MARTIRANO. - Ancient diocese in the province of Catanzaro, in Calabria. The small town lies on the slopes of the Sila, in the valley of the Savuto (Sabatum), which flows into the Plain of St. Euphemia, the ancient Clampetia. It is very doubtful that it is the Roman Mamertum of Strabo. As a diocese it is of Latin institution, and its existence is attested only from the middle of the 11th century.
Therefore the bishops before the year 1000, remembered by Ughelli, Lucenzio, Fiore and Gams, refer to Marturianum in southern Tuscia. The oldest mention of M. is in the bull of Stephen IX, of 6 March 1058, where it stands among the suffragans of Salerno. Shortly afterwards, however, it appears as the sole suffragan of Cosenza, which around that time was raised to a metropolis. It remained such until its suppression, in 1818, when it was aggregated to Nicastro.
The diocese of M. was very small: besides the episcopal see, it comprised Conflenti, Motta S. Lucia and Scigliano, in all fewer than 10,000 souls. Within its territory was the Cistercian monastery of Corazzo, in which Joachim of Fiore was abbot.
Of its prelates the following deserve mention: Filippo di Matera of Cosenza, grand chancellor of Frederick II; Rinaldo d'Aquino, man of letters and jurist of the second half of the 13th century; Angelo Greco, humanist; the Milanese Aurelio Bienato; Giacomo Palamolla.
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Francesco Russo