Diocese of Aleria

The Diocese of Aleria (Latin Dioecesis Aleriensis) was a Roman Catholic residential diocese of the Latin rite, a suffragan of the metropolitan archdiocese of Pisa from at least the eleventh century until 1801.^[1][2] It has been a titular diocese since 2004. The seat was at Aléria on the east coast of Corsica.

There is some evidence that Corsica was being converted to Christianity in the late 6th century. Pope Gregory the great wrote in 597 to Bishop Peter of Alaria to recover lapsed converts and to convert more pagans from the worship of trees and stones. He sent him money for baptismal robes.^[3] In 601, however, Aleria was without a bishop.

On 29 November 1801, in accordance with the Napoleontic Concordat of 1801, it was suppressed as the territory of the diocese of Ajaccio was extended to the whole of Corsica. At the end of the Ancien Régime, the bishop no longer lived in Aléria, but in Cervione.

Today, Aleria is no longer a residential bishopric, but was restored as a titular see in April 2004.^[4] It has had only one incumbent to date, of the lowest (episcopal) rank.

Residential bishops

• Landolf (1093 – 1098)^[2]
• Hiéronyme (1122 – ?)^[2]
• Marco de Volaterres (1139 – ?)^[2]
• Blaise (1172 – ?)^[2]
• Flavius (1179 – ?)^[2]
• Antoine (1190 – ?)^[2]
• Clément (1217 – ?)^[2]
• Nicolas (1228 – ?)^[2]
• Lombardo Cuneo (1239 – ?)^[2]
• Orlandu Cortincu della Petrallarretta (1249 – ?)^[2]
• Landolf (1257 – ?)^[2]
• Lombard (1258 – ?)^[2]
• Nivolao Fortiguerra (1270 – ?)^[2]
• Bartolomeo de Benevento (1274 – ?)^[2]
• Orlandu Cortincu (1289 – ?)^[2]
• Salvin (1300 – ?)^[2]
• Guglielmo (1309 – ?)^[2]
• Gerardo Orlandini (1322 – 1330)^[2]
• Calcagno Bocca di Bue (1330 – 1342)^[2]
• Guglielmo Arcumbaldi (1342 – 1345)^[2]
• Arnald, Dominican Order (O.P.) (1345.07.30 – ?), previously Bishop of Segni (Italy) (1333.10.30 – 1345.07.30)^[2]
• Raimond (1354 – ?)^[2]
• Johannes (1360 – 1362)^[2]
• Blaise (1362 – ?)^[2]
• Salvin (1366 – 1405)^[2]
• Bartolomé (1406 – 1410)^[2]
• Ottobrino Lomellino (1411 – ?)^[2]
• Léon (1412 – 1440)^[2]
• Ambrughju d’Omessa (1440 – 1464)^[2]
• Giovanni Andrea Bussi (1469 – death 1475)^[5][2]
• Cardinal Ardicino della Porta (1475.02.22 – death 1493.02.04), created Cardinal-Priest of Santi Giovanni e Paolo (1489.03.23 – 1492), also Apostolic Administrator of Olomouc (Bohemia) (1489.06.03 – 1493.02.04)^[6][2]
• Girolamo Pallavicini (1493 – 1512)^[2]
• Apostolic Administrator Cardinal Innocenzo Cibo (1518.06.19 – 1520.12.19), while Cardinal-Deacon of S. Maria in Domnica (1517.06.26 – 1550.02.28), also Apostolic Administrator of Marseille (France) (1517.05.11 – 1530.01.12), also Apostolic Administrator of Ventimiglia (Italy) (1519.07.27 – 1519.08.08); former Metropolitan Archbishop of St. Andrews (Scotland) and Bourges (France), more mandates later^[7][2]
• Francesco Pallavicini (1520 – ?)^[2]

...

• Pietro Francesco Pallavicini (1551 – death 1570)^[2]
• Saint Bishop Alessandro Sauli, Barnabites (B.) (1570.02.10 – 1591.05.10), previously Superior General of Clerics Regular of Saint Paul (Barnabites) (1567.04.09 – 1570.02.10), later Bishop of Pavia (Italy) (1591.10.30 – death 1592.10.11)
• Ottavio Belmosto (1591.07.31 – 1608), later created Cardinal-Priest of S. Carlo ai Catinari (1616.10.17 – death 1618.11.16))^[8]
• Domenico Rivarola (1608.12.10 – 1609.03.30), later Metropolitan Archbishop of Nazareth–Canne–Monteverde in Barletta (Italy) (1609.03.30 – death 1627.01.03), created Cardinal-Priest of S. Martino ai Monti (1611.09.12 – death 1627.01.03)^[9]
• Giovanni Sauli (Scali, Sacchi) (1609 – 1611)^[10]
• Giovan Francesco Murta (de Mirto) (1611 – 1612)^[11]
• Dezio Giustiniani (1612 – 1642)
• Agostino Donghi (1643 – 1645)
• Cardinal Ottaviano Raggi (1643.01.12 – 1643.12.31), already Cardinal-Priest of Sant'Agostino (1642.02.10 – 1643.12.31)
• Giovanni Battista Imperiali (1645 – 1674)
• Mario Emmanuelle Durazzo (1674 – 1704), later Bishop of Mariana et Acci (1704 – 1706)
• Raffaele Raggi, Barnabites (1705.03.02 – death 1712)
• Carlo Maria Giuseppe Fornari (1712 – death 1715)
• Carlo Maria Giuseppe de Fornari (1713.01.30 – 1715.02.20), later Bishop of Albenga (Italy) (1715.02.20 – 1730.12.11), emeritate as Titular Bishop of Attalea in Lydia (1730.12.11 – ?)
• Agostino Saluzzo, Lazarists (C.M.) (1715 – 1720), later Bishop of Mariana et Acci (1720 – death 1747)
• Camillo de Mari (1720 – death 1741)
• Girolamo Curlo (1741 – death 1750)
• Matteu d’Angelis (1750 – death 1769)
• Jean-Joseph-Marie de Guernes (1770.08.06 – 29 November 1801)

Titular bishops

• Guido Fiandino (2002.06.21 – ...), Auxiliary Bishop of Turin

Notes

1. "Diocese of Aleria". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
2. "Titular Episcopal See of Aléria" GCatholic.org. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved February 29, 2016
3. Richards, Jeffrey (1980). Consul of God: The Life and Times of Gregory the Great. London, Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 237. ISBN 0-7100-0346-3.
4. Annuario Pontificio 2013 (Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2013 ISBN 978-88-209-9070-1), p. 829
5. "Bishop Giovanni Andrea de Bussi (Bossi)". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
6. "Ardicino Cardinal della Porta (Jr.)". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
7. "Innocenzo Cardinal Cibo (Cybo)". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
8. "Ottavio Cardinal Belmosto (Belmusti)". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
9. "Domenico Cardinal Rivarola". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
10. "Bishop Giovanni Sauli (Scali, Sacchi), O.P.". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
11. "Bishop Giovanni Francesco Murta (de Mirto), C.R.". Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved 29 February 2016.