MELEZIUS, bishop of Pontus, saint. — No cult was accorded to him in antiquity; it was introduced into the Martyrology of Usuard, whose calendar passed into the Roman Martyrology, where he is commemorated on December 4.
Little is known of his life, and the information comes from Eusebius of Caesarea, who knew him personally in Palestine. He was bishop of the churches of Pontus at the beginning of the 4th century and, during the persecution of Diocletian, took refuge in Palestine, where he remained for seven years. A man of vast learning, supremely eloquent and a profound reasoner, he inspired admiration in all who approached him; his holiness of life was equal to his erudition. He took part in the Council of Nicaea (325), where, despite the contrary assertion of Philostorgius, he was certainly among the defenders of the Catholic faith. Indeed, St. Athanasius (PG 25, 557) and St. Basil (ibid., 32, 208) praise him as a champion of orthodox doctrine. The time of his death is unknown.
MOLFI and RAPOLLA, DIOCESE OF... — A city and diocese in the province of Potenza, immediately subject to the Holy See. The union of the two sees took place on May 16, 1528. The diocese today has 51,000 inhabitants, of whom 50,380 are Catholics, with 41 churches, 36 diocesan priests and 2 regular priests, one seminary, and various religious institutes and houses. The current bishop (1951), Monsignor Petroni, has had the see of Venosa united to his *ad personam* since April 1, 1935 (1951).
The importance of Molfi begins with the Norman occupation of Apulia by the Hauteville family, who built a strong castle there, a bastion of their conquests, which they gradually extended at the expense of the Byzantines and the princes of Salerno, until they established a county. They withstood a siege there in 1061. According to a document of disputed authenticity, the archbishop of Canosa-Bari would have established the diocese of Molfi in August 1037. Not long afterward, a diocese was also erected at Rapolla, a mile from Molfi; nearby, a monk named Vitalis had founded a monastery toward the end of the 10th century. Pope Leo IX was in Molfi in 1050; Baldwin, bishop of Molfi, was present at the great reform council that Nicholas II held there in 1059 and at that which Alexander II held in 1067 to reorganize the disturbed ecclesiastical relations of the region. On September 10, 1089, Urban II held a third council there. The bishop of Molfi, who still appears subject to Canosa-Bari in the bull of Urban II dated October 9, 1089, was subjected directly to the Holy See by Paschal II. Bishop William was present at the council that this pope held in Molfi in November 1100. Molfi was then the scene of the struggle between Emperor Lothair II and Innocent II against Anacletus II and the Normans in May 1137.
Of Bishop Roger, information is available for the years 1153 and 1155, while Rudolph is known to have attended the Third Lateran Council of 1179, convoked by Alexander III. A bishop R... was deposed by Innocent III in 1215 for grave offenses. Among others worthy of mention are: the blessed Alexander of Sant’Elpidio, a most learned Augustinian hermit (1325–28), author of treatises and commentaries; Onofrio Fr. Sanseverino (1437), a Neapolitan who took part in the council held at Ferrara by Eugenius IV (1438) and built a large convent for the Observant Franciscans, which was destroyed in 1812.
MONUMENTS. — Molfi, repeatedly ruined by earthquakes, has preserved little of its monuments. Of the cathedral, only the bell tower remains, square on a high base, which bears two inscriptions with the name of the builder and the year of its erection: *Noslo Romerio 1153*, under Bishop Roger. In the upper part of the tower, the artist composed, with red and black stones from Mount Vulture, figures