ISERNIA AND VENAFRO, DIOCESE OF. — United dioceses, suffragans of Capua, in Campania. Over an area of 714 sq. km. there is a population of 53,000 inhabitants, all Catholics, with 41 parishes, 68 diocesan priests and 7 religious priests, one seminary, 2 male and 5 female religious communities (1949).
The origins of I. are lost in legend. According to the opinion now most widely accepted, they go back to the Oscans, as is documented by numerous inscriptions discovered and by the name Aisernion itself, found on certain coins and meaning stone in the Oscan language, and hence a city built on stones. It was a Roman colony with the right to mint coins from 265 B.C.; it always remained loyal to Rome. It enjoyed pre-eminence over all the Samnite cities, even during the Social Wars. The Christian origins of I. date back to the 5th century. The first bishop mentioned by Ughelli is a certain St. Benedict, not well identified, whose body is preserved beneath the high altar of the Cathedral. Other sporadic names then follow in the succession of bishops until 942; from that time onward the succession becomes uninterrupted. In 1182 Pope Lucius III placed the diocese of I. under papal protection, uniting to it the neighboring diocese of V. In 1302, the two dioceses were again united by Adenolfo, archbishop of Capua, and entrusted to a certain Bishop Gerardo, whose bull of consecration, also containing the boundaries of the diocese, is preserved in the Historical Archives of the Cathedral. Separated once again, the two dioceses were definitively united in 1852. The city of I. was razed to the ground by several earthquakes, in 847, 1349, and 1456; to these were added the destruction and fires caused during the wars that devastated the peninsula throughout the Middle Ages. The cathedral of I. has been rebuilt several times, most recently after the bombings of September 1943, under which approximately 4,000 people perished. I. is the birthplace of St. Celestine V, pope. The cathedral of I. is dedicated to St. Peter; that of V. Loreto. V. VENAFRO.