Diocese of Patti


The Diocese of Patti is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church located on the north shore of the island of Sicily. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Messina-Lipari-Santa Lucia del Mela.
Its patron saint is Bartholomew the Apostle, in whose honor the cathedral is named.
WWW Official Site𝕏 diocesi_pattiFB diocesipatti

Geography

The diocese includes the city of Patti and 41 other communes of the civil province of Messina. The natural borders of the diocese are the Tyrrhenian Belt which goes from Oliveri to Tusa, for a length of about 102 kilometres, and the Nebrodi mountain range.

History

Diocese of Tyndaris

The diocese of Patti had an ancient precursor, the diocese of Tyndaris, now a small hamlet on the Tyrrhenian Sea 7 km east of Patti. Four of its bishops are known by name:
  • Severinus
  • Eutychius
  • Benenatus
  • Theodorus.
The Emperor Leo III the Isaurian removed the dioceses of Sicily, including Tyndaris, from Roman control and made them suffragans of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople, and immediately subject to the metropolitan of Syracuse. In the mid-9th century, Basil of Ialimbana revised the geography of George of Cyprus with the addition of a Notitia episcopuum, in which the diocese appears as a suffragan of Syracuse.

Patti

The importance of Patti grew, however, when Duke Robert Guiscard and Count Roger I founded on the island of Lipari Patti a Benedictine abbey, dedicated to Saint Bartholomew, in c. 1085; the abbey was joined to the Abbey of S. Salvatore when it was founded in 1094.
On 14 September 1131 Anacletus II, the pope from the double election of 1130 who was recognized in Rome and in the Kingdom of Sicily, made the monastery of S. Bartholomew in Patti an episcopal see, and at the same time made the Abbey of Lipari an episcopal seat, uniting them in the person of one bishop, who would be suffragan of and consecrated by the Archbishop of Messana. The new See was endowed by King Roger II of Sicily, making it richer than the long established See of Syracuse. Pope Eugenius III in 1157 confirmed the action of Anacletus II.
Pope Lucius III, in 1183 and again in 1184, confirmed the subordination of the dioceses of Cefalù and Patti to the archbishopric of Messina.
In 1206, it lost territory to establish the territorial prelature of Santa Lucia del Mela.
In October 1229, the Emperor Frederick II, on the petition of Bishop Paganus of Patti, confirmed all the possessions and privileges of the diocese.

Chapter and cathedral

The Cathedral of S. Bartolommeo in Patti was originally served by Benedictine monks, down to 1649, who came to form the cathedral Chapter. It originally consisted of five dignities and eight canons. In 1604, Bishop Bonaventura Secusio, in the belief that the number of canons was too small for the dignity of his cathedral, added two more canons. The cathedral Chapter was secularized in 1649, by a decree of Pope Innocent X. Later, in 1693, it had a Chapter consisting of five dignities and nine canons; in 1753, the number of canons had grown to eighteen.
Frederick III of Sicily devastated Patti because the town was a supporter of his Angevin rivals, Robert and Philip of Naples. The French Pope John XXII, who supported the Angevins, laid all of Sicily under an interdict, which lasted from 1321 to 1335, causing severe problems between the Sicilian episcopate and the monarchy.
On 18 April 1399, Lipari and Patti were separated, and the first bishop of the separate see of Patti was Francesco Hermemir. His predecessor, Francesco Gaptulus, continued as Bishop of Lipari.
The diocese was small, having only five communities in it besides the capital. In 1416, the city of Patti is recorded as having a population of 2682. The entire diocese had 8,986 inhabitants.

Synods

In 1536, Bishop Arnaldo Albertini held a diocesan synod. Bishop Bartolomé Sebastián de Aroitia held a diocesan synod on 26 January 1567. On 27–28 August 1584, Bishop Gilberto Isfar y Corillas presided over a diocesan synod in the cathedral of Saint Bartholomew in Patti. Bishop Matteo Fazio, O.P. held a diocesan synod on 30 November–2 December 1687, and published the constitutions.

Seminary

Following the conclusion of the Council of Trent in 1563, King Philip II of Spain, who was also king of Sicily, ordered the implementation of its decrees, in particular for the establishment of seminaries. He ordered his royal Visitor, Francisco Puteo, to carry out his order, which the Visitor conveyed to the Church of Patti. The bishop obeyed the mandates, and began the erection. On 15 March 1588, the king assigned the revenues of the feud of Rocca and of Valdina to the seminary. Grdually the seminary received additions from various donors, to the sum of 144 ounces.
At the Visitation of 1742, it was recorded that the seminary Rector was a Dominican, and that there were eleven clerical seminarians from the diocese and eight from outside the diocese. In addition to the liberal arts, the curriculum included civil law and canon law, liturgy, singing, ecclesistical history, and "computi ecclesistici."
On 20 May 1844 the diocese exchanged territory with the bishopric of Cefalù.
The diocese had in the early 20th century 49 parishes, 20,000 inhabitants, 5 religious houses of men, and 15 of sisters, conducting 4 institutes for girls and several schools.
Pope John Paul II visited the diocese in June 1988.
The church of the Santuario Maria Santissima di Tindari was granted the rank and privileges of a "minor basilica" in 2018 by Pope Francis.

Bishops

Diocese of Patti

Erected: 12th century
  • Gilibertus
  • Stephanus
  • Anselmus
  • Jacobus
  • Paganus
  • Philippus
  • Bartholomaeus de Lentino, O.P.
  • Pandulfus
  • Joannes, O.P.
  • Vincentius, O.Min.
  • Petrus de Teutonico, O.Min.
  • Petrus de Thomas, O.Carm.
  • Joannes Graphei, O.Min.
  • Ubertinus de Coriliono, O.Min.
  • Franciscus, O.P.
  • Ubertinus de Coriliono, O.Min.
  • Franciscus Gaptulus
;;Separation of Patti and Lipari – 1399

from 1500 to 1800

Since 1800

  • Silvestro Todaro, O.F.M. Conv.
  • Nicolò Gatto
  • Giuseppe Saitta
  • Martino Ursino
  • Michelangelo Celesia, O.S.B.
  • Ignazio Carlo Vittore Papardo del Parco, C.R.
  • Giuseppe Maria Maragioglio, O.F.M. Cap.
  • Giovanni Previtera
  • Francesco Maria Traina
  • Ferdinando Fiandaca
  • Antonio Mantiero
  • Angelo Ficarra
  • Giuseppe Pullano
  • Carmelo Ferraro
  • Ignazio Zambito
  • Giglielmo Giombanco

Studies

  • De Ciocchis, Giovanni Angelo. Palermo: Ex typographia Diarii literarii, 1836.
  • Giardina, Noccolo. Patti e la cronacs del suo vescovato.. Siena 1888.
  • Girgensohn, D. & N. Kamp, "Urkunden und Inquisitionen des 12. und 13. Jahrhunderts aus Patti," in: Quellen und Forschungen 45, pp. 1-240.
  • Kehr, Paul Fridolin, et al.. Italia Pontificia, Vol. X: Calabria – Insulae, pp. 355-361.
  • Rodriquez, Carlo "Breve cenno storico sulla Chiesa Liparese,"
  • Savagnone, F. Guglielmo. "Concili e sinodi di Sicilia,", in: Atti della reale Accademia di scienze, lettere e belle arti di Palermo terza serie, Vol. 9. Palermo: Impresa generale d'Affissione e Publicità, 1912. .
  • Sciacca, Giovanni Crisostomo. . . Palermo: "Boccone del Povero, 1907.
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