Diocese of Ales-Terralba

The Diocese of Ales-Terralba is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church located in west-central Sardinia. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Oristano. Ales lies at a distance of 31 km from Oristano in a direct line.

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History

It is claimed that Pope Gregory I alludes to the episcopal see of Ales, in his letter to Januarius of Cagliari in 591. This assertion is now rejected.
After this there is no reference to a diocese of Ales until 1147, when the name of Bishop Maurellu appears in a diploma. The manuscript actually reads: Pelius Episcopus Dusselieanas.
When the seat of the bishop was still in Usellus, the church of SS Giusta, Giustina and Enedina When the seat moved to Ales, eight km to the southwest, the church of S. Pietro became the cathedral. The cathedral was served and administered by a corporation called the Chapter, consisting of a Dean and eighteen Canons.
The climate of Ales and Usellus was so inhospitable that the bishops would spend the summer and autumn in Cagliari.
The diocese of Terralba has no memory of bishops before the 12th century. The local traditions of Terralba record a Bishop Mariano, who erected the cathedral about 1144. The diocese occurs in the Liber Censuum of the late 12th century.

Union of dioceses

In the second half of the 15th century, several dioceses on the island of Sardinia were in difficulties due to financial shortages, as well as the movements of peoples. After extensive consultations had taken place between King Ferdinand of Aragon and Sardinia, Isabella I of Castile, and Pope Alexander VI, and after discussions with members of the College of Cardinals and other interested parties, plans were advanced to consolidate the troubled dioceses. Alexander VI died, however, before the decisions were announced or implemented. After additional consultations, Pope Julius II, on 8 December 1503, in the bull "Aequum Reputamus," united the diocese of Ales and Terralba.
Pope Clement VII granted the Emperor Charles V the privilege of nominating candiddates to vacant archbishoprics, bishoprics and cardinalatial monasteries in the kingdom of Sardinia in 1533. The grant was for the emperor's lifetime. Pope Sixtus V renewed the grant to Charles' son, King Philip II of Spain in 1586. Pope Paul V granted it to King Philip III of Spain and his successors in 1609.
Bishop Francesco Masones y Nin conducted a diocesan synod in 1696.

Populations

The population of Ales in 1692 was around 1,000 persons. In 1761, it was reckoned at around 2,000. In 1820, the village of Ales had a population of 749, and the village of Terralba a population of 3,040. In 1920, there were reported to be 59,530 Catholics in the entire diocese, organized into 42 parishes. In 2017, the inhabitants of Ales were numbered at 1,410 by the National Institute of Statistics; the comune of Terralba had a population of 10,201.

Contemporary arrangement

The Bishop of Ales-Terralba, Roberto Carboni, O.F.M. Conv., was promoted on 4 May 2019 to be Archbishop of Oristano and on the same date was appointed Apostolic Administrator of his former diocese of Ales-Terralba. However, on 3 July 2021, without losing his position as Archbishop of Oristano, he was reappointed Bishop of Ales-Terralba. The announcement specifies that this act unifies the two dioceses in persona Episcopi.

Bishops

Diocese of Ales

: Maurellu
: Comita Pais
: Joannes Marras
: Robertus Drago, O.P.
: Joannes
: Joannes de Vieri
: Jacobus
: Christophorus, Roman Obedience
: Gometius, Roman Obedience
: Antonius, Roman Obedience
: Jacobus, Roman Obedience
: Petrus, Avignon Obedience
: Petrus Spinola, O.S.B., Pisan Obedience
: Bernardus Rubei, O.F.M.
: Joannes de Campo, O.Carm.
: Jacobus de Villanova, O.F.M.
: Joannes Garsiae, O.P.
: Bernardus Michaelis, O.P.
: Antonius de Bich
: Joannes de la Bona
: Pedro Garcia
: Juan Crespo, O.S.A.

Diocese of Terralba

: Marianus
: Ildebrandinus
Marianus Zorrachi
: Torgodorius de Muro
: Guantinus de Scuro
: Furatus
: Oddo Sala, O.P.
: Robertus Vacca, O.Min.
: Martinus, O.E.S.A.
: Joannes Rubei, O.Carm.
: Guglielmo d'Aragona
: Joannes
: Pietro Ferrari, O.F.M., Avignon Obedience
: Guglielmo, Avignon Obedience
: Matteo Serra, O.P.
: Dominicus Joannis, O.P.
: Jacobus Fortesa
: Joannes de Aranda, O.E.S.A.
: Joannes Pellis
: Joannes Orient, O.F.M.

Diocese of Ales e Terralba

From 1507 to 1704

: Joannes Sanna
: Andrea Sanna
: Gerardus de Doni
: Pedro del Frago Garcés
: Miguel Maigues, O.S.A.
: Pedro Clement, O. Carm.
: Antonio Surredu
: Lorenzo Nieto y Corrales Montero Nieto, O.S.B.
: Diego de Borja, O.F.M.Observ.
: Gavino Manconi
: Melchiorre Pirella
: Antonio Manunta
: Giovanni Battista Brunengo
: Serafino Esquirro
: Domenico Cugia
: Francesco Masones y Nin

From 1704 to present

: Isidoro Masones y Nin
: Salvatore Ruyu
: Giovanni Battista Sanna
: Antonio Giuseppe Carcassona
: Giuseppe Maria Pilo, O. Carm.
: Michele Antonio Aymerich de Villamar
: Giuseppe Stanislao Paradiso
: Antonio Raimondo Tore
: Pietro Vargiù
: Francesco Zunnui Casula
:Palmerio Garau
: Francesco Emanuelli
: Antonio Tedde
: Giovanni Paolo Gibertini, O.S.B.
: Antonino Orrù
: Giovanni Dettori
: Roberto Carboni, O.F.M. Conv.

Studies

Buonaiutti, Ernesto. "Ales and Terralba, Diocese of," in: . NY: The Universal Knowledge Foundation. 1907. P. 283. Supplement I, p. 26.
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Cossu, Pietro Maria. Fasti e fasi della Diocesi di Usellus: note storico-critiche. Oristano: Scuola Tipografica Arborea 1945.
Ibba, Roberto. in: Rivista di storia dell' agricoltura, vol. 51, pp. 45–100
Kehr, Paul Fridolin. Italia Pontificia, Vol. X: Calabria – Insulae. pp. 457–458.
Martini, Pietro. . Volume 3 Cagliari: Stamperia Reale, 1841..
Mattei, Antonio Felice. Sardinia sacra seu De episcopis Sardis historia nunc primò confecta a F. Antonio Felice Matthaejo.. Romae: ex typographia Joannis Zempel apud Montem Jordanum, 1758. .