Ecclesiastical province Benevento Established 1st Century Country Italy Emeritus bishop Serafino Sprovieri | Parishes 117 Area 1,691 km² Archbishop Felice Accrocca Secular priests 216 | |
Population- Total- Catholics (as of 2012)272,000270,000 (99.3%) Cathedral Benevento Cathedral (Benevento) | ||
The Italian Catholic Archdiocese of Benevento (Latin: Archidioecesis Beneventana) has a long history; it now has as suffragan dioceses the diocese of Ariano Irpino-Lacedonia, the diocese of Avellino, the diocese of Cerreto Sannita-Telese-Sant'Agata de' Goti, the Territorial Abbey of Montevergine, and the archdiocese of Sant'Angelo dei Lombardi-Conza-Nusco-Bisaccia.
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History
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Benevento was founded in the first century. During the persecution of Diocletian we find mentioned a bishop of this city Januarius who together with Proculus his deacon and two laymen was imprisoned and beheaded at Pozzuoli in 305. The see of Benevento was elevated in status to an archdiocese on 26 May 969. The cathedral of Maria SS. Assunta in Cielo was founded in Lombard times, but was destroyed by Allied bombings in World War II; it has kept the medieval Romanesque façade and bell tower, and the 8th century crypt.