Roman Catholic Diocese of Oria

Diocese of Oria Dioecesis Uritana
File:Oria Basilica Cattedrale.jpg Oria Cathedral
Location
Country	Italy
Ecclesiastical province	Taranto
Statistics
Area
Population - Total - Catholics	(as of 2004) 181,694 178,700 (98.4%)
Parishes	42
Information
Denomination	Catholic Church
Rite	Roman Rite
Established	8 May 1591
Cathedral	Basilica Cattedrale di S. Maria Assunta in Cielo
Current leadership
Pope	Francis
Bishop	Vincenzo Pisanello
Website
www.diocesidioria.it

The Italian Catholic Diocese of Oria (Latin: Dioecesis Uritana) is in Apulia. It is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Taranto.

History

It would appear that Oria, in early times, had bishops of its own, because there is a record on a slab in the cathedral, dating from the eighth or ninth century, in which there is mention of a Bishop Theodosius, not one of the bishops of Brindisi. When Brindisi was destroyed by the Saracens in the ninth century, its bishops established their see at Oria and called themselves Bishops of Brindisi and Oria, even after their return to their former capital.

The town was erected into an episcopal see in 1591, following the death of the Spaniard Bernardino de Figueroa of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Brindisi-Ostuni; its first bishop was Vincent Tufo.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Oria is 921 square miles (2,390 km²). It has a total population of 183,300, of which 180,000 are Catholic. There are 117 priests, 6 permanent deacons, and 265 religious.

On 23 January 2010, Pope Benedict XVI named Father Vincenzo Pisanello of the clergy of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Otranto, Italy, Episcopal Vicar for Administration and Pastor of the Parish of Saints Peter and Paul Church in Galatina, Italy, as the Bishop-elect of Oria. He was born in Galatina on 3 May 1959 and ordained to the priesthood on 23 June 1984.

Ordinaries

Diocese of Oria

Erected: 8 May 1591

• Vincenzo del Tufo, C.R. (1596 - Sep 1600 Died)
• Lucio Fornari (16 Sep 1601 - Sep 1618 Died)
• Giandomenico Ridolfi, C.R. (27 Jan 1620 - 15 Jul 1630 Died)
• Marco Antonio Parisi (24 Nov 1632 Confirmed - 24 Jan 1649 Died)
• Raffaele de Palma, O.F.M. Conv. (14 Feb 1650 - 5 Mar 1674 Died)
• Carlo Cuzzolini (9 Sep 1675 Confirmed - 25 Feb 1697 Appointed, Bishop of Pozzuoli)
• Tommaso Maria Franza, O.P. (3 Jun 1697 - 28 Jan 1719 Died)
• Giambattista Labanchi (27 May 1720 - 15 Jul 1746 Died)
• Castrensis Scaja (28 Nov 1746 - 12 Oct 1755 Died)
• François Joseph Antoine de los Reyes (5 Apr 1756 Confirmed - 19 Feb 1769 Died)
• Giovanni Capece (12 Mar 1770 Confirmed - Nov 1770 Died)
• Enrico Celaja (30 Mar 1772 Confirmed - Mar 1780 Died)
• Alexander Maria Calefati (17 Sep 1781 Confirmed - 30 Dec 1793 Died)
• Fabrizio Cimino, C.SS.R. (29 Jan 1798 - 22 Mar 1818 Died)
• Francesco Saverio Triggiani, O.F.M. Conv. (21 Dec 1818 Confirmed - 27 Dec 1828 Resigned)
• Michele Lanzetta (18 May 1829 Confirmed - 6 Apr 1832 Resigned)
• Giovanni Domenico di Guido (29 Jul 1833 Confirmed - 16 Dec 1848 Died)
• Luigi Margarita, C.M. (17 Feb 1851 Confirmed - 15 Apr 1888 Died)
• Tommaso Montefusco (1 Jun 1888 - 21 Jun 1895 Died)
• Teodosio Maria Gargiulo (21 Jun 1895 Succeeded - 16 Dec 1902 Died)
• Antonio di Tommaso (22 Jun 1903 - 8 Feb 1947 Retired)
• Alberico Semeraro (1 May 1947 - 17 Mar 1978 Retired)
• Salvatore De Giorgi (17 Mar 1978 Succeeded - 4 Apr 1981 Appointed, Archbishop of Foggia)
• Armando Franco (12 Sep 1981 - 15 Dec 1997 Died)
• Marcello Semeraro (25 Jul 1998 - 1 Oct 2004 Appointed, Bishop of Albano)
• Michele Castoro (14 May 2005 - 15 Jul 2009 Appointed, Archbishop of Manfredonia-Vieste-San Giovanni Rotondo)
• Vincenzo Pisanello (23 Jan 2010 - )

Notes

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: