PADUA, DIOCESE OF. - A city and diocese in the Veneto, suffragan of the Patriarchate of Venice. It covers an area of 2,929 sq. km. with a population of 839,024, of whom 837,015 are Catholic; it has 406 parishes served by 910 diocesan priests and 190 regular clergy; 30 male and 328 female religious communities (Ann. Pont., 1952, p. 302).
The city is watered by the Brenta and Bacchiglione rivers and by intersecting canals that make the soil fertile and, especially in the past, facilitated communications and defense. According to legend, it was founded by the Illyrian Veneti under the leadership of Antenore after the destruction of Troy; in any case, its great antiquity cannot be denied. The Illyrians subdued the Euganeans, who were forced to take refuge in the mountains, and brought the city to prosperity through trade on the Adriatic, so much so that Mela could list P. among the urbes opulentissimae; it aided Rome in the struggle against the Celts and in 49 B.C. became a municipium, enrolled in the Fabian tribe. Its territory, which to the east reached the sea, extended to the hills of Este (Montes Euganei), to Monte Venda (territory of Lonigo and Teolo), and to the territory of Vicenza (up to ten miles); the borders toward Altino are uncertain. In A.D. 69 it still appears in its splendor, but then for two centuries it is barely mentioned. Of classical monuments, besides numerous inscriptions, only the ruins of the Arena remain (Pauly-Wissowa, XVIII, IV, cols. 2114 ff.). P. has the glory of having given Rome its greatest historian, Titus Livy.
PADUA, DIOCESE OF. - A city and diocese in the Veneto, suffragan of the Patriarchate of Venice. It covers an area of 2,929 sq. km. with a population of 839,024, of whom 837,015 are Catholic; it has 406 parishes served by 910 diocesan priests and 190 regular clergy; 30 male and 328 female religious communities (Ann. Pont., 1952, p. 302).
The city is watered by the Brenta and Bacchiglione rivers and by intersecting canals that make the soil fertile and, especially in the past, facilitated communications and defense. According to legend, it was founded by the Illyrian Veneti under the leadership of Antenore after the destruction of Troy; in any case, its great antiquity cannot be denied. The Illyrians subdued the Euganeans, who were forced to take refuge in the mountains, and brought the city to prosperity through trade on the Adriatic, so much so that Mela could list P. among the urbes opulentissimae; it aided Rome in the struggle against the Celts and in 49 B.C. became a municipium, enrolled in the Fabian tribe. Its territory, which to the east reached the sea, extended to the hills of Este (Montes Euganei), to Monte Venda (territory of Lonigo and Teolo), and to the territory of Vicenza (up to ten miles); the borders toward Altino are uncertain. In A.D. 69 it still appears in its splendor, but then for two centuries it is barely mentioned. Of classical monuments, besides numerous inscriptions, only the ruins of the Arena remain (Pauly-Wissowa, XVIII, IV, cols. 2114 ff.). P. has the glory of having given Rome its greatest historian, Titus Livy.
PADUA, DIOCESE OF - Funeral of the Virgin. Fresco by Giotto and collaborators - Padua, Scrovegni Chapel.
They supported Henry III (1049) and repeatedly Henry IV until 1079. It is therefore not surprising that Bishop Milo followed the latter’s party, even subscribing in 1080 at Bressanone to the deposition of Gregory VII. His successor Peter also sided with the antipope Clement III and was therefore deposed by Paschal II at Guastalla in October 1106 and replaced by the Catholic Sinibaldo. Thus the Gregorian Reform triumphed; yet not all difficulties were overcome, since Bishop Bellino was killed in the Polesine on 26 November 1147 while defending the rights of his Church, later being venerated as a saint. His successor John de Cacio was present at Pavia in 1160 with Barbarossa, from whom he received a diploma and recognized the antipope Victor IV; but only briefly, for by 1163 P. had joined the Venetian-Veronese League and then that of 1167 against Barbarossa. From him Bishop Gerard obtained a diploma in 1177, and the city showed great favor toward the Diet of Constance in 1183. This did not prevent it from participating again in the Lombard League in 1195 and once more in 1226 when it was placed under imperial ban by Frederick II. The Commune had by now asserted itself over the effects of episcopal rule; in 1138 it already had its consuls and was able to influence neighboring cities such as Vicenza, Bassano, and Feltre, to wage war on Venice (1214), and to play an important part in disputes with Treviso, the Principality of Aquileia, Verona, and the Este family.
It was in a period of great economic prosperity that the preaching of St. Anthony (d. 1231) took place, with immense resonance in the spiritual life of the time, and that of John of Vicenza (or of Schio), a Dominican, aimed at bringing peace to the ever-recurring discord in the region, in which P. shared responsibility. This movement culminated in the great assembly at Paquara near Verona (28 Aug. 1233), which, however, produced no lasting results.
With the rise of Frederick II’s policy in Venice, the power of Ezzelino III da Romano also grew, who seized P. on 25 Feb. 1237 and held the city under a very harsh rule, particularly targeting the secular and regular clergy, until he was driven out in June 1256. Soon the Carrara family played an important part in the government of the Commune, especially in countering the ambitions of the Scaligeri who from Verona sought to subjugate P.; indeed, Can Grande became its lord in September 1288, and only in August 1337 did P. free itself from Scaliger rule. Thus the power of the Carrara family revived, with renewed attempts to profit from the discord in Venice and Friuli to expand their dominion, soon thwarted by the astute policy of Gian Galeazzo Visconti and Venice itself. After Visconti’s death (1402), Francis II of Carrara managed to become lord even of Verona (1404–1405), but could not resist Venice, which, having taken him prisoner along with his sons Francis and James, put all three to death (Jan. 1406). P. thus came under Venetian rule and, except for a brief period during the war of 1509–11, remained so until the fall of the Republic. As for the bishopric, in this period it was almost exclusively conferred on members of the most illustrious Venetian families; among them may be recalled Peter Barocci (1481–1507) for his virtues and for opposing the Averroism prevalent at the university; Nicholas Ornamento of Verona (1570–1577), a true spirit of reform who opened the Seminary in 1571 and died as nuncio in Spain; Bl. BARBARI (v.); Cardinal Carlo Rezzonico (1743–67), who almost entirely rebuilt the Seminary and was later pope as Clement XIII; Francis Scipio Dondi dell’Orologio (1807–6 Oct. 1819), an illustrious critic of the records of the Paduan episcopate; Callegari (v.).
The Cathedral dedicated to St. Mary and St. Justina entered the city, destroyed by the earthquake of 1117, was served by a Chapter endowed with extensive goods and privileges from bishops, popes, or sovereigns, and observed the common life until toward the end of the 13th century. Cardinal Francesco Pisani undertook its reconstruction in 1524, so that only the baptistery remained from antiquity. Of the city’s oldest churches, only the Romanesque church of St. Sophia survives, which was even mistakenly considered the original cathedral and was the seat of a collegiate church. Under papal protection stood the collegiate churches of the two most illustrious diocesan centers, St. Justina of Monselice and St. Tecla of Este.
Monastic life flourished extensively in the diocese. The most illustrious monastery was the Benedictine one that arose near the church of St Justina, in the immediate suburb. Its earliest origins are unknown; Bishop Rorigo made a donation to it in 874; it was destroyed by the Hungarians during the invasion of 899, and was restored by Bishop Gauslino, who granted it a very extensive privilege in 970, and it was protected by his successors; papal privileges were not lacking. It had passed into commendam when in 1409 BARBA (v.) laid the foundations of the Congregation of St Justina, later called Cassinese. In 1498 the reconstruction of the ancient church was decided upon and was carried forward throughout the entire 16th century, through the work of various architects, until it was consecrated on 14 March 1606 (cf. R. Pepi, in La Badia di S. Giustina, cenni, Padova 1943, p. 96 ff.). Side by side with the church, the reconstruction of the grand monastery also proceeded; from which the monks were expelled for the first time in 1797 and then on 31 May 1810; the great church then became a parish church and the monastery was put to military use. Monastic life was restored in 1943, with monks coming from the abbey of Praglia.
A second great Benedictine monastery is that of St Mary of Praglia, on the Euganean Hills, founded around 1080 by Count Maltraverso of Montebello and his family on their own property and placed under the Apostolic See with the payment of two gold pieces. Bishop Sinibaldo subjected it in 1124 to the abbot of St Benedict in Polirone, while maintaining the census to the Holy See. Reduced to commendam in 1389, the abbey was united to the Congregation of St Justina in 1448. Suppressed by the Italian laws in 1806, it revived in 1904 through the work of the Subiaco Congregation.
The monastery of the Holy Cross of Campese, founded by the Cluniac abbot Pons in 1124, passed in 1127 under the governance of the abbey of Polirone and paid an annual census to the Apostolic See.
Dependent on the abbey of St Zeno in Verona was the monastery of SS Mary and Thomas of Sacco, recorded as early as the 9th century. The monastery of St Michael of Candiana, founded in 1097 by Cono of Calaone, was dependent on St Peter of Modena and passed from the Benedictines to the Canons of St Salvatore in Bologna in 1450.
Under the jurisdiction of the bishop were the Benedictine monasteries of St Daniel on the Mountain near Abano (charter of 8 March 1134) and of St Mary of Saccolongo (charter of 15 November 1147), of St Stephen of Carrara, perhaps founded in 1027 by Litolfo of Carrara under the patronage of that family, and the two women’s monasteries of St Peter in the city, destroyed by the Hungarians and reconstituted by Bishop Orso, and that of St Stephen outside P., united in 1459 with that of St Mary of Festumbia, which lasted until 1810.
The Augustinian Canons had the monastery of St Mary of the Prisons near Este, recorded in 1107 and greatly favoured by the marquises of Este; the church was consecrated by Godfrey, Patriarch of Aquileia, on 27 March 1189; it passed in 1408 to the Camaldolese, was given in commendam in 1494 and suppressed in 1690. The Regular Canons of St Mary of Ispida (Lispida) also existed, but it underwent various vicissitudes.
The Friars Minor had the convent of St Mary, Mother of God, when, after the canonization of St Anthony (1232), driven by the piety of the Paduans and guided by the blessed Luca Belludi, who had been the Saint’s closest confidant, they began the great Basilica, in which, on a Romanesque-Gothic plan, they inserted Byzantine domes on the model of those of St Mark and the minaret-like bell tower in the Oriental style. In 1263 they were able solemnly to place the relics of the Saint there; but the church gradually became adorned with Gothic arches, Donatellesque bronzes, Lombard sculptures and paintings of every age; even the Baroque made a splendid appearance in the chamber housing the relics. Beside it grew the great convent, soon enriched with an important archive and library. The fervour of pilgrimages only grew with the centuries. Following the Lateran Pacts, the basilica of the Saint with the convent passed under the jurisdiction of the Holy See, and it is governed by the Conventual Friars Minor. On the square in front of the Saint, the Venetian Signoria had Donatello erect the monument to the condottiere Erasmo Gattamelata of Narni, a model for many others in Italy. The Dominicans, shortly after the founder’s death, already held the church of St Augustine; the Augustinian Hermits settled at the Arena, where Andrea Mantegna covered their church with frescoes, as Giotto had previously done in the chapel of Enrico degli Scrovegni; both groups maintained a school of theology there.
The first origins of the University of Padua are traced back to
Padua, diocese of the Madonna. Painting by Giusto de’ Menabuoi (14th cent.) – Padua, Sacristy of the Hermit Friars.
The first origins of the University of Padua are traced back to
Mantegna (v.); but in painting and sculpture it was tributary to the Venetian school in the following centuries.
A two-hundred-year-old monument of particular grandeur is the Palazzo Pubblico, called della Ragione, built in the 13th century.
— See plates XXXV–XXXVI.