Church history of Sicily
The ecclesiastical history of Sicily is initially a history of the Roman Empire, initially with its assignment to Rome, from the 8th century to Constantinople, and from the 11th century a history of the Roman Catholic Church . Even today, more than 97% of the population of Sicily belong to the Roman Catholic Church in Sicily . Other Christian denominations are also represented in Sicily, such as B. the Lutherans , the Waldensians and the Anglicans .
Antiquity
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Little is known about the original Christianization of Sicily. There are few traces of Christian burials in the period before AD 200. Some of Sicily's dioceses date back to the 1st century. According to legend, the apostle Paul is said to have landed in Syracuse on his journey to Rome and preached there. A bishop named Marcianus, sent by the apostle Peter , is said to have worked there as early as 39/40 . Peter is also said to have sent Berillus as the first bishop to Catania in 42 AD . However, there are no written confirmations of such oral reports.
Christianity in Sicily only becomes historically comprehensible through the acts of martyrdom of the 3rd and early 4th centuries. One of these martyrs was St. Marcianus , the first bishop of Syracuse known by name (not to be confused with the legendary bishop of the same name from the 1st century). Of these martyrs, Saint Lucia of Syracuse and Saint Agatha of Catania , who are named in the first prayer (the Roman canon) of the Holy Mass , and Saint Vitus (Vitus), who was among the fourteen, are particularly well known in the German-speaking world Emergency relief counts.
The catacombs are also evidence of the widespread spread of Christianity in Sicily in antiquity . B. in Syracuse, Palermo and Agrigento, of which only the catacomb of St. Lucia in Syracuse dates back to the time of the persecution of Christians .
middle Ages
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At the beginning of Byzantine domination (from 536) the patrimony of the Roman church was still very extensive, not until Emperor Leo III. In 733/34 the Church of Sicily was assigned to Constantinople. The lists of bishops of the councils of this time provide valuable information on the organization of the Church in Sicily. For example, the existence of a diocese in Cefalù is only mentioned in writing in the list of participants in the Fourth Council of Constantinople (869-870). The Archdiocese of Syracuse was the only Archdiocese in Sicily at that time .
Under the Arab domination (from 827) almost the entire organizational structure of the Church in Sicily fell apart. Archbishop Theodor of Syracuse was deported to Palermo in 878. After the conquest by the Normans (from 1061) there was only a Greek archbishop in Palermo. However, since there is no evidence for the existence of an archbishopric in Palermo, some historians suspect that it is a successor to the deported Archbishop of Syracuse. He was reinstated by Roger I in the Cathedral of Palermo , which had since been converted into a mosque. From 1083 the successors of this archbishop were Latins.
The Norman rulers of Sicily supported the Greek Christians and promoted Byzantine monasteries in order to maintain a certain independence from the Pope. However, Roger I also founded Latin bishoprics and received the apostolic legation from Pope Urban II in 1098 , d. H. the authority to appoint bishops. The gradual Latinization of the Church of Sicily, initiated under the Norman rulers , was almost complete under the Staufers . Former Byzantine dioceses such as B. Agrigento , Syracuse , Catania , Messina , Cefalù and Lipari (as the Diocese of Lipari-Patti ) re-established as Latin dioceses, some completely new dioceses were created such. B. Mazara del Vallo and Monreale . In 1399 the diocese of Lipari-Patti was divided into the dioceses of Lipari and Patti .
Malta has been part of the dioceses of Sicily since Byzantine times. From 1156 to 1831 it was a suffragan of Palermo.
Modern times
In the 19th century, the diocese borders were reorganized in two stages (1816/17 and 1844). The existing, often very large, dioceses were reduced in size and new dioceses were established on their former territory. Thus in 1816/17 the dioceses of Caltagirone, Piazza Armerina and Nicosia were created, and in 1844 the dioceses of Acireale, Caltanissetta, Noto and Trapani.
Two more dioceses were added in the 20th century. In the 15./16. In the 19th century, Christians of the Byzantine rite came to Sicily with the Arbëresh . However, they were not Orthodox , but belonged to the Roman Catholic Church , and their parishes were assigned to the Latin dioceses. In 1937, with the Eparchy Piana degli Albanesi, a separate diocese of the Byzantine rite was established for these Catholics .
The diocese of Ragusa was founded in 1950 as the last diocese in Sicily . In 1986 the Archdiocese of Messina, the Diocese of Lipari and the prelature of Santa Lucia del Mela, founded in 1206, were merged to form the Archdiocese of Messina-Lipari-Santa Lucia del Mela .
A profound restructuring of the Catholic Church in Sicily, through which it received its current structure, took place on December 2nd, 2000 by Pope John Paul II , who with the Apostolic Constitution Ad maiori consulendum the Archdiocese of Catania to the rank of metropolitan diocese with the suffragan dioceses Acireale and Caltagirone rose. At the same time, the ecclesiastical province of Monreale was dissolved and the Archdiocese of Monreale was assigned to the Archdiocese of Palermo as a suffragan , but without losing its status as an Archdiocese. The former suffragan dioceses of the church province Monreale were assigned to other church provinces. The dioceses of Mazara del Vallo and Trapani were assigned to the ecclesiastical province of Palermo. The former suffragan diocese of Agrigento became the Archdiocese of Agrigento and at the same time became the metropolitan seat of the newly founded ecclesiastical province of Agrigento . The dioceses of Caltanissetta and Piazza Armerina were also assigned to this ecclesiastical province.
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- Websites of the individual dioceses (available at http://www.chiesacattolica.it/cci_new/diocesi/sicilia.html )
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ Marcianus, p . In: Johann E. Stadler , Franz Joseph Heim, Johann N. Ginal (Eds.): Complete Lexicon of Saints ... , Volume 4 (M – P), B. Schmid'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung (A. Manz), Augsburg 1875, p. 104 .