Roman Catholic Diocese of Civita


The Roman Catholic Diocese of Civita was a Latin Catholic bishopric in the Gallura region of northeastern Sardinia, facing the Tyrrhenian Sea.
It was the successor to the ancient diocese of Pausania or Phausania, restored in 1070 as the Diocese of Gallura, and then in 1113 renamed the Diocese of Civita, after its episcopal seat. In 1506, the diocese of Civita was united to its neighbor, the diocese of Ampurias, with one and the same bishop presiding over two distinct dioceses. In 1839 it was renamed the Dioceses of Civita e Tempio. In 1986, the diocese of Civita was suppressed and its territory was merged into the Diocese of Tempio-Ampurias.

Ancient diocese of Fausania

No later than the sixth century, a Roman bishopric was established at a place called Pausania or Phausania, which may be Olbia, Tempio Pausania or even Posada.
While the local Saint Simplicius is traditionally called its first bishop, a historical thesis holds it may have been founded by Catholic bishop exiled by king Huneric of the Vandal Kingdom after his council of Carthage replaced them with Donatist heretic counterparts; it is suggested that the diocese of Fausania was abandoned again due to the invasion of the Ostrogoths under king Totila in 552.
In 594, Pope Gregory the Great wrote to the Metropolitan archbishop of the Cagliari, the only metropolitan on the island, exhorting him to consecrate a candidate for the diocese of Fausania, which had not had a bishop for a long time. Its first documented incumbent, Bishop Victor, and the other bishops of Sardinia were advised in a papal letter in July 599 to pay due attention to their metropolitan; the pope also wrote to Spesindeus, the Praeses Sardiniae, in October 600, recalling Victor's work to evangelize the pagan locals, and ordering him to assist the bishop. and attended a synod in Rome in 600.
The see of Fausania is still listed in the Byzantine Notitia Episcopatuum as a suffragan of Cagliari circa 1000.

Diocese of Civita

[image:Olbia San Simplicio.jpg|thumb|250px|The Basilica of San Simplicio in Olbia (former cathedral of Civita)]
The diocese of Cività, now part of the diocese of Tempio-Ampurias, was allegedly founded in 304 by St. Simplicius. Simplicius is referred to as a priest in the sources, however, not a bishop. The diocese was actually founded in the 12th century. In the late 11th century, the church of San Simplicio was begun ; its upper walls and barrel vaults are of the early 12th century, and the façade of the mid-12th century.
On 25 May 1133, Pope Innocent II placed the dioceses of Galtelli, Civitas, and Populonia under the metropolitan jurisdiction of Archbishop Hubertus of Pisa. The same grant was made to his successor, Archbishop Balduin on 22 April 1138, with the bull "Tunc Apostolicae Sedis." By the middle of the 13th century, however, the diocese was directly dependent upon the Papacy.
During the Western Schism, several bishops of Ampurias e Tempio followed the Avignon Obedience, rather than the Roman Obedience.
From 6 May 1506, the see was held in personal union with the neighboring Diocese of Ampurias.
Pope Gregory XVI suppressed the cathedral of Cività ed Ampurias in Terranova by the Bull "Quamvis aqua," signed on 26 August 1839, and raised the Collegiate Church of St. Peter, in Tempio, to cathedral status. Tempio and Ampurias were united, so that one bishop should govern both, aeque personaliter. The official title became "the bishop of Ampurias and of Tempio." The name "Civita" ceased to be used, replaced by "Tempio."
They were formally merged on 30 September 1986, and renamed the Diocese of Tempio-Ampurias. After the merger, the former cathedral at Olbia remained only a minor basilica, while the seat of the bishop is at the Cattedrale di S. Pietro Apostolo, in Tempio-Pausania.

Bishops of Civita

  • Bernardo
  • Filippone
  • Pietro
  • Petrus
  • Laurentius de Viterbio, O.P.
  • Bernardus Rubei, O.Min.
  • Tommaso Sferrato, O.Min.
  • Gerardo, O.Min.
  • Alfonso
  • Siffredo di Tommaso, O. Carm. Avignon Obedience
  • Francesco de Marginibus Avignon Obedience
  • Simone
  • Simone Margens
  • Angelo
  • Sancio, next Bishop of Roman [Catholic Diocese of Minervino|Minervino]
  • Lorenzo Scopulart, O.P.
  • Agostino di Poggibonsi, O.E.S.A.
  • Antonio de Fontanis, O.F.M.
  • Rodrigo de Sesse, O.F.M.
  • Pedro Stornell, O.P.

Bishops of Ampurias and Civita

  • Francesco Manno
  • Luis González, O.F.M.
  • Giorgio Artea
  • Luis de Casas, O.E.S.A.
  • Francisco Tomás
  • Pedro Narro, O.S.B.
  • Gaspare Vincenzo Novella
  • Miguel Rubio, Cistercian Order
  • Giovanni Sanna
  • Diego Passamar
  • Giovanni de la Bronda
  • Andrea Manca
  • Gavino Manca Figo
  • Gaspare Litago
  • Laurentius Sampero
  • Pedro de Alagó y de Cardona
  • José Sanchis i Ferrandis, O. de M.
  • Juan Bautista Sorribas, O. Carm.
  • Giuseppe Acorrà
  • Francesco Sampero
  • Michele Villa
  • Diego Serafino Posulo, O.P.
  • Angelo Galcerin, O.F.M. Conv.
  • Giovanni Leonardo Sanna
  • Vincenzo Giovanni Vico Torrellas
  • Salvator Angelo Cadello
  • Pietro Paolo Carta
  • Francesco Ignazio Guiso
  • Giovanni Antonio Arras Minutili
  • Michele Pes
  • Giuseppe Stanislao Paradisi

Bishops of Ampurias e Tempio

  • Diego Capece
  • Filippo Campus
  • Paolo Pinna
  • Antonio Maria Contini
  • Giovanni Maria Sanna, O.F.M. Conv.
  • Albino Morera
  • Carlo Re, I.M.C.
  • Mario Ghiga
  • Giovanni Melis Fois
  • Carlo Urru
  • Pietro Meloni

Lists of bishops

  • . .
  • . .
  • . .
  • pp. 834–835.
*