Roman Catholic Diocese of Mazara del Vallo
Encyclopedia
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
. It is a suffragan of the archdiocese of Palermo.
History
In the struggle of the Saracens against the Normans for the possession of SicilySicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
, Mazara was hotly contested, especially in 1075 when Roger I of Sicily
Roger I of Sicily
Roger I , called Bosso and the Great Count, was the Norman Count of Sicily from 1071 to 1101. He was the last great leader of the Norman conquest of southern Italy.-Conquest of Calabria and Sicily:...
emerged victorious. The episcopal see of Lilybaeum was then transferred to Mazzara.
Of the bishops of Lilybaeum the best known is Paschasinus, legate of Pope Leo I
Pope Leo I
Pope Leo I was pope from September 29, 440 to his death.He was an Italian aristocrat, and is the first pope of the Catholic Church to have been called "the Great". He is perhaps best known for having met Attila the Hun in 452, persuading him to turn back from his invasion of Italy...
at the Council of Chalcedon
Council of Chalcedon
The Council of Chalcedon was a church council held from 8 October to 1 November, 451 AD, at Chalcedon , on the Asian side of the Bosporus. The council marked a significant turning point in the Christological debates that led to the separation of the church of the Eastern Roman Empire in the 5th...
(451). The first bishop of Mazara was Stefano de Ferro, a relative of Count Roger (1093). The cathedral was then founded, and later embellished by Bishop Tristiano (1157).
Other bishops were
- Cardinal Bessarion (1449)
- Giovanni de Monteaperto (1470), who restored the cathedral and founded a library
- Bernardo Gasco (1579), of Toledo
- Cardinal Gian Domenico Spinola (1637)
- the Franciscan Francesco M. Graffeo (1685).
Bishops of Mazara del Vallo since 1900
- Gaetano Quattrocchi (15 Jun 1900 - 1903)
- Nicola Maria Audino (22 Jun 1903 - 21 Jun 1933)
- Salvatore Ballo Guercio (18 Sep 1933 - 8 Aug 1949 )
- Gioacchino Di Leo (5 Jul 1950 - 8 Oct 1963 )
- Giuseppe Mancuso (26 Dec 1963 - 21 Mar 1977)
- Costantino Trapani, O.F.M. (21 Mar 1977 - 1987 )
- Emanuele Catarinicchia (7 Dec 1987 - 15 Nov 2002)
- Calogero La Piana, S.D.B. (15 Nov 2002 - 18 Nov 2006)
- Domenico MogaveroDomenico MogaveroDomenico Mogavero is Bishop of Mazara del Vallo and former member of the Conferencia Episcopale Siciliana.-External links:*...
(22 Feb 2007 - )