Bishop of Nola

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The Bishop of Nola is a suffragan diocese of the archdiocese of Naples, with its seat in the ancient city Nola.

The ancient Christian memories of Nola are connected with the neighboring Cimitile, the name of which recalls the site of an ancient cemetery. There is the basilica of St Felix, the martyr, built, and poetically described by Paulinus of Nola, bishop of the city, who shows that no sanctuary, after the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul, was visited by as many pilgrims as came to this shrine. St. Felix, who lived between the middle of the second century and the middle of the third, was the first Bishop of Nola. The city has several other martyrs, among them, Sts. Reparatus, Faustillus, and Acacius, companions of St. Januarius, besides St. Felix, confessor. Other bishops of Nola were St Marinus (about the year 300); St Priscus, who died in 328 or in 523; St Quodvultdeus, who died in 387 and was succeeded by St Paulinus. The body of the last-named saint was taken to Benevento in 839, and in the year 1000 was given to Otto III by the people of Benevento in exchange for the body of St. Bartholomew; in 1909 it was restored to Nola. In the fifth century the archpresbyter St. Adeodatus flourished at Nola; his metrical epitaph has been preserved.

In 484 Joannes Taloias, Patriarch of Alexandria, having been driven from his diocese, was made Bishop of Nola. It was St Paulinus III (c. 505) who became a slave to free a widow's son; this deed was afterwards attributed to St. Paulinus I. Bishop Lupicinus (786) restored several sacred buildings. Francis Scacciani (1370) erected the Gothic cathedral, which was finished by Bishop Gian Antonio Boccarelli (1469). Antonio Scarampi (1549) founded the seminary and introduced the reforms of the Council of Trent. Fabrizio Gallo (1585) founded several charitable institutions; G.B. Lancellotti (1615-1656), who was Apostolic nuncio in Poland from 1622 to 1627, did much for the diocese; Francis M. Carafa (1704), a Theatine, was zealous for the education of the clergy; Traiano Caracciolo (1738) constructed the new seminary.