Diocese of Sarsina

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The Italian Catholic diocese of Sarsina was a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, with see in Sarsina, in the province of Forli, which existed until 1986. In that year it was united into the diocese of Cesena.^[1]

[edit] History

In the tenth century the bishops obtained the temporal sovereignty of the city of Sarsina and the surrounding district. From 1327 till 1400 it was disputed by the Ordelaffi of Forli, the popes, and the bishops.

The patron of the city is St. Vicinus, believed to have been bishop about the year 300; another bishop was St. Rufinus (fifth century).

Others were:

Benno (770), who erected the cathedral;
St. Apollinaris (1158), monk;
Guido (1255), who defended the rights of his church and was killed for so doing;
Francesco Calboli (1327), had to defend the city by force of arms against Francesco Ordelaffi;
Benedetto Mateucci Accorselli (1385), the last prince bishop;
Gianfilippo Negusanti (1398);
Raffaele degli Alessi (1524), a reformer;
Nicolo Branzi (1602) was imprisoned in the Castle of S. Angelo but liberated later.

In 1807 Napoleon suppressed the see, which, having been re-established in 1817, was in 1824 united to the diocese of Bertinoro; but in 1853 it was again re-established. The diocese was suffragan of the archdiocese of Ravenna.