SAN LEONE. – A city of Calabria, anciently called Leonia, near Crotone, it was the seat of a tiny diocese in the metropolitan province of S. Severina. Its origins are unknown.
The name of no bishop of S. L. occurs before 1300, but the existence of the bishopric is attested in the Rationes Camerae Apostolicae (VII, f. 85) as early as 1282. It was suppressed by s. Pio V on 7 November 1571, and its territory was incorporated into S. Severina.
BIBL.: G. Fiore, Calabria illustrata, II, Naples 1743, pp. 282–83; G. Minasi, Le chiese di Calabria, there 1896, p. 261; D. Taccone-Gallucci, Regesti dei Rom. Pontef. alle chiese di Calabria, Rome 1902, p. 283; F. Russo, La Metropolia di S. Severina, there 1948. Francesco Russo