The earliest known Bishop of Gubbio is Decentius, though a letter of Pope Innocent I notes that he had predecessors. Gregory the Great (590–604) entrusted to Bishop Gaudiosus of Gubbio the spiritual care of Tadinum, about a mile from the modern Gualdo, which had been long without a bishop of its own.
Giovanni Gabrielli, lord of Gubbio, was expelled by Cardinal Albornoz (1354) and the town handed over to a pontifical vicar.[3] In 1381, however, the bishop, Gabriele Gabrielli, succeeded in being appointed pontifical vicar and again, lord of Gubbio.
The bishopric of Theobaldus Balbi, O.S.B. (1160–1179) was unfortunately a time of great upheaval in the Church. The papal conclave of September 1159 had produced two popes, and a schism. The majority of cardinals elected Cardinal Rolando Bandinelli, who called himself Pope Alexander III; a minority stood by Cardinal Octavianus de' Monticelli, who called himself Pope Victor IV. Victor was a friend and adherent of the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa.[4] While Bishop Theobaldus professed obedience to Pope Alexander, Frederick appointed as Bishop of Gubbio the Abbot of the monastery of S. Donnato, Abbot Bonactus (Bonnato). The schism thus enveloped the diocese of Gubbio.[5]
A grant to the Church of Gubbio by the Emperor Frederick, dated 8 November 1163, indicates that the Ghibellines were in full control of the city and that Bonactus was bishop-elect. Bishop Theobaldus had retreated to the monastery of Fonte Avellina, where he had been Prior before his election as bishop; there he remained until the death of the intruder Bonactus, in 1164 or 1165.[6] The schismatic Pope Victor IV died on 20 April 1164, and his schismatic successor Guido Cremensis (Antipope Paschal III) died on 20 September 1168.[7] Their successor, Joannes de Struma (Calixtus III), surrendered to the real Pope, Alexander III, on 29 August 1178. The remnants of the schism were liquidated at the Third Council of the Lateran in March 1179, by which time Bishop Theobaldus had died.[8]
From time immemorial, the bishops of Gubbio had been directly subordinate (suffragans) of the Holy See (Papacy), with no supervisory archbishop intervening, and were therefore required to attend Roman synods. But in 1563 the situation was altered. In his bull Super universas of 4 June 1563, Pope Pius IV reorganized the administration of the territories of the March of Ancona by creating a new archbishopric by elevating the bishop and Archdiocese of Urbino. He created the new ecclesiastical province of Urbino, which was to include the dioceses of Cagli, Pesaro, Fossombrone, Montefeltro, Senigallia. and Gubbio.[9] But, as a result of the resistance begun by Bishop Mariano Savelli, it was not until the eighteenth century that Urbino could exercise effective metropolitan jurisdiction.
In the 15th century, the dukedoms of Montefeltro and Urbino fell into the hands of the della Rovere family. But the family did not prosper, in terms of male heirs. In 1623, the aged duke, Francesco Maria II lost his only son to an epileptic seizure. Without suitable collateral relatives, he determined to leave his dukedoms to the Papacy, and, on 30 April 1624, the appropriate documents were registered in Rome. Taddeo Barberini, the nephew of Pope Urban VIII, took formal possession and appointed a governor, though Duke Francesco Maria continued to rule during his lifetime. When he died on 23 April 1631, Urbino, and Gubbio along with it, was incorporated into the Papal States.[10]
In accordance with the decree Christus Dominus, chapter 40, of the Second Vatican Council, on 15 August 1972 Pope Paul VI issued the decree Animorum utilitate, in which he changed the status of the diocese of Perugia, from being directly dependent upon the Holy See to being a Metropolitan archdiocese. The ecclesiastical province of Perugia was to contain as suffragans the dioceses of Assisi, Citta di Castello, Citta della Pieve, Foligno, Nocera and Tadinum, and Gubbio. The diocese of Gubbio ceased to be dependent upon the archdiocese of Urbino.[11]
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.[12]
Bishop Alessandro Sperelli (1644–1672) presided over seven diocesan synods; one was held on 10—12 July 1646, and another on 7—9 June 1650.[13] Bishop Sostegno Maria Cavalli (1725–1747) held a diocesan synod in Gubbio in 1725;[14] he held another on 13—15 September 1728.[15] Bishop Vincenzo Massi (1821–1839) held a diocesan synod on 5—7 June 1827.[16]
^M. Meyer, Die Wahl Alexander III und Victor IV (1159): Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Kirchenspaltung unter Kaiser Friedrich I (Göttingen 1871). Ferdinand Gregorovius (1896). History of the City of Rome in the Middle Ages. Vol. IV. Part II. London: G. Bell & sons. pp. 563–568. Horace Kinder Mann (1914). The lives of the popes in the early Middle Ages. Vol. X (1159-1198). London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner. pp. 8–27.
^Cappelletti, Vol. III, pp. 206-208, quotes the full bull. The bishops of those dioceses (except the Bishop of Gubbio, who objected) took their oaths to their new Metropolitan, the Archbishop of Urbino, on 4 July and 12 July: Cappelletti, Vol. III, pp. 208-209.
^Constitutiones det decreta edita ab Ill.mo et Rev.mo Dom. Alexandro Sperello Assissensis, Dei et Apostol. Sedis gratia Episcopo eugubina in Synodis celebratis... (Perugia: Sebastiano Zecchino 1651).
^Pietro Pianton, ed. (1858). Enciclopedia ecclesiastica: G-Ita (in Italian). Vol. IV. G-Ita. Venezia: Stab. tip. enciclopedico di Girolamo Tasso ed. p. 680.
^Gaudiosus: Gams, p. 699 column 1. Lanzoni, p. 482.
^Bishop Florentius was present at the Lateran synod of Pope Stephen III in 769. J.D. Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, editio novissima, Tomus XII (Florence: A. Zatta 1766), p. 715. Sarti, p. 20.
^Bishop Bennato attended the Roman synod of Pope Eugene II in 826.
^Bishop Erfo was present at the Roman synod of Pope Leo IV on 8 December 853. Some manuscripts of the proceedings give the name Joannes instead of Erfo. This has been turned by Sarti and others into two bishops of Gubbio in the same year at the same synod. J.D. Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, editio novissima, Tomus XIV (Venice: A. Zatta 1773), p. 1020. Sarti, pp. 20-21. Gams, p. 699 column 1.
^Dominicus: Sarti, pp. 21-22. Gams, p. 699 column 1.
^Joannes was present at the synod of Ravenna of April 967, and again in 968. Schwartz, p. 244. J.D. Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, editio novissima, Tomus XVIII (Venice: A. Zatta 1773), p. 503.
^Offredus, or Ofreductus, took part in the Third Council of the Lateran in March 1179. Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima collectio, Tomus XXII (Venice: A. Zatta 1778), p. 214.
^Albertus: Sarti, pp. 129-130. Eubel, Hierarchia catholica I, p. 242.
^Villanus was appointed by Pope Innocent III, after the election of another candidate, the Canon Raynaldus, was quashed. Sarti, pp. 130-135. Eubel, I, p. 242 with note 1.
^Vesianus was appointed Bishop of Gubbio by Pope Clement VI on 2 October 1346. On 14 June 1350 Vesianus was transferred to the diocese of Capua. He died in 1342. Eubel, I, pp. 165, 242.
^Gabriel Neccioli de Gabrielibus (Gabrielli) was appointed Bishop of Gubbio by Pope Gregory XI on 13 April 1377. He died in 1384, though there is a report that he was dead by September 1383. Sarti, pp. 197-201. Eubel, I, p. 242.
^Adam was appointed by Clement VII on 20 July 1384. He lived in Paris, and never took possession of the diocese of Gubbio. Sarti, p. 202. Eubel, I, p. 242 with note 9.
^Corvini was appointed bishop of Gubbio by Urban VI. On 17 January he was named Vicar in spiritualibus of the city of Rome by Urban VI. On 29 November 1390 he was transferred to the diocese of Spoleto by Pope Boniface IX. He died on 1 September 1403. Sarti, p. 203. Eubel, I, pp. 242 with note 10; 461.
^Matteo was a native of Fabriano. He died in 1405. Sarti, pp. 204-205. Eubel, I, p. 242.
^A native of Gubbio, Francesco was appointed by Pope Innocent VII of the Roman Obedience on 13 January 1406. He had previously been Abbot of S. Pietro (cf. Kehr, p. 87; Lucarelli, pp. 621-626). Sarti, pp. 205-207. Eubel, I, p. 242; II, p. 151.
^Severini was a native of Urbino, and a Canon of its cathedral Chapter. He held the degree of Doctor of Canon Law. On 14 December 1439 he was appointed Bishop of Cagli, and on 15 July 1444 he was transferred to the diocese of Gubbio by Pope Eugene IV. He died on 8 April 1472, according to Guernerio Bernio (p. 1022), or on 4 April, according to Eubel (II, p. 151). Sarti, pp. 207-209. Eubel, II, pp. 115, 151. David M. Cheney, Catholic-Hierarchy.org, "Bishop Antonio Severini"; retrieved 7 October 2016.[self-published source]
^A native of Milan and a friend of Filelfo, Griffo arrived in Rome in 1468, and became a follower of Cardinal Francesco della Rovere (Sagoniensis). At the request of Filelfo, Pope Paul II made Griffo Provost of the Collegiate Church of S. Donnino (Parma). He was a papal secretary when Cardinal della Rovere became Pope Sixtus IV. Griffo was appointed Bishop of Gubbio on 24 April 1472 by Pope Sixtus. He was transferred to the diocese of Benevento on 23 September 1482, which he administered in absentia. He died in 1485. Sarti, pp. 210-214. Eubel, II, pp. 104, 151. Michele Ansani; Gianluca Battioni (1997). Camera Apostolica: documenti relativi alle diocesi del ducato di Milano (in Italian and Latin). Milano: Unicopli. p. 41.
^A native of Perugia, Monaldi held the degree of Doctor in utroque iure, and had been Archpriest of the Cathedral Chapter of Perugia. He was appointed Bishop of Gubbio on 2 May 1639, and took possession on 18 May 1639 by proxy. He was transferred to the diocese of Perugia on 14 December 1643, upon the resignation of his brother, Cardinal Benedetto Monaldi. He died in December 1656. Sarti, pp. 231-235. Gauchat, pp. 184 with note 6; 277 with note 4.
^Sperelli was appointed a Referendary of the Tribunal of the Two Signatures. He was appointed titular Bishop of Orthosia and Auxiliary Bishop of Ostia e Velletri on 28 April 1642. He was papal Nuncio to the King of Naples from October 1652 to November 1643. He was appointed Bishop of Gubbio on 14 March 1644. He died on 19 January 1672. Sarti, pp. 235-246. Gauchat, pp. 184 with note 7; 265 with note 3.
^A native of Rome, Toti held the degree of Doctor in utroque iure from the Sapienza in Rome, and was appointed a Referendary of the Tribunal of the Two Signatures. He was appointed Bishop of Gubbio on 27 June 1672 by Pope Clement X, and was consecrated a bishop by Cardinal Carlo Pio di Savoia on 24 July. He died on 28 February 1690. Sarti, p. 246. Ritzler-Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica V, p. 197 with note 2.
^Manciforte: Sarti, pp. 248-251. Ritzler-Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica V, p. 197 with note 4.
^Cavalli: Sarti, pp. 251-253. Ritzler-Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica V, p. 197 with note 5.
^Born in Bologna in 1709, Cingari was the uncle of Bishop Alfonso Cingari of Cagli. He held the degree of Doctor in utroque iure from the University of Bologna (1736). He was serving as Vicar General of the diocese of Ravenna, first for Archbishop Farsetto and then for Archbishop Guicciolo, when he was appointed Bishop of Gubbio on 20 November 1747 by Pope Benedict XIV. He was consecrated in Rome on 26 November by Cardinal Federico Lante. He died in Gubbio on 17 June 1768. Sarti, pp. 253-254. Ritzler-Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VI, p. 210 with note 2.
^Born in Faenza in 1721, Orefici held the degree of Doctor in utroque iure, which he obtained from the University of Casena at the age of forty-six (1767). He served as pro-Vicar-General of Faenza. He was appointed Bishop of Gubbio on 19 September 1768 by Pope Clement XIII, and was consecrated in Rome on 2 October 1768 by Cardinal Giovanni Carlo Boschi. He died in Gubbio on 17 October 1784. Ritzler-Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VI, p. 210 with note 3.
^Ritzler-Sefrin, Hierarchia catholica VI, p. 210 with note 4.
^His brother Carlo was Castellan of the Castel S. Angelo from 1814 to 1836. Appointed, Archbishop of Spoleto.
^A native of Gubbio, Cardinal Giuseppe Pecci was born in 1776. He was made a Canon of the Cathedral Chapter of Gubbio in 1800, a vicar general in 1821, and the administrator of the bishopric on 22 November 1839 during the vacancy following the resignation of Bishop Massi. He was also appointed titular bishop of Caesaropolis at the same time, and consecrated in Rome on 8 December. He was appointed Bishop of Gubbio on 1 March 1841 by Pope Gregory XVI. He was named a cardinal on 30 September 1850 by Pope Pius IX. He died on 21 January 1855. Gams, p. 700 column 1. P. Cenci (1904). Umberto Benigni (ed.). Miscellanea di storia ecclesiastica e studi ausiliari (in Italian). Vol. Anno II. Roma. pp. 316–320.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) Ritzler-Sefrin, VII, pp. 124, 189; VIII, p. 46. Martin Bräuer (27 February 2014). Handbuch der Kardinäle: 1846-2012 (in German). Berlin: De Gruyter. p. 45. ISBN978-3-11-026947-5.
^On 7 December 1906, Dolci was named Apostolic Delegate in Bolivia, Peru, and Ecuador, and on 9 December 1906 appointed Titular Archbishop of Nazianzus. He was created a cardinal by Pope Pius XI on 13 March 1933. He died on 13 September 1939. Martin Bräuer (27 February 2014). Handbuch der Kardinäle: 1846-2012 (in German). Berlin: De Gruyter. p. 278. ISBN978-3-11-026947-5.
^Appointed Privy Almoner of the Office of Papal Charities; appointed Cardinal in 1923. Martin Bräuer (27 February 2014). Handbuch der Kardinäle: 1846-2012 (in German). Berlin: De Gruyter. pp. 257–258. ISBN978-3-11-026947-5.
^Pagani was appointed Bishop of Città di Castello and Bishop of Gubbio on 22 January 1972 by Pope Paul VI. On 21 November 1981, Pagani was appointed Archbishop of Perugia and Bishop of Citta della Pieve by Pope John Paul II.
Cappelletti, Giuseppe (1846). Le chiese d'Italia (in Italian). Vol. quinto (5). Venezia: G. Antonelli. pp. 355–458.
Colasanti, Arduino (1905). Gubbio (in Italian). Bergamo: Istituto italiano d'arti grafiche.
Guerriero da Gubbio (1902). Giuseppe Mazzatinti (ed.). Cronaca di Ser Guerriero da Gubbio. Raccolta degli storici italiani dal cinquencento al millecinquecento, XXI. 4 (in Italian). Citta di Castello: S. Lapi. [Chronological index, pp. 187–213, covering c. 1350–1579]
Kehr, Paul Fridolin (1909). Italia pontificia Vol. IV (Berlin: Weidmann 1909), pp. 81–97. (in Latin)
Bernio, Guernerio (1732). Muratori, Lodovico Antonio (ed.). Chronicon Eugubinum. Rerum Italicarum scriptores, XXI (in Italian). Vol. Tomus vigesimusprimus (21). ex typographia Societatis palatinae. pp. 921–1024. [covers the years 1350–1472]
Ughelli, Ferdinando; Coleti, Niccolò (1717). Italia sacra, sive De Episcopis Italiae (in Latin). Vol. Tomus primus (secunda ed.). Venice: apud Sebastianum Coleti. pp. 632–655.