LUCA, archbishop of COSENZA. - By some he is said to have been Campanian, by others a native of Cosenza. He was a Cistercian at Casamari when the abbot Gioacchino da Fiore arrived there in order to confer with Pope Lucio III at Veroli. On that occasion he employed him as a copyist and subsequently appointed him abbot of Sambucina in 1197.
He founded the abbey of Acquafornosa, enriched with possessions and privileges by the Normans. Elected archbishop of Cosenza in 1203, he received various delicate commissions from the Popes. Innocenzo III entrusted him with preaching the Crusade in Calabria and Sicily; Onorio III and Federico II chose him as arbiter in the disputes between the Basiliani of Patirion and the Florensi of S. Giovanni in Fiore concerning the pastures of the Sila. In February 1222 he solemnly inaugurated the cathedral of Cosenza, rebuilt by him, in the presence of Federico II, who gave him as a gift a precious enamelled Byzantine staurotheke. He died with a reputation for sanctity in 1224. Various works remained in manuscript; his biography of Gioacchino da Fiore is the principal source for the life of the celebrated prophet.