and F. But, without doubt, a bishop who marks an important moment in Fiesolan history is Jacobus Bavarus, for he transferred the relics of the patron St. Romulus from the ancient cathedral, located where the Badia Fiesolana now stands, to the new cathedral (11th century), which he himself had built on the upper part of the hill, the old one now being on the periphery of the city almost at the foot of the hill. And the new Duomo, thus arising, remained always the center and heart of civic life. Meanwhile, the wooded slopes of the diocese were being populated with illustrious cenobites, where monastic life began to flourish; there arose the abbeys of Vallombrosa, Passignano (which still houses the body of St. John Gualbert), Coltibuono, Montescalari, San Godenzo in Alpe, and the Badia Fiesolana. The blessed Charles of Montagrand was leading a penitential life near the summit of the Fiesolan hill, founding the religious order that was called of St. Jerome.In the Middle Ages the clergy of Fiesole exercised notable influence in municipal life. The *podestà* swore loyalty to the statutes in the church of S. Maria Primariana; in turn, on Easter Monday the clergy conducted the drawing of lots for the gonfalonier from among the prominent families of the city. The bishop exercised feudal jurisdiction over many lands, including the county of Turicchi, which Paschal II confirmed to him by bull, and in confirmation of which Honorius III also intervened; not without frequent jurisdictional conflicts first with the Florentine Republic and later with the Grand Duchy, until the bishop’s feudal jurisdiction came to an end with the incorporation of Tuscany into the French Empire. In the fourteenth century the diocese was distinguished by the episcopal ministry of St Andrew Corsini, under whose episcopate the cathedral was enlarged. Yet the bishops of Fiesole had already abandoned the city of their see. As early as 1228 the Florentine Republic had ceded to them, with full jurisdiction, the church of S. Maria in Campo, situated in the centre of Florence, so that they might reside there. And from that date this church still constitutes an oasis of Fiesolane ecclesiastical jurisdiction within the Florentine diocesan territory. Hence also the many names of Florentine patricians in the roll of bishops of Fiesole. In 1420
FIESOLE – diocese of – Convent of Blessed Francis.
(405 A.D.). Subsequently, subjected to the Ostrogoths, it was besieged by the Greek troops of Belisarius (539 A.D.), to which Fiesole succumbed; this facilitated the exodus of many of its citizens to nearby Florence. The defeat
FIESOLE – DAUGHTERS OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY, DAUGHTERS OF LOUÇON
Pope, III, Berlin 1908, pp. 73-80; E. Galli, F. the excavations and the civic museum, Milan 1914; Lanzoni, pp. 582-84; B. Quilici, The church of Florence in the early Middle Ages, Florence 1918, pp. 15 and passim; U. Dorini, The villa of Busini, ibid. 1940, p. 1 and passim; M. Lombardi, Fiesole, Istituto di studi romani 1941; M. Giuni and P. Guidi, Rotuli of Italian tithes in the 13th and 14th centuries, Vatican City 1942, pp. 89-138. Emilio Sanesi