UDINE, DIOCESE OF. - A city and diocese in eastern Veneto, bordering on Yugoslav Carniola and Austrian Carinthia. It has a population of 534,700, of whom 534,500 are Catholics, distributed in 488 parishes served by 816 diocesan priests and 80 regular clergy; it has two seminaries, 12 male religious communities and 140 female ones (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 437).
Udine is first mentioned among the castles donated by Otto II in 983 to the Patriarch of Aquileia, Rodolando. Thereafter it was governed by a patriarchal steward until the Savorgnan family, of ministerial nobility, gained prominence. The castle walls were extended down into the plain below, eventually encompassing several small villages by the 15th century. The patriarch resided there as in other castles and fostered the establishment of the commune; Patriarch Bertoldo of Andechs granted a public market in 1248, and the city had its own statutes by the 14th century, growing into the largest community in Friuli. Especially after 1420, it became the residence of the lieutenant governing the Friulian territory in the name of Venice. Initially, it was merely a parish church of the patriarchal diocese, whose mother church was the castle church; in the 13th century, the parish became collegiate and had its own church with a cemetery in the plain near the old market. When the patriarchate was given in commendam in the 15th century, the patriarchal vicar resided there, and by the end of the 16th century the patriarch had his ordinary residence there. On 19 January 1753, following the division of the patriarchate decreed by Benedict XIV, Udine became the seat of an archbishopric comprising the Venetian portion of the former patriarchal diocese, retaining metropolitan authority over the Venetian and Istrian bishops previously dependent on the patriarchate. Under the Napoleonic reorganization, Udine was the administrative center of the Passariano department and remained so during the Austrian administration of the Province of Friuli and under the national government. However, following the Concordat of 10 May 1818 between Austria and the Holy See, Udine was reduced to a simple bishopric within the ecclesiastical province of Venice, until Pius IX on 14 March 1847 restored it as an archbishopric, though without suffragan dioceses. Meanwhile, Gregory XVI had detached Cadore from the diocese on 30 April 1846 and united it with Belluno. Without considering here other minor territorial changes, it suffices to recall that the Tarvisiano region was taken from the Diocese of Gurk on 10 February 1933 and aggregated to that of Udine.
In the city, the Romanesque-Gothic Cathedral (begun in 1236) underwent Baroque remodeling in the 18th century; the same happened to the two Gothic churches of San Francesco (formerly of the Conventuals) and San Pietro Martire (formerly of the Dominicans). In the 15th century, the commune built its Gothic-Venetian loggia and palace, and in the 16th century rebuilt opposite it the church of San Giovanni with its clock tower and elegant loggia. The magnificent paintings in the church of La Purità and in the Archiepiscopal Palace are by Tiepolo. The latter houses a library rich in rare works, incunabula, and manuscripts. The municipal library preserves, alongside modern works, parchments, records, and various documents of the greatest importance for the history of the city and region. Of great significance is the Chapter Archive with the parchments of the ancient patriarchate; to this is added the Library of San Daniele with its codices. The Shrine of the Madonna delle Grazie has been a major pilgrimage site since the 15th century.
Among the diocesan ecclesiastical institutions, the collegiate church of Santa Maria Assunta in Cividale stands out. It was organized and endowed by Patriarch Giovanni in 1015 through the union of two earlier canonries, Santa Maria and Santo Stefano, and thereafter played a major role in the cultural and religious life of the region (v. CIVIDALE). It oversees the church of Santa Maria del Monte, situated on an ancient castle and a pilgrimage destination since the 13th century.
Besides the Abbey of Sesto, of Lombard origin, the two Benedictine abbeys of Moggio and Rosazzo were of great importance in the feudal Middle Ages; both were subject to the patriarch and, like Sesto, had a voice in the Parliament of the Patria among the ecclesiastical estates. San Gallo of Moggio arose on a hill in the Fella Valley astride the road leading to Carinthia at the end of the 11th century, thanks to a donation by a local lord. It passed into commendam at the beginning of the 15th century and was briefly held in commendam by Carlo Borromeo. It was suppressed by the Venetian Senate on 2 January 1773, and the fief was sold at auction (cf. A. Battistella, L'abbazia di Moggio, Udine 1903). San Pietro of Rosazzo was built on a wild hill not far from Cormons through the largesse of the Eppenstein dukes of Carinthia and the counts of Gorizia, who were buried there; it was first entrusted to the Canons Regular of Saint Augustine, but in 1019 passed to the Benedictines from Millstatt; it had jurisdiction over the hospital of Sant'Egidio near Aquileia for the poor and lepers (cf. P. Paschini, Sulla fondazione dell'abbazia di Rosazzo, Udine 1912). It was given in commendam in 1392 PILECO (v.) of Prata, until in 1753 it was united with the archiepiscopal table of Udine (cf. Memorie Storiche Forogiuliesi, 21 [1925], pp. 109 ff.; 23 [1927], pp. 23 ff.).
The shrine of Sant'Antonio in Gemona del Friuli is much venerated. The church dedicated to the saint was consecrated as early as 1247. Held by the Conventuals until 1769, it passed in 1845, after a long period under secular clergy, to the Friars Minor, who still serve II. See plate LXVI.