ARCHDIOCESE OF MODENA. - It is situated on the consular Via Emilia, in a fertile region, between the Secchia and Panaro rivers. It is a provincial capital, metropolitan since 22 Aug. 1855, with the suffragan sees of Reggio Emilia, Carpi, Guastalla. It is the seat of the regional ecclesiastical tribunal of Emilia. The abbey of Nonantola (v.) has been united to it in perpetuity since 1 May 1926, having previously been held in commendam from 15 Dec. 1820. Area 2,200 sq. km., with 340,500 inhabitants, of whom 340,000 are Catholics. Parishes 218, diocesan priests 354, regulars 80; 14 male and 26 female communities, 5 seminaries: the major one, formerly with a faculty of theology, at M.; the minor ones at Nonantola and Fiumalbo. Its patron is the greatly venerated bishop of M. and wonder-worker St. Geminianus.
I. CIVIL HISTORY
It begins with the Boii of Cisalpine Gaul. In the 3rd century B.C. it passed to the Romans. From 88 B.C. it was the theater of sieges and struggles between Pompey and Brutus, Brutus and Mark Antony, Mark Antony and Octavian, giving Cicero (Philippica V, 9, 5) occasion to call Modena "firmissimam et splendidissimam populi Romani coloniam".
It likewise declined during the barbarian invasions, but began to rise again through the efforts of Bishop Leodoino (891) and of Matilda of Canossa. A free commune in 1135-1228, then almost uninterrupted dominion of the Este family, first with the title of imperial vicars, then of dukes, who in 1598, having lost Ferrara, made Modena the capital of the Duchy. In 1860 it was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy.
II. CHRISTIANITY AND PRINCIPAL BISHOPS
Of the ancient bishopric of M., certain information exists only from the 4th century, dominated by the figure of the great bishop St. Geminianus, a friend of the exiled St. Athanasius and almost certainly the same "Geminianus" present at the Council of Milan in 390. Other bishops: Theodulus, rebuilder of the Cathedral (4th century); Guido, archchancellor of King Berengar II and of Otto I; Dodone, who presided over the translation of the body of St. Geminianus into the new Basilica (1106); Ardizzone, under whom Lucius III consecrated the Cathedral (1184); Alberto Boschetti, distinguished for learning and piety (d. 1264); Egidio Foscherari, an illustrious member of the Council of Trent; Giovanni Morone, cardinal, who erected the seminary and was the last president of the Council of Trent; Roberto Fontana, who published the Synod held in 1647; Francesco Emilio Cugini, first archbishop of M.; Natale Bruni, who held and
MODENA, ARCIDIOCESI di «Flank of the Cathedral and bell tower called "La Ghirlandina".
published the Synod of 1913 and built the monumental temple to the fallen (d. 1926).
III. ABBEYS AND SANCTUARIES
Besides Nonantola (v.), the Abbey of St. Peter in the city of M. was important; the first record of it dates from 983, when Bishop Ildebrando granted to the priest Stephen the site "ubi iam Ecclesia beati Petri Apostoli fuit aedificata" in order to build an oratory there. To it, in 996, Giovanni, bishop of Parma, added a monastery which he entrusted to the Benedictine Order. The monastery prospered, received donations and held subject churches, then declined. Eugene IV, in 1434, entrusted it to the Congregation of St. Justina in Padua, and so it temporarily flourished again. In 1476 the dilapidated church was replaced by the present one, consecrated in 1518, rich in good paintings and in works of sculpture by Begarelli. Today the monastery depends on the Congregation of St. Paul Outside the Walls.
The sanctuary of Fiorano, 20 km from M., is of artistic interest. It arose in 1634 in honor of an ancient miraculous image of the Virgin, on a design by L. B. Avanzini, within the ancient castle of the same name, of which there is a record from 1108. The facade is sober and slender, with two bell towers and a central dome; inside, the church, on a Greek cross plan, was repainted by Malatesta (1866).
IV. ILLUSTRIOUS MEN
The humanists Cardinal Iacopo Sadoleto (v.) and Giovanni Pico, Count of Mirandola (v.); the mock-heroic poet A. Tassoni (v.); the critic Lodovico Castelvetro (1505-71), the anatomist Gabriele Falloppio (1523-62) and the musician Orazio Vecchi (1551-1605). The architects Iacopo Barozzi, known as il Vignola (v.), from his birthplace in the province of M., Guarino Guarini, Theatine (1624-83), and Luigi Poletti (1792-1869), rebuilder of St. Paul's in Rome. The painters: Barnaba and Tommaso da M., Bartolomeo and Agnolo degli Erri, among the primitives; between the 15th and 16th centuries, Francesco Bianchi, Bartolomeo Bonasia and Domenico Carnevali; in the 1500s, Niccolò Dell'Abate and Francesco and Ercole Setti; in the 1600s, Bartolomeo Schedoni and Sigismondo Caula; in the 1700s, Francesco Vellani; Adeodato Malatesta and Giovanni Muzzioli in the 1800s. Sculptors: G. Mazzoni (d. 1518) and A. Begarelli (d. 1565). Historians: the philologist C. Sigonio (d. 1584) and the supreme L. A. Muratori (v.). Archaeologists: the priest Celestino Cavedoni (1795-1865; v.) and Pietro Bortolotti (1818-94).
V. ARCHIVES AND LIBRARIES
State Archive; Municipal Historical Archive, established in 1888; Capitular Archive of the Cathedral, with 71 codices (the oldest from the 7th century) and 1,200 parchments, which begin in 750; Notarial Archive, which dates back to 1271.
The Estense Library is among the richest in Italy in illuminated codices, manuscripts and rare books. It originates from the Estense Library which, having been formed in Ferrara in the first half of the 1400s and having grown ever larger, was transferred in 1598 to M., where it had illustrious librarians in Muratori and Tiraboschi. Principal holdings: the Estense manuscript and the Campori one, with a combined total of more than 11,000 volumes and 142,000 autographs and documents; the Muratorian Archive; the Music Section. Printed works: 1,660 incunabula, more than 300,000 volumes and 60,000 pamphlets. Of particular interest is the permanent Book Exhibition, divided into 4 sections: miniatures, woodcuts, copper engravings, artistic bindings, with the Bible of Borso (15th century) at its center. Attached to it is the University Library, with 65,000 volumes, 30,000 pamphlets, 5 incunabula and 51 manuscripts.
VI. CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS
1. University: there is evidence of the ancient Studium as early as the 12th century; in the 13th century Ruggiero Beneventano and Guido da Suzzara made it famous. However, the credit for founding a "Universitas Studiorum" with its seat in the Collegio dei Nobili (1663) belongs solely to Francesco II d'Este. Francesco III revived it in 1774 and erected the present University Palace. It now has the Faculties of medicine, pharmacy, physical and natural sciences, law and mathematics. 2. Academy of sciences, letters and arts in M., founded in 1680. In 1841 it began publishing the Memorie, which have now exceeded 50 volumes. 3. Deputation of national history for the provinces of Modena. Created in 1860, in union with Parma, autonomous in 1892, it has published 22 volumes of Monumenti and 7 series of Atti e memorie.
VII. MONUMENTS
The Palazzo Ducale, seat of the Military Academy; the Collegio S. Carlo; the Palazzo dei Musei, which houses the Museo lapidario, the Estense and University Library, the coin collection, the municipal historical archive and the Galleria Estense, rich in paintings by the Carracci, Tintoretto, Veronese and Velázquez, etc. The Palazzo Campori is noteworthy for its gallery of the same name. Artistic churches: S. Domenico, S. Agostino, S. Bartolomeo and S. Pietro, but especially the Cathedral: in the Lombard Romanesque style, erected at the expense of the people of M. and of Countess Matilda over the area of the ancient 4th-century Basilica. Begun in 1099, according to the design of the architect Lanfranco "mirabilis artifex, mirificus edificator", already in 1106 Pope Paschal II consecrated in its crypt the altar of St. Geminianus, as attested by contemporary inscriptions on the Cathedral and by the precious Relatio published by Muratori (RIS, VI, p. 85 ff.). To that period belong: the pontifical door, with a propylaeum supported by two Roman lions and bas-reliefs by Wiligelmo; other bas-reliefs by Wiligelmo on the façade and on the Porta dei Principi, and the famous one by Niccolò on the Porta della Pescheria, with legendary scenes from the Arthurian cycle of King Arthur. On 12 July 1184 the Cathedral was consecrated by Pope Lucius III, as recorded in a contemporary inscription. In the time of the Campionesi Masters the Basilica was enriched with the rose window on the façade and the grand Porta Regia (Anselmo da Campione, 13th century). In the interior, of basilical form, with 3 naves and 3 apses, crypt and presbytery, the pontile, parapet and ambo stand out, with sculptures by the Campionesi brothers (1170-1220). The choir, in inlay, is by Cristoforo and Lorenzo da Lendinara (1465). The crypt, supported by 60 marble columns with carved capitals, largely Romanesque, guards the marble ark of the much-venerated Geminianus, whose painting is there, a work by Bartolomeo Schedoni (1600). With his brief Pius XI (20 July 1934) declared the Cathedral a minor basilica. Ghirlandina: artistic tower of the Cathedral, 86 m. high, built with great blocks of marble, it has, in Romanesque style, the first 5 sections; Gothic is the octagon with spire, begun in 1261, on a design by Arrigo da Campione, and completed in 1319. Until the 16th century it was called the tower of St. Geminianus, then Ghirlandina, perhaps from the garland-like mouldings that crown it toward the apex. In the tower were kept the capitular archive and the treasure of the Cathedral (with the arm of St. Geminianus and the Staurotheca of Panterius of the 11th century), now placed near the sacristy. Still today, however, the "secchia rapita" is kept there, taken from the Bolognese in 1325, also mentioned in an inventory of the Cathedral's furnishings of 1502 and made famous by Tassoni's poem. - See plate LXXVIII
Bibliography20 works
Pietro Galavotti