SPOLETO, ARCHDIOCESE OF. — The Archdiocese of Spoleto comprises a vast territory located in the provinces of Perugia, Terni, and Rieti; it borders the dioceses of Todi, Terni, Rieti, Norcia, and Foligno. It has 110,000 inhabitants, of whom 108,900 are Catholic, 173 parishes with 144 diocesan priests and 75 regular clergy. There are 13 houses of male religious orders and congregations and 43 of female; in the chief town is the generalate of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Family. It has a minor seminary (the major one is in Assisi); its patron is St. Pontianus the Martyr, whose feast is celebrated on 14 January. It was immediately subject to the Holy See and was the first Umbrian diocese to be elevated to an archdiocese in 1820. The Archbishop of Spoleto is perpetual commendatory abbot of S. Croce di Sassovivo and as such has the right to nominate certain holders of parishes existing in other dioceses.
SPOLETO, ARCHDIOCESE OF — Front of the cippus (second half of the 3rd century B.C.; sacred law for the protection of a sacred grove of Jupiter), found in 1876 on the façade of S. Quirico – Spoleto, Civic Museum.
I. HISTORY
The history of Spoleto for the period before the Roman conquest is shrouded in the greatest uncertainty due to the scarcity of information: it is known only that it was an Umbrian center and traces of it are found in the acropolis, while any subjection to the Etruscans seems unlikely.
The Romans established a colony there in 241 B.C., which proved to be one of the most loyal, since only a few years later, in 217 B.C., Hannibal was halted there on his march toward Rome: this famous episode, despite the silence of some sources, is now accepted by the leading modern historians. In 90 B.C. the colony became a municipium and enjoyed a flourishing life throughout the Empire, as is demonstrated by the numerous remains of constructions from this period. Its importance grew in the Constantinian age and especially during the Gothic War, when, because of its natural position, the city constituted a strong and much-contested stronghold; and the crowning of this rise was the choice made by the Lombards in 570 of making it the seat of a duchy.
Scant information is available on the origin of the episcopal see of Spoleto, and an examination of the sources requires great circumspection because of the frequent corruptions and interpolations. None of the martyrs whom tradition and the sources attribute to the city (Gregory, Pontianus, Sabinus, Concordius are the principal ones) was a bishop, and the first prelate of whom we have certain knowledge was Cacciilanus (353), but there is good probability in favor of a Laurentius called “Illuminator” who would have lived at the end of the 3rd century, and in that case this could be the period of the birth of the episcopal see of Spoleto, while the propagation and diffusion of the faith in Umbria is said to go back even to apostolic or subapostolic times. Tradition, though without foundation, would have the first bishop of Spoleto be St. Brictius, consecrated by the Apostles. Among the earliest known bishops are St. Spes (end of the 4th century), called the “Damasus of Umbria,” and Achilles (5th century), who built the church of St. Peter outside the walls. Reflecting the growing political influence of Spoleto, the jurisdiction of the diocese also expanded, and various nearby episcopal sees ceased to exist and were incorporated into that of Spoleto, which thus became very extensive: Bevagna, Norcia, Trevi, Spello, and for some time Terni and Rieti.
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**The Basilica of San Salvatore (4th century).**
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**The Basilica of San Salvatore (4th century).**
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Among the most important centers of the archdiocese are: TREIA (v.), Bevagna (v.), Montefalco, which in the church of St. Francis preserves a pictorial cycle of the life of the saint by Benozzo Gozzoli, a Nativity by Perugino, and numerous other works by Umbrian Renaissance painters; the sanctuary of the Madonna della Stella, erected in the second half of the 19th century, and the abbey of San Pietro in Valle of Ferentillo, founded by the dukes of Spoleto in the 8th century. — See plates LXXV-LXXVI.