SQUILLACE, Diocese of. - City and diocese in the province of Catanzaro. It has an area of over 960 sq km, with a population of 124,452 inhabitants, almost all Catholics, distributed in 61 parishes, served by 122 diocesan priests and 24 regulars; it has a seminary, 6 male religious communities and 18 female ones (Ann. Pont. 1953, pp. 408-409).
The origins of the city are very ancient. Barrio says it was founded by the Ausones or the Oenotrians, inhabited by the Athenians and finally colonized by the Romans. It received the Christian faith from the very earliest times, since the existence of the episcopal see is attested as early as the 5th century. The first bishop whose name survives is Gaudentius, who took part in the Synod of Pope Hilary in 465 (Mansi, VII, 959). Two of his successors are said to have been murdered, as would appear from a decretal of Pope Gelasius of 496. But Minasi doubts that the crime took place at S., which was then governed by Cassiodorus. Bishop Zacchaeus courageously subscribed the Constitution of Pope Vigilius, defying the wrath of the emperor Justinian, in 551. St. Gregory the Great often mentions the church of S., to which he transferred John, an exile from Lusitania in Dalmatia in 592; but against him he took up the defense of Cassiodorus' "Vivarium." The last Latin bishop is Augustine, who took part in the Council of Pope Martin in 649 (Mansi, X, 866; Harduin, Acta Concil., III, Paris 1715, 691). His successors were of the Greek rite down to Theodore Mesimeiros, who received St. Bruno and to whom the Normans gave a Latin successor in 1096.
Like all the dioceses of Calabria, S. was originally subject to Rome. In the 8th century it was aggregated to the metropolis of Reggio, erected at that time by the Byzantines. Nevertheless it obtained exemption from Urban II (PL 151, 210) 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 Provinciale of Albino it is exempt, whereas in Cencius Camerarius it is a suffragan of Reggio. From the time of Innocent III onward it no longer appears among the dioceses immediately subject. The erection of the diocese of Catanzaro in 1121 was made at the expense of that of S.; for the diocese of Taverna and the Chronica Trium Tabernarum, v. CATANZARO.
S. not only was the birthplace of Cassiodorus, but also housed the two monasteries founded by him, the Castellense and the "Vivarium," the latter of which was an academy in which the sciences and arts were cultivated, especially writing. It also housed St. Bruno and the disciple and successor Lanuinus, who founded the charterhouse of S. Stefano del Bosco, later called Serra S. Bruno, which still today preserves the relics of the founder. Mention must also be made of 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 S. Basilio di Montepaone. At Guardavalle, near Stilo, Cardinal Guglielmo Sirleto (v.) was born. At Stignano, another hamlet of Stilo, the Dominican Tommaso Campanella (v.) was born.
Bibliography12 works
Francesco Russo