Ravenna, Archdiocese of

RAVENNA, ARCIDIOCESI di. — In Romagna. As a metropolitan see, it still has subject to it the dioceses of Bertinoro, Cervia, Cesena, Comacchio, Forlì, Rimini, and Sarsina, and forms part of the Flaminia Conciliar Region. Cervia (v.), which, by virtue of a decree of the Consistorial Congregation of 15 February 1947, lost the 8 parishes constituting the former Duchy of its bishop in Ferrarese territory, this tiny diocese, now reduced to only the 5 parishes located within the territory of its municipal district, was united in perpetuity « aeque principaliter et servato dignitatis ordine » with the archdiocese of Ravenna (AAS, 39 [1947], pp. 225–27). The archbishop of Ravenna also bears the title of perpetual abbot of S. Maria in Porto.

The territory of the diocese lies entirely in the extreme Po plain and, ethnographically and civically, may be divided into two large parts: the Romagnola, almost entirely within the municipality of R., with extensions into the territories of the municipalities of Forlì, Bertinoro, and Conselice; and the Ferrarese, with an extension of 2 parishes in Bolognese territory. In this latter part, which reaches the right bank of the Po, on the border with Adria, are situated the most important civil centers: Argenta, Portomaggiore, Berra.

The area of the diocesan territory is approximately 1,350 sq. km. and includes 161,000 inhabitants, of whom 35,200 are in the city of R.’s 14 parishes, the remainder in the 53 parishes and 2 rural curacies, grouped into 10 vicariates forane; there are 141 priests resident in the diocese, of whom 117 belong to the secular clergy and 24 to the regular clergy; there are 6 male religious houses, with 37 members, while the female religious houses number 45, with 240 nuns, among them two congregations of diocesan right: the Virgins of S. Giuseppe of the Tavelli Institute and the Tertiaries of the Addolorata of the Ghiselli Institute.

The diocese, emerging from the maelstrom of the war amid immense devastation, is now rising again from the ruins. Only 22 parishes emerged unscathed from the general destruction; 20 parish churches were completely destroyed, including the basilicas of S. Vittore in the city and S. Maria in Porto fuori, in the immediate vicinity. It is therefore still impossible to provide a statistical account of the diocese’s places of worship without lapsing into provisional figures. The only diocesan shrine that may truly be said to have a history and to have been a center of Marian devotion for centuries is the basilica of S. Maria in Porto, in the city of R., where the « Madonna Greca » is venerated, a beautiful Byzantine image of the praying Virgin, at

RAVENNA, ARCIDIOCESI di « Stele di Antifonte (end of the 2nd–beginning of the 3rd century). Christian epigraph with a representation of the Good Shepherd, from an ancient burial ground at Classe » Ravenna, Archiepiscopal Museum.

bas-relief in Parian marble. Its first location was the now-destroyed Basilica outside the walls, mentioned above, whose origins may be traced back to before the year 1000. Transferred into the city, when the extramural canonry had to be abandoned, it received the homage of Julius II, who in the monastery, in 1511, created nine cardinals in a solemn Consistory; of Paul III in 1541; and of St Charles Borromeo, legate of Romagna. The establishment of a pious union, known since the 12th century by the name of « Sons of Mary », and continued today in the well-known association of the « Daughters of Mary », seems to be connected with the cult of this image.

I. CIVIL AND ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY

The origins of the city are lost in legend; with Caesar it entered decisively into history. From here he conducted the final negotiations with the Senate; concentrated his troops; and set out to cross the Rubicon. It was chosen by Octavian as the station of the fleet destined for the eastern Mediterranean. Continuous relations with the East soon brought here elements from the opposite shores of the Adriatic and from the regions of Asia Minor, Syria and Greece, Egypt, etc. Reasons of strategic security led Honorius, in 402, in the face of the danger created by Alaric’s invasion, to choose it as the seat of the Western Empire (v. GALLA PLACIDIA). The enlargement of the urban centre and an extensive programme of construction thus began. The final, confused events of the Empire, which fell when, in Sept. 476, Paolo, uncle of Romolo Augustolo, was killed in the pine forest of Classe, were followed by the transitional period of the Herulian Kingdom under Odoacer. The first barbarian-Italian king likewise made the city his residence. Then came the Gothic Kingdom of Teodorico, which ushered in the second period of political and architectural greatness.

The Theodoric kingdom came to an end in 526, when, at the death of the King, the struggle between the conquered and the conquerors was raging most fiercely. R. was conquered by Belisarius in the spring of 540. That year began for the city the third period of its political power, which lasted until the 8th century; perhaps it was also the most splendid. Justinian made it the seat of his representative in Italy (v. ESARCA). After alternating vicissitudes, the city fell into the hands of Astolfo in 751, bringing Byzantine rule in Italy to an end; nevertheless, after Astolfo was forced to abandon the Exarchate, the archbishops, strengthened by the special position they had gradually acquired, presented themselves as heirs and continuators of Byzantine rule, becoming governors of the city and its territory. Their alliance with the local aristocracy gave rise to that numerous series of dukes who, in the name of the archbishop, ruled Romagna in the 9th–11th centuries. Under the Ottonians the archbishops became great feudal lords of the Empire, and the city experienced a new period of splendour and greatness, also because it was often the residence of the Emperor, who had a palace there. From the archiepiscopal lordship arose the aristocratic Commune, which throughout the 12th century still remained under the supreme authority of the archbishop. The transition from the aristocratic Commune to the lordship was swift; it was held by several families who remained famous, such as the Anastagi and the Traversari, immortalized by Dante. The lordship of the latter ended in 1240 with the conquest of the city by Federico II. Thirty-six years later, Rodolfo d’Asburgo definitively ceded Romagna to the Pope, and R. consequently became part of the dominion of the Holy See. Meanwhile, the lordship of the Polentani arose: they were vicars of the Apostolic See, but in fact independent governors. Guido Novello offered Dante Alighieri refuge and comfort within its walls. Under Obizzo da Polenta, the family became in fact vassals of the Venetian Republic, which, from the beginning of the 15th century, sent its podestà to R. every year. When Ostasio was banished to the island of Candia, Venice openly and easily became mistress of the city. Venetian rule lasted until 1509, and was an interruption in the rapid decline to which the retreat of the sea and the abandonment of harbour-maintenance works had contributed greatly. In 1509 it was returned by treaty to Giulio II. Three years later, besieged by the King of France and Alfonso d’Este, allied against the Pope and Spain, after a furious battle which took its name from R., it was stormed and put to fire and sword on 12 Apr. 1512. After the ruin, it was not until the first half of the 18th century that a welcome development occurred, when the legate Cardinal Giulio Alberoni arranged for the diversion of the Ronco and Montone rivers which, joined in a single channel, freed the city from their terrible embrace, a frequent cause of flooding. From him R. also received the new naviglio canal and harbour, which, after the family name of Clemente XII, were and are called Corsini. By the Treaty of Tolentino (1797), Pio VI ceded it to the French, whose government was extremely disastrous for the city, especially for its artistic heritage. It returned to the Pontiff in 1815 and became the seat of a legation. On 13 June 1859, after the Apostolic Delegate had departed, a provisional governing junta was established, heralding definitive union with the Kingdom of Italy.

The history of the Church of R. is very often linked to the vicissitudes of the city. In 1756, at a short distance from the basilica of S. Apollinare in Classe, a burial area was excavated which had certainly been used by Christians and which had ardica (v.) of a basilica, believed to be that of Bishop Probo. On the shaped tombs, many reused classiarii inscriptions and three Christian inscriptions were found, two of them still in their original position: the stele of Antifonte and the marble of Flavio Anastasio (CIL, XI, 1, nos. 320 and 323). All are of great antiquity. The first, depicting the Good Shepherd and already illustrated by G. B. De Rossi (Bull. di arch. crist., 3rd series, 4 [1879]), must be assigned to the end of the 2nd century or the beginning of the 3rd; the second, later, to the 4th century. The stele with the Good Shepherd is of great importance because it is the oldest testimony not only to Christianity in Ravenna, but in the entire surrounding region; moreover, it confirms the local tradition which places the origins of Christianity and the first see of the bishops of Ravenna near the Roman port of Classe: here, in all likelihood, the eastern element, numerous in Classe from the beginning, must have brought and spread the faith. Today, however, it cannot be stated whether Apollinare was the first evangelizer, or rather the organizer of an already existing community, because tradition has surrounded the only martyr of the church of R. with an aura of legend. The first to speak of him is s. Pietro Crisologo (v.). But from his sermon (no. 128) one can gather only that he was the first bishop; that he died as a result of the torments he suffered; and that his body rests among the children of his church. Later, perhaps through the work of Pseudo-Ambrose, author of the legend of ss. Vitale and Ursicino, a «passio» was composed in which Apollinare is presented as a disciple of Peter, sent by him to R. to evangelize «the multitude of people who dwelt there». R. was advancing toward glory and power; its church had to prove superior to the Arian one that Teodorico had established there; for this reason, the founder’s apostolicity was useful. It was already known at the beginning of the 6th century, when documents and monuments clearly allude to II. Severo was present at the Council of Sardica; between him and Apollinare, ten other bishops succeeded one another in the see of Classe and were buried there. Probo I, or, according to others, Probo II, erected the first Cathedral on the aforementioned burial area; it was a very ancient basilica in origin, which had its baptismal font. There is reliable information about two other ancient cemetery areas: one where Eleucadio, the third bishop, was buried, and the other where Severo was buried, around the middle of the 4th century. Perhaps a fourth, separate from Probo’s, should be recognized in the very poor burial ground which lies underground in the courtyard of the rectory of the basilica of S. Apollinare, where the Saint’s first tomb was located and at the edges of which the Basilica arose, as have demo-

(photograph: Istituto fotografico italiano, Rome)

RAVENNA, ARCIDIOCESI di - Mosaics of the vault of the presbytery of the basilica of S. Vitale (6th century) - Ravenna.

demonstrated by the excavations of 1949. The importance of the Church of Ravenna began when the Imperial Court settled in R. Orso, no earlier than the end of the 4th century, but more probably at the beginning of the 5th, transferred the see within the Ravenna urban agglomeration and built the first intramural Basilica, which was called Ursiana after him; the Church of Classis, however, with its clergy, continued for a long time to enjoy particular autonomy. The new Basilica was built against the eastern side of the walls of the Roman oppidum. In a small addition, which was perhaps the first enlargement of the Roman city, the episcopal see arose, the Tricoli, as the residence of the archbishops has been and still is called through the centuries; from that time, together with the Cathedral, it remained and remains in its original location, near what was once the Sallustra Gate, one of whose two cylindrical towers the episcopal residence has incorporated. With s. Pier Crisologo a new development occurred. Around 450, «edito christiani principis (Valentiniano III) et decreto beati Petri (Celestino I)», a group of churches of Emilia (Forum Livii, Faventia, Forum Cornelii, Bononia, Mutina, Vicus Habentinus), detached from the metropolitan jurisdiction of Milan, was constituted as a separate unit, dependent upon the bishop of R., who consecrated its prelates and presided over them with metropolitan authority; nevertheless, as bishop of Ravenna, he remained a suffragan of the Roman see. This was the first step, and Crisologo was regarded as equal to the other metropolitans.

After Crisologo, the figures of Neone and Ecclesio, the bishop of the Theodoric period, emerge. In 540 Vittore witnessed the transfer of political jurisdiction from the Gothic Kingdom to Byzantine rule, and at his death a decisive event occurred in the history of the Church of R. Pope Vigilio was far from Rome; the struggle over the Three Chapters had begun, and Justinian wanted there a man who gave him complete assurance. Therefore, when he was presented with the name of the man (who has remained unknown) whom clergy and people had canonically elected to succeed Vittore, he set this chosen candidate aside. At the emperor’s proposal, Vigilio, at Patrasso in Achaea, on 14 October 546, consecrated Massimiano of Pola bishop of R.; he conducted the struggle against the Three Chapters with tenacity and fortitude. An indefatigable builder, reorganizer, and reformer of his church, he was, together with Crisologo, perhaps the greatest of the successors of Apollinare, initiator of that power which, after him, was often to bring the archbishops of R. into conflict with Rome. He was succeeded by Agnello, who was entrusted with the task of purging the city and diocese of every trace of Arianism and consecrating the Arian temples to Catholic worship. In the 7th century, the struggle with Rome perhaps reached its climax under Mauro, archbishop, who in 666 obtained from the emperor Constans the decree of autocephaly. Even if limited, in its essence, to metropolitan jurisdiction, as the

(phot. P. Bezzi)