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 in 72 parishes, served by 82 diocesan priests and 25 regular clergy; it has a seminary, 6 male religious communities and 40 female ones (*Ann. Pont. 1952*, p. 344).
The present territory of the diocese of P. M. also includes the three small ancient episcopal sees of Cures (Passo Corese), Forum Novum (now Vescovio) and Nomentum (today Mentana). The first, 22 miles from the Via Salaria, had its cathedral dedicated to St. Antimo, mentioned in the *Martyrologium Hieronymianum* on 11 May (*Martyr. Hieronymianum*, pp. 246-47). M. Boldetti saw the ruins of the small basilica with an attached small cemetery (*Osservazioni sopra i cimiteri*, etc., Rome 1720, p. 577; E. Stevenson, in *Bull. arch. crist.*, 5 [1880], pp. 106 sg.; id., in *Real-Encyclopédie 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 Vittoria, mentioned in the *Martyrologium Hieronymianum* on 9, 10 July and 19 December (*Martyr. Hieronymianum*, pp. 360-62, 364, 653); they appear in the list 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, Bono in 558-601 from a letter of Pelagius I; in 593 Gregory I united the see of Cures with that of Nomentum, of which Grazioso was bishop (Gregorio Registr., 1, 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 because of the controversy between Bishop Ursus and the Bishop of Cilicio. Ursus dedicated the altar on the tomb of two martyrs at the 8th 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 another inscription there is said to be *Christi signifer* (ibid., 15 [1938], p. 243 and fig. 68). The following bishops are also known: Servusdei (465), Cyprian (487), Serenus at the end of the 5th century, Romanus, Felix (531), Romulus (551), Redemptus (553), Grazioso (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. Teodulo).
In the *Martyrologium Hieronymianum* 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 at his time, at the 15th mile of the Nomentana, the ruins of a small basilica which he believed was built on the tomb of the martyrs Primus (v.) and Felicianus (Roma sotterranea, Rome 1632, p. 416). The *castrum Nomentanum* with a bull of Innocent II of 3 April 1139 passed under the jurisdiction of the monastery of S. Paolo fuori le mura. Forum Novum (today Vescovio) in the comune of Torri (ancient Gabii) had as its cathedral S. Eutymius, then S. Maria di Vescovio. The church that has come down to us is that of the 9th century, with a single nave, raised presbytery and semi-annular apse with crypt, later enlarged with remains of 12th-century paintings; only the transept seems to be a century earlier, with pictorial remains in panel form with stylized fabrics. The presbytery has a railing with small pillars and wells. The two walls of the hall still contain considerable remains of the neophyte cycle of the Old and New Testaments, while the inner entrance wall contained, as in ancient Roman churches, the representation of the Last Judgment (12th century). A bell tower was later superimposed on the façade, dated by A. Serafini to the end of the 10th to 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). Pope Landon (913-14), a native of S., 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 due to the abandonment by the population. Pope Alexander VI on 14 October 1495 transferred the episcopal see to Magliano; due to 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 apostolic visitation of 1572 found at S. Maria di Vescovio only a Franciscan friar as custodian; this order was granted the church 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 to officiate at S. Maria di Vescovio twice a year. Pope Gregory XVI, with the apostolic letter *Studium quo impense afficimur* of 23 November 1841, detached from the suburbicarian diocese of S. the part of the territory farthest from Rome, creating the diocese of P. M., uniting it with 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. The first mention of a bishop of S. is found in a letter of Pelagius I (558-60) to Bishop Bono. John VIII (872-82) wrote a letter to the bishop of S., Leo (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 2276); Marino 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 before Leo IX in 1051. Anastasius IV defined the boundaries of the diocese in 1153-54; Lucius III (1181-85) assigned to the diocese the Monte 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 Fulcoldi (1261-65), later Pope Clement IV; Bessarion in 1449; Giuliano della Rovere (1479-83), later Julius II; Alessandro Farnese (1523-24), later Paul III; Giovanni Pietro Carafa (1540-50), 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 *Suburbicaria Sabinae dioecesis* of 3 June 1925 suppressed the diocese of P. M., maintaining the name of the diocese (Mandelon) with its cathedral chapter and establishing that from then on the suburbicarian bishop of S. would also be called bishop of P. M.; on the same date, with the apostolic constitution *In altis Sabinae montibus*, he united with the diocese of Rieti the parishes of Pratoianni, Vaccareccia, Longone, Valle Cupola, Rocco Vittiana, Poggio Vittiano and Varco Sabino, which together with the monastery and church of S. Salvatore Maggiore were joined to the diocese of Rieti (AAS, 18 [1926], pp. 34-37).
At the 30th mile of the Via Salaria the *Martyrologium Hieronymianum*, pp. 497-98, indicates on 9 September the martyr Hyacinthus, whose *Passio* is unknown and who may be the same as the one buried on the *Salaria vetus*, which is also venerated in Rieti; perhaps only relics (not the body) were received in that basilica in Sabinis which received from Leo III a «very beautiful» cloth (Lib. Pont., II, p. 13; Lanzoni, I, p. 354; H. Delehaye, *Les origines... cit.*, p. 314).
Rynmann, pp. 360-62, 364, 653); they appear in the list of martyrs in S. Apollinare in Ravenna (P. Paschini, *La Passio delle martiri*