GORIZIA, Archdiocese of. — In Venezia Giulia. The occupation of Aquileia, which, according to the agreements of 1445, should have remained under the temporal dominion of the Patriarch, accomplished in 1542 by the troops of Ferdinand I, King of Germany, out of spite against Venice, created a new political situation in the region. Ferdinand found it difficult to accept that a Venetian prelate held the title of Patriarch over so much of his territory in the southeast; moreover, there was a conflict of interests and borders with the Venetian Republic, which made political relations tense.
It is known that Ferdinand aimed to create a bishopric in G. to free himself as much as possible from dependence on the Patriarch. At that time, G. was a simple parish, detached from nearby Salcano, and had gained importance due to its location beneath the Castle, on the upper edge of the Friulian plain. Archduke Charles of Styria, son of Ferdinand, succeeded in 1574 in making it the head of an archdiocese, separating it from that of Aquileia; then, from 1583, he worked hard to establish a bishopric there, supported also by the papal nuncio in Graz. He encountered hostility from Venice and the Roman Curia and died (1591) before seeing his plan fulfilled. Some other attempts in the following century met with no better success, also because the endowment for the new foundation could not be secured. Contributions from Gorizian citizens (Gullin and Codelli) facilitated the execution of the plan, which found its strongest support in the reforming activity of Empress Maria Theresa. Benedict XIV, despite the tenacious opposition of the Venetian Republic and Patriarch Daniele Delfino, resolved the issue by first establishing in G. an apostolic vicariate, entrusted to Count Carlo Michele Attems, titular bishop of Pergamo (1749). On 9 July 1751, the same Pope, with the bull *Inimica nobis*, by which he suppressed the Patriarchate of Aquileia, established the Archbishop of G. for the territories subject to the Empire and appointed Attems as the first archbishop. The new archdiocese had as its suffragans: Pedena in Istria, Trieste, Trento, and Como. This arrangement did not last, however, because Joseph II, with the consent of Pius VI, in 1758 elevated the see of Ljubljana to an archdiocese, abolished the see of G., and instead established that of Gradisca. But on 12 September 1791, the Pope, in agreement with Emperor Leopold, reconstituted the episcopal see of G., or Gradisca, until Pius VIII on 27 July 1830 again elevated G. to a metropolitan see with the suffragan dioceses of Ljubljana, Trieste-Capodistria, Parenzo-Pola, and Veglia; after the war of 1915–18, Ljubljana and Veglia, included in Yugoslavia, have been immediately subject to the Holy See (1920). The territory of the diocese, after various vicissitudes, now consists solely of the Italian part with the seminary; it has an area of 103 km² and 168,000 inhabitants in 85 parishes, including Aquileia and Grado. The sanctuary of Monte Santo above G., famous throughout the region, remained in the territory assigned to Yugoslavia. In G., at the time of the division of the Patriarchate, the Treasury and part of the codices were assigned as the heir of the Patriarch of Aquileia. — See pl. LXV.