MILETO, DIOCESE of. – City and diocese in the province of Catanzaro. It has a population of 400,000 inhabitants, all Catholics, distributed among 133 parishes, served by 240 diocesan and 47 religious priests; it has one seminary, 10 male and 42 female religious communities (1949).
It is mentioned neither by ancient historians nor by geographers; there are no archaeological remains attesting to its existence in the Magna Graecia or Roman period.
It must not be forgotten, however, that various seismic disturbances completely destroyed it, so that the present city stands more than 2 km. from the ancient one, razed to the ground by the earthquake of 1783. Its history begins and takes shape in the Norman period, when Count Ruggero made it the capital of his county in 1063 and in 1075 transferred to it the episcopal see of Vibona, which had been reduced to a heap of ruins by the barbarian invasions. This translation was confirmed by St. Gregorio VII in a bull dated 4 February 1081, mentioned by the historians of Mileto; its authenticity may nevertheless be doubted, if for no other reason than that the Pope says in it that he consecrated the first bishop, Arnolfo, and wishes his successors to be immediately subject to the Holy See, whereas in another bull of the same year he declares that he does not intend to derogate from the metropolitan rights of Reggio, submitting the matter to the arbitration of one of his delegates, the archbishop of Bari, and the bishop of Fermo. The see of M. nevertheless appears to have been immediately subject to the Holy See from its origins. The same Count Ruggero, after 1081 and before 1090, enlarged its territory by incorporating the diocese of Tauriano, which had been reduced to the same condition as that of Vibona. In this way M., in extent and population, holds first place in Calabria. Its founder immediately enriched it with a magnificent cathedral, in which the columns of the old Greek temple of Vibona were used; for centuries his mortal remains rested there together with those of his second wife. The sarcophagus, however, is currently in Naples. There was also the Benedictine abbey of the Most Holy Trinity, endowed with episcopal jurisdiction, which surpassed every other in the region in wealth and power.
Although M. was the first Latin episcopate founded by the Normans in Calabria, its vast territory retained a Byzantine imprint for centuries, because of the many Greek monasteries that flourished there. Among these should be remembered that of SS. Elia and Filarete, on Monte S. Elia, between Palmi and Seminara, which preserved the body of S. Filarete, a Calabrian-Greek ascetic of the 11th century; that of S. Elia di Galatro, which possessed a distinguished relic of s. Elia Speleota; that of S. Maria di Rovito near Rosarno; that of S. Onofrio del Cao, near Vibo Valentia; those of S. Pietro Spina and S. Lorenzo, near Arena; that of S. Elia di Melicuccà; that of S. Giorgio Morgeto; that of S. Costantino di Briatico; that of S. Eufemia di Aspromonte; and that of S. Bartolomeo di Trigonio, near Sinopoli, founded by s. Bartolomeo di Simeri, who also founded the Patirion of Rossano and S. Salvatore of Messina. Among the Latin foundations, besides the abbey of the Most Holy Trinity, mention should be made of the numerous Franciscan, Augustinian, Minims, and Jesuit convents scattered throughout the diocese, and especially the convents of S. Giorgio Morgeto and S. Domenico di Soriano, belonging to the Friars Preachers. The latter became a celebrated shrine, attracting pilgrims from as far away as France and Spain; its immense buildings, with four cloisters, housed approximately 200 friars. The earthquake of 1783 destroyed it, but the religious still maintain a flourishing college there today. Other shrines of the diocese are those of Madonna di Vallelunga, Madonna dei Poveri of Seminara, and S. Elia, near Palmi.
The Calabrian-Greek saints Onofrio and Elena, his sister; Fantino of Tauriano; Leoluca of Corleone, whose relics are venerated in Vibo Valentia; Luca of Melicuccà, bishop of Isola, etc.; and, among the Latins, the Benedictine B. Randisio of Borrello, b. Paolo of M., a Dominican, and b. Paolo da Sinopoli, who was one of the architects of the Observance, bring honor to the diocese of M. Among the ecclesiastics, the following distinguished themselves through their works and learning: cardd. Filippo Spinelli of Seminara, Francesco Maria Pignatelli of Rosarno, and Luigi Ruffo-Scilla of S. Onofrio; the monk Barlaam of Seminara, the greatest controversialist of the 14th century, and Leonzio Pilato, Boccaccio’s teacher; the priest Gabriele Barrio, of Francia, regarded as the Herodotus of Calabria; the Franciscan Girolamo Marafioti of Polistena and the priest Giuseppe Gatti of Vibo Valentia, regional historians; Andrea Serrao of Castelmonardo, bishop of Potenza, who died assassinated, and the canonist Domenico Cavallari of Garopoli, both of Jansenist tendencies; and mons. Domenico Taccone-Gallucci, bishop of Nicotera and Tropea. To these must be added Count
Vito Capialbi of Vibo Valentia, who in the previous century made the most notable historical and documentary contribution to the ecclesiastical history of Calabria.
Among the more recent prelates, V. M. Armentano, F. Mincione, G. Morabito, and P. Albera deserve particular mention, the last being especially deserving of recognition for the measures he took on behalf of the entire diocese and the seminary after the destruction caused by the earthquake of 1908.