MARSI, DIOCESE OF. - In the province of L'Aquila, in Abruzzo. It extends over the region around Lake Fucino, now drained, covering 16,281 sq. km.; it has a population of 125,000 inhabitants, of whom 124,700 are Catholics. It comprises 85 parishes, served by 105 diocesan priests and 28 regular clergy; it has a seminary, 6 male religious communities and 30 female ones (Ann. Pont., 1951, p. 265). The diocese includes 30 communes in the province of L'Aquila. Originally a suffragan of Chieti, it later became immediately subject to the Holy See.
The name of the diocese is that of one of the oldest peoples of central Italy. A late *passio* (BHL, 1789) places in this region the martyrdom of the saints Simplicius, Costanzo and Vittoriano, entirely unknown to ancient documents. Lanzoni (I, pp. 364-65) believes that the bishop Vaticanus who subscribed to the Synod of 501 was bishop of the Marsi, probably with his seat at Caelena, near Lake Fucino. An Ioannes Marsicanus accompanied Pope Vigilius to Constantinople in 551 (Jaffé-Wattenbach, nos. 930, 935). St. Gregory relates that the Lombards placed monks and deacons in the land of the Marsi (Dialogues, IV, 21 and 23). But only the bulls of Paschal II (1114) and of Clement III (1118) fixed the boundaries of the diocese.
The first episcopal see was at S. Benedetto, with the cathedral of S. Sabina, a church now destroyed but believed to have been erected on the ruins of the Capitol of the ancient city of Marruvium. Benedict IX divided the diocese, but Stephen X (1057-58) reunited II. Gregory XIII, with the bull *In suprema dignitatis* of 1 January 1580, transferred the see to Pescina, elevating the church of the Madonna della Neve to the status of cathedral, which took the name of S. Maria delle Grazie and was completed in 1596 by Bishop B. Peretti. The episcopal residence is in Avezzano. The patron saint of the diocese is St. Sabinianus (29 Aug.).
Among the bishops are remembered: St. Berard of the counts of Marsi, later cardinal at the time of Paschal II; Nicola da Celano (1254); Bishop Jacopo (1276); Angelo Maccapani (1445); Cardinal Marcello Crescenzi (1533); Matteo Colli, who transferred the see to Pescina (1596); G. Paolo Caccia (1648); D. Pietra who restored the Seminary of Pescina (1664); F. Corradini (1680) and N. De Vecchi (1719).
The diocese enjoyed a flourishing development of sacred buildings, unfortunately partly destroyed by the earthquake of 1915. Among these are remembered at Alba Fucense, city of the Aequi, the pulpit in the Romanesque church of S. Pietro, work of the Roman marble-workers Giovanni and Andrea. At Luco dei Marsi the Romanesque church of S. Maria delle Grazie, rebuilt in the 13th century on the temple of the goddess Angitia. At Magliano dei Marsi, ancient Malleanum, the church of S. Luca, by the masters Giovanni and Martino. Ogival façade of the 15th century with portals of Cistercian type of the 15th century, four reliefs of the 13th century and frescoes of the 15th century; it was rebuilt after the earthquake of 1915. In the parish church of S. Maria di Loreto is the work of the Madonna with the Child (15th century). At Ortucchio, the church of S. Orante (a monk who came from Calabria, fl. 1413), formerly of S. Maria (bull of Paschal II, 25 Feb. 1115). At Rosciolo is noted S. Lucia in Valle Porclaneta, a Romanesque church prior to 1080, with a polygonal apse of 1200, in three orders of small columns, iconostasis, trilobate tabernacle, pulpit with scenes of Jonah, work of Roberto and Nicodemo of Guardiagrele. The church of S. Maria delle Grazie has the date 1456 on the architrave; Romanesque portal of the 13th century; restored in 1935. At Scurcola Marsicana the remains of the church of S. Maria della Vittoria erected by Charles of Anjou after the battle of Tagliacozzo in which he defeated Conradin of Swabia (23 Aug. 1268). Notable there is a polychrome wooden sculpture of the 13th century. At Trasacco (Trans Aquas) the church of the SS. Rufino and Cesidio with three naves and a fourth added in 1618; a wooden statue of S. Cesidio (1425); Romanesque baptismal font in the treasury and a processional cross of the 15th century.