Diocese of Mazara del Vallo
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Italian Catholic diocese of Mazara del Vallo is in Sicily. It is a suffragan of the archdiocese of Palermo.[1]
[edit] History
In the struggle of the Saracens against the Normans for the possession of Sicily, Mazara was hotly contested, especially in 1075 when Roger I of Sicily emerged victorious. The episcopal see of Lilybaeum was then transferred to Mazzara.
Of the bishops of Lilybaeum the best known is Paschasinus, legate of Pope Leo I at the Council of Chalcedon (451). The first bishop of Mazara was Stefano de Ferro, a relative of Count Roger (1093). The cathedral was then founded, and later embellished by Bishop Tristiano (1157).
Other bishops were
- Cardinal Bessarion (1449)
- Giovanni de Monteaperto (1470), who restored the cathedral and founded a library
- Bernardo Gasco (1579), of Toledo
- Cardinal Gian Domenico Spinola (1637)
- the Franciscan Francesco M. Graffeo (1685).[2]
[edit] Notes
This article incorporates text from the public-domain Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913.
