The Diocese of Satrianum (Latin) or Satriano (Italian) is now a Roman Catholic titular see, that is, a former episcopal see that is no longer a geographical diocese. It takes its name from a now destroyed town situated in Lucania and was a suffragan of the metropolitan see of Salerno. The adjectival form of the Latin name of the diocese is Satrianensis. Stephanus of Byzantium called it Satria. The titular archbishop until his death was Patrick Coveney.

History

The diocese of Satriano was established by Pope Urban II on 20 July 1098. Its first bishop was Bishop Johannes, whose existence is attested in 1101. It continued to exist even after the destruction of the town in 1430. The city of Satriano was completely deserted, destroyed in 1430 on orders of Queen Johanna of Naples. At the request of the Emperor Charles V, in his capacity as King of Sicily, Pope Clement VII created the diocese of Campagna on 20 May 1525, uniting it with the diocese of Satriano, aeque personaliter (two dioceses with one and the same bishop). Both were assigned to the metropolitanate of Salerno. The new bishop of Campagna was the Bishop of Satriano, Cherubino Caietani, who was installed as bishop of Campagna on 19 June 1525. The city of Campagna belonged to the Marchesi Grimaldi.

Extinction of the diocese

A concordat was signed on 16 February 1818, between Pope Pius VII and Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies. 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 Conza. At the same time he abolished the diocese of Satriano, which had been united aeque principaliter with the diocese of Campagna, and incorporated the territory of Satriano into the diocese of Campagna. The diocese of Campagna was assigned to the archdiocese of Conza, in such a way that the archbishop of Conza was also the perpetual administrator of the diocese of Campagna.

Bishops of Satriano

Diocesan Bishops of Satriano and Campagna

After the death of Marco De Leone, the see remained vacant until suppressed in 1818.

Titular bishops and archbishops

The town

Satriano (called Satrianum in Latin) was originally a Lucanian town. Excavations have brought to light traces of a small rectangular temple with a banqueting hall, an area for religious ceremonies and a portico. The town was situated at 950 metres above sea level on the top of a hill overlooking the modern town that since 1887 is called Satriano di Lucania (not to be confused with another town called Satriano in Calabria), and which, before taking the name of the destroyed city, was called Pietrafesa and, earlier, Petrafixa. Documents from the ninth century AD onward mention Satriano, which was definitively destroyed in 1430 by order of Queen Joan II of Naples. It is recounted that the queen ordered that it be burned to the ground because of the abduction there of a lady in waiting of the court who was passing through. The inhabitants moved to Pietrafesa. All that remains are some ruins, including those of the cathedral, which was dedicated to Saint Stephen, and a better preserved 12th-century tower.

Episcopal lists

Studies