Telesia (Cerreto Sannita), Diocese of

TELESIA (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 in 24 parishes served by 66 diocesan priests and 6 regulars; it has a minor seminary, 3 male religious communities and 16 female ones (Ann. Pont. 1933, p. 419). The episcopal see is in Cerreto Sannita.

The first bishop of Telesia, Florenzio, was established by G. Rossi (v. bibl.) in 465; the origin of the diocese therefore certainly goes back at least to the middle of the 5th century. His successor Agnello is also among the subscribers of the Roman Synod of 487. Beyond these two names, however, no others are known that recall the Samnite Telesia, the city that declined after the Roman occupation, was then 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, n. 1366). The silence of all the sources in the following centuries is certainly the painful echo of the tragic events that convulsed the city. First the Saracens (847), then an earthquake razed the city to the ground; shortly afterwards new pirate raids devastated it repeatedly. For four centuries almost nothing is known of its Church. Finally in the 9th century a Palerio is recorded by G. Rossi, then two anonymous bishops in 969 and 1061 and finally an Arnaldo in 1068. The only certain piece of information is that of the Roman Synod of 969 in which John XIII raised Benevento to a metropolitan see, assigning T. among its suffragans, as it still is. The state of the city at that time and the extent of the diocese's territory are unknown. In 1193 the Norman Tancred captured the city and set it on fire, but the rebirth was rapid and T. soon became a royal domain. The series of prelates also presents no significant gaps.

Pietro in 1179 took part in the Third General Lateran Council; Luciano, first noted by Mazzacane (v. bibl., p. 143), is attested in 1214 in a parchment of the Archivio Storico per le Prov. Napol.; R. or Rao is known in 1240 together with his successor Salerno (1286). On his death the Chapter would have elected its own primicerius F. Pellegrini, but this election does not appear to have been confirmed by the Pope; instead, in his place, there are the names of Aczo (1290) and then a Riso or Giovanni Arisio in 1326. In 1349, at the time of the Franciscan bishop Domenico, another and more violent earthquake destroyed T. From then on the city was abandoned and the bishops increasingly tended to move to nearby Cerreto (the Samnite Cominio Cerito), in a healthy position, rich and flourishing with trade. Cerreto would give T. a bishop who was a citizen of its own, Biagio Caropipe (1515-24). The only prelate to be remembered in the following two centuries is Angelo Massarelli of S. Severino, secretary of Paul IV and of his predecessors, then secretary of the Council of Trent, of which he wrote the chronicle and the acts. From 1571 T. now gives only its name to the diocese, because from that year the bishops obtained the right to reside always at Cerreto. Recalled 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 interest of the bishop created a new city, which still preserves the appearance and character of that era.

In 1820 Pius VII with the bull Adorandi Servatoris united T. to Alife, with the episcopal residence at Cerreto. Subsequently, Pius IX with 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 came at the same time to assume also the name seu Cerretana and to comprise 15 neighbouring towns with their dependencies.

Monuments. - Of ancient Telesia only remains of the Roman era are coming to light; no trace of its ancient sacred buildings, which, as at Cerreto, have been destroyed by men and by the seismic movements of the ground. The Seminary, the episcopal palace and the cathedral of Cerreto belong to the general reconstruction of the end of the 17th century. The latter, consecrated in 1749, is a large building in the form of a Latin cross 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 is a 14th-century silver reliquary with a thorn from the crown of Christ donated by a crusader. In the ancient church of Sts. Peter and Paul, rebuilt in 1626, besides the high altar there is a wooden structure overloaded with ornaments, which D. De Luca (1661) carved as an iconostasis. In the vicinity, 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 a fine Byzantine wooden Madonna.

Pasquale Testini