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The Diocese of Aleria (Latin Dioecesis Aleriensis) was a Roman Catholic diocese of the Latin rite, in the center of the eastern coast of the island of Corsica in the Department of Haute-Corse. The town of Aleria was subject to repeated raids by Arab fleets in the eighth and ninth centuries, and eventually abandoned, many of its people fleeing to the mainland. The bishop moved to a secure stronghold to the north. From at least the eleventh century, the diocese was a suffragan of the metropolitan archdiocese of Pisa. The diocese was suppressed by the Civil Constitution of the Clergy in 1790, and was not revived after the Concordat of 1801 between the French Consulate and the Papacy. It has been a titular diocese since 2002.
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History
There is evidence that Corsica was being converted to Christianity in the late 6th century. Pope Gregory I wrote in 597 to Bishop Peter of Aleria to recover lapsed converts and to convert more pagans from the worship of trees and sacred stones (menhir). He sent him money for baptismal robes. In 601, however, Aleria was without a bishop. Gregory had sent a certain Bishop Leo as Apostolic Visitor to deal with the situation in Corsica, where there had been no bishop for some time. Pope Gregory addresses Leo as episcopus in Corsica, bishop in Corsica, not bishop of Corsica, and authorizes him to perform ordinations of priests and deacons. While Leo was still in Corsica, Pope Gregory sent a second bishop, Martinus to join in the Visitation.
With the Arab invasions, the town of Aleria was destroyed and abandoned. The bishop and cathedral retreated to the hillside town of Cervione, above the beach of Campoloro, some 25 km north of Aleria. In 846, Adelbert the tutor Corsicanae insulae informed Pope Sergius II that a force of 11,000 Saracens, with 73 ships and 500 cavalry, had come. Pope Leo IV (849–855) allowed the people of Corsica, who were fleeing from the Saracens, to settle in the town of Porto
By the time of Pope Alexander II (1061–1073) there were several bishops functioning in Corsica again. In 1077 Pope Gregory VII (1073–1085) entrusted the dioceses of the island to the Bishop of Pisa as his Vicar. The Pope expresses happiness that the people of Corsica, after having for such a long time been subjected to the justice of the invaders, wish to return to the justice of the Holy Roman Church.
In 1713 there were some 200 people living in Aleria, under the government of the Genoese, though ecclesiastically they belonged to the Metropolitan of Pisa. There were 18 towns and villages in the diocese. In 1770, at the beginning of the French domination of Corsica, the bishop no longer lived in Aléria, but in Cervione. The Cathedral Chapter had one dignity and twelve Canons. The diocese had 160 parishes.
On 29 November 1801, in accordance with the Napoleontic Concordat of 1801, it was suppressed as the territory of the diocese of Ajaccio was extended to the whole of Corsica.
Today, Aleria is no longer a residential bishopric, but the name was revived as a titular see in April 2002.