NARNI, Diocese of. - City and diocese in Umbria, in the province of Terni.
It has a population of 34,600 inhabitants divided into 41 parishes with 36 secular priests, 20 religious men and 140 religious women. There is an episcopal seminary. Since 1907 the dioceses of N. and Terni have been united; a vicar delegate resides at N. The diocese is immediately subject to the Holy See. The patron of N. is St. Juvenal, whose feast is celebrated on 3 May.
The city is situated on the Via Flaminia, in a dominant position over the gorge of the Nera river and the basin of Terni.
I. HISTORY
It was a center of the Umbrians (Nequinum); in 299 B.C. it was conquered by the Romans, who settled there a Latin colony (Narnia). In 209, during the Second Punic War, it refused aid to Rome and was later punished along with other rebellious cities. It became a municipium in 90 B.C. and was enrolled, it seems, in the Papiria tribe. Augustus, while restoring the Via Flaminia, built there the famous bridge, which even in antiquity was considered the best-known monument of N. It played a notable part in the war between the partisans of Vitellius and those of Vespasian (A.D. 69) and took part between 537 and 552 in the shifting fortunes of the Gothic War. In the Middle Ages it was part of the Duchy of Rome and then of that of Spoleto. In 1143 it set itself up as a free commune. In 1167 it rebelled against Barbarossa, wherefore it was taken and sacked (1174) by Christian, Archbishop of Mainz. In 1262 it allied itself with Rome and Perugia against Frederick II. In 1354 Cardinal Albornoz took possession of N. and had the Rocca built there. It subsequently passed into the hands of the Orsini, the Tomacelli, Ladislaus of Naples, Braccio Fortebraccio, and the Colonna, and in 1439 it was definitively incorporated into the patrimony of the Church. N. suffered a terrible sack in 1527 at the hands of the imperial troops, who massacred the population and set fire to the city. In 1860 it became part of the Kingdom of Italy. N. is the birthplace of the emperor Nerva (A.D. 96-98), born there in A.D. 30, of Erasmo, called il Gattamelata, the famous captain of the Church and of the Venetians (ca. 1370-1443), of Galeotto Marzio, humanist, physician and astronomer (1427-97), and of Caterina Franceschi Ferrucci, woman of letters (1803-87).
Christianity appears at N. from very ancient times; according to tradition the Christian faith was preached there by St. Felician, Bishop of Foligno, and by St. Juvenal, who is said to have been its first bishop and who was buried outside the city, in a monument that is still preserved. Also known for the earliest centuries are Bishop Pancratius, son and brother of bishops, who died in 444, and St. Cassius, consecrated in 536, died in 558, of whom St. Gregory speaks with praise in the Dialogues and who was a witness to the events of the Gothic War. Later there are reliable records of the bishops John (notices of 558-60), Proiectus (notices of 591) and Constantine (notices of 595, 598). From the 7th century the diocese of N. absorbed that of Otricoli, while the bishop of Narni from time to time had jurisdiction over the suppressed diocese of Terni. In 965 the bishop John was elected pope under the name John XIII. In 1159 Alexander III laid down rules for the election of canons, and subsequently Celestine III fixed their number at 22, raised to 24 by Honorius III and reduced to 16 in 1224. In 1343 Agostino Tinaccia da S. Gemignano, most learned and a celebrated preacher, was bishop of N. The bishop Pierdonato Cesi, later a cardinal, confirmed to the Chapter in 1546 the privilege of freeing one condemned to death on the day of St. Juvenal. In 1660 the bishop Raimondo Castelli established the Seminary. In 1687 Innocent XI granted the canons the use of the rochet and the cappa magna.
Native to N. are Bl. Lucia, a Dominican (d. 1544), the cardinals Berardo Eroli, Giuseppe and Carlo Maria Sacripanti, and Father Caravita, founder of the Roman Oratory that bears his name.
II. ABBEYS AND MONASTERIES
In 1846 in the city and its surroundings there were 7 male convents (Dominicans, Augustinians, Servites, Piarists, Fatebenefratelli and Observant Friars Minor) and 3 female ones (Benedictines, Franciscans); in the diocese there were two convents of Capuchins, two of Observant Friars Minor, one of Reformed Friars Minor, three monasteries of Benedictines, two convents of Ursulines. Now they are almost all suppressed. Among the oldest monasteries of N. and its diocese are remembered: for N., the monastery of S. Girolamo (12th-13th century; rebuilt by Cardinal Berardo Eroli); the Benedictine abbey of S. Cassiano of the 13th century, in ruins; the abbey of S. Chiara, of the Poor Clares; the abbey of S. Bernardo, of the Benedictines, the Speco of St. Francis near N. where the Saint dwelt for a long time. At Otricoli, the monastery of S. Vittore, which was declared subject to the bishop of N. by Gregory IX (1232) and was afterwards of right and property of the Roman Church. It was founded by the bishop St. Fulgentius in the 6th century and has annexed to it an underground cemetery. At Sangemini, the Benedictine abbey of S. Niccolò del Monte, of which there is news from the 12th century (church in ruins), and the likewise Benedictine abbey of S. Gemini, founded before 800, now the parish church of S. Gemini. At Stroncone, the Benedictine abbey of S. Benedetto de fundis founded in 758 by Ansa, mother of Adelchi (news from 1232, church with three naves, in ruins); at Calvi, the convent of St. Francis founded, according to tradition, by the Saint; at Collescipoli, the monastery of S. Giuseppe, of the Silvestrines.
III. CULTURAL INSTITUTIONS
In the Town Hall are the Library (ca. 7,000 vols., 26 incunabula, 74 manuscripts), the Archive and the Picture Gallery (it contains some valuable works: Coronation of the Virgin by Ghirlandaio, 1486; Annunciation by Benozzo Gozzoli); an archive is also kept at the Cathedral.
IV. MONUMENTS OF NARNI AND SURROUNDINGS
Cathedral church of St. Juvenal, Romanesque, built at the beginning of the 12th century, consecrated in 1145: with three naves, divided by columns with round arches. It contains the oratory of St. Juvenal of the 4th century, which served as a tomb for the first bishops of the city, with an interesting facade divided by pilasters; parish church of St. Augustine, of the 15th century; parish church of St. Maria Impensole, Romanesque of c. 1175, with three naves, divided by columns with round arches; with a similar little portico; church of St. Dominic (formerly St. Maria Maggiore) with a fine Romanesque portal (12th century); church of St. Francis of the 14th century, with a rich Gothic portal. In the surroundings: church of St. Angelo in Massa, with doors of the 12th century; ruined church of St. Martin in the hamlet of Taizzano, Romanesque; church of St. Pudentiana at Visciano,
Romanesque, with a crypt from the 10th century. There exist some early Christian inscriptions (CIL, XI, 4162-69).
Among the civil monuments: the Rocca, the Palazzo Comunale rebuilt in 1273, the Loggia del Podestà and a fountain from the early 14th century.
In the diocese: Otricoli: church of S. Maria (records from the 13th century). There are some early Christian inscriptions and, near the city, notable remains of the Roman monuments of ancient Otriculum. Collescipoli: church of S. Niccolò with a portal from the 14th century, country church of S. Stefano (1093). S. Gemini: church of S. Giovanni with a facade from 1199, church of S. Francesco from the 15th century, in addition to those already mentioned. Stroncone: church of S. Francesco (portal from the 13th century); parish church of S. Niccolò (portal from 1171); church of S. Biagio di Coppe (15th-century frescoes). - See plate CX.
Bibliography14 works
Carlo Pietrangeli