Italo-Albanese Eparchy of Lungro

The Eparchy of Lungro (Italian: Eparchia di Lungro; Albanian: Eparhia e Ungrës) is an eparchy (diocese) of the Italo-Albanian Catholic Church,^[5] an Eastern Catholic church sui iuris of Byzantine Rite in Calabria, Italy. The town of Lungro is about 28 km or 17.5 mi west-southwest of Cassano all'Jonio.

CountryItaly

Ecclesiastical provinceImmediately Subject to the Holy See

Coordinates39°45′N 16°07′E

Population

Total

Catholics

(as of 2023)

32,175 ^[1]

32,000 (est.)

Quick facts Eparchy of LungroEparchia Lungrensis Eparchia di LungroEparhia e Ungrës, Location ...

Eparchy of Lungro Eparchia Lungrensis Eparchia di Lungro Eparhia e Ungrës


Location
Country	Italy
Ecclesiastical province	Immediately Subject to the Holy See
Coordinates	39°45′N 16°07′E
Statistics
Population Total Catholics	(as of 2023) 32,175 ^[1] 32,000 (est.)
Parishes	30
Information
Denomination	Italo-Albanian Catholic Church^[2]
Rite	Byzantine Rite^[3]
Established	13 February 1919
Cathedral	St Nicholas Cathedral, Lungro^[4]
Patron saint	Saint Nicholas
Secular priests	46 ^[2]
Current leadership
Pope	‹ The template Incumbent pope is being considered for deletion. › Leo XIV
Bishop	Donato Oliverio
Map

Website
eparchialungro.it

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History

Albanians and Greek rites

Beginning in the mid-15th century, under pressure from advancing hostile Turkish forces, numbers of Albanians and Slavs from western Greece, Epirus, and Albania migrated to Italy, all along the Adriatic coast, but especially to the Abruzzi and Calabria.^[6] For the most part they were Catholics, of the Greek (Byzantine) rite, and in communion with Rome. In Calabria, they did not assimilate, but kept to their own villages under the rule of their own chiefs, whose position was sanctioned by the kings of Naples. Unsympathetic Latin bishops, however, sought repeatedly to get the Greek rite Catholics to conform to Latin church expectations. This was particularly difficult in the matter of married Greek rite clergy, and the willingness of parishoners to cross the boundaries of rites to receive the sacraments.^[7]

Benedict XIV and Greek rites

In the papal bull "Etsi pastoralis" of 26 May 1742, Pope Benedict XIV attempted to remedy some of the abuses and lessen the tensions, forbidding Latin rite bishops from interfering with the use of the Greek rite. "Nor do we allow any Latin Ordinary to molest or to disturb these or any of them. And we inhibit all and any prelates or persons from blaspheming, reproving, or blaming the rites of the Greeks, which were approved in the Council of Florence or elsewhere." His measures failed to have the desired effect.^[8]

Benedict XV and investigation of solutions

After nearly two centuries of debate, dissention and disobedience in Calabria between adherents of the Latin rite and those of the Greek rite, including bishops, priests, and laity, Pope Pius X intervened and granted Bishop Giovanni Barcia, titular bishop of Croia (Croiensis), the faculties to confer holy orders on Greek rite clerics of Calabria. Barcia, however, died on 2 December 1912. Pope Benedict XV finally felt compelled to intervene. He ordered the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda fide pro negotiis rituum orientalium to prepare proposals for the administration and reformation of the churches of the Greek rite, and on 19 November 1917, their recommendation decision was taken to create a new diocese.^[9]^[10] The diocese (or eparchy) of Lungro was created in 1919, for the Greek rite members of the Italo-Albanian Catholic Church, Catholics of the Byzantine Rite who had emigrated, mostly from Epirus and Albania, to Sicily and Calabria.^[11] and made directly subject to the Holy See, and the Congregation for the Oriental Church.^[12]

Eparchy (diocese) of Lungro

The diocese received territory from the Archdiocese of Rossano, Diocese of Cassano all'Jonio and Diocese of San Marco e Bisignano.^[13]

The parish church of S. Nicholas of Myra in the town of Lungro was deemed sufficiently suitable and convenient, and was designated the new cathedral.^[14]

Realizing that the new diocese (eparchy) was too small and poor to construct and support a seminary to train junior clergy, Pope Benedict XV ordered that five positions be reserved at the new pontifical seminary located at the Basilian monastery of Cryptoferrata (Grottaferrata).^[15]

Ordinaries of the Italo-Albanese Catholic Church

(1735–1740) : Felice Samuele Rodotà^[16]
(1742–1757) : Nicolò De Marchis^[17]
(1757–1789) : Giacinto Archiopoli^[18]
(1792–1806) : Francesco Bugliari^[19]
(1807–1833) : Domenico Bellusci^[20]
(1833–1858) : Gabriele De Marchis^[21]
(1858–1875) : Agostino Franco^[22]
(1875–1888) : Giuseppe Bugliari^[23]
(1889–1896) : Giuseppe Schirò^[24]
(1902–1912) : Giovanni Barcia^[25]

Bishops of Lungro

(1919–1979) : Giovanni Mele^[26]
(1979–1987) : Giovanni Stamati^[27]
(1987–2010) : Ercole Lupinacci^[28]
(2010–2012) : Salvatore Nunnari Apostolic Administrator^[29]
(12 May 2012 – present) : Donato Oliverio^[30]

Notes

[1]
"Eparchy of Lungro degli Italo-Albanesi (Italo-Albanese)". All Dioceses. catholic-hierarchy.org. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
[2]
Roberson, Ronald G. "The Eastern Catholic Churches 2010" (PDF). Eastern Catholic Churches Statistics. Catholic Near East Welfare Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 March 2012. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
[3]
"Diocese of Lungro". Catholic Dioceses in the World. GCatholic. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
[4]
"Cathedral of St. Nicholas of Mira". Churches. Giga Catholic Information. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
[5]
Chronology of Catholic Dioceses: The Italo-Albanian Catholic Church
[6]
Edwin E. Jacques, The Albanians: An Ethnic History from Prehistoric Times to the Present, (Jefferson NC: Mc Farland [1995] 2012), pp. 194-196.
[7]
Fortescue, pp. 118-120.
[8]
Acta Apostolicae Sedis vol. 11 (Rome 1919), pp. 222-223. Fortescue, pp. 33, 102.
[9]
"...in plenariis comitiis diei decimae nonae mensis novembris anni millesimi nongentesimi decimi septimi Nobis proponendum censuerunt consilium ut graeci omnes illius regionis Galabrae, quam numero plures incolunt latinis Praesulibus subiecti, ab ordinaria iurisdictione eorumdem Latinorum Antistitum subtracti, unam constituerent graeci ritus dioecesim."
[10]
Acta Apostolicae Sedis vol. 11 (1919), pp. 222-227.
[11]
Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Italo-Greeks" . Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
[12]
Pope Benedict XV, bull "Catholici fideles," 13 February 1919, in Acta Apostolicae Sedis Vol. 11 (1919), pp. 222-225: "Proinde Nos, de Apostolicae potestatis plenitudine, protinus dioecesim graeci ritus in regione Calabriae canonice instituendam decernimus. Cui quidem dioecesi, Lungrensi nuncupandae, perpetuo attribuimus et adsignamus sequentes paroecias cum omnibus fidelibus tum graeci ritus, tum latini, si qui sunt, eas incolentibus...."
[13]
Acta Apostolicae Sedis Vol. 11 (1919), p. 224: "idcirco easdem e dioecesibus latinis, ad quas modo pertinent, dividimus ac seiungimus. Quae paroeciae sunt nempe: ex archidioecesi Rossanensi, S; Demetrio Corone, S. Giorgio Albanese, Vaccarizzo, Macchia; ex dioecesi Bisinianensi, S. Benedetto diano, S. Sofia d'Epiro; ex dioecesi Cassanensi, Acqua Formosa, Civita, Firmo, Frascineto, Lungro, Piataci, Porcile, S. Basile; ex dioecesi Angionensi, Castroregio, Farneta, S. Costantino Albanese, S. Paolo Albanese."
[14]
Acta Apostolicae Sedis Vol. 11 (1919), p. 225: "ecclesiam vero S. Nicolai Myrensis, antea paroecialem, quae decora et satis opportuna asseritur, ad dignitatem et gradum Cathedralis perpetuo evehimus atque extollimus."
[15]
Acta Apostolicae Sedis Vol. 11 (1919), p. 225.
[16]
Rodotà was born at San Benedetto Ullano, and brought up in the Greek rite. He became a priest of the diocese of Bisignano, and held the degree of master of theology. He was appointed titular archbishop of Beroe in Thrace on 17 September 1735, and was named bishop in the kingdom Sicily for the Greeks. He was granted the right to be consecrated in the Greek rite in Rome by the bishops of his choice. He was consecrated in Rome by Archbishop Basilius of Ochrid on 13 November 1735. He died in S. Benedetto Ullano on 15 October 1740. Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VI, pp 121 with note 2; 455.
[17]
De Marchis was a secular priest in the Greek rite, and was archpriest of Lungro in the diocese of Cassano all' Jonio. On 4 December 1741 he was appointed titular bishop of Nemesis (Cyprus), and approved by Pope Benedict XIV on 21 September 1742 to exercise episcopal functions in the kingdom of Naples and to bestow holy orders according to the Greek rite in the kingdom of the two Sicilies. He died on 2 June 1757. Ritzler & Sefrin VI, pp. 305 with note 3; 455.
[18]
Archiopoli was born in San Demetrio Corone in 1719, and studied at the Collegio S. Attanasio, where he became lecturer in the Greek language. He was named Rector and then President of the Greek College of S. Benedetto. He was appointed titular bishop of Gallipoli in Thrace, and consecrated in Rome on 21 December 1757 by the Greek-rite archbishop of Dyrrachium. He died 26 March (7 April) 1789. Ritzler & Sefrin VI, pp. 141 with note 2; 455. Accattatis, pp. 83-84.
[19]
Bugliari: (26 March 1792 – 17 August 1806 died) of Santa Sofia d'Epiro, titular bishop of Tagaste in Algeria. Accattatis, pp. 84-86.
[20]
Bellusci: (18 September 1807 – 2 March 1833 died) of Frascineto, titular bishop of Sinope, Turkey. Andrea Lombardi, in: Accattatis, pp. 76-82.
[21]
De Marchis: (23 June 1833 – 18 April 1858 died) from Lungro, titular bishop of Tiberiopoli in Phrygia.
[22]
Franco was a native of Mezzojuso. He was appointed titular bishop of Ermopoli Maggiore in Egypt on 15 June 1858, by Pope Pius IX. Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VIII, p. 303.
[23]
Bugliari, a native of Santa Sofia d'Epiro, was appointed titular bishop of Dausara in Osroene, on 10 September 1875, by Pope Pius IX. He died on 1 September 1888. Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VIII, p. 231.
[24]
Schirò was a native of Contessa Entellina. in the consistory of 30 December 1889, Pope Leo XIII appointed him titular bishop of Gadara in Jordan, and assigned him to administer holy orders to the Italo-Albanians of Calabria. On 29 November 1895, he was appointed archbishop of Neocesarea del Ponto: "Titularem Ecclesiam Archiepiscopalem Neocaesarien. vacan, per obitum bo. me. Petri Ioannis Iosephi Soubiranne, ultimi illius Archipraesulis, extra romanam curiam defuncti, favore R. P. D. Iosephi Schirò, Episcopi titularis Gadarensis." Acta Sanctae Sedis Vol. 22 (1889–1890), p. 336; Vol. 28 (1895–1896), p. 327.
[25]
Barcia, a ntive of Palazzo Adriano, was appointed titular bishop of Croia in Albania on 24 April 1902, by Pope Leo XIII. He died on 2 December 1912. David M. Cheney, Catholic-Hierarchy.org, "Bishop Giovanni Barcia"; retrieved 16 August 2026.^{[self-published source]}. Ritzler & Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VIII, p. 231.
[26]
Melè, a native of Acquaformosa (Diocese of Cassano all’Jonio), became a parish priest of Lungro. He was appointed bishop of Lungro for the Greek rite in the consistory of 10 March 1919, by Pope Benedict XV. He died on 10 February 1979. Acta Apostolicae Sedis Vol. 11 (1919), p. 102: "Cathedrali ecclesiae Lungrensi ritus graeci in Calabra regione nuper erectae, R. D. Ioannem Mele, parochum loci vulgo Lungro."
[27]
Stamati was appointed titular bishop of Stephaniacum (Epirus, Albania) and Apostolic Administrator of Lungro on 25 March 1967, by Pope Paul VI. He was named bishop of Lungro on 20 February 1979, by Pope John Paul II. He died on 7 June 1987. Acta Apostolicae Sedis 59 (1967), p. 745; 79 (1987), p. 1032.
[28]
Lupinacci had been bishop of Piana degli Albanesi (1981–1987). On 17 November 1987, he was named a member of the Pontifical Commission for the revision of the Oriental Code of Canon Law. He was named bishop of Lungro on 30 November 1987, by Pope John Paul II. He retired on 10 August 2010, and died on 6 August 2016. Acta Apostolicae Sedis 79 (1987, p. 1424. David M. Cheney, Catholic-Hierarchy.org, "Bishop Ercole Lupinacci"; retrieved 16 August 2026.^{[self-published source]}.
[29]
Nunnari was Archbishop of Sant’Angelo dei Lombardi-Conza-Nusco-Bisaccia. He was given the additional duty of apostolic administrator of Lungro by Pope Benedict XVI on 10 August 2010. He resigned on 12 May 2012, upon the appointment of Bishop Donato Oliverio.
[30]
Oliverio was appointed on 12 May 2012, by Pope Benedict XVI. David M. Cheney, Catholic-Hierarchy.org, "Bishop Donato Oliverio"; retrieved 16 August 2026.^{[self-published source]}. EPARCHIA DI LUNGRO degli Italo Albanesi dell’Italia Continentale, Vescovo, "Biografia"; (in Italian); retrieved 16 August 2026.

Italo-Albanese Eparchy of Lungro

History

Albanians and Greek rites

Benedict XIV and Greek rites

Benedict XV and investigation of solutions

Eparchy (diocese) of Lungro

Ordinaries of the Italo-Albanese Catholic Church

Bishops of Lungro

See also

Notes

Sources

Episcopal and diocesan lists

Studies

External links

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