MOLISE. - Historical region of central Italy, as a rule united with Abruzzo and corresponding, in the administrative sense, to the province of Campobasso.
I. GEOGRAPHY
The origin of the name is uncertain; it goes back to the 11th century; the original county, which arose in the Lombard period
Dec. 28, 1696. A priest in 1652, he was sent to Rome in 1663 as procurator of the cause of the Ven. Francesco Simon. He remained in Rome and became famous as a spiritual adviser and writer on mysticism. Because of his works he was charged by the Holy Office in 1685; tried, he abjured his Quietist errors in Sept. 1687. The bull Caelestis Pastor of Norman times and later annexed to the Terra di Lavoro and to the Capitanata, became an autonomous province in 1806. The territory repeats the characteristics of neighboring Abruzzo, with an inner belt of elevated limestone masses (Meta, Matese) followed, toward the Adriatic (where the M. extends from the Trigno to the Saccione), by an alternation of low mountains and clayey-schistose hills (hence the frequency of landslides). Like Abruzzo, the M. was often afflicted by earthquakes. It is a predominantly agricultural-pastoral region (cereals, vines, fruit), with little industrial development (recently hydroelectric) and a modest traditional handicraft industry. The province of Campobasso, extending over 4,445 sq km, had in the last census (1936) 388.3 thousand inhabitants; by 1950 these had risen, despite considerable emigration, to 405 thousand; the density (90 inhabitants per sq km) is nevertheless lower than that of the entire compartment (110). Campobasso, the most populous city, approaches 30 thousand inhabitants.
Bibliography5 works
Giuseppe Caraci
II. POLITICAL HISTORY
The M. comprises part of ancient Samnium (Samnium, Samnites), inhabited by the Caudini, Pentri and Frentani, federated among themselves at least in wartime circumstances, subjugated by the Romans in 288 B.C. They also came off worse in the Second Punic War, as a result of which in 179 B.C. the region was repopulated with Ligurian colonies of servile status. Nor did better fortune befall them when they sided with the Marsi against Sulla. During these wars, harsh and long-lasting, the principal Samnite cities: Alfedena (Aufidena), Boiano (Bovianum), Sepino (Saepinum), Termoli (Thermula), Trivento (Terventum), Larino (Larinum), Isernia (Aesernia) and Venafro (Venafrum) were destroyed. Nevertheless, the ruins of the Roman forum of Altilia, the megalithic walls of Sepino, the remains of the Roman theatres of Boiano Vecchio and the amphitheatre of Larino are admired.
During the barbarian invasions the consular roads Valeria-Claudia and Appia were also abandoned, which crossed at Isernia to continue toward Boiano as far as Brindisi, as well as the Traiana, which skirted the M. along the Adriatic coast. These were succeeded by mule tracks and tratturi, first among them the Barletta-Montecassino, communicating with Apulia, with Abruzzo and with Campania.
The M. was invaded first by Lombards and Byzantines, concentrated at Benevento (v.). The names of nine Molisan counties recur, almost all of Lombard origin: Venafro, Isernia, Campomarino, Trivento, Boiano, Sangro, Pietrabbondante, Termoli, Larino. During the Norman period Boiano with its gastaldato figures as the centre of the Molisan county, whose origins do not appear to be earlier than 1053. A certain Ugo de Moles (de Molhouse), count of Boiano, in 1080 had the Cathedral of the city built. Under the Swabians another Ugo de Molinis styles himself count of M., an appellation thereafter passed to the region. Others would derive the name M. from the small village of the same name, between Torello and Duronia: of which, however, the origins are not known. From 1200 Pietro di Celano set out to extend his Marsican county to the M. and succeeded by giving the Molisan countess Giuditta in marriage to his son Tommaso. In this way the Marso-Molisan county was able to extend from the Marca di Ancona to Civitate di Puglia, and to rebel against Frederick II, who ordered the destruction of its fortresses. The Molisio appear again as lords of the Molisan county under the Angevins down to Robert the Wise, who invested with it the Gambatesa, later also called counts of Monforte. From then on the M. remained attached first to the Terra di Lavoro, then to the Capitanata; in 1806 it became part of Abruzzo, but as an autonomous province. Even at present the towns of Urori and Portocannone harbour Albanian colonies, and Acquaviva Colleccroce since 1500 has been inhabited by Slavs.
III. CHRISTIAN HISTORY
When and by whom the Gospel was announced in this region cannot be known with certainty. Saints and martyrs, whom late Passions presented as the first local evangelizers, when they are not entirely legendary, are today explained by posthumous translations of relics from distant lands. Thus St. Photinus or Potinus, believed to be a disciple of St. Peter. St. Castus, presumed bishop and martyr of Trivento, can at most be identified with the homonymous African martyr, venerated in many other lands of southern Italy. The supposed martyrs of Venafro, Nicander and Marcian, belong to Tomis in Moesia. The St. Benedict of the cathedral of Isernia is completely outside the episcopal lists.
Lanzoni, regarding the letter of St. Leo I (6 March 459) "universis episcopis per Campaniam, Samnium et Picenum constitutis", adds: "They were therefore several and probably as early as the 4th century." Their primitive residences were certainly the same Samnite cities mentioned above. Names of the relevant bishops can be traced from the mid-5th century for the dioceses of Alfedena, Alife, Boiano, Sejino and Venafro. The bishopric of Alfedena would have been transferred in the 10th century to Trivento; while according to others the diocese of Trivento would have existed as early as the 4th century. The cathedral of Termoli, completed in the 12th century, is the most distinguished monument of the region. The cathedral of Larino was completed in 1319. The episcopal see of Boiano has recently been transferred to Campobasso.
With the conversion of Arechis, Lombard duke of Benevento in 600, followed en masse by the Lombards of Samnium, Benedictine granges and monasteries began to arise in the M., more or less dependent on Montecassino, such as, for example: S. Pietro del Tasso at Carovilli, S. Marco at Carpinone, S. Pietro Avellana, S. Maria di Monteverde (Mirabello), S. Maria Decorata at Gildone, S. Maria Faifula at Montagnano, S. Benedetto at Pietrafracida, S. Maria Casalpinto (Morrone), S. Benedetto di Pettinari (Ururi), etc. For art, antiquity and grandeur the Benedictine monastery of St. Vincent martyr at the Volturno stood foremost among all, founded in 703 by the Lombards Paldo, Tato and Taso. From the Chronicon of this monastery, written by the monk John in the 12th century, one comes to know what were the churches, monasteries and possessions of the Benedictines of the Molise at that time. A specific inventory of the precious objects in gold, silver, gems and sacred vestments for the churches of the dioceses of Venafro, Isernia, Boiano, Guardialfiera and Trivento, drawn up on 20 Aug. 1241, was published by Evelina Jamison (v. bibl.). The best-known saint of the region is certainly Peter of Isernia, hermit of the Morrone and then pope Celestine V (1294), initiator of the Benedictine reform of the Celestines (v.), which soon spread also into France. Thus arose the Celestine abbeys of S. Maria di Canneto near Monfalcone del Sannio, of S. Maria della Strada near Matrice, of S. Giorgio in Petrella Tifernina, of S. Maria degli Angeli at Ripalmosani, and likewise at Isernia, Riccia, Guglionisi, Boiano and Campobasso. During the first Franciscan century the Friars Minor also founded convents at Isernia, Agnone, Campobasso, Serracapriola and Morrone del Sannio. At the same time appear the Poor Clares of Agnone, Isernia and Frosolone. The best-known convent of the Dominicans is the sanctuary of the Madonna della Libera near Cercemaggiore. The Capuchins founded their first convent at Termoli ca. 1530 and the second at Venafro in 1573. The convent of the Carmelites at Venafro is traced back to 1328. In later times the Theatines, Piarists and Redemptorists also opened some houses in the M. The present spiritual situation of the M. is set out under the entries of the relevant dioceses. - See plates LXXXIV-LXXXV.
Bibliography20 works
Aniceto Chiappini