The Diocese of Altamura-Gravina-Acquaviva delle Fonti (
Latin: Dioecesis Altamurensis-Gravinensis-Aquavievensis) is a
Latin Church diocese of the
Catholic Church in
Apulia, southern Italy, 40 km (25 miles) south-west of the coastal city of Bari. In 1986. the territorial prelature of Altamura e Acquaviva delle Fonti was united with the
diocese of Gravina. The present diocese is a
suffragan of the
archdiocese of Bari-Bitonto.[1][2]
The Chapter of the major church of the territorial prelature of Altamura was composed of four dignities (the Archdeacon, the Cantor, the Primicerius, and the Treasurer) and twenty-four Canons, who had the right to use the cappa magna and rochet.[5]
Following the
Second Vatican Council, and in accordance with the norms laid out in the council's decree, Christus Dominus chapter 40,[7] It also recommended the abolition of anomalous units such as exempt territorial prelatures.
Pope Paul VI ordered a reorganization of the ecclesiastical provinces in southern Italy, beginning with consultations among the members of the Congregation of Bishops in the Vatican Curia, the Italian Bishops Conference, and the various dioceses concerned.
On 18 February 1984, the Vatican and the Italian State signed a
new and revised concordat. Based on the revisions, a set of Normae was issued on 15 November 1984, which was accompanied in the next year, on 3 June 1985, by enabling legislation. According to the agreement, the practice of having one bishop govern two separate dioceses at the same time, aeque personaliter, was abolished. The Vatican continued consultations which had begun under
Pope John XXIII for the merging of small dioceses, especially those with personnel and financial problems, into one combined diocese.
On 30 September 1986,
Pope John Paul II ordered that the diocese of Gravina be merged with the territorial prelatures of Altamura and of Aquaviva into one diocese with one bishop, with the Latin title Dioecesis Altamurensis-Gravinensis-Aquavivensis. The seat of the diocese was to be in Altamura, where the prelatial church was to serve as the cathedral of the merged diocese. The cathedral in Gravina and the prelatial seat in Aquaviva were to have the honorary titles of "co-cathedral"; the Chapters were each to be a Capitulum Concathedralis. There was to be only one diocesan Tribunal, in Altamura, and likewise one seminary, one College of Consultors, and one Priests' Council. The territory of the new diocese was to include the territory of the suppressed diocese and territorial prelatures. To make the territories of the new diocese congruent, the town of San Teramo in Colle was detached from the archdiocese of Bari-Bitonto and added to that of Altamura. The new diocese was made a suffragan of the archdiocese of Bari-Bitonto.[8]
^D'Avino, p. 748, note 1: "Eandem Ecclesiam liberam et exemptam ab omni jurisdictione episcopatus vel archiepiscopatus cujuslibet; ita quod nulli Episcopo vel Archiepiscopo sit subdita praeter Sanctae Romanae Ecclesiae quae caput est omnium Ecclesiarum, et nobis qui eamdem Ecclesiam in honorem B. V. edificari fecimus liberam et immunem .... collatione praedicti archipresbiteratus nobis et successoribus nostri perpetuo reservata."
^Collezione degli atti emanati dopo la pubblicazione del Concordato dell'anno 1818, Vol. 12 (Napoli: Stamperia dell'Iride, 1852), pp. 48-74, at p. 59: "Quocirca Altamurensem et Aquavivensem respective Ecclesias antedictas Apostolica Auctoritate prasedicta ita in perpetuum ac aeque principaliter unimus, ut ab unico utriusque insimul Ecclesiae Archipresbytero obtineantur...."
"Catholic Encyclopedia article".
Archived from the original on 2008-05-04. Retrieved 2008-02-01.
^Christus Dominus 40. Therefore, in order to accomplish these aims this sacred synod decrees as follows: 1) The boundaries of ecclesiastical provinces are to be submitted to an early review and the rights and privileges of metropolitans are to be defined by new and suitable norms. 2) As a general rule all dioceses and other territorial divisions that are by law equivalent to dioceses should be attached to an ecclesiastical province. Therefore dioceses which are now directly subject to the Apostolic See and which are not united to any other are either to be brought together to form a new ecclesiastical province, if that be possible, or else attached to that province which is nearer or more convenient. They are to be made subject to the metropolitan jurisdiction of the bishop, in keeping with the norms of the common law. 3) Wherever advantageous, ecclesiastical provinces should be grouped into ecclesiastical regions for the structure of which juridical provision is to be made.
^Acta Apostolicae Sedis 79 (Città del Vaticano 1987), pp. 716-718.
^Michele Santoro, in: Giaconella, p. 122: "Dal sudetto Federico fù costituito il primo Rettore, ed Arciprete nella persona di Riccardo da Brundesio, da dove principiò la Chiesa ad avere l’Arciprete nominato dal Re, merce una bolla di Innocenzio VIII.
^In 1656, Olivares was named Prior of San Nicola in Bari.
^On 9 June 1664, Cavalliere was named bishop of Monopoli.
^On 2 March 1722, Orsi was named archbishop of Otranto.
^On 25 June 1727, Poloù was named archbishop of Reggio Calabria.
^Rinaldi was a native of Terra di Fellino, Provincia d’Otranto. Giaconalla, p. 133.
^Cusano was born in the village of Trasco (diocese of S. Agatha Gothorum in 1690. He became a priest in 1713. From 1735 to 1747, he was professor of civil law at the University of Naples. He was nominated bishop of Otranto by King of Naples on 11 December 1752, and confirmed by
Pope Benedict XIV on 12 March. He was consecrated a bishop in Rome on 18 March 1753. He was transferred to the archdiocese of Palermo on 11 February 1754. Ritzler & Sefrin Hierarchia catholica VI, p. 238 with note 2.
^On 26 June 1818, De Gemmis was named bishop of Melfi e Rapolla.
^On 23 June 1828, Guarini was named bishop of Venosa.
^Canon Falcone had been Vicar General of Molfetta before being named Archpriest of Acquaviva on 1 June 1842 by King Ferdinand II of Naples. Michele Garruba (1844).
Serie critica de sacri pastori Baresi, corr. accresciuta ed ill (in Italian). Bari: Cannone. pp. 711–712.
Archived from the original on 2017-03-27. Retrieved 2017-03-26. To this was added the office of Archpriest of Altamura on 16 October 1858:
Almanacco reale del regno delle Due Sicilie (in Italian). Napoli: Stamperia Reale. 1854. p. 176.
Archived from the original on 2017-03-27. Retrieved 2017-03-26. On 10 July 1858 Falcone was named titular Bishop of Eumeneia:
La civiltà cattolica: pubblicazione periodica per tutta l'Italia. Terza serie (in Italian). Vol. 11. Roma: Uffizio della civilta cattolica. 1858. p. 229.
Archived from the original on 2017-03-27. Retrieved 2017-03-26. Serena, p. 334.
^In May 1881 Pellegrini was appointed titular Bishop of Troas (Turkey). Serena, p. 334.
^Cirelli was appointed titular Bishop of Proconessos on 22 June 1899. He died on 26 February 1902. Serena, p. 334.
Giaconella, Francesco (2020), "L’inedita cronaca di Altamura di Michele Santoro," Altamura: Rivista storica no. 61 (Altamura: Archivio-Biblioteca-Museo Civico, Altamura 2020), pp. 115–138, at p. 123.