Diocese of Termoli

(THERMULARUM)

Located on the Italian coast of the Adriatic, having a small harbour near the mouth of the Petraglione. In ancient days it was called Buca; in 1567 it was put to fire and sword by the Turks. Termoli contains a fine Gothic cathedral. It is first mentioned as a diocese in 946, when Benefetto, an usurper of the episcopal see, was forced to withdraw by order of Agapitus II ; the earliest known legitimate bishop was Scio (969). Among his successors were: Jacopo Cini, O.P. (1379), author of a commentary on the "Sentences"; Domencio Girada (1381), a learned Servite theologian ; Fedrico Merzio (1602), a collaborator of Baronius. In 1818 this see was united with Guardia Alferia, a small town near Cerrato, which had its first bishop in 1075 and its last in 1775. Termoli is suffragan of Benevento, and contains 19 parishes, 54 secular priests, and 1 convent of nuns.