NOCERA DE' PAGANI (ALFATERNA), DIOCESE OF. - City and diocese in the province of Salerno, with a population of 90,000 inhabitants, all Catholics, distributed in 24 parishes, served by 85 diocesan priests and 45 regulars; 1 seminary, 5 male religious communities and 18 female (Ann. Pont., 1951, p. 290). The diocese is a suffragan of Salerno. The Cathedral, once dedicated to St. Priscus, is today under the invocation of St. Mark.
I. HISTORY
N. welcomed the new religion very early, and it seems that it also gave two martyrs to the faith: Felix and Constantia, cited several times in the Jeronymian Martyrology, but not unanimously accepted by the hagiographers. The origin of the episcopal see as well should go back to the pre-Constantinian era or a little later; the bishop Priscus, celebrated in poem XIX (v. 515 ff.) of St. Paulinus of Nola, can be assigned to the 3rd-4th centuries.
Of the successors of Priscus both the name and the existence are unknown. One must reach the 5th century to find a Felix (401-17), known for an epistle addressed to him by Pope Innocent I (Jaffé-Wattenbach, no. 314). After about a century, one finds Caelius Laurentius, who, elected (498) pope by the Roman people in opposition to Symmachus, had, following the judgment of Theodoric, favorable to Symmachus, to leave the city and accept the episcopal see of N., in Campania. He lasted a short time at N.: discontented with the see and a continual fomenter of discord, he was by the Roman Synod «e coetu... sacerdotali proiectus» and replaced (502) by Aprilis, who at the Council had subscribed in favor of Pope Symmachus. Among the successors, Numerius (593) and Primerius (598) are known from two letters of St. Gregory the Great (Jaffé-Wattenbach, nos. 1244 and 1569). In another letter of the same Pontiff (Jaffé-Wattenbach, no. 1846) allusion is made to a Nucerinus episcopus, but it is not known whether in 601 Primerius was still alive or whether it is a question of a successor. Then follow, at long intervals, three bishops much disputed between N. Umbra, Lucera and N. dei P.: Amanzio (743), who subscribed at the Roman Synod of Pope Zachary; Liutard (826), present at the Council of Eugenius II but to be assigned rather to N. Umbra, and Lando (1063-67), deposed by Alexander II, disputed whether of Nocera or of Lucera, according to whether the Micernium of the text is interpreted (PL 146, 1320 and 1406; Jaffé-Wattenbach, nos. 4538 and 4640; Kehr [v. bibl.], VIII, p. 304 ff.). The successor Felix (1199) is a repetition of Ughelli; but Valerio Orsino (1228), without being a saint, is shown to have been present at the blessing of the new church of St. Lazarus at Capua (G. Orlando [v. bibl.], III, p. 453), and it may be that he was one of the first prelates elected after the total destruction of the city by Roger II (1138). At this point the historians relate that in 1260 a bishop whose name is unknown was killed by the people, wherefore the city was deprived by Alexander IV of the episcopal see and the diocese divided, until 1386, between the archbishop of Salerno and that of Amalfi. Orlando (op. cit., p. 433 ff.), however, would establish two bishops: Stephen (1304) and N... (1315), the latter supposed, but not declared in any document. In 1386 Urban VI finally appointed as bishop fra Francesco da Nocera, only later (1389) consecrated by Boniface IX. Afterwards, the series of prelates is uninterrupted. Among others, mention should be made of Paolo Giovio (1528), the celebrated historian of the Renaissance, who died in 1552, and who left the see to his nephew Giulio (1552), which then passed to the other nephew Paolo the Younger (1560-85). The most deserving bishop was Simone Lumadoro (1602-10), who reformed the clergy, wrote the history of his diocese, rebuilt the Cathedral and brought to completion the long works begun by his predecessors.
In 1818, following the Concordat with the King of Naples, Pius VII united the diocese with that of Cava; but in 1833 Gregory XVI, with the bull In vinea Domini, restored it. In N. dei P., finally, St. Alphonsus M. de' Liguori founded his Congregation, and he is buried in the church erected in his honor in nearby Pagani.
II. MONUMENTS
The ancient Nuceria paganorum (or Alfaterna) is still disputed between Nocera Superiore and Nocera Inferiore, without decisive arguments; although many lean toward the former, which among other things preserves the ancient church of S. Maria Maggiore. Long considered a pagan temple or a thermal hall transformed into a church, it is instead, after the recent studies of Stettler, certainly an early Christian baptistery, unique as a construction type among the baptisteries existing in Italy. Although it was altered during the restoration work in 1856, it still preserves much of its primitive structures, enough to allow its reconstruction. It is a circular building, preceded by a portico with four pillars (not original) and closed by a semicircular apse with an altar, which were part of the ancient fabric. The interior is formed by a double annular gallery, divided by a peristyle of 30 columns paired in the direction of the radius, all monolithic but unequal: those of the outer ring of cipollino marble; of various kinds and different workmanship those of the inner ring. Noteworthy, besides some magnificent capitals and certain valuable bases, are the abaci of the intercolumniation, formed by a single rough monolith, resting on double capitals. At the center is the ample baptismal pool enclosed by 8 columns of Parian marble or granite (five now remain) which rest on a circular wall adorned with valuable plutei, in which decorative motifs and influences of the Justinianic era can be discerned. The outer perimeter wall, today entirely rebuilt, was a light fabric, slimmed by small light openings, but without any essential function in the structure of the building. The dome in fact, which represents the masterpiece of this interesting construction, rests on the fifteen pairs of columns of the peristyle, and its drum, unlike other known buildings of Rome and the East, bends toward the inner conical vault, built with horizontal courses of tufa interrupted by rings of brick and terminating at the top with a very low calotte of cement. The windows are therefore also curved and once took light from the openings made in the eight external pillars, which in cylindrical form supported the roof. The dome was therefore visible, and the construction was more harmonious and lighter than today, heavy and convoluted due to the added structures. As for its age, both because of the decoration and because of the structural innovations introduced in comparison with the construction method used in Rome for S. Costanza and S. Stefano Rotondo, it is not possible to go back beyond the 6th century, nor to descend beyond the 7th, due to the absolute absence of Lombard elements.
A short distance from N. Superiore is the sanctuary of S. Maria di Materdomini, a Romanesque construction entirely rebuilt in 1700 by the school of Vanvitelli. Of some interest in the interior are the frescoes by Giacinto Diano. Another ancient little church is that of S. Maria di M. Albino, near N. Inferiore, reworked and decorated in 1530 by G. B. Castaldo, the captain of Charles V, who donated to this chapel the artistic spoils taken during the sack of Rome.