DIOCESE OF CASSANO ALL' IONIO (CASSANENSIS).

Suffragan of Reggio. Cassano all' Ionio is a city of Calabria, province of Cosenza, situated in a fertile region in the concave recess of a steep mountain. It was already known in Caesar's time as Cassanum . It is not known when it became an episcopal see ; in 1059 mention is made of a bishop of Cassano, otherwise unknown. In 1096 we read of a bishop known as Saxo (Sassone). Other bishops worthy of mention are: Antonello dei Gesualdi (1418), learned in canon and civil law ; Belforte Spinelli (1432), who while yet a layman assisted at the Council of Constance, under Martin V was sent on important missions, and later renounced the world and retired to Venice, leaving his rich library to the Collegio Spinelli of Padua; Cristoforo Giacoazzi (1523), later Cardinal, called to Rome by Paul III on account of his skill in ecclesiastical affairs; Giovanni Angelo Medici (1553), afterwards Pius IV ; the Englishman, Audoeno Ludovico Cambrone (1588), who was sent by Pope Gregory XIII on different missions, and never resided in Cassano; the Franciscan, Deodata de Arze (1614); the two Theatines, Paolo Palombo (1617) and Gregorio Caraffa (1648); the Augustinians, Luigi Balmaseda (1670) and Vincente de Magistris (1671). The diocese has a population of 130,000, with 46 parishes, 200 churches and chapels, 253 secular and 10 regular priests, 2 religious houses of men and 3 of women.

The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed in fifteen hardcopy volumes.

Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.

No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.

Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912

Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online