PALESTRA DEL CLERO
Quindicennial review of ecclesiastical culture and practice, begun at Rovigo on 1 Nov. 1921.
It contains articles on the various ecclesiastical sciences, providing the clergy with doctrinal clarifications, guidance, commentaries on acts of the Holy See, solutions to cases and consultations, reviews and digests of journals. From 1926 it began publishing *Ministerium Verbi*, a monthly on sacred preaching.
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PALESTRINA
Diocese of. – In Latium, in the province of Rome, it is one of the seven suburbicarian sees occupied by a cardinal of the Order of Bishops. It covers an area of 370.06 sq. km with 59,438 inhabitants, divided into 27 parishes, served by 55 secular priests and 50 regulars, 8 male and 23 female religious congregations; the minor seminary is in Palestrina and the major seminary at Anagni, shared with the other dioceses of lower Latium (Ann. Pont., 1952, p. 308).
Palestrina is the ancient *Praneste* of the Romans, but the present medieval city arose upon the remains of the famous temple of Fortuna Primigenia, begun in the 1st century B.C. on the slopes of the hill, on the various terraces that lead from the Cathedral to the Palazzo Barberini. These grand ruins were uncovered especially after the aerial bombardments of 1944, and conservation work is now in progress under the direction of the Ministries of Public Works and Public Instruction.
Evangelical preaching in Palestrina began in the pre-Constantinian age. The *Martyrologium Hieronymianum*, under the 18th day, recalls the martyr Agapitus, whose *Passio*, dating from before the 9th century, would have him born in Rome and martyred at *Praneste* under Aurelian (270–75) by order of an Antiochus who must be “Flavius Antiochianus,” consul in 270. There seems to be no doubt about the authenticity of the martyr Agapitus or about his tomb, situated about a mile from *Praneste*, on which was built the basilica where a bishop “Iucundus” placed a metrical inscription attributed to the 4th–5th century (cf. CIL, XIV, 3415). Lanzoni places the name of “Iucundus” in second place in the chronological list of bishops of Palestrina; in first place, dated 314, he places “Secundus,” whom F. Cristofori and P. Gams call Secundinus. In the 8th century the anonymous author of the *Life of Adrian I* in the *Liber Pontificalis* mentions a basilica of St Secundinus at Palestrina “ubi eius corpus quiescit.” Likewise the anonymous author of the *Life of Leo III* refers to the cathedral church of Palestrina, dedicated to St Agapitus. On the hill of St Quiricus in Palestrina there is a church with a crypt dedicated to St Quintinus.
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PALESTRINA GIOVANNI PIERLUIGI
V. PIERLUIGI DA PALESTRINA