Sabina and Poggio Mirteto, Diocese of

SABINA AND POGGIO MIRTETO, DIOCESE of - A suburbicarian diocese in the province of Rieti. It has 88,193 inhabitants, of whom 88,000 are Catholics distributed among 72 parishes, served by 82 diocesan priests and 25 religious; it has a seminary, 6 male religious communities and 40 female (Ann. Pont. 1952, p. 344).

The present territory of the diocese of P. M. also contains the three small ancient bishoprics of Cures (Passo Corese), Forum Novum (present-day Vescovio) and Nomentum (today Mentana). The first, at the 22nd mile of the Via Salaria, had its Cathedral dedicated to St. Anthimus, commemorated by the Jeronymian Martyrology on 11 May (Martyr. Hieronymianum, pp. 246-47). M. Boldetti saw the ruins of the little Basilica with its adjoining small cemetery (Osservazioni sopra i cimiteri, etc., Rome 1720, p. 577; E. Stevenson, in Bull. arch. crist., 5 [1880], pp. 106 ff.; id., in Real-Encyclopädie der christlichen Alterthümer, II, pp. 124-25). According to L. Duchesne the territory of the diocese of Cures also included Trebula Mutuesca (today Monteleone), to which belong the martyrs Anatolia and Victoria, commemorated in the Jeronymian Martyrology on 9, 10 July and 19 Dec. (Martyr. Hieronymianum, pp. 360-62, 364, 653); they appear in the series of martyrs in S. Apollinare in Ravenna (P. Paschini, La Passio delle martiri sabine, Vittoria e Anatolia, Rome 1919; H. Delehaye, Les origines du culte des martyrs, 2nd ed., Brussels 1933, pp. 314, 327).

Known bishops of Cures are: Tiberius in 465, Felicissimus in 487, Dulcitius in 501, Bonus in 558-601 from a letter of Pelagius I; in 593 Gregory I united the see of Cures with that of Nomentum, of which Gratiosus was bishop (Gregorii Registr., I, 3, ep. 20).

Nomentum (today Mentana) at the 15th mile of the Via Nomentana is known for its bishops from the beginning of the 5th century through the controversy of bishop Ursus with the bishop of Tivoli. Ursus dedicated the altar over the tomb of two martyrs buried at the 7th mile of the Nomentana (G. Belvederi, La Basilica e il cimitero di S. Alessandro al VII miglio della Via Nomentana, in Riv. arch. crist., 14 [1937], pp. 200, 221 and fig. 19) and in another inscription there he is called Christi signifer (id., ibid., 15 [1938], p. 243 and fig. 68). There are then known the bishops Servusdei (465), Cyprian (487), Serenus at the end of the 5th century, Romanus, Felix (531), Romulus (551), Redemptus (553), Gratiosus (593), Constantius (600). From the same cemetery come the inscriptions of a bishop Adeodatus without date and that of a bishop who died in 569. The city was destroyed by the Lombards (v. ALESSANDRO, EVENZIO and TEODULO).

In the Jeronymianum on 27, 29 May and 11 June (Martyr. Hieronymianum, pp. 276-77; 280-81; 314-15) a St. Restitutus is indicated at the 16th mile of the Nomentana, as in the Passio (BHL, 7197). A. Bosio saw in his time, at the 15th mile of the Nomentana, the ruins of a little basilica which he believed was built over the tomb of the martyrs Primus (v.) and Felicianus (Roma sotterranea, Rome 1632, p. 416). The « castrum Nomentanum » by a bull of Innocent II of 3 Apr. 1139 passed under the jurisdiction of the monastery of S. Paolo fuori le mura. Forum Novum (today Vescovio) in the commune of Torri (ancient Gabii) had as its cathedral S. Eutimio, then S. Maria di Vescovio. The church that has come down to us is that of the 9th century with a single nave, a raised presbytery and an apse with a semi-annular crypt, later enlarged and with remains of paintings of the 12th century; only the transept seems a century earlier, with painted remains in panels with stylized fabrics. The presbytery has the enclosure with small pillars and plutei. The two walls of the hall still contain substantial remains of the iconographic cycle of the Old and New Testament, while the inner entrance wall contained, as in the ancient Roman churches, the representation of the Last Judgment (12th century). Onto the facade the bell tower was later superimposed, dated by A. Serafini to the end of the 10th or the beginning of the 11th century (Torri campanarie di Roma e del Lazio, Rome 1927, p. 142). A Christian sarcophagus contains on its lid the busts of the two spouses with two children and the inscription of an « Aurelius Ursacius ». A St. Getulius, not far from Torri, was venerated in the 9th century; E. Stevenson believed he recognized at the 30th mile remains of a cemetery (Bull. arch. crist., 5 [1880], p. 108), whose relics were transferred to Farfa (I. Schuster, L'imperiale abbazia di Farfa, Rome 1921, p. 98). A native of the S. was pope Lando (913-14) who restored the demolished cathedral of Forum Novum. In 1341 the Cathedral was almost out of service, also for lack of clergy; it was in complete desolation in 1452 because of the abandonment of the population. Pope Alexander VI on 14 Oct. 1495 transferred the episcopal see to Magliano; because of the controversies that arose, pope Julius II gave the title of antiqua to the church of S. Maria di Vescovio, while the church of S. Liberatore received the title of « nova cathedralis Sabinorum », which was confirmed by Leo X on 21 June 1521. The sacred visitation of 1572 found at S. Maria di Vescovio only a custodian, a Franciscan father; to this Order it was granted at the end of the 14th century; from 1633 to 1674 the Conventuals were there; then the Mercedarians until 1751; from then on the canons of the cathedral of Magliano had the obligation of the officiality at S. Maria di Vescovio twice a year. Pope Gregory XVI, with the apostolic letter Studium quo impense officimur of 23 Nov. 1841, detached from the suburbicarian diocese of S. the part of the territory farthest from Rome, creating the diocese of P. M., uniting to it the parishes already subject to the ancient abbey of S. Salvatore Maggiore. The bishop of S. had the title of perpetual abbot of Farfa.

Of the ancient bishops of Forum Novum few are known, among them Paul in 465, Asterius in 487 and Proiectus in 499. Of the bishop of S. mention is found for the first time in the letter of Pelagius I (558-60) to bishop Bonus. John VIII (872-82) wrote a letter to the bishop of S., Leo (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 2276); Marinus II confirmed in May 944 to bishop John the episcopate of S. (ibid., 2779); a controversy between bishop John and the abbot of Farfa was brought in 1051 to Leo IX. Anastasius IV determines the boundaries of the diocese in 1153-1154; Lucius III (1181-85) assigns to the diocese Mount Tancia occupied by the monastery of Farfa.

Among the cardinals of S. are remembered Conrad (1153), later pope Anastasius IV; Goffredo Castiglione (1239-41), later pope Celestine IV; Guido Fulcodi (1261-65), later pope Clement IV; Bessarion in 1449; Giuliano della Rovere (1479-83), later Julius II; Alessandro Farnese (1523-1524), later Paul III; Giovanni Pietro Carafa (1546-50), later Paul IV; Scipione Borghese (1629-33); Francesco Barberini (1645-52); Pietro Ottoboni (1681-83), later Alexander VIII; Annibale Albani (1730-43); Gaetano De Lai (1917-28), who restored the Cathedral and the Seminary. Pope Pius XI with the apostolic constitution Suburbicariae Sabinae dioecesis of 3 June 1925 suppressed the diocese of P. M., maintaining the name of the diocese (Mandelen) with its cathedral Chapter and establishing that from then on the suburbicarian bishop of S. should also be called bishop of P. M.; on the same date, with the apostolic constitution In altis Sabinae montibus, he united to the diocese of Rieti the parishes of Pratoiani, Vaccareccia, Longone, Valle Cupola, Rocco Vittiana, Poggio Vittiano and Varco Sabino, which together with the cenobium and the church of S. Salvatore Maggiore were united to the diocese of Rieti (AAS, 18 [1926], pp. 34-37).

At the 30th milestone of the Via Salaria the Martyrologium Hieronymianum, pp. 497-98, indicates under 9 September the martyr Hyacinth, whose Passio is unknown and who could be the same one buried on the Via Salaria vetus, who is also found venerated at Rieti; perhaps only relics (not the body) were received in that basilica in Sabinis which received as a gift from Leo III a "pulcherrima" fabric (Lib. Pont., II, p. 13; Lanzoni, I, p. 354; H. Delehaye, Les origines... cit., p. 314).

Enrico Josi