SAN SEVERINO (Septempeda), DIOCESE OF. - A city and diocese in the Marches, province of Macerata, on the right bank of the Potenza River.
(photo by Alinari)
It has an area of 45 sq km with a population of 20,000, all Catholic, distributed across 29 parishes served by 45 diocesan priests and 31 regular clergy; it has a seminary, 4 male religious communities and 7 female ones (Annuario Pontificio 1952, p. 361).
It is the ancient “Septempeda,” a settlement inhabited, as various finds demonstrate, since the Paleoecological period; it is said to have been founded by the Sicel-Greeks or, according to others, by Sabine populations. After the Roman conquest of Picenum (486 BC), Septempeda became a colony and then a municipium; it held notable importance due to its position at the crossroads of roads leading to the Via Flaminia, and is thus mentioned by geographers and in ancient itineraries. Following the destruction by Totila (545), the inhabitants gathered on the nearby hill called Montenero, where the Castle of S. S. was built, named after the bishop, the last of the original series. According to tradition, this bishop was one of the 81 bishops consecrated by Pope Vigilius (537–55); he died in 543 and is commemorated in the Roman Martyrology on June 8: “In Piceno sancti Severini episcopi Septempedani.” There exists a Vita ss. Severini et Victorini by an anonymous author, composed between the 6th and 9th centuries, in which Severinus appears as bishop and Victorinus as a hermit. The historical existence of this bishop in the first half of the 6th century is certain. Benedict XIV, in the constitution Supremi Pastoris of April 22, 1748, recalls that S. S. had its bishops from the earliest times, among whom, in the 6th century, Sanctus Severinus... clarus virtutibus et signis. Christian faith was preached in S. S., according to some, by St. Apollinaris, but more plausibly by St. Maro, who is said to have healed the Roman procurator of dropsy. S. S. had its martyrs: Hippolytus and Justin. It came under the jurisdiction of the Diocese of Camerino, remaining so until 1586, when Sixtus V, with the bull Suprema dispositione of November 26 of that year, reestablished the diocese, elevating the Castle to the status of a city and the collegiate church to a cathedral; the first bishop was Orazio Marzari of Vicenza. However, the same Sixtus V, having wished to declare Fermo an archdiocese, with the bull Universis orbis ecclesiis of May 24, 1589, included S. S. among the suffragans of the new archdiocese. S. S. underwent various dominations that succeeded one another in the region: that of the Smeducci until 1426; it had the lordship of Francesco Sforza for a few years, and finally, under various forms, passed to the definitive dependence of the Church, sustaining civil struggles between the Gentili and the Caccialuppi (first half of the 16th century); it became part of the Apostolic Delegation of Macerata and followed the fortunes of the rest of the Marches. The bishop of S. S., since February 20, 1920, has had the perpetual administration of Treja (see), previously held by the bishop of Camerino.
The cathedral of S. S., initially in the ancient church dedicated to the Saint on the Castle, after various disputes, was transferred by the bull Cathedrales Ecclesias of Pius VII of May 22, 1821, to the church of S. Agostino (in the newer part of the city, called the “Borgo”) and consecrated on June 28, 1827. The diocese provides for the formation of its clergy in residence with the Minor Seminary (in a modern building) and the Regional Seminary of Fano. A small seminary for the clerics of the territory, with the support of the citizens, existed in S. S. by concession of the bishop of Camerino, Berardo Buongiovanni, as early as the 16th century.
The diocese comprises two municipalities in the province of Macerata (S. S. and Poggio S. Vicino) with 29 parishes, of which 4 are urban, the others distributed in the localities of Aliforni, Colleluce, S. Elena, Serrone, Ugliano (Poggio S. Vicino). In S. S. there are various educational institutions and an orphanage. There are also several male religious communities: Cistercians, Friars Minor, Capuchins, Sons of Providence (Don Orione); and female: Poor Clares, Benedictines, Teaching Sisters of the Child Jesus, Daughters of Charity, of Providence, Sacramentine Blind Sisters. The patron saint of the city and diocese is St. Severinus.
MONUMENTS. - S. S. is notable for its churches and works of art, some of considerable importance: S. Lorenzo in Doliolo, very ancient, whose first construction dates to the 8th–9th century; the Old Cathedral (S. Severino), the first church of the Castle, from the 10th century, rebuilt and modified several times: facade from the 14th century with a Romanesque-Gothic bell tower, contemporary cloister from the 15th century; the New Cathedral, formerly S. Maria Maddalena, then (1260) S. Agostino, renovated internally in 1776 and 1827; bell tower similar to that of the Old Cathedral; in the sacristy, the famous Madonna della Pace, masterpiece by Pinturicchio; S. Maria del Mercato or S. Domenico, believed to have been founded by the same Saint, interior renovated in the 17th century; S. Maria del Glorioso (from Grilieluso), Renaissance reconstruction with an octagonal dome: here is venerated an image of the Madonna (the Pietà), which in 1519 shed tears, hence the title “delle lacrime”; S. Maria dei Lumi, from the lights or splendor derived from an image of the Virgin (16th century); the Grottoes of S. Eustachio, with remains of an ancient church of S. Eustachio di Domora (11th century), and others. The town hall dates to the 18th century, with a rich picture gallery, which houses works by Salimbeni, Vittore Crivelli, Nicola da Foligno (l’Alunno), Allegretto Nuzi, and others.
PARACOXANICI. - Notable figures include St. Pacifico (1633–1721), of the noble Divini family, of the Reformed Observant Friars Minor, whose tomb is a pilgrimage site; the Blesseds Masseo, Pacifico, and Domenico, called da Leonessa, born in the territory of the diocese; the Blesseds Marchesina Luzio and Camilla Gentili; and others. In the church of the Most Holy Trinity, in the parish of S. Anna di Frontale, the body of St. Dominic Loricato is preserved, a monk of Fonte Avellana, who died at Frontale in 1060.
Between the 14th and 15th centuries, S. S. was home to an important school of painting by the Sanseverinate brothers Lorenzo (b. 1374) and Jacopo Salimbeni; here were also born the two painters L. d’Alessandro, of the 16th century; Domenico Indivini (16th century), an excellent wood carver; Ercole Rosa, sculptor (1846–93); the scientists Bartolomeo Eustachio, famous for anatomical discoveries (d. 1573); Eustachio Indivini, optician and mathematician (d. 1685); F. Panfilo, author of the well-known poem De laudibus Piceni; Ireneo Aleandri, architect (1795–1885), designer of the famous bridge of Ariccia (Castelli Romani) and the monumental Sferisterio of Macerata, etc.; and Fr. Giovanni Severano.