Catholic Intelligence

Diocese of Acireale

Iacien(sis)

The Diocese of Acireale is a Latin Church diocese in Sicily, Italy, established in 1844 though it did not receive its first bishop until 1872. Since 2000 it has been a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Catania.

The see

Rank
Diocese immediately subject to the Holy See
Tradition
Latin Church
Erected
27 June 1844
Latin
Iacien(sis)
Patron
Maria Santissima Annunziata
Annuario code
001000597

The see in figures

Catholics
229,000
Population
233,000
Catholic share
98.3%

of the people living within its bounds

Priests
152
Catholics per priest
1,507
Extent
665 km²
Catholics per km²
344

Figures as recorded in the register, from the Annuario Pontificio and the see's own published statements. Shares and ratios are computed from the two figures shown beside them.

The bishop

Bishop
Antonino Raspanti
Born
20 June 1959
Birthplace
Alcamo

A see whose chair stands empty is recorded as vacant rather than filled with a guess. On what a bishop is, see the bishop.

The cathedral

Basilica Cattedrale di Maria Santissima Annunziata stands in Acireale, the church that holds the cathedra from which this see takes its name.

On what a cathedral is, see the cathedral; every see church on earth is gathered at the cathedrals.

The province of Catania

A suffragan of Archdiocese of Catania.

The sees of this province:

On how the Church is ordered into provinces, see the diocese.

History

This Sicilian see (Latin: Dioecesis Iaciensis) had an unusual beginning: created on paper in 1844, it was not actually founded, and received no bishop, until 1872. For well over a century afterward, from 1872 to 2000, Acireale answered directly to the Holy See. Since 2000 it has been a suffragan of the archdiocese of Catania.

What is kept by invitation

The record above is published because it is public: what this see is, when it was erected, who holds its chair, and where it stands among its neighbours.

The working record is not. The chancery's address, telephone and email, the clergy of the see, and the hours of Mass, confession and adoration in the parishes within it are kept for members, and a person reads every request.

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Sources

The see's own website · Wikipedia

This record is compiled from the published statements of the see and the references of the Holy See, among them the Annuario Pontificio. On the method, see the keeping of the record. Whoever finds an error is asked, in charity, to write: [email protected].