The diocese of Ruvo was a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Apulia, southern Italy, which existed until 1986, when it was united into the diocese of Molfetta-Ruvo-Giovinazzo-Terlizzi. From 1818 to 1982, it was united with the diocese of Bitonto, as the diocese of Ruvo and Bitonto.

History

According to legend, Saint Peter, the apostle and friend of Jesus Christ, appointed the first bishop of Ruvo, Cletus, in 44; he later became pope (c. 79 – 91). Ughelli records a Procopius, Bishop of Ruvo, of unknown date, though he doubts his existence. Bishop Joannes is attributed to the year 493, but his connection with Ruvo is doubtful; he occurs in the legends of Canosa and Siponto. In June 1025, Pope John XIX confirmed for Archbishop Bisantius of Canosa (Bari) the possessions and territories of his diocese, which included the suffragan bishops of: Canosa, Bari, Medunio, Giovenazzo, Molfetta, Ruvo, Trani, Canne, Minervino Murge, Acquaviva, Monte Meloni, Lavellano, Cisterna, Vitalbe, Salpi, Conversano, and Polignano.

Reorganization of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, 1818

Following the extinction of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, the Congress of Vienna authorized the restoration of the Papal States and the Kingdom of The Two Sicilies (Naples). A concordat was finally signed on 16 February 1818, and ratified by Pius VII on 25 February 1818. Ferdinand issued the concordat as a law on 21 March 1818. The right of the king to nominate the candidate for a vacant bishopric was recognized, as in the Concordat of 1741, subject to papal confirmation (preconisation). On 27 June 1818, Pius VII issued the bull De Ulteriore, in which he reestablished the metropolitan archbishopric of Bari, and assigned as suffragan (subordinate) dioceses: Bitonto, Ruvo, Conversana. The diocese of Bitunto, however, was united to the diocese of Ruvo, æque principaliter, that is, one and the same bishop would govern the two independent dioceses. On 4 September 1982, Father Antonio Bello, the pastor of the church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Tricase, was appointed Bishop of Molfetta, Giovenazzo and Terlizzi. The appointment did not include the dioceses of Ruvo and Bitonto, which were formerly held along with Molfetta æque principaliter, thereby apparently reviving the two dioceses. On 30 September 1982, however, Bishop-elect Bello was appointed bishop of Ruvo, thereby restoring Ruvo to the governance of the bishop of Molfetta. On the same day, 30 September 1982, the diocese of Bitonto was assigned to Archbishop Mariano Magrassi of Bari, thus separating Bitonto from Molfetta.

Diocesan Reorganization

Following the Second Vatican Council, and in accordance with the norms laid out in the council's decree, Christus Dominus chapter 40, Pope Paul VI ordered a reorganization of the ecclesiastical provinces in southern Italy. He ordered consultations among the members of the Congregation of Bishops in the Vatican Curia, the Italian Bishops Conference, and the various dioceses concerned. On 18 February 1984, the Vatican and the Italian State signed a new and revised concordat. Based on the revisions, a set of Normae was issued on 15 November 1984, which was accompanied in the next year, on 3 June 1985, by enabling legislation. According to the agreement, the practice of having one bishop govern two separate dioceses at the same time, aeque personaliter, was abolished. The Vatican continued consultations which had begun under Pope John XXIII for the merging of small dioceses, especially those with personnel and financial problems, into one combined diocese. On 30 September 1986, Pope John Paul II ordered that the dioceses of Molfetta, Giovenazza, Terlizzi and Ruvo be merged into one diocese with one bishop, with the Latin title Dioecesis Melphictensis-Rubensis-Iuvenacensis-Terlitiensis. The seat of the diocese was to be in Molfetta, whose cathedral was to serve as the cathedral of the merged diocese. The cathedrals in Giovenazza, Terlizzi, and Ruvo were to have the honorary titles of "co-cathedral"; the Chapters were each to be a Capitulum Concathedralis. There was to be only one diocesan Tribunal, in Molfetta, and likewise one seminary, one College of Consultors, and one Priests' Council. The territory of the new diocese was to include the territory of the suppressed dioceses. The new diocese was a suffragan of the archdiocese of Bari-Bitonto.

Chapter and cathedral

Ruvo di Puglia has a late Apulian Romanesque cathedral dating to the 11th-12th centuries. Outside of the city are the ruins of a more ancient church, possibly of the late fourth or early fifth century, which has been called a cathedral. The cathedral of Ruvo, dedicated to the Taking Up of the Body of the Virgin Mary into Heaven, had no canons at all, though it was administered by four dignities (the Archdeacon, the Archpriest, the senior Primicerius, and the junior Primicerius) and a staff of more than forty priests, eleven deacons, and more than seventy subdeacons and clerics. There is no other church in the city except the cathedral. The diocese of Ruvo had no seminary. It shared the facilities of the diocese of Bitonto.

Bishops

Diocese of Ruvo

Latin Name: Rubensis Erected: 6th Century Metropolitan: Archdiocese of Bari (-Canosa)

to 1414

1414 to 1833

Diocese of Ruvo e Bitonto

Latin Name: Rubensis et Bituntinus United: 27 June 1818 with the Diocese of Bitonto

Episcopal lists

Studies