Roman Catholic Diocese of Jesi

The Diocese of Jesi (Dioecesis Aesina) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in the Marche, Italy. It is a suffragan of the archdiocese of Ancona-Osimo.

History
Saint Septimius, supposedly martyred in 307, has been venerated as the first bishop of Jesi since the 15th century. Saint Florianus, who was cast into the Esino in the Diocletian persecution, is also venerated (perhaps he is confounded with Saint Florianus who was cast into the Enus or Anisus). Other bishops of antiquity were Calumniosus (c. 647) and Honestus. Their relics were discovered in 1623.

The future emperor Frederick II was born in Jesi on 26 December 1194. His mother, Constance, Queen of Sicily, was on her way to join her husband, Henry VI, who had been crowned King of Sicily at Palermo on the previous day. At Jesi she was overcome by sudden labor pains, and, anticipating the birth of an heir, the people erected a pavilion for her in the town square, so that the birth might take place amid a large complement of witnesses. Fifteen cardinals and bishops witnessed the birth of the baby Frederick.

On 30 May 1247, Pope Innocent IV rejected the election of one of the Canons of the Cathedral Chapter, Armannus, as bishop of Jesi, on the grounds that the Canons were excommunicated due to their support of the Emperor Frederick II. One Canon, however, named Montanario, was loyal to the Holy See and had escaped to Ancona from Jesi; he notified the Pope that he elected the Franciscan Gualterio. Innocent ordered the Rector of the March of Ancona, Marcellino Aretino, and Bishop Philip of Fermo to investigate the election and consult with Canon Montanario, and provide the new bishop. The Franciscan Gualtiero, an Englishman, was appointed. He was a friend of John of Parma, general of the order and patron of the Franciscan Spirituals.

Bishop Severinus in 1237 laid the foundations of the new cathedral; the old cathedral, dedicated to Saint Nicholas of Myra, was outside the city, and in the eighteenth century had fallen into ruin. In its current form, the cathedral is the result of restorations and renovations carried out by Bishop Antonio Fonseca.

The cathedral was and is administered by a Chapter, composed of a Prior and ten Canons. Up until the middle of the 15th century the Canons were required to live in the Canonica, unless individually dispensed. Pope Paul II (1464–1471) dispensed the Canons from this obligation. The best-known of the Canons was Marcello Cervini, who became Pope Marcellus II (1555).

Gabriele del Monte (1554) introduced the reforms of the Council of Trent, which he had attended. His successors were Cardinal Camillo Borghese (1597), afterwards Pope Paul V; Cardinals Tiberio Cenci (1621) and Alderano Cybo (1656), noted for their benefactions; Bishop Antonio Fonseca (1724), who founded a hospital. Cardinal Caprara, afterwards Archbishop of Milan, who concluded the Concordat with Napoleon, was Bishop of Jesi (1800–02). He was succeeded by Antonio Odescalchi, who was deported to Milan by the French in 1809, dying in exile in Cesano Boscone in 1812.

On 15 August 1972, by the Bull Qui apostolico officio, Pope Paul VI created the new ecclesiastical province of Ancona, and granted its archbishop the status of Metropolitan. The ecclesiastical province was assigned the suffragan dioceses of Jesi (Aesina) and Osimo (Auximana).

Synods
A diocesan synod was an irregularly held, but important, meeting of the bishop of a diocese and his clergy. Its purpose was (1) to proclaim generally the various decrees already issued by the bishop; (2) to discuss and ratify measures on which the bishop chose to consult with his clergy; (3) to publish statutes and decrees of the diocesan synod, of the provincial synod, and of the Holy See.

Bishop Marco Agrippa Dandini (1599–1603) held a diocesan synod in Jesi on 16 September 1600. Bishop Tiberio Cenci (1621–1653) held a synod on 10 May 1626, and, as Cardinal, another synod on 23 September 1649. Cardinal Alderano Cybo (1656–1671) held a diocesan synod in Jesi from 4 to 6 July 1658. Cardinal Pietro Matteo Petrucci held his first diocesan synod on 26—28 April 1683. He held his second diocesan synod in Jesi on 21 March 1695.

On 23 April 1708, Bishop Alessandro Fedele (1696–1715) held a diocesan synod, whose decisions were published in 1713. Bishop Antonio Fonseca held a diocesan synod in the Cathedral on 25 to 27 May 1727. The synodal decrees were published. He held a second diocesan synod on 26 and 27 September 1741, and its constitutions too were published. From 14 June to 16 June 1772, Bishop Ubaldo Baldassini, B. (1764–1786) held a diocesan synod, and published its synodal constitutions.

Cardinal Carlo Luigi Morichini (1854–1871) presided over a diocesan synod on 15—17 November 1857.

Bishop Oscar Serfilippi (1978–2006) held a diocesan synod in Jesi on 24 January 1982.

to 1100

 * ? Septimius
 * [Martianus (501)]
 * [Martianus (501)]
 * [Martianus (501)]


 * Calompiosus (c. 647)
 * Honestus (attested 680)
 * Petrus (attested 743)


 * Anastasius (attested 853)


 * Eberhard (attested 967)
 * [Martianus (attested 1027)]
 * [Martianus (attested 1027)]

from 1100 to 1500

 * Raynaldus (1164–1175)
 * Grimoaldus
 * Crescentius (attested 1207)
 * Philippus
 * Severinus (attested 1230, 1235, 1237)
 * Armannus (Hermannus)


 * Gualterus, O.Min.
 * Crescentius (1252–1263)
 * Bonajuncta, O.Min. (1263–1267)
 * Hugo (1267– )
 * Ioannes (1289–1295)
 * Leonardus (1295–1311)
 * Francesco Alfani (1312–1342)
 * Francesco Jordani Brancaleoni (1342–1350)
 * Nicolaus de Pisis, O.E.S.A. (1350–c. 1370)
 * Giovanni Zeminiani Rizardi, O.P. (1371–1373)
 * Berardus de Beysiaco, O.E.S.A. (1373–1391?)
 * ? Pietro Borghese (? attested c. 1380)
 * Tommaso Pierleone (1391–1400)
 * Ludovico (Aloysius) Francisci Alfani (1400–1405)
 * Jacobus Bonriposi (1405–1418)
 * Blondus Conchi (1418– )
 * Lazarus ( ? –1425)
 * Innocenzo de Comite (30 May 1425 – 1443)


 * Thomas Ghisleri (5 Oct 1463 –1505)

from 1500 to 1800

 * Angelo Ripanti (1505–1513)
 * Pietro Paolo Venanzio (1513–1519)
 * Antonio de Spello (1519–1540)
 * Benedetto Conversini (1540–1553)
 * Gabriele Del Monte (10 Nov 1554 – 27 Apr 1597 Died)
 * Camillo Borghese (1597–1599)
 * Marco Agrippa Dandini (1599–1603 Died)
 * Pirro Imperoli (1604–1617)
 * Marcello Pignatelli, C.R. (13 Nov 1617 – 1621 Died)
 * Tiberio Cenci (1621–1653)
 * Cardinal Giacomo Corradi (21 Apr 1653 – Apr 1656 Resigned)
 * Alderano Cibo (24 Apr 1656 – 10 Dec 1671 Resigned)
 * Lorenzo Cibo (Cybo) (18 Jan 1671 – 17 Aug 1680 Died)
 * Pier Matteo Petrucci, C.O. (14 Apr 1681 –1695/1696)
 * Alessandro Fedele (20 Feb 1696 – 7 Apr 1715 Died)
 * Francesco Antonio Giattini (7 Dec 1716 – 27 Sep 1724 Resigned)
 * Antonio Fonseca (20 Dec 1724 – 9 Dec 1763 Died)
 * Ubaldo Baldassini, B. (1764–1786)
 * Sede vacante (1786–1794)


 * Cardinal Giovanni Battista Bussi de Pretis (1794–1800)

since 1800

 * Cardinal Giovanni Battista Caprara (11 Aug 1800 – 24 May 1802)
 * Antonio Maria Odescalchi (28 May 1804 – 23 Jul 1812 Died)
 * Sede vacante (1812–1817)


 * Cardinal Francesco Cesarei Leoni (28 Jul 1817 – 25 Jul 1830 Died)
 * Francesco Tiberi Contigliano (2 Jul 1832 – 18 May 1836 Resigned)
 * Cardinal Pietro Ostini (1836–1841) Born in Rome in 1775, Ostini had been Professor of Church History at the Collegio Romano. He served as Internuncio at Vienna from 1824 to 1827. He was named titular Archbishop of Tarsus on 9 April 1827, and consecrated by Cardinal Giacomo Giustiniani. After serving as Nuncio in Lucerne in 1828 and Brazil in 1829–1831, he returned to Vienna as Nuncio in 1832–1836. He was named a cardinal in the consistory of 30 September 1831 by Pope Gregory XVI, but the appointment was kept secret until the day that he was transferred to the diocese of Jesi on 11 July 1836. He resigned the diocese of Jesi on 19 December 1841. He died in Naples on 5 March 1849.     Ritzler-Sefrin, VII, pp. 61, 360.
 * Cardinal Silvestro Belli (1842–1844) Born of a patrician family of Anagni in 1781, Belli completed his studies in philosophy at the seminary of Anagni at the age of fourteen. He completed his theological courses at the age of eighteen, and was named secretary of Bishop Giovanni Devoti. Bishop Tosi made him a Canon of the cathedral Chapter. He taught philosophy in the junior seminary until 1817, and became its Rector. Following the death of his brother Francesco in 1818, he obtained the position of Sommista at the Congregation of the Propaganda, where he became familiar with the Prefect, Cardinal Cappellari, later Pope Gregory XVI. In 1823 he was secretary of the extraordinary Papal Commission sent to Holland under Cardinal Nasalli. Under the new pope, Leo XII, he was appointed a Beneficiatus of the Vatican Basilica, and at the same time became Auditor of Cardinal Nasalli. Pope Pius VIII named him Privy Chamberlain and Guardaroba in 1829, then Domestic Prelate (monsignor), and then Luogotenente Civile in the Vicariate of Rome. Gregory XVI named him Delegate in Benevento, then delegate in Orvieto, and in July 1832 President of the Province of Fermo, where he served for two years. On his return to Rome he was promoted Canon of the Vatican Basilica, and in 1834 was named Substitute Secretary of State for Internal Affairs, where he served for four years. He was appointed Secretary of the Consistorial Congregation in 1836, which made him Secretary of the College of Cardinals as well. In 1839, he was appointed Assessor of the Congregation of the Universal and Roman Inquisition. He was named a cardinal on 14 December 1840, but the fact was not made public until 12 July 1841; he was assigned the titular church of Santa Balbina. He was appointed Bishop of Jesi on 24 January 1842, and was consecrated in Rome on 24 February by Cardinal Carlo Pedicini. He died in Jesi on 9 September 1844, after a long illness.
 * Cardinal Cosimo Corsi (1845–1853)
 * Cardinal Carlo Luigi Morichini (23 Jun 1854 –1871)
 * Rambaldo Magagnini (1872–1892)
 * Aurelio Zonghi (12 Jun 1893 – 9 Jan 1902 Resigned)
 * Giovanni Battista Ricci (9 Jun 1902 – 21 Jul 1906 Appointed, Archbishop of Ancona e Numana)
 * Giuseppe Gandolfi (1 Dec 1906 – 14 Sep 1927 Died)
 * Goffredo Zaccherini (15 Jun 1928 – 11 May 1934 Resigned)
 * Carlo Falcinelli (6 Sep 1934 – 6 Nov 1952 Resigned)
 * Giovanni Battista Pardini (7 Jan 1953 – 30 Apr 1975 Resigned)
 * Oscar Serfilippi, O.F.M. Conv. (1 Mar 1978 – 20 Mar 2006 Retired)
 * Gerardo Rocconi (20 Mar 2006 – present)

Reference works for bishops

 * pp. 700–701.

Studies

 * Lanzoni, Francesco (1927). Le diocesi d'Italia dalle origini al principio del secolo VII (an. 604). Faenza: F. Lega, pp. 490–492.
 * Mezzadri, L; Tagliaferri, M; Guerriero, E. (eds) (2008), Le diocesi d'Italia Volume III (Torino, San Paolo edizioni, 2008).
 * Lanzoni, Francesco (1927). Le diocesi d'Italia dalle origini al principio del secolo VII (an. 604). Faenza: F. Lega, pp. 490–492.
 * Mezzadri, L; Tagliaferri, M; Guerriero, E. (eds) (2008), Le diocesi d'Italia Volume III (Torino, San Paolo edizioni, 2008).