Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Fermo


The Archdiocese of Fermo is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical jurisdiction in northern Italy, with its seat in the city of Fermo, Marche. It was established as the Diocese of Fermo in the 3rd century, and elevated to an archdiocese by Pope Sixtus V on 24 May 1589. The archiepiscopal seat is Fermo Cathedral. The current archbishop is Rocco Pennacchio.

History

Firmo was the site of a Roman colony, established in 264 B.C. The diocese of Fermo was immediately subject to the Holy See down to 1589. In the 8th century, Fermo, along with the Duchy of the Pentapolis, came under the temporal authority of the Holy See. In the 10th century it became the capital of the separate Marchia Firmana. Under the predecessors of Pope Honorius III the bishops of the city became prince-bishops, first with the secular rights of counts, and later styled princes of Fermo. In 1199 it became a free city, and remained independent until 1550, when it was annexed to the Papal States.
Local legend attributes the first preaching of the Gospel at Fermo to Saint Apollinarius and Saint Maro.
Pope Boniface VIII entertained the idea of founding a university in Fermo, to rival that of Bologna, and actually issued the bull In supremae dignitatis on 16 January 1303. Nothing, however, came of the idea. It was actually Pope Sixtus V, a former bishop of Fermo, who established the university, in his bull Muneris nostri of 13 September 1585. The loss of Jesuit support when the Society of Jesus was disbanded in 1773, dealt the university a serious blow both in quality and prestige, and it closed permanently in 1826, due to lack of funding.
In 1457, Cardinal Domenico Capranica founded a college in Rome for the benefit of poor scholars of Fermo.
The Diocese of Macerata was established by Pope John XXII on 18 November 1320, in the Bull Sicut ex debito, which also suppressed the diocese of Recanati, which was in the hands of the Ghibellines. The castrum Maceratae was raised to the status of a city, and its territory, which was partly in the diocese of Camerino and partly in the diocese of Fermo, was detached from those two dioceses and included in the new diocese of Macerata.
The castle at Ripatransone was erected in the early Middle Ages, and enlarged later by the bishops of Fermo, who had several conflicts with the people. In 1571 Pope Pius V made it an episcopal see, and included in its jurisdiction a small portion of the diocese of Fermo. The oppidum of Ripatransone was promoted to the status of civitas, and the parish church of S. Benigno was made a cathedral. The diocese of Fermo lost some of its territory.
The diocesan seminary was founded by Cardinal Felice Peretti in 1574.
In 1586, Pope Sixtus established the Diocese of Montalto on territory split off from the Diocese of Fermo. It was the territory in which the Pope had been born.
The episcopal palace was built by Bishop Antonio de Vetulis. It was completed in 1391.
The archdiocese had a Papal visit from Pope John Paul II in December 1988.

Cathedral and Chapter

The foundation stone of the present cathedral was laid by Archbishop Andrea Minucci, and the completed edifice was consecrated by him on 27 September 1797.
In 1764, the Chapter of the cathedral, dedicated to the assumption of the body of the Virgin Mary into heaven, was composed of four dignities and sixteen Canons. The dignities were: the Archdeacon, the Archpriest, the Dean, and the Primicerius.

Diocesan synods

A diocesan synod was an irregularly held, but important, meeting of the bishop of a diocese and his clergy. Its purpose was to proclaim generally the various decrees already issued by the bishop; to discuss and ratify measures on which the bishop chose to consult with his clergy; to publish statutes and decrees of the diocesan synod, of the provincial synod, and of the Holy See.
Cardinal Domenico Capranica, Bishop of Fermo, presided over a diocesan synod on 24 July 1450.
In 1650 Archbishop Giovanni Battista Rinuccini held a diocesan synod. On 6—8 June 1660, the Archbishop of Fermo, Cardinal Carlo Gualterio, held a diocesan synod.
Archbishop Alessandro Borgia held a diocesan synod in 1733. He held a second diocesan synod in 1738. Cardinal Urbano Paracciani held a synod on 23—25 May 1773. Archbishop Andrea Minucci presided over a diocesan synod held in Fermo on 15—17 September 1793.
Archbishop Filippo de Angelis presided over a diocesan synod in 1845; in particular it legislated on the proper attitude of clergy toward children. Archbishop Roberto Papiri held a diocesan synod in 1900.

Ecclesiastical province

In 1589 the diocese of Fermo was raised to the status of a metropolitan archdiocese.
The Metropolitan currently has the following suffragan sees:
The first synod held in the new province of which Fermo was the metropolitan was held in Fermo by Archbishop Sigismondo Zanettini in 1590.
Archbishop Alessandro Borgia presided over a provincial synod held in Fermo from 28 April to 5 May 1726. Present were the Bishop of Macerata and Tolentino, the Bishop of Montalto, the Bishop of Ripatransone, and the Bishop of San Severino.

Bishops and Archbishops

Bishops of Fermo

to 1200

Studies