Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lecce

Archdiocese of Lecce Archidioecesis Lyciensis
Lecce Cathedral
Location
Country	Italy
Ecclesiastical province	Lecce
Statistics
Area	750 km^2 (290 sq mi)
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2004) 260,988 258,225 (98.9%)
Parishes	76
Information
Denomination	Catholic Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	1057 (959 years ago)
Cathedral	Cattedrale di Maria SS. Assunta
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Archbishop	Domenico Umberto D’Ambrosio
Map
Website
www.diocesilecce.org

The Italian Catholic archdiocese of Lecce (Latin: Archidioecesis Lyciensis) in Apulia, southern Italy, has existed as a diocese since 1057. September 28, 1960 Pope John XXIII in the bull Cum a nobis separated the diocese of Lecce from the ecclesiastical province of Otranto and made immediately subject to the Holy See and October 20, 1980 Pope John Paul II in the bull Conferentia Episcopalis Apuliae erected the ecclesiastical province of Lecce therefore the Archdiocese of Otranto joins..^[1][2]

History

It was known to the ancients as Lupiæ. In the time of the Normans, Lecce became the seat of a county, some of its counts being famous, notably Tancred of Lecce, who contested with Emperor Henry VI the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, and Gautier de Brienne, cousin of Tancred.

A bishop of Lecce is first mentioned in 1057, in the person of Teodoro Bonsecolo. Other notable bishops were:

• Roberto Vultorico (1214), who restored the cathedral;
• Tommaso Ammirati (1429); Ugolino Martelli (1511), a linguist;
• Giambattista Castromediani (1544), who founded the hospital and other institutions for children and the poor;
• Luigi Pappacoda (1639), who rebuilt the cathedral, which contains a marble statue of him; and
• Antonio Pignatelli (1672), later Pope Innocent XII, who founded the seminary of Lecce.

Bishops and Archbishops of Lecce

• Tommaso Morganti (1409 - 1419 Died)^[3]
• Curello Ciccaro (19 Dec 1419 - 1429 Died)^[4]
• Tommaso Ammirato, O.S.B. (2 Mar 1429 - 1438 Died)^[5]
• Guido Giudano, O.F.M. (6 Aug 1438 - 1453 Appointed, Archbishop of Bari (-Canosa))
• Antonio Ricci (bishop) (20 Jul 1453 - 24 Dec 1483 Died)^[6]
• Roberto Caracciolo, O.F.M. (8 Mar 1484 - 18 Jul 1485 Appointed, Bishop of Aquino)
• Antonio de' Tolomei (18 Jul 1485 - 1498 Died)^[7]
• Luigi d'Aragona (10 Dec 1498 - 24 Mar 1502 Resigned)
• Giacomo Piscicelli (24 Mar 1502 - 1507 Died)^[8]
• Pietro Matteo d'Aquino (12 Feb 1508 - 1511 Died)
• Ugolino Martelli (bishop) (9 Apr 1511 - 18 May 1517 Appointed, Bishop of Narni)
• Giovanni Antonio Acquaviva d'Aragona (18 May 1517 - 1525 Died)^[9]
• Consalvo di Sangro (19 Jan 1525 - 1530 Died)
• Alfonso de' Sangro (9 Mar 1530 - 20 Apr 1534 Resigned)
• Ippolito de' Medici (20 Apr 1534 - 26 Feb 1535 Resigned)
• Giovanni Battista Castromediano (26 Feb 1535 - 1552 Died)
• Braccio Martelli (12 Feb 1552 - 17 Aug 1560 Died)
• Annibale Saraceni (29 Nov 1560 - 1591 Resigned)
• Scipione Spina (10 May 1591 - 6 Mar 1639 Died)^[10]
• Luigi Pappacoda (30 May 1639 - 17 Dec 1670 Died)
• Antonio Pignatelli del Rastrello (4 May 1671 - 12 Jan 1682 Appointed, Archbishop (Personal Title) of Faenza)
• Michele Pignatelli, C.R. (26 Jan 1682 - 10 Nov 1695 Died)
• Fabrizio Pignatelli (2 Apr 1696 - 12 May 1734 Died)
• Giuseppe Maria Ruffo (25 May 1735 - 3 Feb 1744 Appointed, Archbishop of Capua)
• Scipione Sersale (3 Feb 1744 - 11 Jul 1751 Died)
• Alfonso Sozi Carafa, C.R.S. (15 Nov 1751 - 19 Feb 1783 Died)
• Salvatore Spinelli, O.S.B. (26 Mar 1792 - 18 Dec 1797 Confirmed, Archbishop of Salerno)
• Nicola Caputo de’ Marchesi di Cerreto (21 Dec 1818 - 6 Nov 1862 Died)
• Valerio Laspro (6 May 1872 - 20 Mar 1877 Appointed, Archbishop of Salerno (-Acerno))
• Salvatore Luigi Zola, C.R.L. (22 Jun 1877 - 27 Apr 1898 Died)
• Evangelista (Michael Antonio) di Milia, O.F.M. Cap. (10 Nov 1898 - 17 Sep 1901 Died)
• Gennaro Trama (14 Feb 1902 - 9 Nov 1927 Died)
• Alberto Costa (7 Dec 1928 - 2 Aug 1950 Died)
• Francesco Minerva (17 Dec 1950 - 27 Jan 1981 Retired)
• Michele Mincuzzi (27 Jan 1981 - 7 Dec 1988 Retired)
• Cosmo Francesco Ruppi (7 Dec 1988 - 16 Apr 2009 Retired)
• Domenico Umberto D'Ambrosio (16 Apr 2009 - )

References

• De Simone, Lecce e i suoi dintorni (Lecce, 1874)
• Cappelletti, Le Chiese d'Italia, XXI.

Notes

1. "Archdiocese of Lecce" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved February 29, 2016
2. "Metropolitan Archdiocese of Lecce" GCatholic.org. Gabriel Chow. Retrieved February 29, 2016
3. "Bishop Tommaso Morganti" 'Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved January 30, 2016
4. "Bishop Curello Ciccaro" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved January 30, 2016
5. "Bishop Tommaso Ammirato, O.S.B." Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved January 30, 2016
6. "Bishop Antonio Ricci" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved January 30, 2016
7. "Bishop Antonio de' Tolomei" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved January 30, 2016
8. "Bishop Giacomo Piscicelli" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved January 30, 2016
9. "Bishop Giovanni Antonio Acquaviva d'Aragona" Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved January 30, 2016
10. "Bishop Scipione Spina " Catholic-Hierarchy.org. David M. Cheney. Retrieved March 21, 2016

External links

• Source

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "^{article name needed}". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton.

Coordinates: 40°21′07″N 18°10′09″E / 40.3520°N 18.1691°E