Cathedrals and important churches

The former Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Cerreto antiquo is in a ruined state.^[8]

The diocese now has its episcopal seat in the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity and S. Leonardo in Cerreto Sannita.^[9] The cathedral was administered by a corporation called the Chapter, which was composed of four dignities (the Archdeacon, the Primicerius major, the Primicerius minor, and the Archpriest) and ten canons. Due to the insalubrious state of Telese, the canons were non-residential.^[10] In 1675, after the entire ecclesiastical establishment had moved to Cerreto, there were four dignities and twelve canons.^[11] In 1747, there were four dignities and eleven canons.^[12]

There is also a Co-Cathedral, the Concattedrale di S. Maria Assunta, in Sant’Agata de’ Goti.^[13]

There is also a minor basilica, the Basilica-Santuario di S. Maria Assunta e S. Filippo Neri, in Guardia Sanframondi, which had been rebuilt on earlier foundations and consecrated in 1465, and then again rebuilt after the great earthquake of 1688. The Oratorians of S. Philip Neri had been granted the use of the church by Pope Alexander VII in 1655.^[14]

After the French

Following the extinction of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy, the Congress of Vienna authorized the restoration of the Papal States and the Kingdom of Naples. Since the French occupation had seen the abolition of many Church institutions in the Kingdom, as well as the confiscation of much Church property and resources, it was imperative that Pope Pius VII and King Ferdinand IV reach agreement on restoration and restitution. Ferdinand demanded the suppression of fifty dioceses.^[15]

A concordat was finally signed on 16 February 1818, and ratified by Pius VII on 25 February 1818. Ferdinand issued the concordat as a law on 21 March 1818.^[16] On 27 June 1818, Pius VII issued the bull De Ulteriore, in which the ecclesiastical province of Benevento was restored, including it suffragans, among them the united dioceses of Cerreto e Telese.^[17] The decision was also made to suppress permanently the diocese of Alife, and to incorporate its territory into the diocese of Cerreto e Telese.^[18]

On 15 January 1820, after numerous protests, Pope Pius VII issued the bull "Adorandi Servatoris", by which he revoked and annulled the provisions of the bull "De Ulteriore" so far as they commanded the suppression of the diocese of Alife.^[19] There was, however, an additional provision: that one and the same bishop would be the bishop of Alife and the bishop of Telese at the same time. aeque personaliter. He was to be called the bishop of "Alife e Telese".^[20]

On 6 July 1852, in the bull "Compertum Nobis", Pope Pius IX made the decision to reverse the judgment of Pope Pius VII and restore the independence of the diocese of Alife, thereby separating its territory again from the power of the bishop of Cerreto e Telese.^[21]

Diocesan Reorganization

Following the Second Vatican Council, and in accordance with the norms laid out in the council's decree, Christus Dominus chapter 40,^[22] Pope Paul VI ordered a reorganization of the ecclesiastical provinces in southern Italy, beginning with consultations among the members of the Congregation of Bishops in the Vatican Curia, the Italian Bishops Conference, and the various dioceses concerned.

On 18 February 1984, the Vatican and the Italian State signed a new and revised concordat. Based on the revisions, a set of Normae was issued on 15 November 1984, which was accompanied in the next year, on 3 June 1985, by enabling legislation. According to the agreement, the practice of having one bishop govern two separate dioceses at the same time, aeque personaliter, was abolished. The Vatican continued consultations which had begun under Pope John XXIII for the merging of small dioceses, especially those with personnel and financial problems, into one combined diocese.

On 30 September 1986, Pope John Paul II ordered that the dioceses of Diocese of Telese-Cerreto Sannita and S. Agatha Gothorum be merged into one diocese with one bishop, with the Latin title Dioecesis Cerretana-Thelesina-Sanctae Agathae Gothorum. The seat of the diocese was to be in Cerreto, whose cathedral was to serve as the cathedral of the merged diocese. The cathedral in S. Agatha Gothorum was to have the honorary title of "co-cathedral"; the Chapter was to be a Capitulum Concathedralis. There was to be only one diocesan Tribunal, in Molfetta, and likewise one seminary, one College of Consultors, and one Priests' Council. The territory of the new diocese was to include the territory of the suppressed diocese. The new diocese was a suffragan of the archdiocese of Benevento.^[23]