Diocese of Ruvo

The diocese of Ruvo was a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Apulia, southern Italy, which existed until 1986, when it was united into the diocese of Molfetta-Ruvo-Giovinazzo-Terlizzi. From 1818 to 1982, it was united with the diocese of Bitonto, as the diocese of Ruvo and Bitonto.^[1]

History

Ruvo di Puglia has a late Apulian Romanesque cathedral dating to the 11th-12th centuries. Outside of the city are the ruins of a more ancient cathedral, possibly of the late fourth or early fifth century.

According to legend St. Peter appointed to the see as its first bishop Cletus, later pope. We read also of a St. Procopius, Bishop of Ruvo, of unknown date; Bishop Joannes, spoken of in 493, is the first prelate of the city known with certainty.

Others were:

• Bishop Anderano (about 734) belonged either to Bitonto or the diocese of Bisignano;
• Arnolfo (1087) was the first undoubted Bishop of Bitonto;
• Enrico Minutoli (1382), later cardinal
• Cornelio Musso (1544), a Conventual
• Fabrizio Carafa (1622), founder of a literary academy;
• Alessandro Crescenti (1652), later cardinal.

In 1818 the Diocese of Ruvo, which comprised only the commune of Ruvo, was united æque principaliter to the See of Bitonto, which included only the commune of Bitonto.^[2]

Notes

1. ^ Catholic Hierarchy page
2. ^ Catholic Encyclopedia article

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.