The Diocese of Fiesole () is a Latin diocese of the Catholic Church in Tuscany, central Italy, whose episcopal see is the city of Fiesole. Fiesole was directly subject to the pope until 1420, when the archdiocese of Florence was created and Fiesole was made one of its suffragan bishops. It is still a suffragan of the Metropolitan Archbishopric of Florence.
History
According to local legend the Gospel was first preached at Fiesole by Messius Romulus, said to have been a disciple of St. Peter. Documentary evidence, however, is from the 9th and 10th centuries. The fact that the ancient cathedral (now the Abbazia Fiesolana) stands outside the city is an indication that the Christian origins of Fiesole date from after the period of the persecutions. The earliest mention of a bishop of Fiesole comes at the end of the 5th century, in a letter of Pope Gelasius I (492–496), though the name of the bishop is not given.
A half-century later, under Pope Vigilius (537–555), a Bishop Rusticus is mentioned as papal legate at one of the councils of Constantinople. At the end of the 6th century, Fiesole was destroyed in the Lombard invasions, and its surviving population fled to Luni. There appears to have been no bishop of Fiesole in 599, when a priest and a deacon of the clergy of Fiesole, who were trying to rebuild the churches, which lay in ruins. They appealed for help to Pope Gregory I, who wrote a letter in May 599 to Bishop Venantius of Luni, asking him to contribute twenty solidi, or more if he has the resources, to the restoration project.
By the mid-9th century, Fiesole had been the victim of an attack of the Normans, who destroyed the archives.
Bishop Donatus of Fiesole, an Irish monk, was the friend and adviser of Emperors Louis the Pious and Lothair I. He was elected after 826, served for forty-seven years, and was buried in the Cathedral of S. Zeno, where his epitaph, which he dictated personally, may still be seen. He founded the abbey of San Martino di Mensola.
Bishop Zenobius in 890 founded the monastery of St. Michael at Passignano, which was afterwards given to the Vallombrosan monks. A second Bishop Zenobius (c. 966-968) established the Chapter of Canons of S. Zeno, who were given a canonica next to the church of S. Maria Intemerata.
Other bishops included Atinolfo (1038), who opposed papal reform.
In 1167, Fiesole became involved in one of its many wars with Florence, and lost. Bishop Rodulfus requested permission from Pope Alexander III to transfer the seat of his bishopric to the more secure castle of Figline, and he is actually addressed in one letter as ep. Figlinense et Faesulano. The pope granted his request and authorized the consecration of the church at Figline as his cathedral and baptistery. He ordered him, however, to leave the monasteries in the area, especially that of Passiniano, untouched. In retaliation the Florentines completely destroyed the castle, and, to prevent its being rebuilt, they compelled the Bishop to reside in Florence at the Church of S. Maria in Campo. The unsatisfactory situation seems to have persisted for some time, for, on 16 December 1205, Pope Innocent III sent a mandate to the Abbot of Vallombrosa and Canon Gualando of Pisa, to summon the bishop and canons of Fiesole and the podestà, consuls, and councilors of Florence to a meeting, to find a suitable place in the diocese of Fiesole to which the seat of the bishop could be transferred. The issues were still precarious at the end of the 13th century, when the bishop of Fiesole had to apply to Bishop Francesco Monaldeschi of Florence for license for the Vicar of Fiesole to conduct an ordination at S. Maria in Campo.
In 1219, Pope Honorius III became increasingly uneasy about reports which were reaching him concerning the activities of Bishop Rainerius of Fiesole. He had fallen prey to his carnal appetites, was behaving like a teenager (in aetate senili juveniliter operetur), and was spending all his money, and the money belonging to the diocese, on the pursuit of pleasure (carnalibus desideriis, quae militant adversus animam se involvens.). He was giving away church property under the pretense of sale. Pope Honorius therefore commissioned an investigative committee on 10 July 1219, composed of the Carmelite abbots of S. Galgano and of S. Michele, to conduct a visitation of the diocese and ascertain the facts behind the reports. After their report had been completed, they were to fix a day for Bishop Rainerius to appear at the Roman Curia and answer the complaints against him. According to Giuseppe Cappelletti, the trial before the pope was cut short by the death of the bishop.