Roman Catholic Diocese of Vicenza

Diocese of Vicenza Dioecesis Vicentina
File:VicenzaCathedral20070708-01.jpg Vicenza Cathedral
Location
Country	Italy
Ecclesiastical province	Venice
Statistics
Area
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2010) 855,608 790,848 (92.4%)
Parishes	354
Information
Denomination	Catholic Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	2nd Century
Cathedral	Cattedrale di S. Maria Annunziata
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Beniamino Pizziol
Emeritus Bishops	Pietro Giacomo Nonis
Map
File:Roman Catholic Diocese of Vicenza in Italy.svg
Website
www.vicenza.chiesacattolica.it

The Diocese of Vicenza (Latin: Dioecesis Vicentina) is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Italy.

Among its patron saints the city venerates St. Lontius, bishop and martyr, and St. Theodore and St. Apollonius, bishops and confessors in the fourth century. The Christian cemetery discovered near the Church of Sts. Felix and Fortunatus, dates from the earlier half of the fourth century, and these two saints were probably martyred under Diocletian.

The first bishop of whom there is any certain record is Horontius (590), a partisan of the Schism of the Three Chapters. Other bishops were: Vitalis (901), high chancellor of King Berengar of Ivrea; Girolamo (1000), deposed by Emperor Henry II for political sedition; Torengo, in whose episcopate a number of bishops rebelled against the episcopal authority. Uberto was deposed by Pope Innocent III as a despoiler of church property, but the canons put off until 1219 the election of his successor, Gilberto, who was forced by the tyranny of Ezzelino to live in exile.

Under Bishop Emiliani (1409) took place the apparition of the Blessed Virgin on Monte Berico which led to the foundation of the famous sanctuary. Pietro Barbo (1451) was afterwards elected Pope Paul II.

Cardinal Giovanni Battista Zeno (1468) was distinguished for his sanctity and learning. Matteo Priuli (1563) founded the seminary and made efforts for reform. Alvise M. Ganrielli (1779) restored many churches and the seminary.

The See of Vicenza was suffragan of Aquileia, then of Udine, and since 1818 of Venice. The diocese had circa 1900: 219 parishes, with 477,000 souls; 699 secular and 39 regular priests; 10 houses of male religious and 52 sisters; 4 schools for boys, and 52 for girls. The Catholic Press comprised "Il Berico" (tri- weekly, Vicenza), "La Riscossa" (tri-weekly, Breganze), and six other periodicals.

Bishops since 1860

• Bl. Giovanni Antonio Farina † (28 September 1860 - 4 March 1888 )
• Antonio Maria De Pol † ( 1888 - 1892 )
• Antonio Feruglio † (16 January 1893 - 1909 )
• Ferdinando Rodolfi † (14 February 1911 - 12 January 1943 )
• Carlo Zinato † (8 June 1943 - 11 September 1971 )
• Arnoldo Onisto † (11 September 1971 - 20 February 1988 )
• Pietro Giacomo Nonis † (20 February 1988 - 6 October 2003)
• Cesare Nosiglia (6 October 2003 - 11 October 2010)
• Beniamino Pizziol (15 April 2011 - present)

Sources

• Diocese of Vicenza - Benigni, U. (1912). In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.

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