Aquileia

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A former city of the Roman Empire, situated at the head of the Adriatic, on what is now the Austrian sea-coast, in the country of Goerz, at the confluence of the Anse and the Torre. It was for many centuries the seat of a famous Westernpatriarchate, and as such plays and important part inecclesiastical history, particularly in that of theHoly See and NorthernItaly.

The site is now known as Aglar, a village of 1500 inhabitants. The city arose (180 B.C.) on the narrow strip between the mountains and the lagoons, during the Illyrianwars, as a means of checking the advance of that warlike people. Its commerce grew rapidly, and whenMarcus Aurelius made it (168) the principal fortress of the empire against the barbarians of the North and East, it rose to the acme of its greatness and soon had a population of 100,000. It was pillaged in 238 by theEmperor Maximinus, and it was so utterly destroyed in 452 byAttila, that it was afterwards hard to recognize its original site. The Roman inhabitants, together with those of smaller towns in the neighbourhood, fled to the lagoons, and so laid the foundations of the city ofVenice. Aquileia arose again, but much diminished, and was once more destroyed (590) by the Lombards; after which it came under the Dukes of Friuli, was again a city of the Empire underCharlemagne, and in the eleventh century became afeudal possesion of its patriarch, whose temporal authority, however, was constantly disputed and assailed by the territorial nobility.

Ecclesiastical history

Ancient tradition asserts that thesee was founded bySt. Mark, sent thither by St. Peter, previous to his mission to Alexandria. St. Hermagoras is said to have been its firstbishop and to have died amartyr's death (c. 70). At the end of the third century (285) anothermartyr, St. Helarus (or Hilarius) wasbishop of Aquileia. In the course of the fourth century the city was the chiefecclesiastical centre for the region about the head of the Adriatic, afterwards known as Venetia and Istria. In 381, St. Valerian appears asmetropolitan of the churches in this territory; his synod of that year, held against theArians, was attended by 32 (or 24)bishops. In time part of WesternIllyria, and to the north, Noricum and Rhaetia, came under thejurisdiction of Aquileia. Roman cities likeVerona,Trent, Pola, Belluno, Feltre,Vicenza,Treviso,Padua, were among its suffragans in the fifth and sixth centuries. Asmetropolitans of such an extensive territory, and representatives of Roman civilization among theOstrogoths and Lombards, thebishops of Aquileia sought and obtained from their barbarian masters the honorific title of patriarch, personal, however, as yet to each titular of thesee. This title aided to promote and at the same time to justify the strong tendency towards independence that was quite manifest in its relations withRome, a trait which it shared with its less fortunate rival,Ravenna, that never obtained the patriarchial dignity. It was only after a long conflict that thepopes recognized the title thus assumed by themetropolitans of Aquileia. Owing to the acquiescence ofPope Vigilius in the condemnation of the"Three Chapters", in the Fifth General Council at Constantinople (553) thebishops of NorthernItaly (Liguria and Aemilia) and among among them those of the Venetia and Istria, broke off communion withRome, under the leadership of Macedonius of Aquileia (535-556). In the next decade the Lombards overran all NorthernItaly, and the patriarch of Aquileia wasobliged to fly, with the treasures of his church, to the little island of Grado, near Trieste, a last remnant of the imperial possessions in NorthernItaly. This political change did not affect the relations of thepatriarchate with theApostolic See; itsbishops, whether in Lombard or imperial territory, stubbornly refused all invitations to a reconciliation. Various efforts of thepopes atRome and the exarchs atRavenna, both peaceful and otherwise, met with persistent refusal to renew the bonds of unity until the election of Candidian (606 or 607) asMetropolitan of Aquileia (in Grado). Weary of fifty years'schism, those of his suffragans whose sees lay within the empire joined him in submission to theApostolic See; his suffragans among the Lombards persisted in theirschism. They went further, and established in Aquileia itself apatriarchate of their own, so that henceforth there were two littlepatriarchates in NorthernItaly, Aquileia in Grado and Old-Aquileia. Gradually theschism lost its vigour, and by 700 it was entirely spent; in thesynod held that year at Old-Aquileia it was formally closed. It was probably during the seventh century that thepopes recognized in themetropolitans of Grado the title ofPatriarch of Aquileia, in order to offset its assumption by themetropolitans of Old-Aquileia. In succeeding centuries in continued in use by both, but had no longer any practical significance. The Patriarchs of Old-Aquileia lived henceforth, first at Cormons, and from the eighth to the thirteenth century at Friuli (Forum Julii). In the later part of the eighth century the creation of a newmetropolitansee atSalzburg added to the humiliation of Old-Aquileia, which claimed as its own the territory of Carinthia, but wasobliged to acquiesce in the arbitration ofCharlemagne, by which Ursus of Aquileia (d. 811) wasobliged to relinquish to Arno ofSalzburg the Carinthian territory north of the Drave. Germanfeudal influence was henceforth more and more tangible in theecclesiastical affairs of Old-Aquileia. In 1011 one of itspatriarchs, John IV, surrounded by thirtybishops,consecrated the new Cathedral ofBamberg. Its influential patriarch, Poppo, or Wolfgang (1019-42)consecrated his owncathedral at Aquileia, 13 July 1031, inhonour of theBlessed Virgin Mary. in 1047, the Patriarch Eberhard, a German, assisted at the Roman synod of that year, in which it was declared that Aquileia was inferior inhonour only toRome,Ravenna, andMilan. Nevertheless, Aquileia lost gradually to othermetropolitans several of its suffragans, and when the Patriarchate of Grado was at last transferred (1451) from that insignificant place to proud and powerfulVenice, the prestige of Old-Aquileia could not but suffer notably. In the meantime, during the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries the Patriarchs of Aquileia had greatly favoured as a residenceUdine, an imperial donation, inVenetian territory. In 1348 Aquileia was destroyed by an earthquake, and itspatriarchs were henceforth, to all intents and purposes, Metropolitans ofUdine. Since the transfer of the patriarchical residence toUdine theVenetians had never lived in peace with thepatriarchate, of whose imperial favour and tendencies they were jealous. When the patriarch Louis of Teck (1412-39) compromised himself in awar betweenHungary andVenice, the latter seized on all the lands donated to thepatriarchate by theGerman Empire. The loss of his ancient temporal estate was acquiesced in a little later (1445) by the succeeding patriarch, in return for an annual salary of 5,000 ducats allowed him from theVenetian treasury. Henceforth onlyVenetians were allowed to hold the Patriarchate of Aquileia. Under the famous Domenigo Grimani (Cardinal since 1497) Austrian Friuli was added to the territory of thepatriarchate whosejurisdiction thus extended over some Austriandioceses.

Extinction of the patriarchate

The 109th and lastPatriarch of Aquileia was Daniel Dolfin (Delfino), coadjutor since 1714 of his predecessor, Dionigio Dolfin, his successor since 1734, andCardinal since 1747. TheVenetian claim to thenomination of thePatriarch of Aquileia had been met by a counter-claim on the part ofAustria since the end of the fifteenth century when, as mentioned above, Austriandioceses came to be included within thejurisdiction of thepatriarchate. Finally,Benedict XIV was chosen as arbiter. He awarded (1748-49) to the Patriarchate ofUdine theVenetian territory in Friuli, and for the Austrian possessions he created a vicariate apostolic with residence at Goerz independent of thePatriarch of Aquileia, and immediately dependent on theHoly See, in whose name alljurisdiction was exercised. This decision was not satisfactory toVenice, and in 1751 the Pope divided thepatriarchate into twoarchdioceses; one atUdine, withVenetian Friuli for its territory, the other at Goerz, withjurisdiction over Austrian Friuli. Of the ancientpatriarchate, once so proud and influential, there remained but theparish church ofAcquileia. It was madeimmediately subject to theApostolic See and to itsrector was granted the right of using episcopal insignia seven times in the year.

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