SPRINGFIELD. - MASSACHUSETTS, Diocese of. - A city and diocese in the State of Massachusetts, covering an area of 1,320 sq. miles. The Diocese of Springfield (Campifonti), a suffragan of Boston, was erected on 28 June 1870.
SPRINGFIELD. - MASSACHUSETTS, Diocese of. - A city and diocese in the State of Massachusetts, covering
In Dalmatia, the see was established in 530, but suppressed in 592; however, the “Vivarium” of Cassiodorus defended its rights. The last Latin bishop was Augustine, who attended the Council of Pope Martin in 649 (Mansi, X, 866; Harduin, Acta Concil., III, Paris 1715, 691). His successors were of the Greek rite until Theodore Mesimerios, who received St Bruno and to whom the Normans appointed a Latin successor in 1096.
Like all the sees of Calabria, Squillace was originally subject to Rome. In the 8th century it was attached to the metropolitan see of Reggio, which had been set up at that time by the Byzantines. Nevertheless, it obtained exemption from Urban II (PL 151, 219) and from Paschal II in 1110 (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 6259); but Pope Alexander III recognized it as a suffragan of Reggio in 1165 (Jaffé-Wattenbach, 11239). In the Provincial of Albino it is exempt, whereas in the list of Cencio Camerario it is a suffragan of Reggio. From the time of Innocent III onwards it no longer appears among the sees immediately subject to the Holy See. The erection of the see of Catanzaro in 1121 was made at the expense of that of Squillace; for the see of Taverna and the Chronica Trium Tabernarum, V. CATANZARO.
Squillace not only gave birth to Cassiodorus but also housed the two monasteries he founded, the Castellense and the “Vivarium,” the latter being an academy where the sciences and arts, especially writing, were cultivated. It also sheltered St Bruno and his disciple and successor, Lanuinus, who founded the Carthusian monastery of S. Stefano del Bosco, later called Serra S. Bruno, which still preserves the relics of its founder. One should also recall the various Basilian monasteries scattered throughout its territory, among them S. Maria de Veteri Squillaci, S. Maria de Carra, S. Gregorio di Staletti, S. Basilio di Torre Spatola, which was made illustrious by St Basil of Montepaone. At Guardavalle, near Stilo, Cardinal Guglielmo Sirleto was born (v.). At Stignano, another hamlet of Stilo, the Dominican Tommaso Campanella was born (v.).