IMOLA, Diocese of. - City and diocese in the province of Bologna.
It has a population of 144,450 inhabitants, of whom 144,226 are Catholics; it has 132 parishes with 193 diocesan priests and 45 regulars, a seminary, 8 male religious communities and 25 female ones (1949).
I. is situated on the left bank of the Santerno, at the crossing between the Via Emilia and the Appia (Via Mazzini). The Romans called it "Forum Cornelii," after Cornelius Sulla (82 B.C.) or after Cornelius Scipio. It was a Roman municipium; "Imolas," although a pre-Roman name, was in use only from the Middle Ages onward.
It was devastated several times; in 552 by the Goths; it was subject to the exarchate of Ravenna, then sacked by the Lombards; Astolf ceded it to the Pope; in the 11th-12th centuries it was at war with Bologna, Faenza and Ravenna; it was then torn apart by civil wars; it fell under the rule of the Alidosi (1341-1424); it was then conquered by Galeazzo Sforza in 1434 and given as a dowry to Caterina Sforza, wife of Girolamo Riario (1473); in 1499 Cesare Borgia took possession of it, then the Sassatelli ruled, until in 1504 it passed to the Church, remaining so until the end of 1860. Christianity is attested by the martyrdom of St. Cassian (v.). Forum Cornelii was an episcopal see from as early as 373, as is attested by the well-known letter of St. Ambrose in which the bishop Constantius of Vibenzia is invited to visit the diocese, which at that moment was a vacant see.
St. Peter Chrysologus recalls the bishop Cornelius, "vita clarus, cunctis virtutibus ubique fulgens, operum magnitudine notus universis" (sermo 165: PL 52, 633); his successor was Proiectus, consecrated by Peter Chrysologus himself between 425 and 450 (ibid. 633-34); then Pacatianus in 502; some recall a St. Maurelius, whom however Lanzoni proposes to identify, like the namesake of Ferrara, with St. Maurelius of Angers; then Basilius, whose name is read on the altar of S. Maria in Pergolà (F. Lanzoni, Un antico vescovo di I., Faenza 1909).
The episcopal see was originally at the basilica of the martyr St. Cassian (v.), where a "castrum" soon arose, so much so that the bishop was sometimes called "episcopus S. Cassiani." Only after the destruction of the "castrum" did Bishop Enrico transfer the see to I. in 1187.
The diocese was at first dependent on Milan, but already by about the middle of the 5th century, that is, in the time of St. Peter Chrysologus, it was under Ravenna, then under Bologna from 1582 to 1604 and from then again a suffragan of Ravenna; since 1872 it has been a suffragan of Bologna.
The Cathedral (S. Cassiano), erected in 1187-1251, was rebuilt by Bishop Sinibaldo (1270-91); rebuilt by C. Morelli and consecrated by Pius VI in 1782; the bell tower is from the end of the 15th century, the facade from the 19th century. The interior is in the form of a Latin cross, with three naves divided by pillars. Beneath the raised presbytery is the crypt with Ionic columns, containing the relics of St. Cassian. St. Peter Chrysologus is buried in the church. In the treasury, the paten known as that of St. Peter Chrysologus is from the 11th century; the Capitular Archive contains documents from the 10th century. The collegiate church of S. Lorenzo is very ancient, restored by R. Alidosi in 997 and endowed by the noblewoman Guilla in 1033. Also of ancient date is the Benedictine abbey of S. Maria in Regula, "in Arenula," mentioned in 1151 in a bull of Eugene III; it later passed to the Olivetans in 1564, then held in commendam; today the bell tower of 1181 still remains, but the church has been entirely restored; King Sigismund of Burgundy (1372) is buried there. Another Benedictine abbey mentioned in the aforementioned bull is that of S. Matteo. The monastery of S. Maria and S. Stefano "in diaconia" first received the Benedictine nuns and later the nuns of the B. Maria della Misericordia. Mention is also made of S. Maria delle Grazie, or the church of the Osservanza, with remains of the tribune of Julius II; in the portico there is a fresco of the Madonna attributed to B. Vivarini (1430-99). Noteworthy is the sanctuary of the Madonna del Piratello, erected in 1491 through the offerings of the citizens (G. F. Cortini, La Madonna del Piratello, Imola 1889). S. Domenico, with its ancient portal by Giacomo di Bernardo di Cereto of I. (1340), preserves votive frescoes of the 14th-15th centuries and a painting with the martyrdom of St. Ursula by L. Carracci (1600). In the convent annexed to the church of S. Francesco are located the Library, the Picture Gallery, the Museum and the Municipal Archive with documents from the 13th century onward.
Among the bishops of I. are remembered G. Dandino (1546-1552); F. Ghigi (1652-55), later Alexander VII; Barnaba Gregorio Chiaramonti (1785-1800), later Pius VII; Giovanni M. Mastai Ferretti (1832-46), later Pius IX. From Fagnano in the diocese of I. came Lamberto, later Honorius II (1124-1130); from I. came the Dante scholar Benvenuto Rambaldi, known as Benvenuto da I. (1306-90); the painter Innocenzo Francucci, known as Innocenzo da I. (1490-1547); the architect Cosimo Morelli (1732-1812).