Diocese in southern Italy. The earliest bishop was St. Castus of an uncertain epoch, the local legend assigning him to the fourth century. Other bishops were: the monk Leo, intruded and deposed by Agapetus II (946); Alferius (1109); the Franciscan Luca (1226), exiled by King Manfred; Pietro dell' Aquila (1348), noted for his learning; Giulio Cesare Moriconda (1582), who restored the cathedral, rearranged the archives, and erected a seminary; Alfonso Moriconda (1717), O.S.B., a learned prelate who restored the cathedral and the episcopal residence. The diocese is suffragan of Beneventum; it has 58 parishes with 130,000 souls, 160 secular priests, and three religious houses.
CAPPELLETTI, Le chiese d'Italia, XXI (Venice, 1844), 469.