The Archdiocese of Florence (Latin: Archidioecesis Florentina) is a Latin Church metropolitan see of the Catholic Church in Italy. It was traditionally founded in the 1st century, according to the 14th century chronicler Giovanni Villani. The diocese was directly subordinate to the Holy See (Papacy) until 1420.
Florence was elevated to the dignity of an archdiocese on 10 May 1419, by Pope Martin V. The ecclesiastical province of Florence, of which the Archbishop of Florence is the metropolitan, includes the suffragan dioceses of Arezzo-Cortona-Sansepolcro, Fiesole, Pistoia, Prato, and San Miniato.
The seat of the Archbishop of Florence is Florence Cathedral, otherwise the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore. Since 24th June 2024 Archbishop Gherardo Gambelli has been the Archbishop of Florence.
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History
On 29 July 1322, Pope John XXII reserved to the pope the right to nominate as well as confirm the bishops of Florence.
Due to heavy rains in the autumn and winter of 1346–1347, the crops were a failure, in wheat as well as in grapes and olives. By May 1347 the price of wheat in Florence had doubled. Arrangements were made to import grain from south Italy, Sicily and Africa, but the merchants of Siena and Genoa, who were contracted to transport the foodstuffs, kept half for their own cities. 94,000 inhabitants of Florence were dependent upon municipal charity, and some 4,000 were said to have died of starvation.
Then, in April 1348, the pestilence known as the Black Death, struck Florence. By July nearly 100,000 people were dead. The historian Giovanni Villani estimated that nearly three out of every five persons in Florence and its neighborhood had been struck down. Ultimately he himself succumbed. In his famous introduction to the Decameron, Giovanni Boccaccio repeats the number 100,000 and provides harrowing details of the breakdown of social connections and human feelings.
Other episodes of pestilence in Florence occurred in 1325, 1340, 1344, 1363, 1509, 1522–1528, and 1630.
Council of Florence
In 1438, the Council of Basel was moved to Ferrara, and, in doing so, split into two factions, one remaining at Basel and electing their own pope, the Antipope Felix V. The faction that settled at Ferrara had to leave soon, however, due to an appearance of the plague. They were reconstituted at Florence by Pope Eugenius IV, and became the Council of Florence, which was transferred to Rome in 1443.
Chapter and cathedral
The current cathedral of Florence is dedicated to the Assumption of the Body of the Virgin Mary into Heaven. The cathedral was originally dedicated to S. John the Baptist, and occupied the former temple of Mars. When it became too small for the clergy and necessary rituals, a new cathedral, dedicated to S. Reparata, was built.
In 816, the Emperor Louis the Pious held a council at Aix, at which it was ordered that Canons and Canonesses live together according to a set of rules (canons, regulae). In the Roman synod of Pope Eugene II of November 826, it was ordered that Canons live together in a cloister next to the church. In 876, the Council of Pavia decreed in Canon X that the bishops should enclose the Canons: uti episcopi in civitatibus suis proximum ecclesiae claustrum instituant, in quo ipsi cum clero secundum canonicam regulam Deo militent, et sacerdotes suos ad hoc constringant, ut ecclesiam non relinquant et alibi habitare praesumant. The cathedral was administered by a Chapter, composed of five dignities and thirty-seven Canons. The dignities were: the Provost, the Archdeacon, the Archpriest, and the Dean.
The diocese also had twelve collegiate churches, the most important of which is San Lorenzo.
Diocesan synods
A diocesan synod was an irregularly held, but important, meeting of the bishop of a diocese and his clergy. Its purpose was (1) to proclaim generally the various decrees already issued by the bishop; (2) to discuss and ratify measures on which the bishop chose to consult with his clergy; (3) to publish statutes and decrees of the diocesan synod, of the provincial synod, and of the Holy See.
Bishops of Florence
Metropolitan Archbishops of Florence
Leone Strozzi, O.S.B. (21 Jun 1700 – 4 October 1703 Died)
Tommaso Bonaventura della Gherardesca (12 Nov 1703 – 21 September 1721 Died)
Giuseppe Maria Martelli (2 Mar 1722 – 10 February 1740 Resigned)
Francesco Gaetano Incontri (29 May 1741 – 25 March 1781 Died)
Antonio Martini (25 Jun 1781 – 31 December 1809 Died)
Pietro Francesco Morali (15 March 1815 – 29 September 1826 Died)
Ferdinando Minucci (28 Jan 1828 – 2 July 1856 Died)
Giovacchino Limberti (3 Aug 1857 – 27 October 1874 Died)
Eugenio Cecconi (21 Dec 1874 – 15 June 1888 Died)
Agostino Bausa, O.P. (11 Feb 1889 – 15 April 1899 Died)
Alfonso Mistrangelo, Sch. P. (19 Jun 1899 – 7 November 1930 Died)
Elia Dalla Costa (19 Dec 1931 – 22 December 1961 Died)
Ermenegildo Florit (9 Mar 1962 Succeeded – 3 June 1977 Retired)
Giovanni Benelli (3 Jun 1977 – 26 October 1982 Died)
Silvano Piovanelli (18 Mar 1983 – 21 March 2001 Retired)
Ennio Antonelli (2001–2008)
Churches
Santa Maria e Santa Brigida al Paradiso