Vigevano, Diocese of

VIGEVANO, Diocese of. - City and diocese in the province of Pavia, suffragan of Vercelli.

It has an area of 1509 sq km with a population of 170,800 inhabitants, of whom 170,000 are Catholics distributed in 83 parishes served by 192 diocesan priests and 14 regulars; it counts 3 male religious communities and 4 female ones (Ann. Pont. 1953, p. 447).

On the right bank of the Ticino, along one of the most frequented routes between Lombardy and Piedmont, it was a Roman trading post, and in its vicinity the battle of the Ticino was fought between Hannibal and Scipio. As the center of the Frankish county called of Bulgaria and a plebs, it obtained a diploma of immunity from Henry IV (1065), was the object of a centuries-long dispute between Pavia and Milan, until the latter, under the Torriani, held its lordship, which then passed to the Visconti: Luchino built the castle there. On the death of Filippo Maria, V. proclaimed itself independent and allied with the Ambrosian Republic, and for this it withstood a hard siege by Francesco Sforza, which ended with an honorable capitulation on 5 June 1449. From then on it followed the fortunes of the Duchy of Milan through the successive dominations.

V. was part of the diocese of Novara when it was erected into a diocese, at the request of Francesco II Sforza, Duke of Milan, by Clement VII with the bull Pro excellenti praeminentia in Bologna on 16 March 1530. It was also supposed to include the Lomellina, which depended on the bishop of Pavia, but the latter was unwilling to cede the territory. Thus the new diocese remained limited to V. and to the parishes of St. Albino of Mortara and of St. Gaudentius in Gambolò. The first bishop was Msgr. Galeazzo Pietra, of Pavia, who was commendatory abbot of the Cistercian abbey of S. Maria di Acqualunga, and at the request of that same commendatory abbot the Pope assigned part of this abbey to the episcopal mensa. For his part the Duke guaranteed, on funds of the Villa Sforzesca (later replaced, by his disposition, by Charles V with those of Zeme), the endowment for the episcopal mensa and for the canonical prebends, and ordered the demolition of the pre-existing collegiate church of St. Ambrose, to replace it with the solemn Bramantesque Cathedral begun by Ambrogio di Lonate (1532), of which the wooden model, perfectly restored, is preserved, and he enriched it with gifts of precious tapestries, gold and silver furnishings, evangeliaries and epistolaries (signed: brothers Decio and Agostino Ferrante), illuminated missals, 14 illuminated parchment volumes (graduals for the choir), panels of great

(from G. Chierici, Il battistero di Lomello, in Atti della Pont. acc. rom. di arch., II [D.B-II], fasc. III-IV, fasc. 3)

VIGEVANO, DIOCESE OF - Together with the baptismal font of Lomello (8th-9th centuries).

value, among which the altarpiece of the Crucifix signed Cesare Magni, bearing the portrait of Msgr. Pietra, kneeling, St. Ambrose, St. Jerome, etc. The work on the Cathedral proceeded very slowly, the facade had to await the genius of the Caranuel (1673-82), and the dome was not finished until the episcopate of Msgr. Cattaneo (1712-30).

Clement VII, with the bull of foundation, granted to the Duke and his successors the right of appointment for the bishop and all the benefices of the city, canons and parish priests. This right then passed to Charles V and to his successors, kings of Spain, until the death of Philip in 1714; with the Treaty of Utrecht and Rastadt, which assigned V. to Lombardy and therefore to Austria, the patronage passed to the German Emperor. Finally, with the Treaty of Aachen, which granted V. to the House of Savoy, this right was regularly exercised by the Kings of Sardinia and of Italy. No government has ever imposed for the administration of the churches the establishment of parish fabric committees or of any other similar institution. On 18 Feb. 1801 Msgr. Maria Giuseppe Scarampi died, and on 28 March a Commissioner of the Cisalpine Republic ordered the suppression of the Chapter, which was however re-established in 1805. On 17 Aug. 1817, the new ecclesiastical province of Vercelli having been created, the diocese of V. was also assigned to it, having previously been subject to Milan. Moreover, through the express intervention of King Victor Emmanuel I, the Lomellina was united to the diocese of V., and thus the number of parishes grew from 5 to about 70. Furthermore, in 1830 the Vigevanese parish of Gravellona was exchanged for the Novarese parish of Sozzago.

The Seminary, begun by the second bishop Maurizio Pietra in 1565, just after his return from the Council of Trent, was suitably organized by Msgr. Sormani Marino (1688-d. 1702), who assigned to its service the little church of St. Anne and built its first proper seat, still preserved and joined to the great Palazzo, ordered by the bishop Msgr. Toppia (1818-28). The latter, having been unable to accomplish during his lifetime all that he would have wished, left to his successor, who was Msgr. Accusani (1830-43), the task and the means to erect a building capable of housing as many young men as the great expansion of the diocese required.

Msgr. De Gaudenzi (1871-91) opened the Little Seminary with internal gymnasium schools and built the adjoining church, which he dedicated to the Sacred Heart, frescoed by Morgari.

SANCTUARIES

The diocese of V. possesses near Garlasco an important and much-frequented sanctuary, the Madonna della Bozzola, consisting of a grand temple, the work of the architect Cesare Nava of Milan, with attached buildings of recent construction. Worthy of special mention is the Madonna inter vineis near V., of very ancient origin, being recorded in various documents of the 12th century.

ILLUSTRIOUS MEN

Mention should be made of the blessed Cristoforo Maccasoglio of the Franciscan convent of the Grazie; the blessed Anselmo degli Anselmi of the Franciscan convent of St. Francis, also in the city; the blessed Caterina degli Ingrami, a nun of St. Teresa; the blessed Caterina Naj of Gambolò and the blessed Pacifico of the Franciscan convent of the Grazie; Giovanni Andrea Bussi, bishop of Aleria (v.); Francesco Maggi, Uberto and Pier Candido Decembrio, men of letters, companions of Filargo in the University of Pavia; Bernardo Ferrari, painter; Mercadante, Zerbi, Antonio Cagnoni, Lorenzo Perosi, musicians; Msgr. Pietro Barbieri, noted for his great organizational activity.

BUILDINGS AND MONUMENTS

Besides the Cathedral, of interest is the piazza with the Palazzo Ducale, with a Bramantesque tower, erected by Ludovico il Moro, to whom the construction (around 1486) of the villa-castle la Sforzesca also dates, 3 km outside V. on land granted by the community and soon reduced to cultivation; on the site an armed engagement took place between German and Piedmontese troops on 21 March 1849. Also noteworthy are the 15th-century churches of S. Francesco and S. Pietro martire.

Within the territory of V. is included Lomello (Laumellum), from which the district took the name Lomellina. It is recorded as far back as the Roman age, when it was also a municipium; geographers indicate it as a mansio on the road from Pavia to Turin; grave-diggers of the Imperial age attest its survival. Paul the Deacon speaks of « Lomellum castrum » as the place of the meeting of Queen Theodelinda with her bridegroom Agilulf (Hist. Langob., III, 35). In the Carolingian age it was erected into a county, of which a Cunibert is remembered as a palace exile from the royal residence of Pavia in 996, and a dynasty established itself in the castrum, later divided into various branches. The fortress was destroyed by the Pavesi (1140-45). Lomello preserves the two ancient churches of S. Maria maggiore and S. Michele with Romanesque remains. The ancient Baptistery is excellently preserved (v. G. Chierici, Il battistero di Lomello, in Atti della Pontif. accad. d'archeologia, 3rd series, rendiconti, 17 [1940-41], pp. 127-37).

Besides the monastery of Breme (v.), the Congregation of the Regular Canons of Mortara (Mortarienses) was of importance in the territory of V.; it arose in the church of S. Croce erected outside Mortara and consecrated by Urban II on 14 Sept. 1096, destroyed in 1556 and rebuilt within the city in 1573; it is now reduced to a parish. The Congregation died out at the end of the 18th century and from its earliest times had numerous churches aggregated to it. - See t.v. CXLV.

Lucio Ubezio