Minervino Murge

Minervino Murge (Menarvèine ) is a town and comune, former bishopric and present Latin Catholic titular see in the administrative province of Barletta-Andria-Trani in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, lying on the western flank of the Murgia Barese mountain chain.

It assumed its present name in 1836, formerly known as just Minervino (with namesakes).

It is 16 km south of Canosa di Puglia and 17 km north of Spinazzola, in the Alta Murgia National Park.

The town's economy is based mainly on agriculture and herding. The karstic geology of the area has conditioned its main crops: grapes, olives, wheat, and almonds.

Ecclesiastical History

 * Established circa 900 as Diocese of Minervino (Italian) / Minerbium (Latin), with only two municipal components : Minervino itself and Montemilone (now in the administrative province of Potenza).
 * The see is documented first in a papal bulla in 1025 by Pope John XIX to archbishop Bisanzio of Bari, specifying the jurisdictions under the Metropolitan Archbishop of Bari, but the document is disputed
 * Locals tradition and a list of incumbents in the episcopal palace starts the apostolic succession with Bisanzio in 1069, but he may well have been bishop of Lavello instead
 * The bishopric was a suffragan of the Metropolitan of Bari no later than 1152, if not from the start, but disputed papal bullas suggest it may have been suffragan of the Archdiocese of Trani before
 * Suppressed on 1818.06.27, its territory being merged into the Diocese of Andria; however in 1976, the comune Montemilone was transferred to the Diocese of Venosa.

Residential Ordinaries

 * Suffragan Bishops of Minervino
 * First centuries unavailable or incomplete


 * Ignatius = Innazio (recorded in 1071)
 * Mandus ? (in 1102)
 * Johannes = Giovanni (in 1122)
 * Maraldo (? - 1171/1177 deposed)
 * apparently the see was vacant in 1179 as the see wasn't represented at the Third Council of the Lateran
 * Leopardo (first in 1180 - till 1197)
 * Riccardo, Benedictine Order (O.S.B.) (first in 1215 - after 1219)[12]
 * An anonymous incumbent (in 1234)
 * Pietro di Cerignola (16 March 1255 - 13 March 1256), next Bishop-elect of Roman Catholic Diocese of Canne [12]
 * Biviano (first 1271 - till 1276)[12]
 * Antonio di Gaeta, Dominican Order (O.P.) (1298 - ?)
 * Trasmondo (in 1310)
 * Giacomo (in 1321)
 * Rainaldo di Provenza (1344 – 1352)
 * Lorenzo (1353.11.14 – 1365)
 * Leonardo Arnini (1426.08.23 – death 1433)
 * Sancio (1433.01.14 – 1434), previously Bishop of Diocese of Civita (Italy) (? – 1433.01.14)
 * Goffredo (1434.09.15 – death 1456)
 * Giovanni Campanella, Benedictine Order (O.S.B.) (1456.04.13 – death 1478?)
 * Marino Cieri (1478.10.05 – death 1491?)
 * Roberto de Noya, Dominican Order (O.P.) (1492.01.23 – 1497.05.15), next Bishop of Acerra (Italy) (1497.05.15 – 1504.04.15), Bishop of Naxos (insular Greece) (1504.04.15 – death 1515)
 * Marino Falconi (1497.04.17 – death 1525)
 * Antonio Sassolino, Conventual Friars Minor (O.F.M. Conv.) (1525.07.21 – 1528), previously Superior general of the Conventual Franciscans
 * Bernardino Fumarelli (1528.08.07 – 1529.08.16), next Bishop of Alife (Italy) (1529.08.16 – 1532.11.04), Bishop of Sulmona (Italy) (1532.11.04 – 1547.06.05), Bishop of Valva (Italy) (1532.11.04 – death 1547.06.05)
 * Giovanni Francesco de Marellis (1529.08.16 – death 1536)
 * Gian Vincenzo Micheli (1545.03.02 – death 1596 as centenarian), participant at the Tridentine Council (1545-1563), previously Bishop of Lavello (1539.05.30 – 1545.03.02)
 * Lorenzo Monzonís Galatina, O.F.M. (1596.06.21 – 1605), next Auxiliary Bishop of Archdiocese of Valencia (Spain) (1605 – 1610.01.27), Archbishop of Lanciano (Italy) (1610.01.27 – 1617.11.20), Archbishop-Bishop of Diocese of Pozzuoli (Italy) (1617.11.20 – death 1630.02.11)
 * Giacomo Antonio Caporali (1606.01.09 – 1616), consecrated the rebuilt cathedral
 * Altobello Carissimi (1617.01.30 – death 1632)
 * Giovanni Michele Rossi, Carmelite Order (O. Carm.) (1633.01.12 – death 1633.04.11)
 * Gerolamo Maria Zambeccari, O.P. (1633.04.11 – 1635), previously Bishop of Alife (Italy) (1625.04.07 – 1633.04.11)
 * Antonio Maria Pranzoni (1635.05.06 – death 1663)
 * Francesco Maria Vignola (1663.09.24 – death 1700)
 * Marcantonio Chenevix (1702.11.20 – death 1717.07)
 * Nicola Pignatelli (1719.02.09 – death 1734.10.28)
 * Fabio Troyli (1734.12.01 – 1751.02.01), next Bishop of Catanzaro (Italy) (1751.02.01 – death 1762.08.01)
 * Stefano Gennaro Spani (1751.03.15 – death 1776.04)
 * Pietro Silvio Di Gennaro (1776.07.15 – 1779.07.12), next Bishop of Venosa (Italy) (1779.07.12 – death 1786)
 * Pietro Mancini (1792.02.27 – death 1808).

Titular see
The diocese was nominally restored in 1968 as Latin Titular bishopric of Minervino Murge (Curiate Italian) / Minervium (Latin) / Minerbinen(sis) (Latin).

It has had the following incumbents, of the fitting Episcopal (lowest) rank :
 * Ramón Torrella Cascante (1968.10.22 – 1983.04.11) as Auxiliary Bishop of Archdiocese of Barcelona (Spain) (1968.10.22 – 1970.11.06); later Roman Curia official : Vice-president of Council of the Laity (1970.11.06 – 1974.03.06), vice-president of Pontifical Commission of Justice and Peace (1970.11.06 – 1975.12.20), vice-president of Pontifical Council “Cor unum” (1971.07.22 – 1975.12.20), vice-president of Secretariat for Christian Unity (1975.12.20 – 1983.04.11), vice-president of Council of European Bishops’ Conferences (1983 – 1993), then Metropolitan Archbishop of Archdiocese of Tarragona (Spain) (1983.04.11 – retired 1997.02.20), died 2004
 * Ryszard Karpiński (1985.09.28 – ...), as Auxiliary Bishop of Archdiocese of Lublin (Poland) (1985.09.28 – 2011.12.31) and on emeritate.

Former Cathedral of Mary Assumed

 * The medieval former cathedral, now Chiesa S. Maria Assunta, was built under Norman rule, but mostly rebuilt from 1519 until the consecration on 30 August 1608 by bishop Giacomo Antonio Caporali (1606.01.09 – 1616).
 * A document from 1667 specifies it has 43 ecclesiastical officials, including an archdeacon, an archpriest, a primicerius, a cantor, 10 canons, 26 other priests, a deacon and two subdeacons.

Other sights

 * The castle (14th century), later remade as a palazzo
 * The Baroque church of the Immacolata Concezione
 * A 15th century tower
 * Not far are the Caves of Altamura.

Twin towns

 * 🇮🇹 Sagliano Micca, Italy, since 2009

Sources and external links

 * Minervino-Murge.Com
 * GCatholic, with Google satellite photo - former and titular see
 * GCatholic, with Google satellite photo/map - former cathedral
 * Bibliography - ecclesiastical history


 * Ferdinando Ughelli, Italia sacra, vol. VII, second edition, Venice 1721, coll. 745-748
 * Michele Garruba, Serie critica de' Sacri Pastori Baresi, Tipografia Fratelli Cannone, Bari 1844, pp. 965–966
 * Giuseppe Cappelletti, Le Chiese d'Italia dalla loro origine sino ai nostri giorni, Venice 1870, vol. XXI, pp. 82–85
 * Paul Fridolin Kehr, Italia Pontificia, vol. IX, Berlin 1962, p. 344
 * Norbert Kamp, Kirche und Monarchie im staufischen Königreich Sizilien, vol. 2, Prosopographische Grundlegung: Bistümer und Bischöfedes Königreichs 1194 - 1266; Apulien und Kalabrien, Münich 1975, pp. 640–642
 * Pius Bonifacius Gams, Series episcoporum Ecclesiae Catholicae, Leipzig 1931, pp. 897–898
 * Konrad Eubel, Hierarchia Catholica Medii Aevi, vol. 1, p. 343; vol. 2, pp. XXXI, 193; vol. 3, p. 245; vol. 4, p. 243; vol. 5, p. 269; vol. 6, p. 290
 * Papal Bulla 'De utiliori', in Bullarii Romani continuatio, Vol. XV, Rome 1853, pp. 56–61
 * Cronotassi dei vescovi di Minervino, pp. 45–47