MODIGLIANA, DIOCESI di. — Suffragan of Florence. It comprises 7 municipalities in the province of Forlì and one in the province of Florence. Population 41,549, of whom 41,514 are Catholics; 83 parishes, 114 churches; 91 diocesan priests and 11 religious priests; one seminary. Patron: St. Stefano, pope and martyr.
A small town in the Valle del Marzeno, 18 km from Faenza and 33 from Forlì, the provincial capital. Many historians, in all probability, identify it with the castrum Mutilum mentioned by T. Livio (cf. Historiae, XXXI, 3; XXXIII, 12). It belonged to the territory of the Exarchate (cf. two parchments from the years 963 and 967 in the Archbishopric Archives of Ravenna). From the first half of the 10th century until 1370 it was under the rule of the counts Guidi. After a brief period of autonomous life, it passed to the Republic of Florence, whose political fortunes it followed until the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy. The parish church of S. Stefano in M., mentioned for the first time in a parchment in the Archbishopric Archives of Ravenna (B. 322, 892), was, by reason of its venerable antiquity and the extent of its jurisdiction, always regarded as one of the most important centers radiating religious life in upper Romagna. Ecclesiastically, it remained under the jurisdiction of the bishop of Faenza until 1850, when Pius IX, acceding to the wishes of Grand Duke Leopoldo II and the people of Modigliana, raised it to an episcopal see with the bull Ex quo licet immerito of 7 July. The first bishop was Msgr. M. Melini (1854–64).
Sacred buildings: in M., the parish church of S. Stefano, now the cathedral, of ancient construction, rebuilt in 1500 and consecrated by Pope Giulio II (1506), enlarged in 1660, when Pope Alessandro VII raised it to the status of an Insigne Collegiate Church. It was restored in 1872–95 and more recently by Msgr. Massimiliani. Beneath the choir is a graceful crypt known as that «del Gesù morto», with artistic wooden statues of the Passion. Adjacent to the Duomo is the sanctuary of the B. Vergine del Cantone, with a fresco of the B. Vergine from 1400 and valuable paintings by S. Lega, a native of Modigliana. Churches of S. Bernardo, S. Domenico, and the Monastery of the Augustinian nuns. In Marradi: the archpriestly church dedicated to the martyr S. Lorenzo. Church of S. Reparata in Badia del Borgo, formerly belonging to the Vallombrosan Order, with panels attributed to the school of Ghirlandino. S. Barnaba in Gamogna, an ancient hermitage inhabited by s. Pier Damiani. In Dovadola: the sanctuary of Montepaolo, formerly the ancient hermitage of s. Antonio da Padova. In Castrocaro: the former conventual archpriestly church of SS. Francesco and Niccolò, with panels by Palmezzano and a processional cross from 1450. In S. Benedetto in Alpe (formerly Bifurcum): the church of S. Benedetto, formerly an ancient Benedictine abbey, with visible remains of the ancient crypt.