Muro-Lucano, Diocese of

Diocese of Muro-Lucano

(MURANENSIS)

Located in the province of Potenza, in Basilicata, southern Italy. The town is situated on the site of the ancient Numistri, at the foot of the Apennines, the scene of a battle between Hannibal and Marcellus in the second Punic war. The town has a beautiful cathedral; and it was in its castle that Queen Joan of Naples was killed by order of her adopted son Carlo of Durazzo. The first Bishop of Muro of whom there is mention was Leo (1049). Its bishop Antonio (1376) became a partisan of the antipope Clement VII; he was therefore driven by Carlo of Durazzo to seek refuge at Polsino, whereupon Clement VII suppressed the Diocese of Muro. In 1418, however, Guiduccio de Porta was appointed to this see; he was a virtuous man, and learned in civil, as well as in canon law; among his successors were Flavio Orsini (1560), who became a cardinal; the poet Gian Carlo Coppola (1643), who later became Bishop of Gallipoli, his native town; Alfonso Pacello (1674), founder of a congregation of priests for the care of the sick of the diocese. The see is suffragan of Conza; it has 12 parishes, with 40,280 inhabitants, 100 secular priests, 2 religious houses of women, and an educational establishment for girls.

CAPPELLETTI, Le Chiese d'Italia, XX (Venice. 1857).

U. BENIGNI.