The Diocese of Lamezia Terme () is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church in Calabria. In 1818 the ancient see of Martirano, the former Mamertum (the first bishop of which was Domnus, in 761), was united to the diocese of Nicastro. The diocese was then a suffragan of the archdiocese of Reggio in Calabria. In 1986, the historic Diocese of Nicastro had its name changed. It is currently called the Diocese of Lamezia Terme, and it is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Catanzaro-Squillace. The name change reflects the incorporation of the comune of Nicastro into Lamezia Terme, an administrative change of 1968 on the part of the State of Italy.
The earliest appearance of the name Nicastro is in the Diatyposis (ÃÂÃÂñ äñúÃÂùúì) of Leo the Wise, composed at Constantinople around 900. Nicastro is listed twelfth and last among the bishops of the Greek Metropolitanate of Reggio Calabria. For a long time, the Greek Rite was in use at Nicastro.
The church in the village below the citadel of Nicastro was built and endowed by the Norman Aumberga, the niece of Robert Guiscard and sister of Count Richard Dapifer, the son of Drago. It became the Cathedral of St Peter. In 1101, Count Richard the Dapifer transferred to the diocese of Nicastro property and chattels which had belonged to Aumberga in the territory between Agarena and Nicastro. The first bishop of this city of whom there is any record was Henricus (1094), who is mentioned in the donation. Among the ten subscribers to the charter are Archbishop Robert of Reggio Calabria and Bishop Sasso of Cassano, who was serving as Papal Vicar in Calabria for Pope Paschal II.
Pope Calixtus II visited Nicastro on 9 December 1121, on his way from Taranto to Catanzaro.
Bishop Tancredo da Monte Foscolo (1279âÂÂ1290) was deposed by Pope Nicholas IV for having consecrated James II of Sicily, but he was reinstated by Pope Boniface VIII.
In 1638 a major earthquake struck Calabria. Nicastro was very severely hit. All the buildings were damaged or destroyed, and some 1200 people lost their lives. At Martirano the death toll was 517. The old cathedral of Nicastro, built by the generosity of Aumberga, was destroyed by the earthquake. A new cathedral was erected in a more expansive location by Bishop Perrone. The cathedral was served by a Chapter composed, in 1680, of six dignities and fourteen Canons. The dignities were: the Dean, the Archdeacon, the Cantor, the Treasurer, the Cappellanus Major, and the Penitentiary; the Cappellanus Major was pastor of the cathedral parish. In 1773 there were seven dignities and twenty-four Canons. The town had three other parishes besides the Cathedral: S. Teodoro (governed by the Archdeacon), Santa Maria Maggiore, and Santa Lucia.
In Nicastro there was a convent of the Franciscans, founded in 1400 by the Conventual Franciscans and dedicated to S. Maria della Grazia; it was taken over by the Observant Franciscans and then in 1594 by the Reformed Franciscans. There was also a convent of the Dominicans, established in 1502 and dedicated to the Annunciation; it was made a stadium generale by Father General Niccolò Ridolfi. The Capuchins established the convent of S. Maria degli Angeli in 1545; provincial chapters of the Order met there in 1550, 1556 and 1618. All three were suppressed in 1809 and converted into other uses.
In 1968, the government of the Italian Republic annexed the town of Nicastro to the city of Lamezia. In 1985, following the signing of a revised concordat with the Italian Republic, the Vatican Secretary of State issued a set of instructions (Normae) for implementing some of its provisions, "so that the names [of dioceses] might be more appropriately accommodated to new circumstances, and better respond to the current necessities of civil and social life." On 27 September 1986, after appropriate consultations, Pope John Paul II granted permission to the Congregation of Bishops to implement the norms. In the case of Nicastro, the Congregation issued a decree on 30 September 1986, in which the long-standing name of "Neocastrenses" was retained for business of the Curia (i.e. for ecclesiastical matters), but in the vernacular it was to be referred to as "Diocesi di Lamezia Terme".
Latin Name: Neocastrensis<br> Metropolitan: Archdiocese of Reggio Calabria
Name Changed: 30 September 1986<br> Latin Name: Neocastrensis<br> Metropolitan: Archdiocese of Catanzaro-Squillace