VERCELLI, ARCHDIOCESE OF. — It has an area of 1,658 sq. km. and a population of 198,500 inhabitants, divided among 139 parishes, of which 119 are in the province of Vercelli, 10 in that of Novara, 9 in that of Pavia, and 1 in that of Alessandria. The diocesan clergy consists of 299 resident priests; there are 2 seminaries: the major one in the city, the minor one in Moncrivello. It also has 7 male religious orders and congregations with 12 houses, 49 priests, and 32 lay brothers; 126 female houses with 955 religious. The chief town has 42,930 inhabitants (1951). Patron saint: St. Eusebius, bishop, whose feast is celebrated on 10 August. Elevated to an archdiocese in 1817, its suffragan dioceses are Alessandria, Biella, Casale, Novara, and Vigevano. Three-quarters of its territory consists of plains, predominantly cultivated with rice (about half of the national surface area and production), which gives rise to a particular social problem due to the seasonal immigration of over 27,000 foreign rice weeders, mostly women, at the time of weeding (May–July), and 16,000 external reapers for the harvest.
I. CIVIL HISTORY
The city is the ancient Vercellae, situated near the Sesia River, almost at the confluence of the Roman roads that led from Pavia and Milan to the Alpine passes of the Pennine Alps, founded by the Salluvii among the Libii or Libyans (Pliny, *Nat. Hist.*, III, 21). Having entered the orbit of Rome perhaps at the beginning of the 2nd century BC, Vercelli became strong and powerful. Nearby, at the Raudian Fields, in 101 BC Marius defeated the Cimbri. About thirty kilometers to the northwest, near Vittimulo, there were the Vercelli gold mines mentioned by Strabo (V, 218, 12) and Pliny (*Nat. Hist.*, XXXIII, 21). Included in the 11th Augustan region (Transpadana), Vercelli, which Martial (*Epigr.*, X, 12) called “apple-bearing” due to the prevalent pagan cult there, was already considered by Vitellius a “very strong municipality” (*Tacitus, Hist.*, I, 70), enrolled in the Aniense tribe. Later, however, it declined so much that to St. Jerome it appeared “rare... a half-ruined habitation” (*PL* 22, 327).Capital of a duchy in the Lombard era and of a county in the time of the Franks, it passed under the jurisdiction of the bishops by the end of the 10th century. Progressively gaining autonomy in the 11th–12th centuries and constituted as a free commune, it dominated a vast territory, subduing even powerful feudal lords; it had a *Studium generale* in 1228, which lasted for over a century, and in 1243 proclaimed the freedom of the serfs. In 1335 it fell under the lordship of the Visconti; Filippo Maria ceded it in 1427 to Duke Amadeus VIII of Savoy: Amadeus IX and Charles II resided and died there. It suffered devastating sieges in 1617 and 1638 by the Spanish, who occupied it until 1659, and in 1704 by the French, who dismantled its fortifications.
II. RELIGIOUS HISTORY
A diocese was created around 345, with St. Eusebius (v.) as its first bishop, and at that time it apparently encompassed all of Piedmont. However, the tenor of the letter Eusebius wrote from exile (c. 356) to the clergy “and the holy... people of Vercelli, Novara, Ivrea, Aosta, Industria, and Agamium near Palatium and also Derthona” (according to the best reading: cf. *BHL*, 2748) seems to presuppose an already different situation for Turin and other parts of Piedmont. The presence of Christian communities in smaller and distant locations such as Industria (Monteu Po) and Palatium (near Crescentino on the Roman road along the Po that connected Turin to Pavia), the institution of a common life among the clergy (St. Ambrose, *Epist.*, I, 63, 56), and the existence in Vercelli of a monastery of virgins are signs of the rapid organization of the diocese under Eusebius, favored by the strength of pre-existing nuclei of the faithful. The apostolate carried out by his successors, St. Limenius, present at the Council of Aquileia in 381, and St. Honoratus (*CIL*, V, 6722), elected after internal disputes through the intervention of St. Ambrose (*Epist.*, I, 63: cf. Paulinus, *Vita*, 47), as well as by St. NAVARRA (v.), yielded tangible results: around 389 the dioceses of Novara and Turin were separated from Vercelli, though the latter may have already occurred earlier, and shortly after those of Ivrea and Aosta.The catalogue of the 40 bishops from Eusebius to Nottingham (c. 1830), based on their portraits once painted in the old cathedral, is now fragmentary: among them, 12 of whom are decorated with the title of saint, stand out St. Emiliano I (c. 501), who, besides an altar in the cathedral where his body is venerated, had some churches dedicated to him; St. Flavian (d. 541), presumed author of the Vercelli metrical inscriptions, of which the epitaph survives (*CIL*, V, 6728); Emiliano II, to whom King Aripert II confirmed in 707 the monastery of St. Michael of Lucedio, recently founded, and previous donations. With Liutward, archchancellor of Charles the Fat, the temporal power of the bishops took on substance, if not origin, both through the disputed diploma of 16 March 882 and through another similar act. The massacre on 13 December 899 of the city’s clergy by the Hungarians, to whom Liutward also succumbed (cf. *MGH, Script.*, I, p. 609), though perhaps on another date, brought grave consequences to the Church of Vercelli that still persisted at the time of the Synod of Ingone (964), Attone (v.) had meanwhile carried out a firm pastoral action there.
Against the bishops St. Peter (d. 997) and Leo, Ivrea (v.) waged a fierce struggle: the former, a victim of this conflict, had his corpse burned, and was excommunicated, while Otto III stripped him of his goods, assigning the counties of Vercelli and Santhià to Leo through two diplomas dated 7 May 999. Although these donations were in part ineffective, together with those of 1000–1001 they mark the acme of episcopal feudalism. Soon, perhaps from the mid-11th century, the commune began to increasingly contest the exercise of authority in the city and county; these struggles included the construction of boroughs and castles by bishops such as Uguccione (d. 1170), who founded the Piazzò of Biella and Ronsecco; precursors of the free boroughs (v.), about thirty, created later in the 12th–13th centuries by the Commune for other purposes. In 1243 the Commune attempted to seize the remaining episcopal dominion, now reduced to the places listed (after the parishes) in the bull of 1 June 1187, sent by Urban III, already bishop of Vercelli (1182–84), to St. Albert (v.); Bishop Martino Avogadro (1244–68) resisted the invitation. The matter was resolved instead by the cession of Biella to Duke Amadeus VI of Savoy (1379) and the investiture of the papal fief of Masserano and Crecavuore to the Fieschi (1394). In the 1400s and 1500s the Church of Vercelli was governed for about 90 years by bishops of the Fieschi family of Lavagna and then by members of the Ferrero family (v.) from 1499 to 1572, when Cardinal Guido Ferrero exchanged it with G. Francesco Bonomi (v. EUNOMIANI), abbot of Nonantola. Bonomi implemented the Tridentine reform: he held synods, consolidated the urban seminary, established the minor one, abolished the Eusebian rite, and left detailed reports of his pastoral visits in the diocese, in Moriana, and in the Aosta Valley (1576).
In 1474 Casale (v.) was separated from Vercelli; in 1772 Biella (v.). Under Napoleon, who suppressed 18 convents in the city alone, the diocese was
hands of the bishops of Vercelli: Bl. Peter Cambiani of Ruffia, Dominican (d. 1459); Bl. Arcangela Girlani of Trino, Carmelite (d. 1494); Bl. Panattieri (v.); Bl. Jacobinus Canepacci, Carmelite (d. 1508): all with approved cult in the diocese; Rainerio Avogadro, the bishop who carried out the crusade with Fra Dolcino (v.); Antonio da Vercelli (v.); M. Gattinara (v.); R. BAZZANO (v.); O. FERRARIENSIS (v.); Raymond Recrosio, bishop of Nice (d. 1732); G. Fr. Marchini, Oratorian (d. 1774); E. Avogadro Della Motta (v.).
ARCHIVES
Little is known of the ancient Schola S. Eusebii, attached to the Cathedral; but its importance is reflected in the precious collection of 220 manuscripts in the Chapter Archive (many illuminated, several from the 9th–11th centuries, about fifty liturgical, some with ancient musical notation; famous among them are the Vercellensis a of the Old Latin of the 4th century; the Anglo-Saxon Vercelli Book of the 10th century; De advocatis of the Imitation of Christ [v.] of the 13th–14th century; no. 39 containing the works of Atto, of the 10th century, etc., with documents dating from 707 onwards). Also noteworthy are the archives: the archiepiscopal (documents from 1145 onwards); the civic, containing the Biscioni collection (documents from 882 onwards); the hospital archives (documents from the 12th to the 16th century); and the archive of the archiepiscopal Curia (documents of pastoral visits from 1553 onwards). The records of the suppressed ancient monasteries are partly dispersed and partly preserved in the State Archive of Turin. The libraries of the Seminary, Agnesiana (ecclesiastical), and civic are also of good quality.
MONUMENTS
The bell tower of the Cathedral (c. 1152) belongs to the Romanesque period; the Cathedral itself was rebuilt in various phases between 1572 and 1860 according to designs by Pellegrino Tibaldi and, for the façade and atrium, ALTIERI (v.), and houses a silver-gilt Crucifix (11th century) and a treasury of great artistic value, including among other things a silver-gilt book-cover with repoussé work (9th century), donated by King Berengar I for the Gospel codex of St Eusebius, and another in gold with enamel and hard-stone ornaments for an evangelary (11th century; V. pl. 89 of vol. IX); the portal and the paved mosaics of S. Maria Maggiore (now in the Leone Museum with the epigraphic material recovered from the demolition of the church and the Cathedral), the mother church of Vercelli, rebuilt in the 12th century and consecrated by Eugenius III on 17 June 1148, demolished in 1777; the façade of S. Bernardo; and the bell towers of S. Michele and S. Vittore. The architectural fervour of the 11th–12th centuries is confirmed by the surviving Romanesque churches scattered throughout the diocese, such as the ancient parish churches of S. Michele di Balocco; S. Michele di Clivolo at Borgo d’Ale; Lenta; S. Maria di Rado at Gattinara; the abbey church of S. Genuario, 11th century; the churches of Naula at Piane Sesia (there an epitaph of priest Candidianus: 7th century); S. Michele at Trino (an important religious centre, birthplace of the Giolito family and other famous printers who worked in Venice from 1480 and locally from 1508); S. Pietro at Robbio; S. Lorenzo at Oldenico; S. Pietro at Tronzano, etc., all 12th century.
The most distinguished civic monument is the basilica of S. Andrea in Gothic style with Antelami elements, built 1219–27 under the direction of Cardinal Guala Bicchieri; typical Gothic expressions are also found in the churches of S. Francesco, S. Marco (now a public market), Sannazzaro, and the monastic buildings of S. Maria di Lucedio. Notable 18th-century works include the second courtyard of the Seminary, completed to a design by Juvarra, and the parish church of Borgo d’Alle (1770) in the Victorian style.
At the end of the 15th and in the 16th century the Vercelli school of painting held a prominent place in the artistic movement of Piedmont, distinguished by the names of Spanzotti, Sodoma (v.), who soon moved to Siena, FERRARIENSIS (v.), the Oldoni, the Giovenone, and Bernardino Lanino; the many panels and frescoes preserved in the Borgogna Museum, the episcopal palace, and various city churches (S. Cristoforo, S. Paolo, S. Francesco, S. Giuliano, etc.) and in the diocese document their fruitful activity. The city museums are rich and appreciated: the Leone (archaeology) and the Borgogna (picture gallery). A private collector holds the casket of Cardinal Bi chi ri with Limoges enamels of the 13th century. — See pl. CXXX.
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VERCELLI, ARCHDIOCESE OF
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TERRITORIAL CONFIGURATION AND METROPOLITAN STATUS
The archdiocese of Vercelli was territorially configured to match the department of the Sesia (1805). The brief B. Petri Apostolorum of 17 July 1817, which raised Vercelli to metropolitan status, established its present boundaries. Among the pastors of the 19th century, Alessandro D’Angennes (1832–69) stands out for his zeal.
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PARISHES, CHAPTERS, MONASTERIES
In the 10th century the diocese was divided into 36 rural parishes (catalogues in cod. Vat. lat. 4322, ff. 34ʹ and 108ʺ), almost all situated on ancient Roman roads and in archaeological zones. Besides the two city chapters of S. Maria and S. Eusebius, which Bishops Norgaud (c. 844) and Alderic in 1040 brought to the common life, there were already seven others by the 11th century, including those of Biella and Casale. There were nine historic abbeys: SS. Michele e Genuario of Lucedio, made illustrious by St Bononio (v.); S. Stefano of Vercelli; SS. Vittore e Corona of Grazzano (Casale), endowed in 961; SS. Salvatore e Giacomo della Bessa (Biella); Sannazzaro (c. 1040); Muleggio (11th century?), Benedictine; S. Maria of Lucedio, Cistercian, founded in 1123 and flourishing under Abbots Peter (1184–1205) and Oglerius (v.), whose vast territory, reclaimed by the monks, GRANGIA (v.); S. Maria of Vezzolano ([v.] now in Asti); and S. Andrea of Vercelli, founded in 1224 BICCHIERI, GUALA (v.), who placed Abbot Thomas Gallus (v.) in charge.
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DISTINGUISHED PERSONS
The diocese was the birthplace of St William (v.); Bl. Warmund (v.); Bl. Vercelli (v.); Bl. Emily Bicchieri, Dominican, founder of the monastery of S. Margherita (d. 1314); Bl. Anthony of the church of S. Gere