Montefeltro, Diocese of

MONTEFELTRO, DIOCESE OF. - Suffragan of Urbino; since 1563 the episcopal residence has been in Pennabilli, province of Pesaro.

The diocese extends over 800 sq. km. with a population of 70,000 inhabitants, all Catholics, distributed in 123 parishes served by 125 diocesan priests and 32 regulars; it has a seminary, 10 male religious communities and 20 female ones (1949).

The region designated by this historic name does not correspond to any civil district since it forms part of the Marches, of Romagna and of the Republic of St. Marino; more faithfully corresponding to it is the territory of the present diocese, called precisely Feretrana.

According to the legendary life of Sts. Leo and Marino, the first is said to have founded a church and a monastery in the M., the second on Monte Titano. While it is not easy to trace the origin of these two monastery-sanctuaries back to the 4th century, the foundation on Monte Titano (St. Marino) is certainly from the 5th century (Eugippius, Vita Severini, 1, MGH, Auct. antip., I, 1), while the first records of the monastery of St. Leo are from the 9th century. The latter was made to be believed a bishop in the Vita of St. Mercuriale (BHL, 5932), a late document of the 11th century: in truth the first certain prelates of M. are no older than the 9th century. Made suffragans of Ravenna by Pope Gregory V in 997 (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 3878), they resided at St. Leo where they had the Cathedral dedicated to the same saint erected. Later the residence was transferred to other centers, as appears from various episcopal charters: Valle S. Anastasio (S. Anastasius de Valle) and Talamello; here they remained for more than a century and the bishop Giovanni Sclani (1413-44) built a seat and an artistic oratory, frescoed by Antonio da Ferrara (15th century) and still preserved (O. F. Tencaioli, La cella dipinta da A. da Ferrara a Talamello nel M., in Urbinum, 2 [1928], pp. 171-84). During the episcopate of G. F. Sormani (1565-1601), Gregory XIII, with the bull Aequum reputamus of 23 May 1572, transferred the seat to Pennabilli, erecting the collegiate church of St. Bartholomew into a cathedral and uniting it in perpetuity with the ancient cathedral of St. Leo. Sormani is to be remembered for the great activity carried out in compliance with the decrees of the Council of Trent, for the diocesan synods celebrated at Pennabilli, St. Marino, Macerata Feltria and in the abbey of Valle S. Anastasio, and for having founded the Seminary. A Franciscan of this land, Matteo da Bascio (1495-1537), gave the first impulse to the religious reform of the Capuchins.

At the first formation of the Papal State, the castellum S. Marini belonged to it (756); in the 11th century the emperors recognized the M. as belonging to the Roman Church. The further political history of the region is closely bound to that of the well-known family that took its name from it: the Montefeltro. Descendants of a branch of the older family of the Carpegna, the counts of M. in the 12th century, already independent, occupied St. Leo, and Urbino in the 13th century. In the struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines they held for the Ghibellines (cf. Dante, Purgatorio, V, 85-129). Having made peace with the Church, they were recognized as lords in the reorganization of the Papal State carried out by Albornoz (1355) and the region of the M. retained a parliament and administrative autonomies. In the 15th century the lordship acquired great splendor through the work of Federico, who became duke of Urbino (1474), but the M. followed the troubled vicissitudes of war and political changes proper to that period: 15th-16th centuries. With the extinction of the dynasty of the M. upon the death of F. Maria della Rovere (1508), the M. followed the fortunes of the Duchy of Urbino, which returned definitively to the Holy See in 1631. In this last period St. Leo became famous for its state prison where, among others, Count Giuseppe Balsamo (Cagliostro, d. 1796) was detained and died.

MONASTERIES: ancient is that of St. Trinity; S. Agata del Monte Ercole, founded in 997 and from 1153 passed to the Camaldolese; S. Anastasio de Valle, transferred in commendam in the 15th century to the bishops of the M. who assumed its title; S. Salvatore (9th century); S. Severino annexed to the episcopal mensa in the 12th century.

MONUMENTS: the ancient parish church of St. Leo: dedicated to St. Mary Assumed, embellished by the munificence of Duke Orso, it guarded the body of St. Leo and was perhaps the ancient cathedral. It was built and completed in the years 881-82, as attested by an inscription coming from the remains of the ciborium erected by «Ursus peccator dux», in the times of Charles the Fat (881-87) and John VIII (872-82). The exterior, well preserved, presents a decoration of pilasters on the sides, and of small arches and pilasters in the three apses. Typical are the capitals of the ciborium, with two orders of volutes, which are the best examples of the kind.

The present construction of the Cathedral, according to an inscription, would have to be assigned to 1173; but since the epigraph seems later and the Gothic imprint of the building is clear (pointed arches in the interior), it may be assigned to the 13th century. Characteristic are the lack of a facade, prevented by its position on the edge of a cliff, and the crypt with Roman elements said to come from a temple to Jupiter Feretrius. The influence of French art, the fusion between Romanesque and Gothic, the singularity and austerity of the building, place it among the most significant medieval monuments of the Marches region. Franciscan memories in some localities (A. Tani, S. Francesco nel M., Città di Castello 1926) are linked to the coming of the Saint of Assisi to St. Leo in 1213 (Fioretti, 55): among the foundations notable is S. Igne (ca. 13th century), of which the artistic church remains and, in changed conditions, the annexed convent.

In Pennabilli, the Cathedral was erected by bishop G. Fr. Sormani in 1599, who had the body of St. Marino recognized there: it underwent various later restorations.

In the diocesan territory: the parish church of St. John the Baptist of Carpegna (12th century); the artistic church with triple apse and the bell tower of the 14th century remain (G. Soriani, Notizie storico-artistiche della pieve di Carpegna, Macerata Feltria 1921); the parish church of St. Cassian of Macerata Feltria, united under bishop Ennio Filonardo to the Cathedral in 1544: it was an episcopal residence and seat of synodal assemblies.

Serafino Prete