SAN MINIATO, DIOCESI DI

SAN MINIATO, DIOCESE OF. - A city in Tuscany, a diocese since 1622; suffragane of Florence. Its territory, which extends over hilly and flat land in the valleys of the Elsa, Evola, Arno, and Era rivers, borders the dioceses of Florence, Pisa, Pistoia, Pescì, and Volterra. Before its elevation to a diocese, San Miniato had a vicar general of the bishop of Lucca residing there, to overcome the difficulty that clergy and faithful might encounter in communicating with that episcopal curia, located in politically different territory under Florentine dominion, to which San Miniato was subject. Its area is about 600 sq. km.; the population, numbering 133,000 souls, is distributed among 102 parishes, which are in turn grouped into 8 deaneries. Priests: 145; male religious houses: 5; female: 45. It has a diocesan seminary. The patron saint of the diocese is St. Genesius; his feast is celebrated on 25 August.

I. CIVIL HISTORY

The city of San Miniato, whose origins may perhaps be traced to Otto I or to the Lombard king Desiderius and which was already a walled town in the 12th century, stands on a flourishing hill between the confluence of the Elsa and Arno rivers. It is dominated by the ancient fortress, a work of Conrad of Swabia, damaged in the last war. There Pier delle Vigne was blinded by the emperor Frederick. In more remote times the inhabitants of San Miniato destroyed in a feud the borough of San Genesio; their own town was burned by the Lucchese. Later protected and visited by Otto IV, Henry VII, and Frederick II, it was the seat of a German judge of appeals, an imperial court, and an imperial vicar; hence the appellation of San Miniato al Tedesco, which lasted until recent times. Under the communal regime it was governed by a podestà, a captain of the people, and twelve good men. Its position, which made it suitable for offense and defense, kept it always active and present in the stormy events between Guelphs and Ghibellines. Now it was with the Guelph league, now 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 Guelph Florentines. Situated midway between Pisa and Florence, it suffered more than once the consequences of the hostilities between the two rival cities: more often siding with the Guelph Florentines, until in 1390 it became permanently subject to Florence. With the establishment of the Grand Duchy, San Miniato became part of it and through it gained growth and, by the work of the Medici, its elevation to city status. In 1838 Leopold II established there a collegiate tribunal and made it the residence of a grand-ducal commissioner. After Tuscany was annexed to the Kingdom of Italy, it became the seat of a district within the province of Florence. Noted as a cultural institution is its Accademia degli Euteleti.

II. RELIGIOUS HISTORY

The church erected in 738 by twelve devotees in honor of St. Miniatus the Martyr, from whom the place takes its name, was originally subject to the collegiate church of San Genesius, situated a short distance away near Vico Wallari. This pieve, which belonged to the jurisdiction of the bishops of Lucca, saw in 1074 a synod against simoniacs, convoked there by Bishop Anselm. Celestine III granted protection to the pieve of San Genesius, confirmed its possessions, forbade the erection of new churches in its territory, and gave permission to celebrate divine offices there in case of general interdict. But San Miniato sought to assert its autonomy. Among the religious glories of San Miniato in this period should be recalled the passage of St. Francis, whom the townspeople welcomed with great honors when they met him in 1211 at a place called Catena, and to whom they made donations that facilitated the founding of a Franciscan convent. And in the church of St. Francis the chief magistrates of San Miniato would later solemnly go to make an offering on the city’s feast day in honor of the saint. Meanwhile in 1248 the pieve of San Genesius was taken and destroyed by the people of San Miniato, and its honors were transferred to the church of St. Mary, located in the castle of San Miniato. After the conquest of Pisa in 1408, the Florentines considered urging the elevation of the castle to a bishopric; but the plan came to nothing. However, with the establishment of Medici rule, Clement VII granted honors and privileges, including jurisdictional ones, to the pieve of San Genesius in San Miniato, even though it was not constituted as a prelatura nullius. It was at the instance of Maria Maddalena of Austria, widow of Cosimo II, that Gregory XV, by a bull of 5 December 1622, dismembering from the diocese of Lucca not only the territory of the castle but also Fucecchio and the pieve of Santa Maria a Monte (that is, all the territory politically subject to Florence), erected the church of Santa Maria e Genesio under the title of San Miniato as a cathedral and elevated the castle to city status, assigning to the new diocese 118 parishes. The first bishop was Monsignor Montano Noris, to whom is owed the first diocesan synod, celebrated in 1628. He was succeeded in the episcopal see by Monsignor Pichi, who in 1630 celebrated the second synod and did not secure the founding of the seminary. Among the bishops who succeeded him should be recalled the Barnabite Antonio Morigia, who later passed to the archiepiscopal see of Florence and was then created a cardinal and transferred to Rome as a prelate of Santa Maria Maggiore. Bishop Monsignor Visdomini Contigiani was most zealous in promoting ecclesiastical discipline and celebrated three diocesan synods, in 1685, 1690, and 1699. Bishop Monsignor Poggi built the sanctuary of the Holy Crucifix of San Miniato, still greatly venerated by the people of San Miniato, expanded the seminary, erected a hospital for the poor, and the archconfraternity of the Misericordia. To Bishop Monsignor Falcini is owed the eighth diocesan synod, held in 1919; the last synod was celebrated in 1936 by Monsignor Giubbi, who also provided for new expansions of the diocesan seminary. In 1944 he had the sorrow of seeing his cathedral defiled by a tragic wartime massacre.

III. ILLUSTRIOUS PERSONAGES

Among these should be numbered Bishop Monsignor Pio Del Corona, a very learned Dominican, polished writer, and orator. To him are owed several works of theological content. Much admired for his virtues, the diocesan process for his beatification is now under way. Among laymen, Augusto Conti, a man of proven virtue and distinguished philosopher, who was a professor at the University of Florence and left philosophical works in conformity with the religious principles he professed.