Bishop of Mottola

The Diocese of Mottola or Diocese of Motula (Latin: Dioecesis Motulensis) was a Roman Catholic diocese located in the town of Mottola in the province of Taranto in the region of Apulia in southeast Italy. In 1818, it was suppressed to the Diocese of Castellaneta.

The diocese included the villages of Mottola, Palagiano, Massafra and Palagianello.

The episcopal see was the town of Mottola, where the church of Santa Maria Assunta, also dedicated to Saint Thomas Becket, patron of the city, served as a cathedral.

The Diocese of Mottola was erected in Norman times, after they conquered the city in 1023. The first bishop historically documented is John, mentioned in the diploma of 1081 in which Riccardo Siniscalco, Lord of Mottola and Castellaneta, donated some churches of Mottola and Massafra at the abbey of Cava, "assensum Ioannis Mutulensis episcopi," that is, "with the consent of John, the bishop of Mottola."

The next Bishop of Mottola was Amuro, who in December 1100 confirmed for Abbot Orso of Santa Maria di Banzi his possession of the church of San Matteo in the territory of Castellaneta. In the diploma Amuro he signs as Mutulensis atque Castellanitensis ecclesie presul, bishop of the church of Mottola and Castellaneta, suggesting that at the time the two dioceses were united with one bishop. However, the union must have been short-lived, because in 1110 the Diocese of Mottola was again autonomous. In that year Bishop Valcauso, who confirmed to the Abbot of Cava the possession of the monasteries of Sant'Angelo and of San Vito di Casalrotto, of some churches, lands and other goods.

Since its foundation, the Diocese was part of the ecclesiastical province of the Archdiocese of Taranto.

The Diocese of Mottola had several notable bishops: Bishop Angelo Pascali (1537-1550) participated in the Council of Trent; Scipione Rebiba (1551-1556), later Archbishop of Pisa and Cardinal Ludovico della Quadra (1664-1695), completed the construction Of the Rosary Chapel; in 1600 Bishop Silvestro Tufo established the diocesan seminary, and Michele Palmieri (1798-1804) was the last bishop of Mottola.

Fourteen years after the death of Palmieri, a period in which the seat remained vacant, with the agreement (6 February 1818) between Pope Pius VII and Ferdinand I of Bourbon King of Naples, the diocese was suppressed and its territories were united to the diocese of Castellaneta . This act was effected on June 27, 1818, with De utiliori of Pius VII.

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