NICASIO, saint — The martyrdom of s. N. Sculpture (13th century) on the northern façade of the transept of the Cathedral — Reims.
during the Norman period ever mention the bishop of N. Nevertheless, since it is mentioned as a suffragan see of Reggio in the Notitiae graecue episcopatum, datable to the time of the emperor Leo VI the Wise, it may be held to have been of Byzantine foundation, dating from the 9th century. Nothing, however, is known of the Byzantine period; indeed, it is believed that the Saracen incursions of the 10th and 11th centuries were so destructive as to reduce the city to ruins and consequently to destroy the bishopric as well. Hence
the need for its re-establishment by the Normans, through the agency of Amburga, daughter of Count Drogone, who endowed N. with pious munificence and rebuilt its Cathedral, dedicated to ss. Peter and Paul. The territory, however, long retained a Greek predominance, at first contained and later overwhelmed by the Benedictine abbey of S. Eufemia, founded by Roberto il Guiscardo around 1070. Among the Greek monasteries, those of S. Nicola di Flaiano, S. Maria de Carra, and S. Isidoro, known as S. Sidero, were of great importance; they remained flourishing until the time of Cardinal Bessarione.
Ughelli names the first bishop of N. as Enrico in 1094, whereas a Giovanni appears as early as 1084 in the Greek documents published by Trinchera. Among the prelates most deserving of remembrance are Enrico, who in 1094 took part in the consecration of the church of S. Maria di Torre, built by s. Brunone, founder of the Carthusians; the Franciscan Pietro di Scalea, who received privileges from Roberto d'Angiò in 1323; the Cistercian Antonio De Paula, who after three years was transferred to Catanzaro, his native city; the Roman nobleman Paolo Capizucchi, who held numerous offices from the Apostolic See; Cardinals Marcello Cervini and G. Antonio Facchinetti, who respectively became Pope Marcello II and Pope Innocenzo IX; and the Rossanese G. Tommaso Perrone, who governed from 1639 to 1677 and rebuilt the Cathedral destroyed by the earthquake, which was inaugurated in 1650; Carlo Pellegrini da Longobardi, who died in the year in which the Concordat of 1818 was promulgated, assigning, among other things, to N. the territory of the suppressed diocese of Martorano.