SESSA AURUNCA, DIOCESE OF
Pergamon and Paschal Candlestick, work by Maestro Pellegrino (first half of the 13th century) - Sessa Aurunca, Cathedral.
J. H. Breasted, *Ancient Records of Egypt*, IV, Chicago 1927, pp. 348 ff.; G. Ricciotti, *Storia d'Israele*, I, 4th ed., Turin 1947, pp. 43, 83, 95, 177, 376-77; P. Gilbert, *Esquisse d'une histoire de l'Égypte ancienne et de sa culture*, Brussels 1949, p. 78.
Aristide Calderini
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SESSA AURUNCA, DIOCESE OF
A city and diocese in the province of Caserta. It covers an area of 358 km² and has a population of 60,000, all Catholic, distributed across 42 parishes served by 60 diocesan priests and 6 religious; it has a seminary, 2 male and 7 female religious communities (*Annuario Pontificio* 1952, p. 375). It is a suffragan of Capua.
The origins of Christianity in Sessa Aurunca are obscure. Among its bishops, excluding Sinisius or Sinesius mentioned in the *Acta Sanctorum*, September I (Antwerp 1746), p. 125, mention is made of Sts. Castrense and Rosio (Roscio or Rossio), recorded in a *Life of St. Castrensis* (BHL, 1644-45) containing implausible details drawn from another source. The translation of the former’s relics is recorded under William II (1616-89); of the latter, a document from the church of Calvi and a bull of Bishop Atenolfo of Capua from 1032 remain (Ughelli, X, p. 238, no. 12; VI, pp. 535-36).
Toward the end of the 5th and beginning of the 6th century, the first known prelate appears: Fortunatus, present at the councils of Pope Symmachus. He is followed by James, a Cassinese monk (assigned by some after the 8th century, by others to the 12th), and John, who attended the Roman Council of Gregory V in 998. Throughout the Middle Ages, Sessa Aurunca remained under papal dominion until Clement IV ceded it to Charles I of Anjou. From then on, the city, following the fortunes of Naples, passed from John I to the Count of Squillace, then to the Piccolomini, Consalvo of Cordova, and the Marzano. The series of bishops after the year 1000 is nearly complete. Among them are: Benedict (1032), who had the privileges of Archbishop Atenolfo of Capua confirmed after the diocese was assigned to that metropolitan see by John XIII; Erveus, present at the Council of Ratisbon in 1177; John (1259), who completed the fine mosaic pavement of the Cathedral; Matteo Bruni (1363), deposed by Urban VI for suspected sympathy toward the antipope Clement; and Angelo Geraldini of Amelia, who held important offices under various popes and died in retirement in his homeland, punished by King Ferdinand with confiscation for failing to comply with his ban. In 1818, Pius VII suppressed the diocese of Carinola and united it with Sessa Aurunca.
Many of the saints attributed to Sessa Aurunca are legendary. Two late and unreliable Passions (BHL, 1649-50) mention Sts. Cassius, Castus, and Secondinus, who are instead considered African and not Campanian; the same may be said of St. Saturninus.
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### MONUMENTS
Of little interest are the few early Christian catacomb galleries (Nuovo Bullettino di archeologia cristiana, 3 [1897], p. 140) of SS. Castus and Secondinus, located in a garden of the civic hospital, which preserves remains of a small basilica and a Hellenistic sarcophagus said to have held the body of St. Castus. The principal monument of Sessa Aurunca is the Cathedral, consecrated in 1113 and defaced in 1758 by Bishop Fr. Caracciolo of Altamura; it is basilican in plan with a narthex of three arcades and a tri-apsidal presbytery. The building, erected on the site of the primitive church of S. Angelo, is composed of materials taken from Roman structures. The central arch of the pronaos, pointed, is adorned with reliefs (12th century) depicting scenes from the life of St. Peter, and on the impost brackets, Noah to the right and Samson wrestling the lion to the left; at the summit are the months of the year. The side arches feature small corbels and rosettes. The three portals beneath the pronaos are of ancient material: the main one, with two beasts at the jambs, displays a relief architrave (two panthers facing a vase from which a vine springs) and in the lunette, Christ between SS. Peter and Paul. To the left of the Cathedral, the portal of the episcopal palace reproduces the scheme of the main portal and, like the other, comes from the Roman theatre. The interior, with three naves divided by 18 ancient columns of varied form and material, has fine Corinthian capitals. Notable is the mosaic pavement with geometric designs of the 12th century; a superb Cosmatesque ambo supported by four lions by Pellegrino of Capua, commissioned by Bishop Pandolfo (1224-59) and completed by Taddeo of Sessa Aurunca under Bishop John III (13th century). To Pellegrino belong the two reliefs of the pulpit with scenes from the life of Jonah and the paschal candlestick, rich in carvings and mosaic ornamentation, while the parapet of the cantoria with gold-ground musical instruments, of excellent craftsmanship, recalls the precious decoration of Norman, Sicilian, and Campanian music desks. Beneath the central nave extends a crypt supported by 20 Corinthian columns.
Among other churches, of some interest are the Annunziata, with a Greek cross plan and dome; S. Agostino, with its attached convent attributed to Vanvitelli; and the Baroque S. Germano, rich in stucco work.
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### BIBL.
Ughelli, VI, pp. 531-47; X, p. 165; F. Granata, *Ragguaglio istorico della fedelissima città di Sessa Aurunca sino all'anno 1760*, Naples 1763; Moroni, LXIV, pp. 249-57; C. Stornajolo, *Il rilievi dell'arco sul portico di Sessa Aurunca*, Rome 1895; id., *Sarcofago della basilichetta dei SS. Casto e Saturnino in Sessa Aurunca*, in *Solemne Praeconium Jhuunario Asprenati Galante tributum*, Naples 1921; L. Pepe, *La cattedrale di Sessa Aurunca*, Trani 1898; E. Bertaux, *L'art dans l'Italie méridionale*, Paris 1904, pp. 354 ff., 602 ff. and passim; A. Di Lella, *L'antica basilica cristiana di Sessa Aurunca, le sculture ed i mosaici*, in *Studi di storia e di archeologia nell'arte medioevale neo-campana*, Cassino 1904; G. M. Diamare, *Memorie critico-storiche della Chiesa di Sessa Aurunca*, 2 vols., Naples 1906-1907; Lanzoni, I, pp. 178-83 and passim; P. Toesca, *Il Medioevo*, Turin 1927, pp. 595 ff., 856 ff. and passim; F. De Santa, *Le origini della diocesi e la basilica cattedrale di Sessa Aurunca*, in *Bullettino aurunco*, 1933, pp. 13-23; P. F. Kehr, *Italia pontificia*, VIII, Berlin 1935, pp. 268-70; Cottineau, II, col. 3019; M. Inguanez and others, *Rationes decimarum Italiae. Campania* (Studi e testi, 97), Vatican City 1942, p. 101 ff. and passim.