Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Pisa


The Archdiocese of Pisa is a metropolitan see of the Catholic Church in Italy. It was founded in the 4th century and elevated to the dignity of an archdiocese on 21 April 1092 by Pope Urban II. The seat of the bishop is the cathedral of the Assumption in the Piazza del Duomo.
The archbishop of Pisa presides over the Ecclesiastical Province of Pisa, which includes the dioceses of Livorno, Massa Carrara-Pontremoli, Pescia, and Volterra.
Since 2008 the Archbishop of Pisa has been Giovanni Paolo Benotto.

History

In a letter of 1 September 1077, Pope Gregory VII wrote to the bishops, clergy, civil leaders, and people of Corsica, acknowledging his responsibility for oversight of their well-being as part of the lands of S. Peter, but admitting that he was unable to do so personally and effectively. He had therefore appointed Bishop-elect Landulfus of Pisa to be his legate in Corsica. On 30 November 1078, Pope Gregory confirmed all the privileges that belonged to the Church of Pisa, as well as the legateship of Corsica. He granted the bishop half of all the papal income from the island, as well as all of the judicial income. On 28 June 1091, Pope Urban II, at the request of Countess Matilda of Tuscany, Bishop Dagobert, and the nobility of Pisa, returned the legateship of the island of Corsica to Bishop Dagobert, on the condition of an annual payment of 50 pounds to the papal treasury.
On 21 April 1092, Pope Urban issued the bull "Cum Universis", in which he created the metropolitanate of Pisa, promoting the bishop to the rank of archbishop, and assigning the bishoprics of Corsica as his suffragans. This he did at the request of Countess Matilda of Tuscany and in consideration of the considerable merits of Bishop Dagibert in remaining faithful to the Roman church in the face of the schism against Pope Gregory VII. Pope Gelasius II, who was staying in Pisa from 2 September to 2 October 1118, confirmed the arrangements in a bull of 26 September 1118. After the death of Pope Gelasius at Cluny on 29 January 1119, Archbishop Petrus and Cardinal Petrus della Gherardesca dei Conti di Donoratico, a native of Pisa and papal legate, crossed to Corsica to receive to obtain the oaths of fealty of the bishops of Corsica.
Pope Gelasius' bull was an unpleasant shock for Genoa, who coveted the island of Corsica, and a war broke out in 1119 between the two naval powers. The Genoese sent out a fleet of 28 galleys, but in a battle at Porto Venere the Pisans were victorious, as they were at a second battle at the mouth of the Arno River. The war lasted a total of fourteen years. On 16 May 1120, the new pope, Calixtus II, who had been elected at Cluny in France and had just returned to Italy, issued a bull confirming the privileges of Urban II and Gelasius II.
But on 3 January 1121, Pope Calixtus wrote to the bishops of Corsica that the privilege of consecrating bishops for Corsica, which had been granted to the Archbishops of Pisa, was withdrawn, and that in the future only the Pope would have the right to consecrate bishops for Corsica and to receive their oaths of submission. The Genoese were not mollified by the Pope's action. They resorted to bribery to obtain what they had not obtained by military force. A document, written in Rome and dated 16 June 1121, reveals that negotiations had been taking place, with the agreement and authorization of Pope Calixtus, between the Genoese agents, Caffaro and Barisone, and a committee of three cardinals and a bishop on the question of Corsica. The Genoese had agreed to give money to the Pope and other members of the Curia by 10 November. The Pope was to receive 1,600 silver marks; cardinals and bishops 300 marks; priests and clerics 50 ounces of gold; Cardinal Peter of Porto 303 ounces of gold; Petrus Leonis 100 silver marks, and his sons 55 marks; Leo Frangipane 40 marks; and additional payments to other nobles.
The opportune moment to satisfy the Genoans came when Calixtus II convened the First Lateran Council on 27 March 1123, to ratify the Concordat of Worms and end the schism instigated by the Emperor Henry V. The Pope appointed a committee, consisting of 24 bishops and other prelates, led by Archbishop Gualterius of Ravenna, to examine and render a judgment on the claims of the Church of Pisa over Corsica. On 6 April, the last day of the Council, the claims of Pisa were rejected by the Fathers, after the damning report of Archbishop Gualterius.
The loss was temporary, however, for, on 21 July 1126, the new pope, Honorius II, restored the privilege, and granted the archbishops the right of holding synods not only in Pisa, but also in Corsica. He took the trouble to rebuke Calixtus II and his committee, stating that the Pisans had been despoiled sine praecedente ipsorum Pisanorum culpa et absque iudicio.
In 1127, Archbishop Ruggero, who had leagued himself with Arezzo and Florence, made war against Siena. He was taken prisoner, and spent more than a year in captivity.
On March 1133, Pope Innocent elevated Genoa to the status of an archbishopric, and assigned it metropolitan status over Mariana, Nebbio, and Accia ; Bobbio, and Brugnato, to which was added the diocese of Albenga, formerly in the Metropolitanate of Milan. The Pope also enfeoffed Genoa with the northern half of the island. The archdiocese of Pisa therefore lost ecclesiastical control of the northern half of the island of Corsica, retaining the dioceses of Ajaccio, Aleria, and Salona. Pisa was compensated, to a small degree, by being named Metropolitan of Populonia. These grants, which had been made to Archbishop Hubertus, were confirmed in the bull "Tunc Apostolicae" on 22 April 1138, and in addition Innocent II granted Pisa the honorary primacy of the province of Turritana. He also confirmed the legateship over Sardinia which had been granted by Urban II, and the right to consecrate the six bishops in his ecclesiastical province.
From the late 12th to the early 13th century, the Pisan archdiocese was the feudal suzerain of the four giudicati of Sardinia. On 6 March 1131, Gonnario of Torres swore fealty to Archbishop Ruggero of Pisa.
On 22 April 1459, Pope Pius II issued the bull "Triumphans Pastor", in which he raised the diocese of Siena to metropolitan status, and assigned to it as suffragans the dioceses of Soano, Chiusi, Massa Marittima, and Grosseto. Massa was taken from the metropolitanate of Pisa.

Council of Pisa of Innocent II

From 30 May 1135 to 6 June 1135, Innocent II held a council in Pisa, having been driven from Rome a second time by the supporters of Pope Anacletus II. In Pisa, with the encouragement of Bernard of Clairvaux, who was travelling with him and supporting his cause, he summoned a council of bishops. The number of attendees is not known, but it is said that bishops from Spain, Gascony, England, France, Burgundy, Germany, Hungary, Lombardy, and Tuscany attended. Innocent II excommunicated his rival, Anacletus II, and all his followers. In the council, it was ordered that all clergy who had married should separate from their wives. It ordered all simoniacs to leave their offices. It ordered that no one should be an archdeacon or a dean who was not ordained a deacon or priest. Such honors should not be granted to adolescents. It granted the right of asylum to churches and cemeteries.

Schism

At the instigation of the German Emperor Frederick Barbarossa, a double election took place in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome on 7 September 1159, a considerable majority of cardinals supporting Pope Alexander III, and a small minority supporting Ottaviano of Monticelli, who took the name Victor IV. The archbishop of Pisa, Villano Villani, supported Pope Alexander. In 1164, after the death of Victor, Barbarossa promoted Cardinal Guido of Crema as Paschal III. In 1167 Barbarossa began a fourth war in Italy, and he and his pope Paschal ordered the leaders of Pisa to elect an archbishop to replace the loyal Villano, who had already been sent into exile in 1163 and 1164, and was again in flight from imperial agents. On 8 April 1167, the leaders of Pisa, who were loyal to the Emperor, chose a Canon of the cathedral, Benencasa, and he and the Pisans travelled to Viterbo, where the antipope ordained him a priest on Holy Saturday and consecrated him a bishop on Easter Monday. They returned to Pisa on 23 May 1167.

General Council of Pisa

In the spring of 1408, Pisa became directly involved in the struggles of the Western Schism, which had been tormenting Christendom for thirty years. Gregory XII, who had been driven from Rome on 9 August 1407, was staying in Lucca, where, in May 1408, he created several new cardinals. He did this in violation of two solemn oaths he had taken, and without consulting the cardinals. When they objected and refused to attend the installation ceremonies, Gregory ordered them arrested. One by one the cardinals fled from Lucca, and sought refuge in Pisa. On 29 June 1408, thirteen cardinals met at Livorno, in the diocese of Pisa, and issued a statement calling for a general council of the Church to address and end the schism. Their document was later subscribed by four additional cardinals. The Council of Pisa held its first session in the cathedral in Pisa on 25 March 1409. Archbishop Alamanno Adimari was present. Both Gregory and Benedict XIII were deposed and excommunicated on 5 June 1409, having failed to answer repeated summonses from the Council to answer the charges against them.

Papal conclave

With both popes deposed, a new pope was needed. The Council discussed the possibility of intervention or participation in the selection, but it was decided to leave the cardinals to their canonical duty, so that no cause of complaint could be lodged. The cardinals in Pisa decided to wait the canonical ten days after the decease of a pope to begin their conclave, even though no pope had died. Twenty-three cardinals entered conclave, which was held in the archbishop's palace in the cathedral close, on 15 June 1411; they were joined by a twenty-fourth on 16 June. On 26 June, they elected unanimously the Cardinal of Milan, Pietro Filargi, OFM, who took the name Alexander V. He was crowned on 7 July 1411, on a platform erected in the square before the cathedral of Pisa.

Conciliabulum of Pisa

In 1511, at the instigation of King Louis XII of France, a meeting was held in Pisa, summoned by four cardinals led by Bernardino Carvajal, which called itself a general council. Others called it the conciliabulum Pisanum. Only two archbishops, fourteen bishops, and a number of French abbots attended. The "little council" held its first session on 5 November 1511. It attempted to take measures to depose Pope Julius II. The people of Pisa attempted to close the doors of the cathedral against the meeting, and their hostility, after three sessions, drove the bishops to adjourn their sessions to Milan, where they met on 13 December.

Chapter and cathedral

The cathedral of Pisa, begun in 1063 and consecrated by Pope Gelasius II in 1118, was dedicated originally to the Virgin as S. Maria, and then more specifically to the taking of the body of the Virgin Mary up into heaven.
The cathedral was staffed and administered by a corporate body called the Chapter '', which was originally composed of five dignities and twenty-eight Canons. The dignities were: the Archpriest, the Archdeacon, the Dean, the Primicerius, and the Vicedominus. In 1702, there were only three dignities and twenty-five Canons.

Diocesan synods

Archbishop Matteo Rinuccini presided over a diocesan synod in 1582. Archbishop Francesco Bonciani, held a diocesan synod in Pisa in 1615

New dioceses and suffragans

In a bull of 17 March 1726, Pescia was established as a diocese by Pope Benedict XIII, and was for a long time immediately subject to the Holy See. On 1 August 1856, Pope Pius IX, in the bull "Ubi Primum", made Pescia a suffragan of the archbishop of Pisa.
The diocese of Livorno was created by Pope Pius VII in the bull "Militantis Ecclesiae" of 25 September 1806, at the urging of Queen Maria Luisa, Regent of Tuscany. The erection was opposed both by the Archdiocese of Pisa and the Canons of San Miniato, who would lose territory, power, and income from the change. The new diocese was made a suffragan of the archbishop of Pisa.

Bishops and Archbishops

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