Tolentino, Diocese of

TOLENTINO, DIOCESE of. — In the province of Macerata, 217 m above sea level, on the left bank of the Chienti.

Over an area of more than 105 sq. km., it has a population of 17,350 inhabitants, almost all Catholic, distributed among 15 parishes served by 27 diocesan priests and 23 religious; it has a seminary, 2 male and 7 female religious communities (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 277). The diocese is suffragan to Fermo and has s. Catervo as its patron.

According to the humanist Filelfo, a native of Tolentino, the city was founded by Greek populations, deriving its name from Θόλος (?) which may mean round and indicate the shape of the primitive city. The locality was inhabited from prehistoric times, but T. is most probably of Picene origin; it was a Roman colony and municipium; its local importance was established in the 11th–12th centuries, with the acquisition and subjugation of the neighboring castles. Constituted as a commune, it adhered to the provisions of Cardinal d’Albornoz, who restored the lands of the Marches to the obedience of the Church; subsequently, after various vicissitudes and lordships (the Varano, Fr. Sforza), it passed definitively to the Church, whose fortunes it followed.

The first bishop of whom there is record is Basil, who appears among the signatories of the Council under Felix III (a. 487), then of the Council of Gelasius (a. 495), and of that of Symmachus (aa. 499 and 502). Some historians consider Probiano a bishop of T., at the end of the 4th century, mentioned in one of the inscriptions on Catervo’s sarcophagus (late 4th century), as the one who baptized Catervo, his wife Settimia Severina, and her brother Basso. After Basil, no other bishops of T. are known; it came under the authority of the bishops of Camerino until Sixtus V, who, by the bull Super universas of 10 December 1586, raised « oppidum Tolentini in civitatem et collegiatam ecclesiam S. Mariae in cathedralem », together with the castrum Colmurani and the villages of Paterno, S. Angelo, and S. Andrea, uniting the Macerata (v.), and decreeing « che il vescovo pro tempore di Macerata sia vescovo delle due chiese unite, e benché si chiami vescovo di Macerata, tuttavia nelle lettere e nelle spedizioni relative alla città e diocesi di T. ordinariamente debba sottoscriversi vescovo di Macerata e T. ».

The present cathedral of T., dedicated to the Assumption and to S. Catervo, dates from the 8th century; it was rebuilt in the 13th century (portal, bell tower) and completely renovated in the 19th century. Attached to it is the oratory of S. Catervo (frescoes of the 15th century), which contains the celebrated sarcophagus with the aforementioned bodies, carved on all four sides, with its original lid, commissioned by « Septimia Severina C. F. Marito dulcissimo ac sibi Sarcofagum Et Panteum Cum Tricoro disposuit Et Perfecit ». The three-apsed mausoleum and the sarcophagus were completed in forty-three days. On the front of the sarcophagus are the Good Shepherd and the Princes of the Apostles; on the antefixes of the lid, busts of Catervo and Settimia; on the right side, the Magi and Herod; on the left, the Epiphany; on the rear face, the busts of the two spouses, with their hands joined; monograms, doves, and other symbols adorn the sarcophagus, on which various inscriptions in prose and verse are engraved.

Highly venerated in T. is s. NICCOLÒ (v.). The basilica of the Saint dates from the 13th century; renovated in the Baroque style, it presents on the exterior the characteristic portal by Nanni di Bartolo, a Florentine (15th century). Inside is the « Cappellone », containing a cycle of frescoes with episodes from the life of Jesus Christ and s. Nicola, in the Giottesque-Rimini school, attributed to G. Baronzio of Rimini (14th century) and his school. There is also a marble ark dating from 1474; beneath it is a modern crypt in the Gothic style, where the body of s. Nicola is preserved. The adjoining cloister is noteworthy for the variety of the arches of its columns and the supporting pillars (13th century).

Connected with the history of T. are the Treaty concluded there in 1797 between Pope Pius VI and the Directory of the French Republic, with Napoleon; and the battle known as that of La Rancia (from the name of the castle, 12th–14th centuries), fought in 1815 between the Austrians and G. Murat.

THE TREATY OF T. — Concluded between the Holy See and the French Republic on 19 February 1797. After defeating the Austro-Sardinian forces in the spring of 1796 and laying siege to Mantua, Napoleon Buonaparte invaded the Papal Legations with his troops as well, forcing Pope Pius VI to accept the honorable Armistice of Bologna of 23 June, under which the Pontiff—in addition to paying twenty million and surrendering one hundred works of art—was to permit the occupation of Bologna and Ferrara and the city of Ancona by the French. During the summer Napoleon urged the conclusion of a regular peace treaty, sending the archbishop of Ferrara, Cardinal Alessandro Mattei, to Rome; but the papal government placed its hopes in an Austrian counteroffensive, announced as being led by the army of Marshal Würmser. Both Würmser and subsequently Alvinzi were defeated, and Mantua was forced to surrender on 2 February 1797: on the same date, the French resumed hostilities against the Papal States, dispersing at Castel Bolognese, after an honorable resistance on the Senio, the small papal forces placed under the command of Gen. Colli-Marchini. Pius VI was then obliged to request a new suspension of hostilities and sent an embassy to T., which included Cardinal Mattei, the Duke Braschi-Onesti, the Marquis Camillo Massimo, and Monsignor Luigi Caleppi. The papal representatives were furnished with the requisite powers to sign a treaty; the French representatives, who were Napoleon himself and Cacault, were not. Against the advice of his collaborators, Mattei was persuaded to sign the instrument of peace. Under it, not only did the Apostolic See undertake to pay a further indemnity of thirty million and to permit the French occupation of Ancona, but it ceded to France the legations of Bologna, Ferrara, and Romagna, which were to be annexed to the Cisalpine Republic, as well as Avignon and the Comtat Venaissin, which became an integral part of the French Republic.

At the Venetian Conclave of 1800, the Sacred College declared the Treaty of T. null and void because it had been extorted by force. - Vedi tav. XXIV.

Renzo U. Montini