TERAMO AND ATRI, DIOCESE OF. – Cities and dioceses in the province of Teramo in Abruzzo; the episcopal see is at Teramo; immediately subject to the Holy See.
TERAMO. — It has an area of over 2,000 sq km with a population of 175,855, of whom 175,637 are Catholics distributed in 156 parishes, served by 161 diocesan priests and 34 regulars; it has a seminary, 11 male religious communities and 32 female ones (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 420).
The ancient Interamnia Praetutianorum lies between the rivers Todino and Vezzola, at 265 m above sea level; of Umbrian origin, it was conquered by M. Curio in 268 BC, attached to the fifth tribe “Velina” (Picenum), and was the centre of the Praetutii or Pretuzians; it flourished under the Empire, declined with the invasions of the Goths, Lombards and Hungarians, was part of the Duchy of Spoleto, and later came under the rule of counts, over whom the bishop subsequently prevailed. Around the end of the 11th century it was occupied by the Normans and then united to the Duchy of Apulia. It enjoyed notable splendour under the Angevins (14th century) but suffered greatly from the civil strife between the Melatino and Antonelli families. For some years it was held by Francesco Sforza, then retaken by King Alfonso of Aragon (1442–58) and followed the fortunes of the Kingdom of Naples.
It cannot be stated with certainty when Teramo had its own bishops: St Gregory the Great, in a letter of November–December 598, commissioned Passivo, bishop of Fermo, to consecrate the oratory of St Peter founded by Count Anione “in castro Aprutino” (PL 77, 1225–26); yet the same Pope, in the year 601, writing to the same Passivo, deplored that Teramo had been without a bishop for too long and designated Opportuno as such, who was to be consecrated after the necessary preparation (ibid., 1226–27). Ordinarily the series of Aprutine bishops is begun with Opportuno, who is almost certainly the same person to whom St Gregory addressed a letter reproaching him severely for matters that had displeased him (ibid., 1118). After a notable interruption the series resumes with Sigismondo, present at the coronation of Louis III performed in 844 by Sergius II (844–47; Lib. Pont. II, pp. 89–90; 101–102, no. 9).
The bishops of Teramo bore the titles of “Princeps Terami, baro Roccae S. Mariae, comes Bisemnii” and, among other privileges, had the right to wear a sword slung over the chasuble during pontifical Mass and to keep various weapons, banners and military insignia on the altar and credence table alongside sacred furnishings; Bishop G. Silverii Piccolomini attended the Council of Trent in 1563 and celebrated Mass wearing the arms “more suorum antecessorum”; it seems the custom lasted until 1639 with Bishop Girolamo Figini-Oddi. According to a local writer (De Jacobis), the series was not interrupted and there were eleven bishops after Opportuno up to Sigismondo, so that the Aprutine bishops would number 92 up to the present incumbent.
Among the bishops of Teramo are remembered: St Berardo of Pagliara, of the Counts of Marsi, a Cassinese monk, from 1115 to 1122; Guido II (1123–70), who after the fire and destruction of Teramo by Count Roberto Loretello (1155) rebuilt the city, encircling it with new walls; he then obtained the city as a fief from King William I, with the title of principality; under him the territory of the diocese, already defined by Victor II in 1057, was confirmed by Anastasius IV (bull Sicut iniusta poscentibus, 28 Feb 1154), which established that the church of S. Maria Aprutinensis should be considered the mother and cathedral church of the bishop; the present cathedral, dedicated to the Assumption, begun in 1158, was completed in the 14th century, altered in 1739 and restored to its pristine state in 1935; the Blessed Antonio Fatati, canon and vicar of St Peter in the Vatican (12 Dec 1450), to whom Ferdinand I of Aragon, by diploma of 20 July 1458, confirmed all ancient privileges; and the scholar and humanist Giovanni Antonio Campano (1463–77).
Pius VII, with the bull Utiliari Dominicae vineae of 28 June 1818, aggregated to Teramo the diocese of Campli (erected by St Pius V in 1570 and united with Ortona by Clement VIII), which was suppressed. Pius XII with the apostolic constitution Diocesium circumscriptiones of 1 July 1949 separated the diocese of Atri from that of Penne and united it aeque principaliter to the see of Teramo (AAS, 42 [1950], pp. 135–37). The Sacred Consistorial Congregation, by decree of 24 January 1950, dismembered 27 parishes from the diocese of Pescara and added them to the diocese of Teramo (ibid., pp. 554–55).
ATRI. — It has an area of over 150 sq km with a population of 26,375 inhabitants, almost all Catholic, distributed across 9 parishes served by 18 diocesan priests and 4 regular clergy; it has 1 male religious community and 8 female ones (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 420).
It is the ancient Hatria Picena, considered by some (Cluverius) to be of Etruscan origin, while others claim it was founded or repopulated by Dionysius of Syracuse; it fell under Roman rule and was enrolled in the “Maccia” tribe of Region V. Hannibal; it flourished under the Empire. It was part of the Duchy of Spoleto; later it came under the rule of the Acquaviva family from the 12th century until 1775, when it passed to Ferdinand IV of Naples, first king of the Two Sicilies. The diocese of A. was established (or, according to some, restored) by Cardinal Pietro Collemezzo at the behest of Innocent IV and approved by him with the bulls Licet ea quae de mandato nostro fiunt of 15 March 1252 and Honorem Ecclesiae of 21 August of the same year, and was united aeque principaliter with that of Penne (5th century), now separated from A. and transferred to Pescara. Clement VII (bull Super universas Ecclesias, 1 June 1526), elevating the Church of Chieti to metropolitan status, assigned as its suffragans, besides Lanciano, Penne and A., which were restored to their original condition by Paul III (bull Inter caetera, 18 July 1539). The cathedral, in Abruzzese Romanesque style with three naves and pillars, dates from the 13th–14th centuries. — See pl. CXL.