Cerenzia is a town, comune, former bishopric and Latintitular see with a population of 1000 people in the province of Crotone, in Calabria region, southernmost peninsular Italy. The modern town is besides the Ancient settlement Acerenthia, now a rural site known as Cerenzia vecchia, which includes the ruins of the cathedral dedicated to Saint Theodorus of Amasea, all abandoned to peasantry by the second half of the Ottocento.
Ecclesiastical history
Circa 960 was founded a Diocese of Cerenza / Pumentum / Cerenza / italic=no, bordering its invariable Metropolitan, the Archdiocese of Santa Severina, as well as the bishoprics of Umbriatico, Rossano and Cosenza. Its tiny territory comprised Cerenzia itself, the hamlets of Verzino and Lucrò and the castrum of Caccuri. It is first documented in the Notitia Episcopatuum of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, edited under Byzantine emperor Leo VI the Wise. Until the Norman conquest of Calabria, it was in the sway of the above patriarchate and used its Greek-language Byzantine rite. A papal bulla by Pope Lucius III in 1183 explicitly mentions its being a suffragan of Santa Severina. Noted early bishop Policronius, recuperated the 'Greek' abbey of Santa Maria di Altilia. The bishoprics rich gifts and possessions aroused greed among the local barons, especially Marchisorto, count of Crotone Stefano, tried to impose in 1205 his chaplain, Madio, instead of legitimate bishop Guglielmo, elected by the chapter. The arrival of the Angevine rule spelled the diocese's decline, among more conflict with the feudal lords, requiring appeals to Metropolitan and Pope. Mid Trecento, the area suffered health problems like malaria and from its poor position, even for drinking water, leading to the city being abandoned and the countryside depopulated by harsh feudal impositions. In 1342 the phrase 'Bishop of Cerenzia and Cariati' was coined, after the new effective seat, and in 1437, Pope Eugenius IV formally erected a Diocese of Cariati, immediately placing it in personal union with the old see of Cerenzia. Given the decay of Cerenzia and its episcopal palace, when the Council of Trento imposed on all bishops a fixed residence, Cariati at sea, despite its exposure to Ottoman Turkish raids, was chosen over sickly isolated Cerenzia. A pest epidemic in 1528 caused the town of Cerenzia and its five parishes to be abandoned, losing its diocesan archive. È in questa occasione che andò in gran parte perduto anche l'archivio. Visiting in the late Cinquecento, bishop Properzio Resta described its pitiful state, including cathedral and palace. Bishops' attempts in the Seicento and Settecento to restore the cathedral and build a new palace were undone by repeated, demotivating earthquakes. As part of a reorganization of the dioceses of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, Pope Pius VII in 1818 incorporated the already united territory of the diocese of Cerenza into that of the diocese of Cariati, later merged itself into the present Archdiocese of Rossano-Cariati Vincenzio d'Avino, As is customary, the bull referred to the see in adjectival form, and called it ecclesia Geruntina, suggesting as the Latin substantive form: Geruntia. The Annuario Pontificio gives Pumentum as the Latin substantive form and Cerenza, rather than Cerenzia, as the Italian form, but indicates Geruntinus as the Latin adjective.
The diocese was nominally restored in 1968 as Latin Titular bishopric of Cerenzia / Pumentum / Cerenza / italic=no. It has had the following incumbents, so far of the fitting Episcopal rank :
