Roman Catholic Diocese of Pistoia
Encyclopedia
The Italian Catholic diocese of Pistoia is located in the Province of Florence
Province of Florence
The Province of Florence is a province in the Tuscany region of Italy. It has an area of 3,514 sq. km and a population of 933,860 in 44 comuni....

. It has existed since the third century. From 1653 to 1954, the historic diocese was the diocese of Pistoia and Prato. The diocese of Prato has been separate from 1954.

The diocese is a suffragan of the archdiocese of Florence.

History

The name of Pistoia
Pistoia
Pistoia is a city and comune in the Tuscany region of Italy, the capital of a province of the same name, located about 30 km west and north of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno.-History:...

 appears for the first time in history in connexion with the conspiracy of Catiline
Catiline
Lucius Sergius Catilina , known in English as Catiline, was a Roman politician of the 1st century BC who is best known for the Catiline conspiracy, an attempt to overthrow the Roman Republic, and in particular the power of the aristocratic Senate.-Family background:Catiline was born in 108 BC to...

 (62 BC), but it was only after the sixth century that it became important; it was governed, first, by its bishops, later by stewards of the Marquis of Tuscany. It was the first to establish its independence, after the death of Countess Matilda, and its municipal statutes were the most ancient of their kind in Italy.

In 1653, Prato
Prato
Prato is a city and comune in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato. The city is situated at the foot of Monte Retaia , the last peak in the Calvana chain. The lowest altitude in the comune is 32 m, near the Cascine di Tavola, and the highest is the peak of Monte Cantagrillo...

 was made a diocese, and united, œque principaliter, with Pistoia; as early as 1409, Florence asked for the creation of a diocese at Prato, on account of the dissensions of the collegiate church of Prato with the Bishops of Pistoia; and in 1460, it had been made a prelatura nullius, and given, as a rule, to some cardinal, in commendam.

Bishops

Pistoia claims to have received the Gospel from St. Romulus
Romulus of Fiesole
Saint Romulus of Fiesole is venerated as the patron saint of Fiesole, Italy. Romulus was probably a local deacon, priest, or bishop of the 1st century....

, the first Bishop of Fiesole. The first mention of a Bishop of Pistoia is in 492, though the name of this prelate, like that of another Bishop of Pistoia, referred to in 516, is unknown.

The first historically known bishop is Joannes (700). Others were:
  • Leo (1067), important in the schism of Emperor Henry IV;
  • Jacobus (1118-41);
  • Atto
    Atto of Pistoia
    Atto of Pistoia was a Spanish-born 12th-century prelate and historiographer in Italy.He was born at Badajoz in the Spanish region of Estremadura in 1070. He became Abbot of Vallombrosa in 1105, and in 1135 was made Bishop of Pistoia, also in Tuscany. He wrote lives of St. John Gualbert and St....

     (1135-53);
  • Bonus (1189), author of De cohabitatione clericorum et mulierum;
  • Giovanni Vivenzi (1370);
  • Matteo Diamanti (1400);
  • Donato de' Medici (1436)
  • Nicolò Pandolfini (1475), who later became a cardinal;
  • Cardinal Lorenzo Pucci
    Lorenzo Pucci
    Lorenzo Pucci was an Italian cardinal and bishop from the Florentine Pucci family. His brother Roberto Pucci and his nephew Antonio Pucci also became cardinals.-Biography:Pucci was born in Florence....

     (1516);
  • Cardinal Antonio Pucci
    Antonio Pucci (cardinal)
    Antonio Pucci was a Cardinal of the Catholic Church.Antonio Pucci emanated from the Florentine noble family of Pucci. He was a nephew of Cardinals Roberto Pucci and Lorenzo Pucci....

     (1519);
  • Roberto Pucci
    Roberto Pucci
    Roberto Pucci was an Italian cardinal from the Florentine noble family of the Pucci.-Life:One of the Medici's keenest supporters, he nevertheless advised Pope Clement VII against starting the siege of Florence in 1529...

     (1541);
  • Alessandro de' Medici (1573), who became Pope Leo XI.
  • Gerardo Gerardi (1679-90), under whom Prato founded its seminary;
  • Leone Strozza (1690), Abbot of Vallombrosa, who founded the seminary of Pistoia;
  • Michele C. Visdomini (1702);
  • Scipione de' Ricci
    Scipione de' Ricci
    Scipione de' Ricci was an Italian Catholic prelate, who was bishop of Pistoia from 1780 to 1791. He was sympathetic to Jansenist ideas in theology....

     (1780), famous on account of the Synod of Pistoia
    Synod of Pistoia
    The Synod of Pistoia was a diocesan synod held in 1786 under the presidency of Scipione de' Ricci , bishop of Pistoia, and the patronage of Leopold, grand-duke of Tuscany, with a view to preparing the ground for a national council and a reform of the Tuscan Church.-Circular letter:On January 26 the...

     which he convened in 1786, and which Pope Pius VI
    Pope Pius VI
    Pope Pius VI , born Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi, was Pope from 1775 to 1799.-Early years:Braschi was born in Cesena...

     afterwards condemned.
  • Simone Scatizzi
    Simone Scatizzi
    Simone Scatizzi was the Roman Catholic bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pistoia, Italy.Ordained in 1954, Scatizzi was appointed bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fiesole, Italy and then in 1981, Bishop of the Pistola Diocese retiring in 2006.-Notes:...

    (1981-2006)
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