SAN MINIATO, Diocese of. - A city of Tuscany, a diocese since 1622; suffragan of Florence. Its territory, which extends over hilly and flat land in the valleys of the Elsa, the Evola, the Arno and the Era, borders on the dioceses of Florence, Pisa, Pistoia, Pescia and Volterra. Before its erection as a diocese, a vicar general of the bishop of Lucca resided in S. M., to obviate the difficulty that the clergy and faithful might encounter in communicating with that episcopal curia, situated in the politically distinct territory of the Florentine dominion, to which S. M. was subject. Its area is about 600 sq km: the population, which is 133,000 souls, is distributed among 102 parishes, in turn grouped into 8 rural deaneries. Priests 145; male religious houses 5; female 45. It has a diocesan seminary. The patron of the diocese is St. Genesius; his feast falls on 25 August.
I. CIVIL HISTORY
The city of S. M., which perhaps owes its origin to Otto I or to the Lombard Desiderius and was already a walled town in the 12th century, rises on a flourishing hill between the confluence of the Elsa and the Arno. It is dominated by the ancient fortress, the work of Conrad of Speyer, damaged in the last war. In it Pier delle Vigne was "blinded" by order of the emperor Frederick. In an earlier age the inhabitants of S. M. destroyed the village of S. Genesio in a "feud": their land was set on fire by the Lucchese. Subsequently protected and visited by Otto IV, Henry II and Frederick II, it was the seat of a German judge, of appeals, of an imperial court and of a vicar of the Empire; hence the appellation of S. M. al Tedesco, which lasted until recent times. Under the communal regime it was governed by a podestà, by a captain of the people and by twelve buonomini. Its position, which made it suited to both offense and defense, kept it always active and present in the contested vicissitudes between Guelphs and Ghibellines. At one time it was with the Guelph league, at another it was the center of a Ghibelline league. It was against the Ghibellines of Arezzo; its men fought at Montaperti; at Campaldino they were on the side of the Florentine Guelphs. Placed at an intermediate distance between Pisa and Florence, it suffered more than once the consequences of the hostilities between the two rival cities: more often siding with the Florentine Guelphs, until in 1389 it became forever subject to Florence. Once the Grand Duchy was constituted, S. M. was part of it and received from it growth and, through the work of the Medici, its elevation to the rank of city. In 1838 Leopold II established a collegiate tribunal there and made it the residence of a grand-ducal commissioner. After Tuscany was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy, it was the seat of a district of the province of Florence. Its Accademia degli Euteleti is well known as a cultural institution.
II. RELIGIOUS HISTORY
The church erected in 738 by twelve devout men in honor of St. Minias the martyr, from which the place takes its name, was originally subject to the pleban church of S. Genesio, situated a short distance away, near Vico Wallari. This pieve, which belonged to the jurisdiction of the bishops of Lucca, witnessed in 1074 a synod against the simoniacs, convened there by Bishop Anselmo. Celestine III granted the pieve of S. Genesio his protection, confirmed its possessions, forbade the erection of new churches within its territory, and gave the faculty of celebrating the divine offices there in the event of a general interdict. But S. M. tended to assert its autonomy. Among the religious glories of S. M. in this age must be remembered the passage of St. Francis, whom the local inhabitants received with great honors, meeting him in 1211 at a place called Catena, and to whom they made donations that facilitated the rise of a Franciscan convent. And in the church of S. Francesco the leading men of S. M. would then solemnly go to make their offering on the day sacred to the Saint who is the city's patron. Meanwhile in 1248 the pieve of S. Genesio was seized and destroyed by the Sanminiatesi, and the honors and the title of that pleban church were transferred to the church of S. Maria, situated in the castle of S. M. The Florentines, after the conquest of Pisa in 1408, were considering urging the erection of the castle into a bishopric; but the project was not pursued. Once the rule of the Medici was established, however, Clement VII granted honors and privileges, including jurisdictional ones, to the provost of the pleban church of S. Genesio in S. M., although he was not constituted a prelate nullus. It was at the request of Maria Maddalena of Austria, widow of Cosimo II, that with a bull of 5 Dec. 1622 Gregory XV, dismembering, beyond the territory of the castle, Fucecchio and the pieve of S. Maria a Monte (that is, the whole territory politically subject to Florence), from the diocese of Lucca, erected the church of S. Maria and Genesio as a cathedral under the title of S. M. and elevated the castle to a city, assigning 118 parishes to the new diocese. The first bishop was Msgr. Noris, to whom the first diocesan Synod, held in 1628, is owed. He was succeeded in the episcopal see by Msgr. Pichi, who celebrated the second Synod in 1630 and did not neglect the erection of the Seminary. Among the bishops who succeeded him, mention must be made of the Barnabite Antonio Morigia, who later passed to the archiepiscopal see of Florence, and then, created cardinal, was transferred to Rome as archpriest of S. Maria Maggiore. Bishop Msgr. Visdomini Contigiani was most zealous in promoting ecclesiastical discipline and celebrated three diocesan synods, in 1685, 1690 and 1699. Bishop Msgr. Poggi built the sanctuary of the Most Holy Crucifix, still today most venerated by the Sanminiatesi, enlarged the Seminary, erected a hospital for the poor and the archconfraternity of the Misericordia. To Bishop Msgr. Falcini is owed the eighth diocesan Synod, held in 1919: the last Synod was celebrated in 1936 by Msgr. Giubbi, who also provided for new enlargements of the diocesan Seminary. In 1944 he had the sorrow of seeing his Cathedral stricken by a mournful wartime massacre.
III. ILLUSTRIOUS FIGURES
Among these must be counted Bishop Monsignor Pio Del Corona, a most learned Dominican, polished writer and orator. Several works of theological content are owed to him. Much admired for his virtues: today the diocesan process for his beatification is under way. Among the laity, a Christian of proven virtues and a distinguished philosopher was Augusto Conti, who was a professor at the University of Florence and left philosophical works in conformity with the religious principles he professed.
Bibliography8 works
Emilio Sanesi