RIETI, DIOCESE OF. In Lazio and Abruzzo, in the province of Rieti, it borders the dioceses of Terni, Sabina and Poggio Mirteto, Tivoli, L'Aquila, and Ascoli Piceno. It covers an area of 2,700 sq. km., with 125,000 inhabitants, all Catholic, distributed across 172 parishes, served by 155 secular priests and 35 regular clergy, 10 male and 24 female congregations (Ann. Pont., 1952, p. 338). It has a minor seminary in Rieti and a major seminary in Assisi, shared with the dioceses of Umbria.
Rieti, known to the Latins as *Reate*, is situated in the center of the valley that takes its name from it and boasts of being the geographical center of Italy; a rough stone in the small square of the church of St. Rufus bears the inscription: *Medium potius Italiae*. An ancient capital of the Sabines, it later became a Roman municipality, and after the barbarian incursions, a Lombard gastaldate and Frankish county. Under Adrian I, it became part of the Papal States, and when Pius VII established the delegations, Rieti was the seat of the homonymous delegation that included all of Sabina. Until the division of the provinces decreed in 1927, Rieti and its district belonged to Umbria.
Documents that claim to trace the evangelization of Rieti back to the pre-Constantinian era, with the consequent establishment of a bishopric, have no serious foundation. The mission of St. Prosdocimus, alleged proto-bishop of Padua, by the Prince of the Apostles, is legendary. A Latin translation (BHL, 2450) of the *Greek Martyrdom* of St. Eleutherius reports that he came to Rome, suffered martyrdom there with his mother Anthia, and that their stolen bodies were taken to Rieti and buried a mile from the city along the Via Salaria in a farm belonging to Bishop Primo, where a church was built. The aforementioned translation is most likely from the 6th century. In the *Martyrologium Hieronymianum*, on November 24 and September 6, a Bishop Eleutherius is commemorated in Rieti, and St. Gregory the Great (Dial., IV, 12) attests to the veneration of a St. Eleutherius in Rieti around the mid-6th century. In fact, there was a basilica of St. Eleutherius in Rieti, around which Christian inscriptions were found. However, none of these sources state that this St. Eleutherius venerated in Rieti held the see of Rieti.
The first certainly known bishop of Rieti is Ursus, who attended the Roman synods of 499, 501, and 502. Thus, the existence of the diocese of Rieti by the end of the 5th century is beyond dispute. In the 6th century, there is mention of the Rieti cathedral dedicated to the Virgin. A letter from St. Gregory the Great (Reg., I, 9, 49), dated 598, states that “Paulus, deacon of the Church of Rieti,” asks the Pope for relics of Sts. Hermes, Hyacinth, and Maximus for the baptismal font of the basilica (cathedral) of St. Mary. As attested by an inscription walled up in the sacristy of the Confraternity of the Stigmata, the current basilica was begun in 1109 by Bishop Benincasa and solemnly consecrated by Pope Honorius III in 1225. However, the original Romanesque lines of the temple were lost in the Baroque restoration of 1639. Despite later modifications, the crypt and the portico of the cathedral, the bell tower, and the bishop’s palace retain their Romanesque features. Due to the political events of the time, the bishop’s palace in the 12th and 13th centuries often hosted the bishops of Rome in its halls. Toward the end of the 11th century, the diocese of Amiternum (v.) was united to Rieti until 1257, when it was L'Aquila (v.). In 1502, Alexander VI detached Città Ducale from Rieti to create a diocese, but six years later, Julius II restored the previous arrangement.
The documents preserved in the municipal and diocesan archives of Rieti do not date back before 1225, as the fire of 1217 destroyed all earlier records. Among the notable monasteries in the diocese of Rieti are the ancient monasteries of St. Salvatore Maggiore, of SS. Quiricus and Julietta at Introdoco, of St. Eleutherius, of St. George, of St. Michael, and of SS. Peter and Paul. Referring to the oldest and most important of these monasteries, Pius XI, on June 3, 1925, united the abbatial title of St. Salvatore Maggiore to Rieti. The Franciscan sanctuaries of Greccio, Fonte Colombo, La Foresta, and Poggio Bustone have imprinted a mystical character on the Rieti valley, forming an ideal cross and giving the area the name of Valle Santa. All are linked to the presence of St. Francis, who chose these elevated places for his mystical ascents. They are all mentioned in early Franciscan literature and play a significant role in the history of the spirituality of the Order of Friars Minor. Greccio is considered by the devotees of St. Francis as the Bethlehem of the Franciscans, as the Saint, in the grotto of the sacred wood, revived in a tangible way the idyll of Bethlehem for the Christian world. The small convent, begun by the Saint himself, was continued by St. Bonaventure of Bagnoregio, but the 16th-century restoration gave it a simplicity and poverty that make it distinctive and unmistakable, as well as its panoramic view like a swallow’s nest.
Fonte Colombo is considered the Sinai of the Franciscan era, especially in the spiritual literature of the Order, which saw the Rule given to the founder as the Law given to Moses. Its name may derive from *Fons columbarum* or as the hill was called in the time of the Saint. In the architectural complex of the sanctuary, the periods of St. Francis, St. Bernardino of Siena, and especially the 16th-century reconstructions stand out.
La Foresta, due to its dominant position, open to the sun and sheltered from the winds, must have been chosen by the Saint for rest, both of the spirit and the body. When St. Francis arrived, there was a small church dedicated to Pope St. Fabian. In 1947, the apse of this church was discovered, followed by the right wall and the entire perimeter. The remains of frescoes have been dated to the 14th century. Currently, the architectural complex is under restoration to make the phases of the different structures visible. Poggio Bustone recalls the penance of St. Francis.
Said sanctuaries are still guarded today by the Friars Minor of the Roman province, who, particularly since 1946 through the efforts of Monsignor Cristoforo Terzi of the same province, have lovingly restored the buildings and access roads, reviving these places of spiritual retreat so dear to the devotees of the saint of Assisi.
The diocese of Rieti is immediately subject to the Holy See and has its ordinary appellate tribunal in the episcopal curia of Spoleto.