Vercelli

Please help support the mission of New Advent and get the full contents of this website as an instant download. Includes the Catholic Encyclopedia, Church Fathers, Summa, Bible and more — all for only $19.99...

(VERCELLENSIS).

Archdiocese in the Province ofNovara,Piedmont,Italy. The city of Vercelli is an important commercial centre for agricultural produce. Thecathedral, erected and enlarged bySt. Eusebius, formerly adorned with precious pillars andmosaics, was remodelled in the ninth century, and radically changed in the sixteenth byCount Alfieri. Like the other churches in the city it contains valuablepaintings, especially those ofGaudenzio Ferrari, Giovenone, and Lanino, who were natives of Vercelli. Noteworthy also are Sta. Maria Maggiore and Sant' Andrea. The latter was erected by Cardinal Guala Bicchieri (1219) together with the oldCistercianmonastery, one of the most beautiful and best preserved Romanesque monuments inItaly. There is an Institute of the Beaux-Arts, containingpaintings by Vercellese artists. There are many relics of the Roman period, e.g. an amphitheatre, hippodrome, sarcophagi, many important inscriptions, some of which areChristian. There are oldcharitable institutions, like thehospital founded by Cardinal Guala Bicchieri (11224), which has an annual revenue of more than 600,000lire ($117,000); the hospices fororphan girls (1553), and for boys (1542), andmendicant homes. The archives of themetropolitan chapter contain valuablemanuscripts, including an evangelarium of the fourth century, the "Novels" of Justinian, the "Leges Langobardorum", the "Capitulare regum Francorum", also hagiographicalmanuscripts not all of which have been critically examined, and a very old copy of the"Imitation of Christ", which is relied upon as an argument for attributing the authorship of the work to John Gersen. The civil archives are not less important, and contain documentsdating from 882. The extensiveseminary contains a largelibrary.

Vercellae (Vercelum) was a city of the Libici, or Lebecili, a Ligurian tribe; it became an importantmunicipium, near which in 101 B.C. Marius defeated the Cimbri and the Teutones, and Stilicho annihilated theGoths 500 years later. It was half ruined inSt. Jerome's time. After the Lombard invasion it belonged to the Duchy ofIvrea. From 885 it was under thejurisdiction of thebishop, who was a count of the empire. It became an independent commune in 11120, and joined the first and second Lombard leagues. Itsstatutes are among the most interesting of those of themedieval republics. In 1197 they abolished the servitude of theglebe. In 1228 theUniversity of Pavia was transferred to Vercelli, where it remained till the fourteenth century, but without gaining much prominence. Only auniversityschool of law has been maintained. During the troubles of the thirteenth century it fell into the power of the Della Torre ofMilan (1263), of the Marquesses of Monferrato (1277), who appointed Matteo Visconti captain (1290-9). TheGhibellines (Tizzoni) andGuelphs (Avogadri) disputed the city from 1301 to 1334, the latter party being expelled several times, thus enabling the Marquess of Monferrato to take Vercelli (1328), whichvoluntarily placed itself under the Viscount ofMilan in 1334. In 1373 Bishop Giovanni Fieschi expelled the Visconti, but Matteo reconquered the city. Facino Cane (1402), profiting by the strife between Giovani Maria and Filippo Maria Visconti, took Vercelli, but was driven out by Teodoro di Monferrato (1404), from whom the city passed to the dukes ofSavoy (1427). In 1499 and 1553 it was captured by the French, and in 1616 and 1678 by theSpaniards. In 1704 it sustained an energetic siege by the French, who failed to destroy the fortress; after this it shared the fortunes ofSavoy. In 1821 Vercelli rose in favour of the Constitution.

According to an ancient lectionary the Gospel was first preached here in the second half of the third century by Sts. Sabinianus and Martialis,bishops from Gaul, when they were returning to theirdioceses. Theepiscopal see was not established till after the Peace of Constantine. The firstbishop wasSt. Eusebius, aSardinian, alector of theRoman Church and a strenuous opponent ofArianism. From Vercelli the Gospel spread through the valley of the Po and its environs; towards the end of the fourth century, perhaps even during the episcopate ofSt. Eusebius, newdioceses were erected. FromEusebius to Nottingo (830) there were fortybishops, whose images were preserved in the Eusebian basilica, so called becauseSt. Eusebius dedicated it to St. Theonestus,martyr, and wasinterred in it. He introduced the common and monastic life among hisclergy, from whombishops for the surrounding territory were often selected. Among his successors were: St. Simenus (370), whobaptized andconsecratedSt. Ambrose;St. Honoratus (396), who administered theViaticum to St. Ambrose; St. Justinianus (living in 451); St. Æmilianus (about 500) built an aqueduct for the city at his own expense; St. Flavianus (541); St. Celsus (665); Norgaudus (844) restored common life among the canons; Liutuardus (880), who had been archchancellor of Charles the Fat (deposed later); and who was slain during the invasion of the Huns (899), like Regenbertus (904-24); Atto (d. 960), reformer ofecclesiastical discipline; Petrus (978),imprisoned in the Holy Land by theEgyptianMussulmans; Leo (999), chancellor ofOtto III and Henry II; Gisulfus (1133) re-established common life among the canons in 1144; St. Albertus (1185-1204), founder of the chair oftheology, laterPatriarch ofJerusalem; Renerio Avogadro (1296) opposed the partisans of theheretic Fra Dolcino; Guglielmo Didier (1437), an elector ofFelix V,antipope; Giuliano della Rovere (1502), laterPope Julius II (1503); Cardinal Guido Ferrerio (1562), founder of theseminary, embellished thecathedral and introduced theTridentine reform; Gianfrancesco Bonomo (1572) continued the reform and replaced (1573) the Eusebian Rite by the Roman. In 1817 the Diocese of Vercelli, then suffragan ofTurin (but previously ofMilan) was made an archdiocese, the firstarchbishop being Giuseppe di Grimaldi. Thedioceses suffragan to Vercelli are: Alessandri,Biella,Casale,Novara, Vigevano. The archdiocese contains 136parishes; 250,000 inhabitants; 447 secular and 33regular priests; 7 houses of religious (men) and 4 ofnuns; 4educational institutes for boys and 8 for girls. The religious periodicals are "L'unione" (weekly) and "La santa infanzia" (monthly).

CONTACT US |ADVERTISE WITH NEW ADVENT