GERACE, DIOCESE of - G., in southern Calabria, in the province of Reggio, at 480 m. above sea level, on a plateau that joins Aspromonte to the Serre. It is the heir of Locri Epizefirii, a Greek colony founded in 673, a republic rival of Reggio and of Crotone, which in the legislation of Zaleucus had the oldest written code in all of Europe. Conquered by Scipio Africanus in 205 B.C., it lost its importance throughout the Roman period and was destroyed by the Saracens in the 7th century. The surviving inhabitants took refuge on the mountain, giving origin to G. Superiore, called S. Ciriaca in the Greek documents. The bishopric also moved there, contrary to what Ughelli writes, who speaks of a union of the bishopric of Locri with that of G. In reality, in the medieval documents mention is always made of only one bishop: of Locri from the beginning to the 7th century; of S. Ciriaca in the Greek documents, that is, in the 7th-11th centuries; of G. in the Latin documents, that is, from the 11th century onward.
The d. of G. is among the oldest in Calabria: a Christian inscription of 501, found in its territory, attests to the vitality of Christianity as early as the 4th century. Local writers recall a Basil, who in 451 would have taken part in the Council of Chalcedon, where he signs himself bishop of Paleopoli, which would be the designation adopted by Locri in the early Middle Ages. But besides the fact that the designation would be premature for that date, there is no doubt that this is a misappropriation, since no Italian bishop participated at Chalcedon, apart from the papal legates, and therefore the Paleopoli named is the homonymous city of the East. Even the bishop Peter, who took part in the Council of Felix III in 487, according to Lanzoni, is not "episcopus Locrensis," but "Locrensis," that is, of Loro in Etruria.
St. Gregory the Great mentions the church of Locri several times. From his Registro it emerges that in 597, upon the death of the bishop Dolcinus, the people sent to Rome the proposal of a candidate whom the Pope could not accept; a priest of Tauriano named Marcian had to be sought near Catania, who received pontifical approval.
In the 8th century G., like all the other dioceses of Calabria, was detached from Rome and aggregated to the patriarchate of Constantinople, which, having created the metropolis of Reggio, also assigned G. to it as a suffragan. The Normans brought the dioceses of Calabria back under the dependence of Rome, but the Byzantine circumscriptions were maintained and therefore G. always remained a suffragan of Reggio. The Greek rite, however, lasted there for a very long time, having been suppressed there by Athanasius Calceopilus in 1461. In its territory Greek monasteries abounded and many bishops were Basilian monks.
Among its prelates, besides Calceopilus, who in 1472 also received the diocese of Oppido, which remained united to G. for half a century, are to be remembered Gioannicio and Giovanni Tirso, a Basilian monk of the first half of the 14th century, of holy life; the monk Barlaam of Seminara, the greatest controversialist of the 14th century, Petrarch's teacher of Greek and a forerunner of Humanism; Simone Atumano, a most learned biblical scholar; the Carafa, Oliviero Caraffa, Bandinello Saulio, Francesco Armellino Medici and Alessandro Cesarini, all of the 16th century; Andrea Candida (1552-74) who erected the Seminary, and Ottaviano Pasqua (1574-91), who collected the memorials of his predecessors.
The cathedral of G. is one of the most interesting buildings in Calabria. It was built by the Normans; the central nave rests on 24 columns, coming from ancient Locri. It has a magnificent carved choir.
In the diocese, in the commune of S. Luca, is found the sanctuary of the Madonna di Polsi, of Basilian origin, one of the most famous and most frequented in the region, and the Basilian abbeys of St. Nicodemus of Mammola and of St. Nicholas of Butramo.
Native to G. are Sts. Iciunio and Anthony, Basilians; the b. Anthony, Capuchin, the ven. Jerome, Dominican; the ven. Bonaventura Perna, Conventual. Mammola, a smiling little town of the diocese, famous for the Basilian monastery of St. Nicodemus, who died there in 990, gave birth to Apollinare Agresta and Giuseppe Del Pozzo, generals of the Basilian Order, and to Gian Crisostomo Scarfò, Basilian monk and esteemed writer of the 18th century.
The d. of G. measures 3500 sq km.; it has 20 vicariates, with 73 parishes, 107 diocesan and regular priests, a population of 148,700 Catholics out of 149,000 inhabitants.