TELESE (CERRETO SANNITA), DIOCESE of. — City and diocese in the province of Benevento, with an area of over 414 sq. km.; it has a population of 59,200 inhabitants, almost all Catholics, distributed among 24 parishes served by 66 diocesan priests and 6 religious priests; it has a minor seminary, 3 male and 16 female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1933, p. 419). The episcopal see is in Cerreto Sannita.
The first bishop of Telesia, Florentius, was identified by G. Rossi (v. BIBLICA) in 465; the origin of the diocese therefore certainly dates back at least to the middle of the 5th century. His successor Agnellus was also among the signatories of the Roman Synod of 487. Apart from these two names, however, no others are known who recall Samnite Telesia, the city that declined after the Roman occupation, was later damaged by the Goths, and subsequently became the seat of a Lombard gastaldate. The generally accepted mention of a bishop Menna is no longer tenable, because the diploma attributed to Gregory the Great is considered false (Jaffé-Wattenbach, no. 1366). The silence of all sources in the following centuries is certainly the painful echo of the tragic events that devastated the city. First the Saracens (847), then an earthquake razed the city to the ground; shortly afterward, new pirate raids repeatedly devastated II. For nearly four centuries almost nothing is known about its Church. Finally, in the 9th century, G. Rossi records a Palerius, then two anonymous bishops in 969 and 1061, and finally an Arnold in 1068. The only certain information is that concerning the Roman Synod of 969, at which John XIII elevated Benevento to metropolitan status, assigning to it among its suffragans T., as remains the case today. The condition of the city at that time is unknown, as is the extent of the diocese’s territory. In 1193 the Norman Tancred captured and burned the city, but its recovery was rapid, and T. soon came under royal dominion. The succession of prelates likewise presents no significant gaps.
Peter took part in the Third General Lateran Council in 1179; Luciano, first reported by Mazzacane (v. BIBLICA., p. 143), is attested in 1214 in a document of the Archivio Storico per le Prov. Napol.; R. or Rao is known in 1240 together with his successor Salerno (1286). At his death the Chapter is said to have elected its own primicerius F. Pellegrini, but this election does not appear to have been confirmed by the Pope; instead, the names of Aczo (1290) and then of a Riso or Giovanni Arisio in 1326 are recorded. In 1349, under the Franciscan bishop Domenico, another and more violent earthquake destroyed T. From then on the city was relocated, and the bishops increasingly endeavored to move to nearby Cerreto (the Samnite Cominium Ceritum), situated in a healthy location, prosperous and flourishing in trade. Cerreto would give T. one of its own citizens as bishop, Biagio Caropipe (1515–24). The only prelate worth recalling in the following two centuries is Angelo Massarelli of S. Severino, secretary to Paul IV and his predecessors, and later secretary of the Council of Trent, whose chronicle and acts he wrote. From 1571 onward T. gave only its name to the diocese, because from that year the bishops obtained permission to reside permanently in Cerreto. Worthy of mention in this period are: Annibale Cattaneo (or Cotugno), a Neapolitan patrician buried in the church of the Most Holy Trinity at Cerreto (1577–83); Giovanni F. Leo of Ivrea (1608–13), a noted jurist and protonotary; and Pietro Paolo de Rustici (1637–43), a relative of Urban VIII. Under the prelate G. B. De Lellis (1684–93), Cerreto too was razed to the ground on 5 June 1688; but the efforts of the citizens, and above all the bishop’s concern, created a new city, which still preserves the appearance and character of that period.
In 1820 Pius VII, by the bull Adorandi Servatoris, united T. with Alife, with the episcopal residence in Cerreto. Subsequently, Pius IX, by the bull Compertum nobis of 6 July 1852, again separated the dioceses, putting an end to a long and bitter dispute over precedence; the diocese of Telesia at the same time took on the name seu Cerretana and came to include 15 neighboring towns with their dependencies.
Monuments. — Of ancient Telesia, only remains from the Roman period are now coming to light; no trace remains of its ancient sacred buildings, which, as in Cerreto, were destroyed by human beings and by seismic movements of the earth. The Seminary, the episcopal palace, and the cathedral of Cerreto belong to the general rebuilding at the end of the 17th century. The latter, consecrated in 1749, is a large Latin-cross building with three naves divided by pillars. Frequently visited sanctuaries in the immediate vicinity of the city are the church of S. Maria delle Grazie and that of S. Anna.
In the diocese, at Cusano Mutri, the church of S. Nicola preserves a fine portal by Ferrante da Cerreto (1537), now at the baptismal font of 1444; in the sacristy there is a 14th-century silver reliquary containing a thorn from Christ’s crown, donated by a crusader. In the ancient church of SS. Pietro e Paolo, rebuilt in 1626, in addition to the high altar there is a wooden structure overloaded with ornamentation, which D. De Luca (1661) carved as an iconostasis. Nearby, the church of S. Croce or del Calvario (1688) has a Flagellation by Luca Giordano or his school; the small church of S. Maria del Castagneto has a beautiful Byzantine wooden Madonna.