Archdiocese of Reggio Calabria-Bova Archidioecesis Rheginensis-Bovensis |
|
---|---|
Reggio Calabria Cathedral
|
|
Location | |
Country | Italy |
Ecclesiastical province | Reggio Calabria-Bova |
Statistics | |
Area | 1,004 km2 (388 sq mi) |
Population - Total - Catholics |
(as of 2014) 283,720 (est.) 279,260 (est.) (98.4%) |
Parishes | 119 |
Information | |
Denomination | Catholic Church |
Rite | Roman Rite |
Established | 1st century |
Cathedral | Basilica Cattedrale di Maria SS. Assunta in Cielo (Reggio Calabria) |
Co-cathedral | Concattedrale della Presentazione della Beata Vergine Maria (Bova) |
Secular priests | 119 (diocesan) 53 (Religious Orders) |
Current leadership | |
Pope | Francis |
Archbishop | Giuseppe Fiorini Morosini, O.M. |
Map | |
The Archdiocese of Reggio Calabria-Bova (Latin: Archidioecesis Rheginensis-Bovensis) is a Roman Catholic ecclesiastical territory in Calabria, southern Italy. It received its current title in 1986, when the independent Diocese of Bova was suppressed, and the territory and title of the diocese added to that of the Archdiocese of Reggio.
Through a fanciful reading of The Book of Acts of the Apostles 27, St. Paul was said to have preached the Gospel at Reggio Calabria, and to have consecrated his companion, St. Stephen, bishop. The first bishop known is Bishop Marcus of Calabria, who was one of five legates of Pope Sylvester at the Council of Nicaea (325).
When all Southern Italy was united to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, Reggio became a metropolitan see with thirteen suffragans, and followed the Greek Rite, which was changed to the Gallican Rite after the Norman Conquest in the eleventh century; Archbishop Ricciullo adopted the Roman Rite in 1580. The Greek Rite, however, continued to be used in the church of Santissima Maria della Cattolica, built by King Roger, and governed by a protopope with a numerous Greek clergy. Questions of jurisdiction caused frequent controversies with the archbishop. About 1600 Archbishop Annibale d'Afflitto suppressed the Greek Rite in that church, and the entire diocese now follows the Roman Rite.
In 1594 the city of Reggio suffered a devastating attack of the Turkish fleet, which did severe damage to churches, monasteries and hospitals.