DIOCESES OF NARNI AND TERNI

 

WELCOME!

THE UNITED DIOCESES OF NARNI AND TERNI (NARNIENSIS ET INTERAMNENSIS)

The Abbey of San Cassiano, Narni

Located in Central Italy, Narni is the ancient Nequinum of the Sabines; in 300 and 299 B.C., it was besieged by the Romans, who destroyed the city and sent there a Latin colony, changing the name to Narnia. Luitprand captured the town in 726, but Pope Zacharias [Zachary]  persuaded him to restore it to the Duchy of Rome in 742, after which it remained under pontifical rule. From 1198 to 1214, Narni was in rebellion against Innocent III, who temporarily suppressed its episcopal see. Narni venerates as its first bishop the martyr Juvenalis, who died in the second half of the fourth century; Saint Maximus, who was bishop in 425, was succeeded by Hercules and Pancratius.

Saint Gregory the Great refers to the bishop Saint Cassius, who died in 558; the same pontiff wrote a letter to the bishop Projectinus which shows that, at Narni, at that time, there were still pagans to be converted; Bishop John was succeeded by John XIII; among other bishops were: William, a Franciscan, whom Urban V  employed against the Fraticelli (1367); and Raimondo Castelli (1656), founder of the seminary.

In 1908, the sees of Narni and of Terni were united. Terni is on the river Nera, at its confluence with the Velino; the magnificent cascade of the latter is well-known through the noble description by Lord Byron in "Childe Harold". Terni is the ancient Interamna Nahars of the Umbrians, and its former splendour is witnessed to by the ruins of an amphitheatre in the garden of the episcopal palace, a theatre, and baths near the church of Saint Nicholas. 

The cathedral, and other churches, are built on the sites of pagan temples. After the Lombard invasion, Terni belonged to the Duchy of Spoleto, and with the latter, came into the Pontifical States; it was at this town that Pope Zacharias entered into the agreement with King Luitprand for the restitution of the cities of Bieda, Orte, Bomarzo, and Amelia to the Duchy of Rome. It is believed that the gospel was preached at Terni by Saint Peregrinus, about the middle of the second century. The townsmen have great veneration for Saint Valentinus [Valentine], whose basilica is outside the city, and was, probably, the meeting-place of the first Christians of Terni. There were other martyrs from this city among them, Saints Proculus, Ephebus, Apollonius, and the holy virgin Agape. In the time of Totila, the Bishop of Terni, Saint Proculus, was killed at Bologna, and Saint Domnina and ten nuns, her companions, were put to death at Terni itself. After the eighth century Terni was without a bishop until 1217, in which year the diocese was re-established. Among its bishops since that time, were Ludovico Mazzanco III (1406), who governed the diocese for fifty-two years; Cosmas Manucci (1625), who gave the high altar to the cathedral, and Francesco Rapaccioli (1646), a cardinal who restored the cathedral. The united sees are immediately dependent upon Rome; they have 57 parishes, with 66,600 inhabitants, 3 religious houses of men, and 11 of women.

Source: Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913

%%%