TERRACINA, PRIVERNO and SEZZE, DIOCESE of. — In Latium, in the province of Latina, immediately subject to the Holy See.
T. has an area of 200 sq km and a population of 39,037 inhabitants, all Catholics, distributed among 11 parishes, served by 18 diocesan and 20 regular priests; it has 3 male and 10 female religious communities. P. has an area of 160 sq km and a population of 30,000 inhabitants, all Catholics, distributed among 11 parishes, served by 16 secular and 12 regular priests; it has 3 male and 8 female religious communities. S. has an area of more than 244 sq km and a population of 29,448 inhabitants, of whom 29,000 are Catholics, distributed among 10 parishes, served by 21 diocesan and 8 regular priests; it has 2 male and 8 female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 421).
The minor seminary is in S., and the major seminary is in Anagni, shared with the other dioceses of southern Latium. The episcopal residence is in T.
I. T
This was the Volscian Auxur, which was situated on the slope of the hill toward the hinterland of the present-day city. After various vicissitudes, it became the Roman T., which prospered considerably, thanks to its position on the sea and along the Via Appia. From the pontificate of Hadrian I, it belonged to the Papal States. In 1000 Silvester II ceded it to Count Daiferio, and in 1071 Alexander II to the famous Abbot Desiderio of Montecassino, until Eugene III redeemed it in 1150. The origins of Christianity in T. go back to the first century. The Greek apocryphal Acts of s. Peter and s. Paul, composed in the ninth century, relate that the two Apostles came from Baiae to Gaeta and from Gaeta to T. while they were traveling to Rome. This fanciful account perhaps prompted local historians to conclude that s. Paul had preached in T. and s. Peter had established the diocese. It remains only probable, however, that s. Paul spent the night in T. during his first journey to Rome.It is known that in the time of the emperor Domitian (81–96), Flavia Domitilla, wife of the consul Flavius Clemens, was exiled to the island of Ventotene (Dio Cassius, Hist. Rom., 67, 14), and Flavia Domitilla, the latter’s niece, to Ponza (Eusebius, Hist. eccl., III, 18, 4). Both were Christians. The Acts of ss. Nereus and Achilleus (BHL, 6058–6067), dating approximately from the second half of the fifth century, claim that the second Flavia Domitilla died and was buried in T.; they likewise claim that two Roman virgins, their companions, Euphrosyne and Theodora, were martyred and buried there under Trajan (98–117) by a holy deacon named Caesareus. The anonymous author of the aforementioned Acts undoubtedly intended, through the deacon Caesareus, to honor the homonymous martyr of T., who appears in the Hieronymian Martyrology on 1 Nov. and 21 Apr. The Passio (BHL, 1511–16), composed between the fifth and sixth centuries, says that he was martyred under Nero in T. and buried along the Via Appia, shortly before reaching T. when coming from Rome. But the Acts of ss. Nereus and Achilleus and the Passio of s. Caesareus have no probative value regarding the date. It is certain, however, that a basilica was erected over the martyr’s tomb, which belongs to the period of the persecutions; it was also the primitive cathedral of T., reconstructed in the eleventh–thirteenth centuries and remodeled in the seventeenth century. On the hill of T. stood the celebrated monastery of S. Stefano al Monte, founded by s. Benedict himself, as is clear from the Dialogues of s. Gregory the Great (II, 22). In the seventeenth century it was already in ruins.
At Paola, beneath Circeo, and in the Pontine Islands, which belonged to T., Christian inscriptions have been found, one of them dating from 345 (CIL, X, I, 6419–21; X, II, 8412–13).
Analda, a local historian, began the series of the bishops of T. with Epaphroditus of the Epistle to the Philippians (II, 25), without adducing any reasons. Like P. Gams (Series episc., Ratisbona 1873, p. 731), he inserts the martyrs Quarto and Quinto, the former of whom, according to the Passio of s. Caesarius, is said to have been the gravedigger of the alleged martyr Eusebius. The first bishop of T. certainly known to us is Sabinus, in 313.
In the eleventh century—it is not possible to determine the date more precisely—the dioceses of P. and S. were joined to T., as is shown by the bull of confirmation issued by Honorius III on 18 Jan. 1217.
II. P
Corresponds to the voisco [sic] Privernum, which was later colonized by the Romans and, after being destroyed in the Middle Ages, was rebuilt under the name of Piperno, until in 1028 it resumed its ancient name. The diocese of P. appears for the first time in a document of 769, but L. Duchesne considers it earlier than the seventh century and believes that in 1039 it was transferred to S., unlike P. F. Kehr, who regards them as two distinct dioceses. The reading of three martyrs’ names, made by G. B. De Rossi in a badly damaged inscription originating from P., has not been accepted.The famous abbey of Fossanova is situated in the diocese of P., at the point where the Amaseno Valley opens into the Pontine plain. Some have believed it to have been the monastery of S. Stefano di Mileto, founded by St. Benedict and flourishing until the time of Innocent II, who in 1135 is said to have granted it to the Cistercians under the name of S. Pudentiana, later S. Maria; P. F. Kehr considers it distinct from that monastery and founded in 1027. The construction of the church, consecrated by Innocent III on 19 June 1208, constitutes the first example of the Cistercian style, which developed in Burgundy as an evolution of the Lombard style. The abbey’s fame, however, is due chiefly to the death there of s. Tommaso d'Aquino. The church of S. Maria, formerly a cathedral and later a collegiate church, was restored to cathedral status by Benedetto XIV on 10 September 1724, with the same rights as that of T.
III. S
This is the ancient Setia or Suessa of the Volscians. It rises on the summit of a hill, from which the view extends over the Pontine Marshes and the Lepini Mountains. It was a Roman colony and thereafter, from the 8th century onward, formed part of the Papal States. The diocese of S. appears for the first time in a document of 1036, but, like that of P., L. Duchesne considers it to predate the 7th century.S. and P. were united with T. in the 11th century. The church of S. Maria, a Romanesque structure rebuilt in 1347, was a cathedral, then a collegiate church, and once again, on 29 April 1724, was raised to cathedral status by Benedict XIV, with the same rights as that of T. and P. The monastery of S. Cecilia, founded by s. Lindano in the 11th century, flourished in the diocese of S.
The dioceses of T., P. and S. have their court of appeal at the vicariate of Rome. — Vedi tav. CXLII.
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