Roman Catholic Diocese of Teano-Calvi


The Diocese of Teano-Calvi is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Campania, southern Italy, created in 1986. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Naples. The historic Diocese of Teano and Diocese of Calvi Risorta were united in 1818, forming the diocese of Calvi e Teano.

History

Calvi

is the ancient Cales or Calenum, not far from Capua. Towards the end of the fifth century it was certainly a bishopric, since Valerius, Bishop of Calenum, was present at the Roman Council held by Pope Symmachus in 499. In the first six centuries, only eight names have been recorded, and these only in a list of bishops found in the Breviarium et Martyrologium of the Church of Calvi, a devotional and hagiographic work. There are no names of bishops recorded between 567 and 761 in this list.
Calvi was originally directly dependent upon the Holy See, and its bishops attended the Roman synods. But when Pope John XIII fled Rome and took refuge in Capua, he raised the diocese of Capua to metropolitan status, and gave the new Archbishop the diocese of Calvi and Teano as his suffragans.
Destroyed in the 9th century by the Saracens, Calvi was rebuilt by Atenulf I of Capua, at which time, probably, the see was re-established. It certainly had a bishop at the end of the eleventh century.
The cathedral of Calvi, dedicated to the taking up of the body of the Virgin Mary into heaven, is administered and served by a corporation called the Chapter, composed of twelve Canons, headed by the Primicerius. There is also a Theologus and a Penitentiarius, in accordance with the decrees of the Council of Trent, who enjoy prebends, but are not considered Canons.
The seminary of Calvi was founded by Bishop Giuseppe del Pozzo, and was blessed by Pope Benedict XIII as he was returning to Rome from Benevento in 1727.

Teano

The cathedral of Teano is dedicated to S. John the Evangelist and S. Terentianus. There were sixteen Canons in the cathedral Chapter, headed by a Dean. The Canons were once called Cardinals. In 1749, there were two dignities and seventeen Canons. A major fire in the cathedral in the time of Pope Leo X destroyed nearly all of the archives.
In 1575, the new bishop, Giovanni Paolo Marincola, held a diocesan synod, and ordered the construction of a seminary, in accordance with the decrees of the Council of Trent. But the disorderly life of the bishop postponed work on the work until the administration of Bishop Paolo Squillante in 1654, who had to leave the completion of the work for his successor.
On 29–31 March 1690, Bishop Giuseppe Niccolo Giberti held a diocesan synod, and had the Constitutions published.

Concordat of 1818

Following the extinction of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, the Congress of Vienna authorized the restoration of the Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples. Since the French occupation had seen the abolition of many Church institutions in the Kingdom, as well as the confiscation of most Church property and resources, it was imperative that Pope Pius VII and King Ferdinand IV reach agreement on restoration and restitution. Ferdinand, however, was not prepared to accept the pre-Napoleonic situation, in which Naples was a feudal subject of the papacy. Lengthy, detailed, and acrimonious negotiations ensued.
In 1818, a new concordat with the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies committed the pope to the suppression of more than fifty small dioceses in the kingdom. The ecclesiastical province of Naples was spared from any suppressions, but the province of Capua was affected. Pope Pius VII, in the bull "De Utiliori" of 27 June 1818, chose to unite the two dioceses of Calvi and Teano under the leadership of one bishop, aeque principaliter, that is, one and the same bishop was bishop of both dioceses at the same time. In the same concordat, the King was confirmed in the right to nominate candidates for vacant bishoprics, subject to the approval of the pope. That situation persisted down until the final overthrow of the Bourbon monarchy in 1860.

Change of Metropolitan

Following the Second Vatican Council, and in accordance with the norms laid out in the Council's decree, Christus Dominus chapter 40, major changes were made in the ecclesiastical administrative structure of southern Italy. Wide consultations had taken place with the bishops and other prelates who would be affected. Action, however, was deferred, first by the death of Pope Paul VI on 6 August 1978, then the death of Pope John Paul I on 28 September 1978, and the election of Pope John Paul II on 16 October 1978. Pope John Paul II issued a decree, "Quamquam Ecclesia," on 30 April 1979, ordering the changes. Three ecclesiastical provinces were abolished entirely: those of Conza, Capua, and Sorrento. A new ecclesiastical province was created, to be called the Regio Campana, whose Metropolitan was the Archbishop of Naples. The dioceses formerly members of the suppressed Province of Capua became suffragans of Naples.

Diocese of Teano-Calvi

On 18 February 1984, the Vatican and the Italian State signed a new and revised concordat, which was accompanied in the next year by enabling legislation. According to the agreement, the practice of having one bishop govern two separate dioceses at the same time, aeque personaliter, was abolished. Otherwise Calvi and Teano might have continued to share a bishop. Instead, the Vatican continued consultations which had begun under Pope John XXIII for the merging of small dioceses, especially those with personnel and financial problems, into one combined diocese. On 30 September 1986, Pope John Paul II ordered that the dioceses of Calvi and Teano be merged into one diocese with one bishop, with the Latin title Dioecesis Theanensis-Calvensis. The seat of the diocese was to be in Teano, and the cathedral of Teano was to serve as the cathedral of the merged diocese. The cathedral in Calvi was to become a co-cathedral, and its cathedral Chapter was to be a Capitulum Concathedralis. There was to be only one diocesan Tribunal, in Teano, and likewise one seminary, one College of Consultors, and one Priests' Council. The territory of the new diocese was to include the territory of the former dioceses of Calvi and of Teano.

Bishops

Diocese of Calvi Risorta

Latin Name: Calvensis

Erected: 5th Century

to 1400

to 1300

United: 27 June 1818 with Diocese of Teano

Latin Name: Theanensis-Calvensis
Name Changed: 30 September 1986

Studies