Diocese of Orvieto-Todi

The Diocese of Orvieto-Todi (Latin: Dioecesis Urbevetana-Tudertina) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in central Italy. It was created in 1986 when the historical Diocese of Orvieto was united to the Diocese of Todi. The Diocese of Orvieto-Todi is immediately exempt to the Holy See and not part of any ecclesiastical province.

History

During the Gothic War, Orvieto was defended by the Goths for a long time. Later, it fell into the hands of the Lombards (606). From the latter end of the tenth century the city was governed by consuls, who, however, took the oath of fealty to the bishop; but from 1201 it governed itself through a podestà (in that year, the Bishop Richard) and a captain of the people. On account of its position on the top of a volcanic outcrop, Orvieto was often chosen by the popes as a place of refuge, and Pope Adrian IV (1154–1159), who visited the city in September and October 1156, had it fortified.

The first known Bishop of Orvieto was John (about 590), and in 591 appears a Bishop Candidus; among its other prelates were Bishop Constantinus, O.P., sent by Pope Alexander IV in 1255 to Greece as his Legate, where he died in 1257;

In 1528 Pope Clement VII sought refuge at Orvieto, after the sack of Rome, and while there ordered the construction of the "Pozzo di San Patrizio" (the well of St. Patrick), by Antonio da Sangallo; it was completed in the reign of Pope Paul III (1534–1549).

Bishop Sebastiano Vanzi (1562–1570) participated in the 17th through 25th sessions of the Council of Trent (1562–1563) as one of the Definitori (legal draftsmen).