Diocese of Fiesole

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The diocese of Fiesole is a Roman Catholic diocese in Tuscany, central Italy, whose episcopal see is the city of Fiesole. It is a suffragan of the Metropolitan Archbishopric of Florence.

[edit] History

According to local legend the Gospel was first preached at Fiesole by St. Romulus, a disciple of St. Peter. The fact that the ancient cathedral (now the Abbazia Fiesolana) stands outside the city is a proof that the Christian origins of Fiesole date from the period of the persecutions. The earliest mention of a Bishop of Fiesole is in a letter of pope Gelasius I (492-496). A little later, under Vigilius (537-55), a Bishop Rusticus is mentioned as papal legate at one of the Councils of Constantinople. The legendary St. Alexander is said by some to belong to the time of the Lombard King Autari (end of the sixth century), but the Bollandists assign him to the reign of Lothair I (middle of the ninth century).

A very famous bishop is St. Donatus, an Irish monk, the friend and adviser of Emperors Louis the Pious and Lothair I. He was elected in 826 and is buried in the cathedral, where his epitaph, dictated by himself, may still be seen. He founded the abbey of San Martino di Mensola; Bishop Zanobi in 890 founded that of St. Michael at Passignano, which was afterwards given to the Vallombrosan monks. Other bishops were Hildebrand of Lucca (1220), exiled by the Florentines; St. Andrew Corsini (1352), born in 1302 of a noble Florentine family, who, after a reckless youth, became a Carmelite monk, studied at Paris, who, once bishop, was renowned as a peacemaker between individuals and States, and was canonized by Urban VIII.

Other famous bishops were the Dominican Fra Jacopo Altovita (1390), noted for his zeal against schism; Antonio Aglio (1466), a learned humanist and author of a collection of lives of the saints; the Augustinian Guglielmo Bachio (1470), a celebrated preacher, and author of commentaries on Aristotle and on the Sentences of Peter Lombard; Francesco Cattaneo Diaceto (1570), a theologian at the Council of Trent and a prolific writer; Lorenzo della Robbia (1634), who built the seminary.

The current residential bishop is Mons. Luciano Giovannetti.

[edit] Statistics

In the early 20 century the diocese had 254 parishes and 155,800 souls. Within its limits there were 12 monasteries of men, including the famous Vallombrosa, and 24 convents for women.

As of February 2006, it has a surface of 1,300 km² and a population of 136,930 [1].